PeopleForce partners up with KOLO to simplify leave donations

Over the two years of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians have developed countless ways to raise funds for the military, from charity auctions and expositions to giveaways. Activists, artists, and professional communities have all contributed to these efforts, and the IT sector is no exception. Both individuals and companies have taken a proactive role in supporting the armed forces.

At PeopleForce, supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces is a deeply held commitment. As a Ukrainian business, we believe that victory requires contributions from everyone. While the methods of support may vary, the focus must remain on the ultimate goal. One of the methods that resonated with us is the “Donate Your Leave” campaign launched by our friends and partners at KOLO.

The “Donate your leave” initiative: why it matters

There have been a lot of conversations about whether taking a vacation is relevant at the time of war. Many professionals feel that vacations may be inappropriate or struggle to find meaningful ways to use their time off. In response to these sentiments, KOLO, the leading charity fund of the IT community, introduced the “Donate Your Leave” initiative. This program allows employees to convert unused paid time off into donations to support the military.

For professionals who cannot or prefer not to take vacations, converting unused leave into monetary donations is a practical solution. However, the success of this initiative depends on companies’ ability to manage the process effectively.

Key challenges companies face

Companies interested in participating in the “Donate Your Leave” initiative often encounter the following challenges:

• Time-consuming communication regarding the funds collection: if managed through messages or even spreadsheets, such a communication can take really long.
• Difficulties in data processing: it was not easy to collect the data about the amount of hours donated, confirm and organize it without a single tool to manage the whole process. Additionally, there were risks of losing some data because of manual processing.
• Convoluted calculations: At the calculations stage, companies faced a lot of manual work as the data needed to be transferred to a centralized database, hours needed to be calculated as their money equivalent and then withdrawn from the vacation balance of employees.
• Legal challenges: companies who work with private entrepreneurs can relatively easily transfer the sum accumulated from leave donations to the fund. Meanwhile, for companies who have hired workers or gig-specialists the situation might be more complicated due to the labor legislation.

PeopleForce’s role in simplifying the process

After recognizing the importance of the “Donate Your Leave” initiative for the IT community, we realized that to make this initiative fully work, we need to help the companies organise the leave donation process. That’s how we’ve come to the idea to join forces with KOLO.

How PeopleForce enhances the initiative

Our platform offers solutions to address companies’ key challenges:

• Centralized data collection: Managers no longer need to individually survey employees. Instead, they can launch a “Donate Vacation” campaign directly in PeopleForce. Employees can join by clicking a banner and selecting the number of hours or days they wish to donate.
• Streamlined request processing: Once the campaign ends, managers can download a comprehensive report detailing participation. This ensures no data is lost, and the entire process is transparent.
• Automated calculations: Donated hours or days are automatically converted into their monetary equivalent based on employee salaries, provided this data is available in the platform. Donations are deducted from leave balances and associated budgets, leaving payroll unaffected.

Who can join the initiative

The leave donation feature is available to all Ukrainian PeopleForce users and is particularly relevant for IT companies working with contractors. These companies are often familiar with KOLO, the largest charitable foundation in the Ukrainian tech community.

KOLO provides all the materials needed to launch the initiative, while PeopleForce offers recommendations to promote it within teams. Our support team is also available to assist at every stage of the process.

Learn more about how companies can launch leave donation campaigns through PeopleForce here.