The responsibility of businesses for their people will only continue to grow. Therefore, developing psychological support programs is an essential part of every company’s corporate culture

14.08.2025

Inna Pecherytsia, HRD EVA and EVA.UA

Sleepless nights, negative news, and pessimistic forecasts affect us more than it might seem at first glance. Businesses cannot stop the war, but it can teach people to listen to themselves and seek help on time. How can this be achieved?

There is no place in Ukraine where people do not feel stress due to the war. The example of EVA is very telling. Our stores operate in all regions of the country, and 160 of them (approximately 10%) are located in cities and villages that are regularly shelled, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Nikopol, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and parts of the Donetsk region. But constant danger and tension are felt not only in the frontline zone. Stress is also caused by worrying about loved ones, losses, injuries to relatives, and the uncertainty of what will happen tomorrow and which city will be attacked next.

Emotional state is worsening

Compared to the pre-war year of 2021, in the first half of 2025, the number of employees taking sick leave increased by 18.5%. Over the same period, 17% fewer women went on maternity leave. This indicates decreased confidence and exhaustion, which are now manifesting physically. After all, the culture of taking sick leave for psycho-emotional reasons is almost absent in Ukraine.

Ukrainians are a strong nation, but this also has a downside. A person may feel unwell but won’t seek help until the situation becomes critical. In service professions, an employee’s state is further influenced by the client’s state. Therefore, identifying employees who need help, providing support, and raising awareness in psychology and communication in various situations is the employer’s responsibility.

How to identify who needs help

There are many measurement methods and surveys. But for a team of 14,000 people, like EVA, their practical effectiveness is questionable. Answering about one’s mental state is not the same as filling out an eNPS survey. Can everyone objectively assess their own situation? How many questionnaires will be filled out “just to tick the box”?

The company’s goal is not merely to collect statistics. That’s why we identify people who need help through their direct managers. They are in constant contact with their teams, see colleagues over time, notice changes, and have enough trust to delicately offer the company’s assistance. We provide managers with basic tools to make this work effective, and in this way, we identified about 800 employees who needed help.

How to help

For those willing to work with a specialist, the company provides consultations with in-house or external psychologists. Employees can describe their needs, and a suitable specialist will be selected. But reaching even those who know about these opportunities is not easy.

First, it’s necessary to create a culture of paying attention to one’s psycho-emotional state. We started with themed posts in internal communication channels. We reformatted our regular Friday online meetings, “Coffee with EVA family” into “Coffee with a psychologist.” Previously, these meetings focused on communication within teams and advised managers. Now they address topics that concern everyone—children’s fears during air raids, relationships with loved ones, and more. While attendance was low at first, now more than 100 people join each session.

For colleagues who have lost loved ones or are going through difficult times, we introduced “Circles of Trust,” where they can talk and share experiences of overcoming hardship.

These initiatives are part of the comprehensive “We Are Together” project. It aims not only to provide psychological support to employees but also to develop a culture of inclusion in the company and to reintegrate veterans. Within the project, in 2024 alone, we held 23 training programs for teams and managers, provided around 200 consultations, and organized 41 “Coffee with a psychologist” meetings.

Helping others restores inner strength

“We Are Together” is an important element of the company’s culture of support. But for psycho-emotional stability, a person needs not only to understand themselves and interact with others but also to feel their agency—to know that even in a situation of global uncertainty, they still influence their level. One way to achieve this is by helping others.

For example, at EVA, we are currently raising funds to purchase equipment for female military medics in the “Mission — Life” project with the NGO “Zemlyachky.” We initially planned to collect 4 million UAH, but managed to raise twice as much—thanks in no small part to store employees, who live and breathe this project, as we also have women and men in service. Our network’s staff are not just executors—they take initiative. A recent example: a store manager asked for help for a former colleague now serving in the military. Within our cooperation, we asked “Zemlyachky” to provide her with everything she needed.

Will burnout become an epidemic?

In just a month, autumn will come—a season many dread because the risk of emotional decline is higher than in summer. However, I don’t think the situation will change drastically. Now everything happens situationally: after each difficult night—for example, in Kyiv or Dnipro—some people don’t come to work, and store customer numbers drop. Then recovery follows—until the next time. But tension is constant, and underestimating its long-term impact would be unwise.

The responsibility of businesses for their people will only continue to grow. Therefore, developing psychological support programs and systematic care for employees is no longer the prerogative of large or wealthy companies—it is an essential part of the corporate culture for any business that wants to survive.