Companies like Apple protect and sometimes save employees. Image credit: Max Kukurudzyak
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A former Apple employee has publicly thanked the company and CEO Tim Cook for their help in evacuating employees and their families in the city of Kharkiv as Russia's invasion of the country hit the northeastern Ukrainian city.
Katrin Rezykova, who previously worked at Apple as an engineer and developer, noted in a tweet on X.com on Oct. 25 that she “never told” the story of how Apple evacuated her and her grandmother, among others, from Kharkiv. In her post, she said Apple “hired security contractors — translators, drivers, everything” to assist with the evacuation.
Calling the story “very internal and not for press,” Rezykova also showed an undated email from Apple CEO Tim Cook after she informed Cook and others at Apple that the evacuation was successful. In his response, Cook expressed gratitude for the confirmation and added, “Please pass on my best wishes to your grandmother.”
After making the brief story public, she also thanked others who commented on her post for their “kind words and support.” Rezykova added that she recently spoke with her grandmother about the warm response.
“We had a nostalgic moment on the phone, reminiscing about that week,” she said. “We are so happy as a family that she made it to safety,” adding that posting the story was only meant to publicly express her gratitude. “This is in no way an affiliation or promotion of Apple,” Rezykova added.
I never told you how much @Apple did to help evacuate my grandmother from the hell that was Kharkiv in 2023. They hired security contractors to get people out. The level of coordination on site and online was insane — translators, drivers, everything. Grateful. pic.twitter.com/6Uok3MiIpS
— kate (@whoiskatrin) October 25, 2024
Other companies around the world have found themselves in similar positions when it comes to protecting or evacuating employees from war-torn areas or natural disasters. Security firm Global Guardian told the Financial Times in 2022 that it had evacuated “more than 4,000” employees, many of whom were from US and European Fortune 500 companies, from Ukraine.
Another Apple employee, Stef Kreske, confirmed in the comments to Rezykova’s post that the company regularly provides assistance to employees and their families caught up in large-scale emergencies. Kreske noted that during some previous hurricanes in Florida and Texas, Apple deployed “a dedicated team to evacuate a gentleman who was working from home and was disabled.”
“They hired a crew specifically to pick him up and get him out of Florida before the hurricane hit,” adding that they paid for him to stay at a hotel in another state and “brought him home after” the emergency passed.
“I will always have the utmost respect for Apple and how they bring their people together in the toughest of times,” she added.
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