Editor’s note: NeuGroup’s online communities provide members a forum to pose questions and give answers. Talking Shop shares valuable insights from these exchanges, anonymously. Send us your responses: [email protected].
Member Question: “As a result of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, we have Russian national employees based in Russia who are looking to relocate and effectively become employees of our Dutch entity. Because of the restrictions on getting cash out of the country from employees’ personal bank accounts, we’re looking to support them with a one-time relocation allowance.
- “Does anyone have experience with this type of effort and, if so, could you share how you supported this? We’re exploring prepaid debit cards, corporate cards, etc.; but no luck so far on a solution that helps support employees upon landing in the Netherlands.”
Peer answer: “Look into Payoneer. They offer digital wallets and standalone cards; we haven’t used them, but we did look into them for the same purposes.”
Western Union? In March, at one of NeuGroup’s frequent meetings for members to discuss how they’re handling the challenges presented by the crisis, one member shared with peers a Western Union B2C solution called Quick Cash to wire to money to fleeing employees once they reach other countries.
- NeuGroup Insights reached out to that member this week for an update. “Fortunately, we did not need to use [Quick Cash],” he wrote. “Our primary plan was for refugees to get to a designated bank branch/bank contact where an account was quickly opened for several employees.
- “The Western Union solution was to be used if there was situation where we couldn’t get an express account opened in each of the respective countries bordering Ukraine. But we did, thanks to Citi’s immense help with ensuring key local bank contact points.”
