On February 24, the life of every Ukrainian was divided into "before" and "after" – that was when war entered our lives. What seemed unthinkable to us before has already become everyday routine: every day our hometowns are bombed by Russian troops and thousands of Ukrainians continue to die from enemy shells and bombs. Disastrously, portions of the country have ended up in the hands of the aggressor. Kherson, Genichesk, Novaya Kakhovka… these cities have been occupied by the Russian army since the first days of the war.
WEZOM was born and raised in Kherson. In 22 years we have grown from an insignificant web studio to a substantially large IT holding with offices in US and Europe. Today, in our native Kherson, foreign troops who came to our land as conquerors are in charge. Part of our team now actually lives under enemy occupation, some of them were even forced to flee their homes due to the vicinity of hostilities. There are also those who remained at their homes despite the war - they live and work in shelters, withstanding daily onslaughts from the invaders.
Today, WEZOM is doing their best to keep themselves and their country afloat. Our office is open almost every day and our specialists continue to work. We do not give up, and are grateful that in this difficult time we have something to be proud of.
We Have Kept the Team Intact
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When the fighting plunged the company activities into chaos for several days our main priority was the physical well-being of people. I am beyond grateful that all members of our team are alive and safe. We helped with the relocation to everyone who needed it.
Despite the uncertain and unpredictable outflow of dealings, we resisted the temptation to cut staff. Firstly, we would be really sorry to lose our prized specialist and secondly, I consider “budget balance” thinking to be inappropriate during war conditions. The state of the Ukrainian economy depends directly on the preservation of jobs and the any hope of Ukraine's victory over Russia depends on the state of the economy. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep paying people’s salaries. We have not laid off a single person and do not plan to do so. As of today, any personnel decisions are frozen.
We Always Fulfill our Obligations
There is nothing worse than giving in to circumstances and letting down the people who are counting on you. Even in the dreadful early days of the war, our team continued to work on projects whenever possible. We fulfill our obligations to our customers and partners, no matter what.
We have employees who have moved into shelters and literally wrote code as enemy bombs fell around them. There are people who, due to the front-line situation, have had to rethink their schedule and write code at night.
Today, WEZOM has about 20 projects in operation - we are supporting existing products and creating new ones. Almost all our specialists have completed their relocation and returned to full-time work. Even our office in Kherson is now open again - there are those for whom the office environment allows an escape and distraction from the frightening news headlines as they can focus on work tasks.
We Help Others
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In war, no one wants to feel powerless. It is important to remember that a lot depends on us. From the very first days, we got involved without delay: in volunteer work and fundraising for the Ukrainian army and calling out to our foreign partners.
Most WEZOM employees juggle their main work with participation in volunteer and civil initiatives: they help defenders, join the information dissemination operations of the Ukrainian “IT-Army” and help those in need who are victims of the hostilities.
We cannot encourage such initiatives enough: the minimum daily work time for specialists today has been reduced to 6 hours. Each employee is free to arrange their own schedule - to work in the evening or at night, whatever is more convenient.
We have Hope for the Future
The war has been going on for more than 20 days, and my native Kherson refuses to accept its situation: massive pro-Ukrainian rallies gather in the city center almost every day.
Today, we can say for sure that we have withstood the shock, come out of our stupor, and are doing everything in our power to save our business and our country. I am convinced that if we can get through this with dignity we will emerge even stronger.