ChargePoint Holdings Inc. has a small number of contract employees trapped in war-struck Ukraine, and the EV charging company is searching for ways to help them, CEO Pasquale Romano said.
Fewer than 20 employees, mostly software engineers, aren’t able to flee the country in the wake of the Russian invasion after the Ukrainian government banned men of ages 18 to 60 years old from leaving. Romano said in an interview Thursday that ChargePoint is trying to help relocate any of their family members who are able to leave, as well as make sure the employees have reliable communications in case local phone and computer networks fail during the fighting.
“One person in harm’s way who works for your company is bad enough,” he said.
Although ChargePoint has been expanding its operations in Europe, it does not have any EV charging stations in Ukraine. But many U.S. tech companies have employees or offices in Ukraine, which has a highly educated population and a large pool of talented programmers.
