It has been three years since Russia began its full -scale occupation of Ukraine.
During that time, Ukrainians lived through one of the largest and most brutal humanitarian crises in the world. However, their durability remains high.
The United Nations estimates that 64% of micro, small and medium -sized enterprises had to suspend or close their operations in Ukraine at a stage after the war began.
But the vast majority of these have been opened then.
Over the past year, our international team of researchers from both Australia and Ukraine tried to find out what can promote such extraordinary sustainability. The answer, according to Ukrainian business leaders, is their people.
Running a business in a fight
Ukrainians are currently living during their third winter of this war. Some of Russia’s latest attacks have aimed at gas infrastructure and other energy eases essential for keeping people alive.
These daily attacks have made the cities previously secure no more secure, leaving residents without water, heat and electricity in bitter cold conditions.
Detail by Sergey Kozlov/EPA
According to the Global Appeals of UNHCR of 2025, the target of Russia’s houses, hospitals and communities has resulted in civil deaths, mass displacement, limited access to humanitarian aid and severely destroyed substantive services.
For businesses, the war has affected almost every aspect of commercial activity. Beyond the immediate threat of entry under direct attack, firms have had to deal with everything, from interrupted supply chains to frequent power outages.
As one interviewed said:
Many of us fear that our main businesses can go bankrupt. We are constantly facing periods without electricity that stops businesses and removes us from the world. We live with constant alarms of air attack, moving inside and outside underground shelters. We have a significant lack of staff because so much have gone to fight the front lines or left the country.
The UN estimates that the use of production capacity for Ukrainian micro, small and medium enterprises fell from 72.4% before the war to 45.7% in 2023.
To make things worse, with millions of people who have left Ukraine, finding and maintaining qualified staff has become extremely difficult.
Women have entered professions dominated by men historically, such as mines, truck driving and welding to fill the gap left by men who have joined the war. But there is still a significant lack of work.
Oleksandr Filatov/Shuttertestock
Over the past year, our international team of researchers from Australia and Ukraine surveyed business leaders from 85 different small and medium -sized businesses in 19 different industries in Ukraine.
These stretched engineering, transport, aviation and mines up to agriculture, tourism, IT, health care, entertainment and finance.
We asked what resources they were – and are still – essential to the survival of their organizations.
Finances and access to funds came to number two, followed by production and energy, new customers and markets, equipment technology and information and policies and regulations.
The most important source
The most important source, highlighted by 82% of business leaders we surveyed, was their people.
When acting inside an environment with severe crisis and disruption, the pressure can be high. But Ukraine’s leaders we interviewed revealed a way to unite and guide their teams in the future.
As one is reflected:
When team members are motivated, they are more likely to be optimistic and resilient when faced with difficulties. Motivated employees are more productive than demotivated ones. This is important when people need to achieve more with fewer resources.
By forcing the positive adaptation
For many organizations in our research, operating within a crisis, they had led them to implement valuable human resources practices other businesses often fight.
Some had moved to a “more enjoyable” organizational structure, accelerating decision making by giving employees more autonomy. Others invested in the team training that focused on empowering employees to share their thoughts on how to move better.
Our planning processes and horizons have changed completely. We have had to become more versatile and flexible in our approach to leadership, often reducing planning cycles and adapting to new realities much faster than before.
A concentration in well -being was another common topic. Some organizations expected more meetings to allow their employees to share history – not only for work but also for their fear and personal victories.
Some also encouraged their employees to complete volunteer work together during their working hours.
There was an emphasis on interviews for the fact that all employees need additional rest and recovery time, and encouraging them to take rest time when needed.
Author given (without reuse)
Making the sacrifices
Many of the new support mechanisms had financial consequences for organizations.
A business canceled his senior management team salaries a month after the war began. Another employed a full -time psychologist to provide counseling in official and informal sessions.
Some continued to pay the salaries of their members serving:
All our mobilized employees serving in the military have received their salaries for the past three years. We also ensure that they are equipped with everything they need, stay in constant contact with them and support their families.
Recognizing their business was to support the war effort had a positive impact on employee motivation:
The only difference in employee motivation is the understanding that our company actively supports Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Thus, every employee of the company understands that through their work, they are involved in this support.
After all, there are the links between the people these leaders saw as the key to their organizational resistance.
No matter how difficult they get, how much sorrow and suffering we endure, we know for sure that the sun will arise tomorrow. And even if it’s not for us, it will be for our children. This is what gives us the strength to continue to live, create and preserve Ukraine – for us and for future generations.
The authors want to accept their academic partners and co -authors from the Ukraine Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, Yaryna Boychuk, Valeria Kozlova, Sophia Opatska and Olena Trevoho, and thank all Ukrainian business leaders who participated in this research.