EVO resumed hiring employees and abandoned fops. The co-owner of the company told the details

The EVO group of companies, after the forced reduction of about 30% of its teams at the beginning of the war, recovered by more than 50%. It also resumed active hiring of employees and refused to cooperate with fops, Nikolai Palienko, co-owner of the group of companies that includes marketplaces, told DOU Prom.ua, Shafa.ua, Bigl.ua, Kabanchik.ua and others.

"We have resumed hiring for all projects where there is really such a need. First of all, we are trying to get our employees back. But these are good specialists and most of them quickly found a job. Therefore, if it doesn't work out, we look for it on the market. We have already made the first offer to an external candidate since the beginning of the war and returned about 60 EVO employees," he said.

According to him, now the group of companies has already recovered by more than 50% — this applies to both working projects and the launch of new ones. At the same time, if everything goes according to the expected scenario, the company hopes to return to the pre-war level by the end of 2022.

"I think that after the war we will have a different portfolio of projects, including international ones. This is our new challenge. We have been talking about this for a long time inside, but the war has shown that we need to diversify. In addition, many of our team have now arrived in different European countries and we see that our experience and products can be useful there," Palienko said.

According to the co-owner of the group, both current and new employees are offered market salaries and employment without fops. Now the company is just starting the transition and is currently coordinating the model (under the Labor Code or gig contracts). At the same time, some of the fops have already been transferred to the state, that is, officially employed under the labor code.

Palienko also commented on the company's entry into the City Action.

"For quite a long time, there was a social contract in Ukraine that IT companies can pay salaries to people as sole proprietors. There were unspoken agreements under each government that this could be done. In the end, Zelensky's team decided that such a scheme does not suit a state governed by the rule of law — when there is a law, and in parallel there are still some agreements. And so Diya City was created — a special legal and tax regime for promoting IT businesses, which supports the development of the technology industry," he stressed.

He also explained that EVO supported this initiative even when it was being developed, and as soon as the special mode started working, they immediately joined.

"As a company, we support transparency in doing business. It allows you to pass audits normally, reduces the cost of doing business, and significantly reduces the complexity of managing relationships with employees. Ultimately, transparency significantly improves the investment climate and should lead to faster growth of the IT industry," the IT entrepreneur believes.

In his opinion, the action of City will have a positive impact on the technology sector. He also hopes that very soon this development assistance regime will extend to other sectors of the creative economy, which is based on the significant role of intellectual activity.

Earlier it became known that the EVO group of companies had to significantly reorganize its business due to Russia's military actions against Ukraine. In particular, it reduced about 30% of the team, co-owner of the group Nikolay Palienko told DOU.

It was also reported that EVO launched Help volunteer, a platform where volunteers can create a fundraiser for needs during the war, and all those who are not indifferent can transfer any amount of money to help.