The work of Leroy Merlin Ukraine was blocked by the parent company, which continues its business in the Russian Federation. Probable cause - due to the help of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UPD)

In mid-March, 800 employees of Leroy Merlin Ukraine, including 9 IT specialists, were cut off from all corporate means of communication, making it impossible to fulfill customer requests and requests from volunteers and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. ADEO Group, the parent company of Leroy, explains the information "blackout" for Ukrainian employees with cybersecurity measures. At the same time, the employee who agreed to talk to the editorial staff suggests that this was done through their help to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

DOU tried to understand the motives of this decision in more detail.

Infobulbashka for the Ukrainian "Leroy"

On March 15, all employees of Leroy Merlin Ukraine, including 9 IT employees, changed their passwords to internal work systems without warning, says Alexey Litovchenko, an employee of the company and an IT infrastructure support specialist, who agreed to share all the details of the situation.

"We have lost access to corporate communication, to all programs and applications. No Google Mail, No WorkPlay, no work chat. The only way to communicate is via Viber.

The access of Leroy Merlin Ukraine employees to LDAP (this is an internal system) was blocked by the ADEO Group IT department. Of course, even the CIO did this without warning.

A few days later, we were approached by one of the managers — [one of the leaders of Leroy Merlin and director of the supply chain in Ukraine] Julien Guillaume, who said that the decision to separate us from the rest of the world was made because of the risks of cyber attacks and the possibility of losing some data. This is complete nonsense," he says.

Login page to workplace "Leroy Merlin Ukraine" after blocking accounts

The company has launched a separate workspace exclusively for Ukrainian employees, cutting off their connection with colleagues from other countries, says Litovchenko. At the same time, new accounts were created, and the old ones were blocked along with working files. The work of all employees of Leroy Merlin Ukraine is now impossible, explains the source DOU:

"One or two weeks before the start of the Russian invasion, our French colleagues were almost completely taken out of Ukraine, allegedly for a meeting. On the 24th, the day the war began, we were told that the shops were closed. Online still worked, we accepted orders. By March, we were able to connect via VPN, do our job, and pay our employees. By the way, ADEO Group did a great job in the sense that the salary for February was given earlier, for March — in advance, and two more salaries were given as assistance. But since March, they have separated from us. Subsequently, our site was disabled.

The work of Leroy Merlin Ukraine in terms of retail is now stopped. All servers were archived, copied, and moved to ADEO, then disconnected. There can be no talk of sales [on the territory of Ukraine], because it is already technically impossible."

Company's statement on creating a new, closed workspace for Ukrainian employees of the company

Due to the blocking of working systems, employees of the Ukrainian Leroy Merlin cannot pay off their contractors who provided services and goods, Litovchenko adds.

"I contact seven companies and I think they all got nothing. We owe one company about 180 thousand UAH, while the other company did not pay about 130 thousand UAH for a new plotter. Copies of invoices and purchase confirmations were sent to the post office, but there is no access to it," he explains.

On March 21, Russian invaders launched a missile strike on the Podolsk District of Kiev, which killed an employee of Leroy Merlin. After that, a message appeared on the company's official Instagram page in Ukraine calling for signing a petition against the work of ADEO Group in the Russian Federation, created the day before. Now 16.2 thousand people have already signed up for the appeal. Soon the page was hacked and blocked, and the Ukrainian team lost access to it. Litovchenko suggested that this could have been done by the IT Department of the Leroy global office. Now the page is displayed in the search, but Ukrainians still do not have administrative access to it.

Post on the Instagram account of the Ukrainian "Leroy Merlin"

Silent boycott

Now the company's management almost does not communicate with Ukrainian employees of the company, notes Alexey Litovchenko from the IT Department of Leroy Merlin Ukraine.

"There is almost no communication from our leaders (as the company calls top management, in particular directors of directions — Ed.). We have repeatedly addressed these questions, and in response — just silence. I know that ADEO gathered 700 leaders from all countries, but there were no Ukrainians there. All communications [with the global office] are conducted only through Ukrainian CEOs Denis SCHIS and Julien Guillaume. Others don't have access — neither IT leaders nor HR," the DOU source explained.

The last message from Shis appeared a few days ago: the general director of the Ukrainian company in video format said that he was sorry for the situation and told about the hotel rented by ADEO Group in Poland for Ukrainian employees who want to leave, adds Litovchenko.

Nothing personal — just business, or what they say in the parent company "Leroy Merlin"

After disconnecting Ukrainian employees from their work networks, the newly created closed workshop published a video message from Adeo Group CEO Philip Zimmermann, in which he stated that Leroy Merlin would not leave the Russian market due to obligations to Russian customers and called on employees to "solidarity".

"There is no reason to stop being useful for residents in Russia who need something to repair, insulate, secure, protect, illuminate their homes. We sell them basic necessities. And this is our responsibility as employers and as companies, as well as from the point of view of the law," Zimmermann said, adding that ADEO Group will not make new investments in the Russian Federation.

His video message came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a speech to the French parliament, in which he directly called on Leroy Merlin and other French companies to stop doing business in Russia.

Reaction of employees of the company's Ukrainian office to Zimmerman's appeal

One of the top managers who talks about the current situation in social networks and appeals to ADEO Group to stop doing business in Russia is HR director of Leroy Merlin Ukraine Lyudmila Dzyuba.

"Philip Zimmermann, help stop the war in my Ukraine! You have 42 million reasons to stop doing business in Russia in order to save the most valuable thing — life!"- she wrote in one of the last posts.

At the time of publication of the article, ADEO Group has not responded to the official request of the editorial board.

Possible motives of the company

From the very beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, Leroy Merlin Ukraine employees actively helped the army and teroborona, says Alexey Litovchenko, the company's IT specialist, in an interview with DOU.

"In addition to construction products, our stores sell clothing. My colleague from the IT department organized with the help of our Ukrainian tops the distribution of clothes and shoes to defenders from the armed forces of Ukraine and TRO from the store on Koltsevaya Street in Kiev. Any suggestions from them-we immediately organized it."

According to the expert, the decision of ADEO Group to artificially isolate the Ukrainian Office of Leroy is an attempt to be "above the fray", prevent patriotic manifestations of employees from Ukraine and save the market in Russia.

"I believe that they do not leave Ukraine, because they announced that they will fight for every employee in our "family". After the war, our victory, it will be a lever on their part that they, they say, did not abandon Ukraine. Of course, they will not mention that they blocked the communications of the Ukrainian office. <...> This is a business. There are only 6 stores in Ukraine and 112 in Russia. the profit from the Russian market is 20-28% of the total. It is clear that this is a business, but you can not do it on blood! They do not leave Russia, and this is only Leroy Merlin, and under ADEO there are other brands (in particular, Auchan and Decathlon — Ed.)."

Update from 20:20 on April 4

According to updated data, employees of Leroy Merlin Ukraine did not change their passwords to the LDAP system, but completely blocked access to it.