Working hours by the clock
Kyiv is on UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer. A 9:00 to 17:00 working day in your city falls at these times in Kyiv:
- New York: 16:00 to midnight.
- Chicago: 17:00 to 01:00.
- Los Angeles: 19:00 to 03:00.
- London: 11:00 to 19:00.
- Paris, Amsterdam or Madrid: 10:00 to 18:00.
Two shift patterns cover most needs. A local shift from 13:00 to 22:00 covers 6:00 to 15:00 in New York. A normal 9:00 to 18:00 day clears everything that arrived overnight and overlaps the first two hours of a New York morning. The US and Europe change their clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks in March and around early November the gap to New York is six hours instead of seven. Check your dates with the time-zone overlap tool.
English and communication
Ukrainian is the main language. English is taught at school and used every day in IT, outsourcing and international companies, but levels vary a lot from person to person. For client-facing writing, ask for B2+ at least; for an executive assistant who writes in your name, C1.
Do not rely on a CV line that says fluent. Ask for a written answer to a realistic email and hold part of the first call in a role-play. Candidates apply to Stafka with a written English task and a recorded voice answer, each profile shows the English level, and we check their English on a live call before you interview them.
Roles that work well remotely
- Executive and operations assistants: inbox, calendar, travel, vendors, reporting. See hiring an executive assistant from Ukraine.
- Customer support and e-commerce: email and chat queues, orders, returns. See hiring customer support from Ukraine.
- Bookkeeping: possible, with care. Local training follows local rules, so test the person on your software and your chart of accounts. See hiring a bookkeeper from Ukraine.
How contracting usually works
Most remote professionals in Ukraine who work for foreign clients do so as independent contractors, and many are registered as private entrepreneurs, known locally as FOP, which lets them invoice foreign clients. Ask how the person is registered and keep their invoices; their local tax registration is their side of the arrangement.
You sign a contractor agreement directly with the person and pay monthly. Deel's contractor plan is $491 a month and includes the contract and invoices; Wise charges from 0.23%2 per transfer; Payoneer is another common option. Agree the currency in the contract. This is general information, not legal or tax advice; our contractor agreement checklist lists what to put in writing.
Plan for interruptions
Power cuts and air-raid alerts can interrupt a working day in Ukraine, especially in winter. Ask every candidate rather than assume:
- Is there backup power for the laptop and the router?
- Is there a second internet connection, such as mobile data?
- Where do you work if the power is out for several hours?
- How will you let me know about an outage, and how do we make up lost hours?
Put the answers in your working agreement. Shared documents and a written end-of-day handover mean nothing is stuck on one laptop. For roles that need live coverage every hour, such as a support queue, plan for two people or a named backup.
Pay and cost
Our full-time executive assistant vacancies pay $800–1,1003 a month and our customer support vacancies $700–1,0004 a month, the same bands in all four countries we recruit in. For comparison, the US national median for executive assistants is $76,5905 a year. The Ukraine hiring hub shows each role with local and US pay data, and our guide to paying contractors abroad compares the payment tools.
When Ukraine is not the best choice
If you need someone live through the whole US West Coast day, Ukraine means a night shift; Latin America or a US-based hire will be more sustainable. If even a short interruption is unacceptable, build redundancy whatever country you choose. For the US morning, European hours or work done overnight, Ukraine is a strong fit.
To start, post the job yourself or ask Stafka for three matching profiles. Stafka replaces the person free of charge if they leave or do not work out within 1806 days of the start date: one replacement per placement, once the placement fee has been paid and as long as the role, hours and pay stay as agreed. The fee itself is not refunded.
Questions
What time zone is Ukraine in compared with the US?
Kyiv is seven hours ahead of New York for most of the year, eight ahead of Chicago and ten ahead of Los Angeles. For a few weeks in spring and autumn, when the US and Europe have changed their clocks on different dates, the gap is one hour smaller.
Is it safe to hire a remote assistant in Ukraine during the war?
Remote work with contractors in Ukraine runs through the usual contracts and payment tools. The practical risk is interruptions: power cuts, alerts, connectivity. Ask about backup power and internet, keep work in shared documents, and plan a backup for roles that need constant coverage.
Do I need a Ukrainian company to hire someone there?
Not for a typical contractor arrangement: you sign a contractor agreement and pay invoices. If you need an employee, an employer of record is the usual route. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Can a Ukrainian assistant cover New York business hours?
Yes, on a shift from 16:00 to midnight Kyiv time, which covers 9:00 to 17:00 in New York. Many teams prefer a 13:00 to 22:00 shift, which covers the New York morning and keeps the evening reasonable.
General information for small employers, not legal or tax advice: check contracts, tax and data rules for your country with a qualified adviser. Figures carry their sources below; our own prices are on the pricing page. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@stafka.com.