![myoact hires a remote team in Ukraine despite the uncertainty and never regrets it! [Company Case]](/content/images/size/w960/2023/08/Myoact_CompanyCase_Cover.png)
Here is a story of how a startup from Germany hired a remote team in Ukraine with UAtalents and their tips for other companies.
Why did you decide to open up an R&D location in Ukraine during the war?
I heard many good words about Ukrainian engineers before: they produce quality code and are very engaged in their work. I also visited Ukraine and love the culture and people there. I would just enjoy working with these people and traveling there.
Also, if I can do anything to support Ukrainians - I would give them jobs! This creates so much impact. 95% of the remuneration goes directly to the contractor, which they can use for their families and for donations to support the country.
A very sweet perk is there are no taxes on top of direct remuneration costs, which is supported by the Ukrainian government. We can just scale our teams with at least 20% more competitive budget.
You are very passionate about Ukraine, are you not afraid of the risks associated with the ongoing war?
Ukrainian engineers are hard-working and resilient and they proved to do amazing things despite the war.
The infrastructure there is prepared now to sustain war conditions with electrical generators, and bomb shelters.
Of course, a person might be late for a call due to the bomb warning occasionally, but they just perform despite all odds.
Except for traveling times everything else is happening as normal while working with our new Ukrainian colleagues.
Israeli also has a constant war, but does anyone hesitate to do business with it?
So who did you hire as your first Ukrainian teammates?
We started off with a Fullstack Engineer and a UX/UI designer. This is a very small but functioning team, to begin with. They are both located in Kyiv, which makes it a perfect set-up for collaboration.
We started our search in mid-February and immediately got the profiles to select from. Most of them were great! By the end of March, we already had our hires made so it took us 7 weeks and maybe 1-2 weeks on top to set up everything.
We have also used the UAtalents partnership offer from Deel to set up payroll and contract management, which was a no-brainer as it saved us costs and effort to prepare all the paperwork.
How is it going so far with the team?
Both Fullstack Engineer and UX/UI Designer were fully engaged starting from April, so like almost immediately after the contracts were signed. We did the onboarding for the designer face-to-face here in Frankfurt to meet the team and soon will do the same with the engineer. But apart from that the team is already very engaged in our product and produced the first features. We are very happy so far.
Are you planning to scale the team there?
Yes, definitely! We already have plans to hire DevOps and QA Engineers there and would love them to be in Kyiv as well. We still have to grow a little to get the budget, but for every 3 contractors, we will basically have the spare budget to afford one extra with no costs on top. It is a game changer for a startup team like ours, where every extra feature counts.
Would you advise anything for companies who consider hiring from Ukraine?
Sure thing! Just be open and go for it. If people are performance-oriented - they will perform in a remote setting as well, no matter from Ukraine or from Berlin.
Ukrainian engineers in general are very direct and value feedback, so just be transparent with what you’d like to achieve and they will support you.
Moreover, Ukraine is very open to new companies and their recent government Diia initiative allows to hire contractors easily on a great budget and fully compliant with local laws.
