Educational Activity
The most valuable specialists, who are rapidly leaving Ukraine, are IT professionals. This includes not only programmers, but also testers, device developers, and even system administrators, writes Olga Baividovich in No. 18 of Korrespondent Magazine.
Each potential emigrant spends at least 200,000 UAH per year in the country, providing work for many — from food vendors and waiters to gas station attendants and housing construction workers. Each of them pays at least 70,000 UAH in taxes per year, including excise duties and VAT on purchases, as well as the single tax on earnings. Their salaries are approximately three times higher than the national average, and they also pay about three times more in taxes than the average working Ukrainian. There are relatively few of them in the country — only about 125,000 people work as individual entrepreneurs (FOP), and these are usually the highest-paid ones. About the same number work as hired employees, but their average salary is significantly lower; otherwise, they would be working under the single tax system.
Every month, more than 3,000 positions for IT specialists open up in Ukraine. Fewer turners, milling machine operators, and concrete workers are needed to fill new vacancies. But this does not mean that more than 3,000 new jobs appear every month. Most vacancies arise because someone is leaving the country, or someone has found a better place, and their former job has become vacant.
Migration is growing
It would seem that IT specialists in Ukraine are doing quite well — they have perfectly European salaries and by no means European taxes. However, employers are often in no hurry to pay such a professional a salary of $3,000–$5,000, preferring to hire a recent graduate who possesses at least minimal knowledge, but specifically in the area the company needs at the moment. Such employees can be paid less, starting from $500 and up.
And the risk that this very recent graduate, having worked for about six months and gained additional knowledge, will move to another job does not particularly worry anyone. No place is ever empty for long. You can always hire the next graduate.
Yes, by hiring a professional, an employer gets a ready-made work unit capable of solving assigned tasks almost independently, but they also take a risk, because there is always a chance that they will be poached by competitors promising the moon. Staff turnover in the industry is colossal. And the outflow is not only to a neighboring IT company, but also abroad. Because the salary level for advanced specialists in Ukraine is not much lower than abroad. But the risks for employers are higher, and the business ecosystem is worse. The result? That's right: IT specialists are leaving.
What they want
So, besides a decent salary, what do top-class specialists want, and what can keep them in the same place for a long time? Many of them count, first of all, on additional bonuses. According to a survey conducted in August by the portal dou.ua, 67.8% of respondents want a flexible schedule, but only 25.7% of companies offer it. 65.5% would like the company to hold corporate events, but only 14.2% do so. Education? 41.7% of respondents want their educational courses to be compensated, and 35.4% of respondents' employers do this. Which is understandable — investments in IT education mean investments in production capacity.
According to Elena Lazebnaya, head of the HR department of an IT company, no matter how much Ukrainian employers try, even providing paid meals in the office and gym memberships, offers from foreign competitors are much more attractive: "This includes life abroad, the attitude of people, and a more systematic business." "And although Ukrainian companies are trying as hard as they can, even providing the opportunity for remote work, they cannot always satisfy all the wishes of their employees," she says.
The grass is greener
If you look at vacancies for IT specialists on job sites, you can find some quite good offers. For example, on rabota.ua, 7,120 of them have accumulated over 30 days, 1,255 of which specify a salary level. Offers start from 8,000 UAH for a technical support specialist (Service Desk) to 80,000 UAH (payment pegged to a dollar amount) for an experienced Ruby developer at an American company in Kharkiv; they also offer payment for English language courses, which makes this vacancy even more attractive. In turn, on work.ua, 2,913 vacancies have accumulated over the same 30 days. Salaries start from 8,000 UAH for a content manager and 9,000 UAH for a programming teacher at an IT school, and they are even willing to hire a student.
On the same work.ua, the top offer is 210,000 UAH for a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) at a Global B2B SaaS Company. It includes compensation for professional training, courses, seminars, conferences, and English lessons; a health program including medical insurance and compensation for additional medical expenses, as well as the opportunity to travel and vacation with colleagues. Not a job, but someone's dream.
But despite such a wonderful compensation package, the vacancy has been on the site for a month — unclaimed. Korrespondent asked a person with a similar level of qualification and this is what they heard: firstly, the level of responsibility for such pay is astronomical, or, conversely, the salary is low for such a level of responsibility and qualification. And secondly, most likely, the real candidates for this position are already working in Poland, the Czech Republic, or the USA.
Even if we talk about more moderate positions, vacancies for them continue to remain unfilled, because not everyone wants to work in Ukraine.
If you look at vacancies on work.ua, the salary for Ukrainian programmers with subsequent relocation to one country or another starts from 27,000 UAH for a company executive assistant in Poland to 250,000 UAH for a lead developer in New Zealand. At the same time, a number of companies offer employees housing payment and medical insurance. In total, there are about 100 such vacancies on the site, so there is plenty to choose from. Vacancies posted on the rabota.ua site are not much different, as are the salaries, which start at 25,000 UAH and end at 250,000 UAH. The dou.ua site also has a fairly extensive list of vacancies abroad, with salaries ranging from $1,000 in Poland to $6,500 in a German company.
The difference in salaries is not particularly large; after paying taxes abroad, you might even have less left in your pocket. But they still leave, putting up with inconveniences, the effort of moving, obtaining work visas, and similar difficulties. Why?
Why they leave
One of the main reasons for leaving, as experts and the programmers themselves told Korrespondent, is instability in the country, and therefore, a lack of confidence in the future.
"They have too much of our military enlistment office and not enough stability. It's not for me to tell you how wonderfully we live and how programmers view current realities. Given that their profession is quite universal, they can find themselves anywhere. While understanding that in other countries they will receive less. 5,000 euros in Ukraine and 5,000 euros in Poland are two big differences. After taxes. On the other hand, it is easier and faster for them to get a mortgage in Poland, and the price-to-quality ratio is better than our native apartments," says Tatyana Pashkina, an HR expert at the rabota.ua site. To these reasons, one can add that many simply do not see prospects for further career growth for themselves in Ukraine.
Given the ridiculous salaries received by employees of various institutes, including those involved in developing new software, there is nothing to talk about here at all. For example, as Pavel Svirin, a former lecturer at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, told us, before defending his dissertation and signing a contract in Switzerland, he received (taking into account 10 years of experience and an academic degree) 8,000 UAH for full-time employment: "And that's still cool. In other universities, it was worse." Therefore, when Svirin received an offer for an internship in Switzerland, followed by a two-year contract to work as a project associate in the ALICE experiment, he agreed, because the difference in salaries in the scientific and educational spheres in Ukraine and abroad differs by tens of times.
Among the countries where programmers leave most often, the USA is in first place, Canada is in second, the "old" countries of the European Union are in third, and Ukraine's closest western neighbors are in fourth.
Why they stay after all
But not everyone is ready for labor migration. Let's say, if a programmer has managed to find a sensible job, one can live quite well in Ukraine, receiving a very decent salary, while managing to save money. Especially if the employer is a company with foreign capital. Maxim Yurchenko, the technical director (CTO) of an IT company with investors from Israel, belongs to this category (his story is nearby).
Another reason keeping specialists from migrating is family, because not all employers offer good relocation conditions for all categories of employees. Top specialists — yes, but "juniors" and "mids" — not always.
Given the high costs of housing, transport, and similar daily needs abroad, there is no economic sense in moving for all categories. The higher the level of the specialist, the less this factor is felt. And, of course, having a family does not hinder relocation only for the highly paid. For lower-level specialists or testers, the expediency of moving with children is already on the verge of common sense.
Another category is those who work remotely for companies located abroad, receiving almost the same salary in Ukraine that they could have had while working directly in the firm's office. This is also a very attractive option, especially for those who do not strive for migration or cannot leave due to family circumstances. Moreover, the advantages of such work are that you don't have to stand in traffic jams every day or travel to the office by public transport or on your own.
Nevertheless, the brain drain is widening. Ukraine cannot yet offer its most qualified citizens a favorable business climate (it's better in Poland), low taxes (it will end up being lower in Malta), or a comfortable living environment (it is more comfortable in the EU and the USA). What could somehow change the situation in favor of Ukraine? Creating ideal conditions for launching startups so that people with ambition stay in the country and hire their former colleagues. But instead, a wave of populist chatter is once again rising about the liquidation of the simplified taxation system — perhaps the only economic argument in favor of working in one's homeland.
