Upwork and Tent Announce “Opportunity Unlimited” to Connect Professionals Displaced from Ukraine to Remote Work Opportunities

Upwork, the world’s work marketplace, and the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent), a global network of over 250 major businesses committed to supporting refugees, today launched “Opportunity Unlimited: Connecting displaced professionals to remote work” – a new initiative to connect tens of thousands of professionals displaced from Ukraine to skilled remote work opportunities.

As Europe sees its largest refugee crisis since World War II – with over 5 million people having fled Ukraine and 8 million internally displaced – and as Ukraine faces an estimated loss of 5 million jobs, the initiative connects companies around the world to highly skilled displaced talent from Ukraine using Upwork, ensuring these professionals can gain economic independence while displaced.

“As we mark a grim milestone – over four months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – it’s more important than ever that displaced people within and outside Ukraine are given the chance to earn income for themselves and their families,” said Gideon Maltz, executive director at the Tent Partnership for Refugees. “As permanent employment may not yet be available for most refugees from Ukraine, freelance work is a lifeline for connecting them to income and leveraging their skills, especially in the IT and digital sectors. By actively recruiting talent that has been displaced by the war in Ukraine, companies in the U.S., Europe, and around the world will not only be helping vulnerable people, but also benefiting from displaced professionals’ talent.”

“We’ve been in awe of the Ukrainian people’s resilience over the course of this crisis, having figured out how to take their work with them and continue earning a livelihood under the most impossible circumstances,” said Hayden Brown, president and CEO of Upwork. “As part of our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives, we are thrilled to mobilize with our partners around the world to encourage companies to find and hire these incredible, skilled professionals from Ukraine, wherever they may be.”

The initiative has launched with professional services company Genpact and digital transformation firm Sutherland as hiring partners, who will work closely with Tent and Upwork to match professionals from Ukraine with a range of backgrounds and skills – including web, mobile and software development, customer support, and marketing – with projects and long-term engagements on Upwork. Based on initial learnings, Tent and Upwork will develop best practices for how companies can integrate displaced independent professionals into their existing operations at scale and will grow the initiative to include more companies as well as other refugee populations like displaced people from Syria and Venezuela.