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Amidst war, companies scramble to ensure safety of employees

by Beroe Inc

6 March 2022

russia-ukraine

Multinational companies closed offices and factories in Ukraine. Many companies are ensuring that their staff are safe and are making efforts to transport them across Polish borders.

List of MNCs that shut operation	Steps and Impact	Number of employees impacted
Carlsberg closes three breweries	Asked employees to stay at home and await for instructions from local authorities. Disruption in supply of natural gas at breweries in Lviv is expected to extend the shut down	~1,300
Nestle SA temporarily closed three factories and warehouses	Recommended employees to stay at home.	~5,000
SAP shuts offices	SAP closed its Kyiv offices and taken measures to support employees
ArcelorMittal halts production and underground mines	Contractors and employers were asked to leave site to ensure safety	~29,000
Imperial Brand PLC suspends operations	Factory in Kyiv has been closed; sales and marketing teams have been suspended	~600
Uber	Uber has offered Kyiv-based employee and immediate families temporary and voluntary relocation to other places in Ukraine and Poland. Asks gig-working drivers to stay at home	~1,000
Global Guardian	The company shifted 200 employees from international financial services, legal and other operations to Poland. The company had evacuated about 1,500 employees in other departments—mainly foreign nationals—before the start of the invasion	~2,000

(Sources: itln, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BGR)

Most employers have instructed employees to work from home, away from any conflict areas. Multinational companies including logistics firms have implemented business continuity strategies to continue to support customers and supply chain requirements.

Immigration Trends for Refugees

Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, and Slovakia are already prepared for inflows of up to a million people. Ukraine’s defense minister estimates that the invasion by Russia would displace up to five million citizens as a result of the war. Under EU policy, no visa is required for Ukrainians to enter the Schengen Area — a common travel area among EU countries

Country	Measures taken to support Refugees	Number or Refugees Anticipated
Poland	The government and NGOs are planning to house refugees in hostels, dormitories and sport facilities. Multiple reception points were set up across borders to support refugees with food and medical aide	~1 million
Hungary	Hungary has prepared to support Ukrainian refugees and the Defense Force is planning for steps to accommodate the refugees. It was noted that most of them crossing the borders were ethnic Hungarian Ukrainians.	~600,000
Czech Republic	Czech Republic has activated Migration Wave Preparedness Plan in order to assist Ukrainian citizens and refugees. The move would be to support refugees and offer support	~10,000
Slovakia	The firefighters in Slovakia have built temporary emergency camps for Ukrainian refugees. In addition to that the capacity of asylum facilities has also been increased to support them	~10,000

(Sources: CNBC, www.schengenvisainfo.com, AP News, BBC News )

The number of Ukrainian immigrants in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia has spiked from 0.7 to 1.6 million and the share in the total number of Ukrainians who moved abroad for better living conditions has increased from 13% to 27%. The increased migration of Ukrainians to Central European countries is anticipated to contribute positively to the region’s labor market.