The key priorities for EPAM are the safety of our professionals and the preservation of the company's operational activities.
In February, the company activated the business continuity plan (BCP) and continues to comply with it, adjusting it according to the situation. One of the most critical points of this plan is the physical safety and comprehensive support of our colleagues and their families.
Since February 24, the EPAM's main tasks were the safety of thousands of Ukrainian teammates and the comprehensive support of Ukraine. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, EPAM allocated an additional $100 million to support the Ukrainian team and their families ,and also created a special EPAM Assistance Fund to unite the efforts of specialists, partners, and clients to provide humanitarian aid to people and communities where it is most needed.
Thanks to this support, we organized a large-scale evacuation of our colleagues and their relatives to safer cities. In March, each specialist received $1,000 in addition to their monthly income. Also, the company provides financial assistance to our specialists and their families or individually for family members of our specialists to relocate abroad for a longer period. For this purpose, the company has launched the EPAM Family Resettlement Program. Several thousand people have used this program since the spring.
More than two hundred of our colleagues joined the Ukraine Armed Forces or Teroborona and are defending our country at the front. For such specialists, EPAM keeps compensation for their absence and supports them and their families with an additional compensation package.
At the same time, the company is actively supporting the country. At the beginning of spring, we launched a large-scale EPAM Response program, which focused on the following 3 areas:
- Help Ukrainians by providing medical and humanitarian aid, as well as protective equipment;
- Help universities and educational partners;
- Help the state with relevant IT solutions.
As part of the EPAM Response program, we cooperate with more than 30 international and local funds, like Leleka, Razom for Ukraine, Caritas, etc. Over the past nine months, EPAM has donated more than 90 million hryvnias, and we are planning to give even more donations.
In addition, EPAM team members in Ukraine and worldwide have mobilized immediately to contribute in every way possible, and today more than 10,000 EPAMers continue to help.
The volunteer movement inside EPAM is strong. In fact, according to internal surveys, more than 800 Ukrainian colleagues consider themselves to be volunteers, about 100 of them are active in social initiatives or their own volunteer projects. Every week, the internal community of volunteers closes about ten very different requests - from providing first-aid kits to supplying needed aid, clothing, food, or buying a car.
However, like any other business in Ukraine, we feel the impact of the war, uncertainty, and unpredictability of what may come. Undoubtedly, the unstable operation of the energy infrastructure poses a big challenge for the business because the dependence of the IT sphere on electricity supply and access to the Internet is significant. At the beginning of autumn, we activated the next stage of the BCP, which deals with the challenges of energy supply precisely. There are main ВСP directions:
- Temporary resettlement of our specialists and their families abroad for the winter period;
- Strengthening the technical equipment of offices in the conditions of unstable work of critical infrastructure;
- Preparing our offices to function as full-fledged shelters for our team in case of emergencies;
- Rent of co-working spaces with autonomous energy supply in those cities and city districts where the company's specialists live.
Therefore, we are focusing our efforts on ensuring the uninterrupted operation of offices and growing the number of workplaces.
It is necessary to note that since the beginning of the full-scale war, we have received unprecedented support from our customers. They're following the events in Ukraine, and we are in constant contact with them, informing them about the course of events. Our clients see how Ukrainian teams work in these tough conditions of war. We are doing everything we can to continue to draw new projects and clients into Ukraine and maintain foreign exchange revenues, which are so necessary now for our state. After all, we believe in our victory and bring it closer daily with the whole country.
