Ukraine workplace morale lessons point to care, routine and purpose
Ukrainian tech workers describe flexible schedules, safety checks and ordinary rituals amid attacks, without mistaking endurance for a management model.
By Marcus Adeyemi · Startups Editor
· 3 min read
Sifted’s reporting on Ukraine workplace morale lessons draws on six Ukrainian workers and a frequent American visitor coping with Russia’s continuing full-scale invasion. Their accounts point to an operational priority for employers under severe disruption: check on safety, make room for recovery and preserve connection, rather than asking people to perform resilience.
The interviews are not a representative survey or evidence of a universal crisis-management formula. They describe sleep loss, fear, bereavement and exhaustion alongside the routines that help some people continue working and living. The limits matter. Wartime endurance is not a productivity benchmark for companies to impose on staff facing other crises.
What can managers learn from Ukrainian workers about morale?
The clearest reported practice is flexibility after an acute event. Anna Pechenina, global PR lead at pet e-commerce business Kormotec, told Sifted that colleagues first confirm whether everyone is safe. Staff who have had a bad night because of nearby attacks can work from home, and schedules are negotiable. Nataliia Loza, a senior PR consultant at Black Unicorn PR in Kyiv, said companies may allow employees to arrive late or encourage them to take a day off after a difficult night.
That is a practical distinction for managers: care begins with accepting that a person may not be ready for a normal workday. Flexible hours and time off do not remove the underlying risk, grief or fatigue, but they give workers some control after disruption.
Ordinary shared activity also appears repeatedly in the accounts. Mykhailo Rogalskyi, cofounder of digital-banking and e-commerce software company Fintech-IT Group, described sports, picnics, quiz nights and occasional parties among an 800-person workforce. He also described a daily 9 a.m. minute of silence for those killed, including two colleagues who died at the front.
Outside work, Taimi PR lead Anastasiia Shevchuk recalled doing crosswords and quizzes with her parents during blackouts, and cited her dogs as comfort. These are not morale programs. They are small routines that maintain social ties while making space for the reality people are living through.
Purpose can help, but it does not cancel hardship
For Allbionics, which makes prosthetic arms, cofounder Dmitry Khanov tied motivation to a direct connection with injured service members and civilians. He said seeing users regain abilities such as holding a pet or embracing a child gave the team concrete evidence of its work’s effect. The company’s stated mission offers a credible example of purpose rooted in visible outcomes, not a generic corporate slogan.
Information needs are less uniform. Shevchuk said prolonged air-raid alerts could be exhausting for mental health and that some friends avoided the alert app. Loza, by contrast, said she follows military and air-defence channels and regularly checks on others. Employers should avoid a single rule for crisis updates: people may need different levels of information and different ways to stay connected.
A 2025 article in Organizational Dynamics frames resilience, grief, fragmentation, critical thinking and vision as leadership themes arising from the war. Its authors also state that the article used no data. The worker accounts support a narrower conclusion: routine and meaningful work may help, but safety, rest, grief and individual choice remain central.
This story draws on original reporting from Sifted.
