Playtech has helped to evacuate over 450 of its Kiev-based employees and their families, while around 300 have stayed behind to aid the war effort.
Playtech has had to establish a new organisational structure to help those who continue to work safely in Ukraine, to accommodate the others in their new homes and move essential infrastructure to Estonia, where the company has a long-established presence.
Over 300 non-Ukraine employees assisted the relief effort, with around 150 employees and their families moving to Estonia, Poland, Spain and the UK. A further 300 have moved from the capital to the relative safety of Western Ukraine. Playtech has also helped to relocate some 250 family members of those employees who have joined the war effort. With all Ukrainians having bank accounts frozen, the company also ensured that all employees and their families had access to any essential supplies they needed.
Playtech’s CEO, Mor Weizer, commented: “The impact the ongoing crisis in Ukraine is having on everyone in the region is devastating and our number one priority above anything else has been the safety of our people in Ukraine. As a leading technology company with many stakeholders to serve, we have a responsibility to protect our people, their livelihoods and the Playtech business as a whole. Therefore, their wishes and well-being have been at the centre of all our plans and decision making.”
The Kiev office was an important technology hub for Playtech, with over 700 staff before the war. The new organisational structure is now operating as normal from Estonia with most Ukrainian employees returning to work in their new locations. However, Weizer stressed the company’s intention to reopen operations in Ukraine as soon as is practically possible.
