AB Soft is laying off all Ukrainians who stayed in Ukraine

Over the past six months, about 60 to 80 specialists have been laid off at AB Soft. This was recently reported by a source in the “Підслухано в ІТ” Telegram channel. According to DOU, the layoffs in the IT company seem to take place every quarter. The entire Ukrainian office is currently at risk.

• AB Soft was founded in Odesa in 2000. The company’s specialists are developing products in the field of telecommunications. AB Soft is part of the American provider RingCentral. According to the earlier data, approximately 550 employees worked in the Ukrainian team.
• Several other sources at AB Soft confirmed the news about the reduction to DOU. An anonymous employee said that AB Soft employees were divided into two categories: those who stayed in the country and those who went abroad. Those who went abroad were financially assisted, helped with settling in hotels and the search for permanent housing.
• In August 2022, the first reduction took place, which affected approximately 10% of the team. Those who were considered the least productive were laid off. The next reduction was planned to take place in 2023. “Clients did not want to do business in Ukraine, so we were warned that the layoffs will definitely not affect those who will be abroad,” says an AB Soft employee.
• In January, 10 of the 25 specialists who stayed in Ukraine were laid off. It was also reported that the Ukrainian office is planned to be closed by the end of 2023. Later, the deadline was changed and it was announced that everyone who did not want to leave the country would be fired by June 31.
• The former employees are paid off three next salaries and an additional 10 days of vacation can be cashed out. Although, this only applies to contractors on RingCentral’s balance sheet. Those on AB Soft’s balance sheet do not receive compensation, it is only a matter of dismissal.

RingCentral still has an office in Russia

RingCentral, the owner of AB Soft, is an American company founded by immigrants from Odesa and St. Petersburg. One of them is Vlad Shmunis, who was born in Odesa, and the other is Vlad Vendrow, who came from St. Petersburg, both are considered billionaires. The company employs around 150 people and has a Dino Systems R&D center based in Russia. RingCentral still hasn’t publicly recognized the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war, and, as of summer 2022, their Russian office is still not shut down.