Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract

Drawing on research with displaced Ukrainians in Czechia and Germany, this paper examines how cross-border remote work sustains professional continuity while producing social and affective frictions shaped by war, displacement, and precarious legal and social conditions.

Paper long abstract

When they left their home country after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, some Ukrainians relied on remote work arrangements to continue working with employers or clients during displacement, using digital connections to sustain livelihoods across borders. These arrangements can present an opportunity to sustain relationships with their professional network and to circumvent the hurdles to entering the labour markets in their host countries.

At the same time, working remotely with team members in a country at war produces ongoing practical and emotional challenges, such as electricity cuts in Ukraine, adjusting meeting times to colleagues affected by airstrikes, or feelings of guilt associated with being in a safe place. Moreover, not being able to engage in everyday casual interactions in person, some feel increasingly disconnected from their coworkers.

Drawing on research with displaced Ukrainians in the Czech Republic and Germany, this paper examines how transnational remote work is experienced as both a strategy of continuity and a source of disjuncture. We explore how digital connections produce social and affective frictions that are embedded in wider mobilities, including visiting Ukraine for work events and the formation of communities among displaced workers. Our paper contributes to debates on remote work and displacement by examining how working with colleagues in a country at war (re)shapes professional boundaries, affective relations, and processes of integration in host communities.