Employees' safety and mental health support, work processes’ continuity are the main HR challenges for companies – new survey by AmCham Ukraine and Deloitte Ukraine

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (AmCham Ukraine), together with AmCham member company Deloitte Ukraine, conducted the survey on the Approaches to Human Capital Management in Ukraine.

The survey aimed to understand the current challenges for employers in Ukraine in managing human capital and the current actions of organizations and priorities for 2023.

The biggest challenges in human resources management are employees' safety (60%), ensuring the continuity of work processes (60%), and employees' mental health supporting (55%). These results are comparable to trends as of May 2022.

Key priorities of organizations in the field of HR management for 2023 are real-time support and assistance of employees (50%), review of the workforce plan/organizational structure (38%), workload management (38%), and development/adaptation of employees' well-being program (38%).

More than half of the interviewed organizations (58%) have decreased their headcount since the beginning of the full-scale war. Regarding plans for 2023, only 17% of organizations plan to decrease headcount, 35% - do no plan to review the headcount, and another 25% - could not answer this question.

On average, about 70% of the employees of the surveyed organizations have not been relocated abroad since the beginning of the full-scale war. About 46% of the employees who were relocated abroad have already returned to Ukraine and are here permanently or most of the time (on average, 14% of the total amount). Currently, in most surveyed organizations, the majority of the management team is located in Ukraine.

Due to the security risks most organizations with employees who remain abroad do not currently actively encourage employees to return.

The vast majority of the organizations paid salaries in full to all employees in October (72%), and only 22% of the organizations paid salaries for some employees in full, and for some employees partially. These results show a slight improvement compared to the trend at the end of spring 2022.

About half of the respondents (49%) mentioned that they plan to review compensation levels in 2023 despite the circumstances, 59% of them plan to do it once per year. However, 43% of respondents could not answer this question.

About a quarter of organizations (23%) mentioned that their organization reviewed the approach to variable pay in 2022 since the outbreak of full-scale war. Performance indicators were reviewed most often, mainly for some categories of personnel. The exact number of respondents indicated that they have plans to do so in the next year.

71% of the companies support employees in Ukraine. Among the financial aid the most popular are medical insurance (75%), financial help (71%), and coverage of mobile communication costs (67%). Among the non-financial aid are mental health support (75%), flexible schedule (71%), and learning opportunities/reskilling (46%).

42% of respondents indicated that they offered additional support to employees due to power outages. The most common forms of support are providing power banks and supplying workplaces (offices, departments, etc.) with backup power sources (power generators).

The main challenges related to performance management observed in organization are uneven workloads in teams (62%), goal setting in times of uncertainty (50%), and difficulties in administrating the process under the current conditions (44%).

Only 18% of respondents mentioned that they adjusted the approach to performance management in their organization after the outbreak of full-scale war. Performance indicators, goal-setting process, and decisions made upon assessment results were reviewed most often. 35% of respondents indicated that they have plans to do so in the next year.

Almost all respondents (88%) note that the majority of the organization's employees currently work either in a hybrid format or remotely. Key challenges related to hybrid work observed in organizations: difficult communication (37%) and difficult onboarding process (37%).

According to the respondents, the key areas of work for organizations to increase the effectiveness of hybrid work include redesigning work processes (50%), implementing enabling technology (43%), and educating leaders to manage distributed teams (37%).

“This year was difficult and full of unprecedented challenges, but most of the surveyed organizations demonstrated a high level of resilience and were able to restore operational activities in full – this inspires and confirms the invincibility of Ukrainians. Planning is currently very difficult due to the high uncertainty caused by the war, but supporting people and ensuring business continuity will remain top priorities in the year to come,” mentioned Iakiv Akulov, Head of Human Capital Advisory Services at Deloitte Ukraine.

“We were pleased to conduct the Survey with the Deloitte Ukraine team professionals. According to the Survey results, key priorities of organizations in the field of HR management for 2023 are real-time support and assistance of employees, review of the workforce plan/organizational structure, workload management, and development/adaptation of employees' well-being program. AmCham Human Capital Committee leadership will continue to support companies to create more favorable conditions for doing business and accelerate economic recovery after the war,” said Zarina Demyanenko, AmCham Ukraine Senior Policy Officer (Human Capital, Media & Communication, Hospitality and Tourism Committees).

Forty respondents took part in the survey conducted on November 29 – December 14. Top managers, HR function leaders, and other AmCham Ukraine member companies' managers from various industries filled in the Survey.