The capital company “Ergolife” is known in the domestic furniture industry, and in particular in our Association, for selling ergonomic office furniture and accessories, as well as comprehensively equipping customers’ offices with them, creating workspaces convenient for office workers to work and relax. Some of the furniture is manufactured by itself, but a lot of it is imported from many countries, especially accessories useful for office work.

The war effectively deprived the company of corporate customers, which were the basis of its customer base. Indeed, the owner of the company, Ilya Medvedev, said that if before the war the company, developing, and improved the working conditions of its office workers, made modern expensive repairs, changing traditional tables and chairs to ergonomic furniture that promotes more productive work, organizing comfortable rest areas, then in the current conditions, they do not risk investing significant funds in office re-equipment. Another reason is the banal lack of funds due to the reduction in production volumes caused by the war, and thus profits. There is also another important circumstance: many employees now work outside offices – remotely.

– It was this circumstance, – admits Mr. Ilya, – that became a lifesaver for us. It turned out that people also needed modern ergonomic work corners for working at home, and they began to order from us the necessary equipment for their equipment. Therefore, already in a month and a half after the beginning of the Russian invasion, the company started working in its usual working rhythm, fulfilling mostly individual orders. Production volumes are lower, but jobs have not been cut, and no one has been laid off – even new jobs have been created for displaced people. Another ten percent of the turnover is transferred to the needs of the army.

– Production volumes have decreased, but despite this, you expanded the staff… What is the logic?

– Additional workers are needed for the implementation of new developments. For example, we will produce our own acoustic panels in order to be less dependent on imports. The same applies to ergonomic desks. There are enough imported ones from various brands, but we also want to have our own development, Ukrainian design.

– Acoustic panels are usually used to equip individual work soundproof spaces in offices, but you hardly equip offices now.

– We are working on the future. After all, the time of the post-war revival of Ukraine will come, and our client base will again be replenished with corporate clients. And even now they happen. For example, some IT companies still feel confident and do not neglect issues of ergonomic work organization. We are also observing another trend: some companies are improving their offices in order to bring back employees who work remotely. That is, to create better working conditions in the office than employees have at home.

– Given the fact that you import things for ergonomic purposes from different parts of the world, do you have problems with this in the current conditions?

– As we bought before the war, we buy everything we need everywhere. I would like to mention that we have such an assortment of everything needed to create a modern ergonomic workspace, which even a similar foreign company, which operates in better conditions than we do at the present time, could hardly boast. However, imports are now more expensive for us, mainly because logistics have become more complicated. Due to this, delivery times have also increased. For example, purchasing goods from China or New Zealand goes to us through Europe. Moreover, part of this path – from Europe to Ukraine turned out to be the most problematic.

– If you have the opportunity to buy everything you need abroad, why bother yourself by developing your own production?

– In some cases, it is economically more profitable. In others, it is dictated by the specifics of some projects that require highly individualized solutions, which we offer to clients based on our own developments.

– Tell us more about the already mentioned assistance to the army.

– We have specific recipients of such assistance. But mainly it is the Belotserk Brigade. We promptly respond to her needs. It is common to think that the needs of soldiers are limited to food, clothing, shoes, and personal hygiene items. But no, we also receive applications for nails, mounting foam, paints – things, it would seem, for purely economic, not the military purposes.