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Based on real client situations, amalgamated for anonymity.
Key Takeaways
- Operating employment services in an active conflict zone requires fundamental rethinking of payroll, benefits, tax compliance, and documentation processes.
- Standard EOR infrastructure breaks down when banking systems are disrupted, insurance markets collapse, and governments introduce wartime tax measures. What matters is whether your provider has adapted or frozen.
- Military compliance obligations, including conscription tracking and exemption documentation, become an employer responsibility that most international companies have never encountered.
- Teamed maintained continuous EOR operations in Ukraine throughout the conflict, adapting processes in real time as conditions changed.
- Companies are still hiring in Ukraine. The talent is exceptional, the costs are competitive, and the compliance path exists, but only with a provider who has been through it and knows what works.
If you have ever wondered what happens to your employees when the country they work in goes to war, this is what it actually looks like.
Teamed is the trusted global employment expert for seasoned global employers who need the right structure for where they are, and trusted advice for where they're going. This is part of a series drawn from real compliance situations our clients have faced, showing how we advise when the stakes are high and the answers are not straightforward.
The situation
Teamed has maintained active EOR operations in Ukraine throughout the conflict that began in 2022. This is not a single case study. It is a sustained operational reality across multiple clients, multiple employees, and multiple years of continuous adaptation.
When the conflict escalated, the immediate question from clients was not abstract. It was urgent: what happens to our people? Can we still pay them? Are they safe? Are we still compliant?
The honest answer was that every standard process needed to be re-examined. And many of them needed to change.
The questions that kept coming
The questions from clients fell into patterns that revealed how unprepared most companies are for this scenario.
How do we make sure employees actually receive their pay when banking systems are disrupted? What happens if a male employee is called up for military service? What are our obligations around exemption documentation? Can we still provide health insurance when the insurance market has collapsed? What tax changes has the government introduced, and how do they affect our payroll calculations?
These are not questions any HR team expects to face. But when you employ people internationally, the world does not pause for your planning cycle.
What Teamed identified and adapted
The compliance landscape in Ukraine shifted repeatedly throughout the conflict, and Teamed adapted operations each time. The key areas required fundamentally different approaches from peacetime EOR.
Payroll continuity. Standard monthly payroll cycles became unreliable when banking infrastructure was disrupted. Teamed moved to a split payment schedule, with an advance payment mid-month and a final payment at month-end, to ensure employees maintained liquidity even when transfers were delayed. The priority was simple: people needed to be paid, reliably, regardless of what was happening around them.
Military compliance. Ukraine introduced military service obligations that directly affected male employees. Teamed implemented active monitoring of military exemption documentation, including tracking notification deadlines to territorial authorities when exemptions were due to expire. This is not a standard EOR service anywhere in the world. It became a non-negotiable requirement for compliant operations in Ukraine.
Health benefits restructuring. Group health insurance policies became unavailable due to regulatory restrictions during the conflict. Teamed restructured the benefits approach: employees purchase individual private health insurance, reimbursed through a taxable bonus. It is not the peacetime standard, but it maintains coverage when the peacetime standard no longer exists.
Wartime tax compliance. The Ukrainian government introduced wartime revenue measures, including increases to the military tax. Teamed updated payroll calculations to reflect each change as it came into force, ensuring clients remained compliant with a tax regime that was being rewritten in real time.
Documentation continuity. Employment record books and electronic pension fund records were maintained throughout the disruption. When systems are under strain, documentation gaps become compliance gaps. Teamed ensured that records remained intact and up to date despite the conditions.
What was at stake
The easy decision for an EOR provider would have been to withdraw from Ukraine entirely. Some did. That leaves employers with an impossible choice: abandon their employees in a conflict zone or scramble to find a provider willing to operate there.
For the employees themselves, the stakes were immediate. Disrupted payroll means people cannot cover basic needs during a crisis. Lapsed military documentation means legal exposure for both the employee and the employer. Gaps in health coverage mean no protection when protection matters most.
For the employers, the compliance exposure was significant. Wartime tax changes applied regardless of whether your provider had updated its systems. Military compliance obligations existed regardless of whether your provider was tracking them. The fact that conditions were difficult did not reduce the legal requirements. If anything, it increased the scrutiny.
Why this case matters
Most EOR providers market themselves on how well things work when conditions are normal. This case is about what happens when conditions are anything but normal.
Teamed's continued operations in Ukraine demonstrate something that matters to every company employing people internationally: what does your provider actually do when the environment changes? Do they adapt, or do they freeze? Do they solve the problem, or do they tell you it is someone else's responsibility?
This connects directly to Teamed's positioning as a Global Employment Management and Operations (GEMO) provider rather than a platform. A platform processes payroll. GEMO means advising on the right structure for where you are, including when "where you are" is a country at war.
The Graduation Model applies here too, though not in the way most people expect. For some clients, the right structure in Ukraine shifted from full employment to contractor arrangements as circumstances changed. For others, maintaining employment through the conflict was both the right thing to do and the compliant thing to do. The answer depended on the situation. The right structure for where you are. Trusted advice for where you're going.
Companies are still hiring in Ukraine. The talent pool is strong, the costs are competitive, and the compliance path exists. But it requires a provider who has been operating there throughout the conflict, who understands the adaptations required, and who has the in-country relationships to make it work.
FAQs
Can you still hire employees in Ukraine?
Yes. EOR operations in Ukraine remain viable, but they require a provider with direct experience of operating through the conflict. Payroll, tax, benefits, and military compliance have all changed significantly since 2022, and the regulatory environment continues to evolve. Companies considering Ukraine need full risk disclosure and a provider who can demonstrate continuous operational history in the country.
What are the military compliance obligations for employers in Ukraine?
Employers with male employees in Ukraine have obligations around military service documentation, including monitoring exemption status and notifying territorial authorities within required timeframes when exemptions expire. These obligations are real and enforceable. Failure to comply creates legal exposure for both the employer and the employee.
How does payroll work in Ukraine during the conflict?
Standard monthly payroll cycles may not be reliable due to banking disruptions. Adapted approaches, such as split payment schedules with advance and final payments, ensure employees maintain access to funds. Wartime tax measures, including changes to military tax rates, must be reflected in payroll calculations as they come into force.
Is health insurance still available for employees in Ukraine?
Group health insurance policies have been largely unavailable due to regulatory restrictions during the conflict. Alternative structures, such as individual private insurance reimbursed through taxable bonuses, can maintain coverage. The approach requires careful tax treatment to remain compliant.
What happens if an EOR provider withdraws from a conflict zone?
The employer is left with two bad options: abandon employees or find a replacement provider under pressure. Continuity of provider operations matters more in crisis conditions than in normal ones. When evaluating EOR providers, ask what their contingency is for geopolitical disruption, not just for payroll errors.
When should a company move from EOR to its own presence in-country?
The decision typically makes sense when you have a critical mass of employees in a market, a long-term commitment, and the capacity to manage local compliance. In conflict-affected countries, this calculation changes: the compliance burden is higher, the regulatory environment shifts faster, and having an experienced in-country partner becomes more valuable, not less. Teamed's Graduation Model guides this based on when the economics and risk profile genuinely shift in your favour.
Who is Teamed for?
Seasoned global employers. Companies with 50 to 1,000 employees, £10M to £1B revenue, employing five or more people internationally. The real qualifier is mindset: companies that value getting it right over getting it cheap. If you have employees in difficult markets and a provider who does not know what to do when conditions change, you already know why that matters.
The right structure for where you are
The global employment industry profits from keeping companies where they are. When conditions change, most providers wait for someone else to figure it out. That is not how we earn our place.
Teamed is the trusted global employment expert for companies who need the right structure for where they are, and trusted advice for where they're going, from first hire to your own presence in-country. Over 1,000 companies across 180+ countries trust us because we give the honest answer, even when the situation is one nobody planned for.
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