Nova Poshta Has Faced Its Biggest Reputational Crisis — CEO
Yevhen Tafiychuk, CEO of “Nova Poshta,” spoke about the major reputational crisis the company has faced. According to him, the situation turned into a “perfect storm,” with each new decision only fueling the wave of outrage among users.
Tafiychuk also announced that the company plans to donate funds to organizations that help animals in frontline areas.
How the Crisis Began
The scandal began with a video showing employees at one of “Nova Poshta’s” frontline branches using a mop to shove a stray dog out of the building in the heat. The footage instantly went viral on social media and sparked a barrage of criticism.
Acting on impulse, management decided to fire the employees involved—but this only made the situation worse: users began to accuse the company of disrespecting people who work in frontline conditions.
The fired employees then set out on their own to search for the dog, found it, and took photos with it. However, this sparked a new wave of outrage—as people recognized the same men in the photos who had previously chased the animal away.
“In short, we found ourselves in a perfect storm, where any new action only makes the situation worse,” noted Tafiychuk.
According to the CEO, the entire management team—the CEO, the owners, and the board of directors—got involved in resolving the conflict. The first step was to address the dog’s situation: the animal was taken to Kyiv, examined by a veterinarian, vaccinated, and taken to a groomer. The dog is currently being temporarily housed by one of the company’s top managers, and the company is searching for its previous owners or a new family.
The second step was to reinstate the dismissed employees. The company acknowledged that the decision to fire them had been made too emotionally.
“It was an unkind act that damaged the company’s reputation. But people are our greatest asset, and when it comes to frontline areas, every person is ‘worth their weight in gold,’” explained Tafiychuk.
According to him, it turned out that the company simply did not have clear rules of conduct regarding stray animals at its branches—this gap is now being addressed.
The company also analyzed the root cause of the incident—the problem of stray dogs in frontline areas. According to the CEO, “Nova Poshta” has decided to fund organizations that help abandoned animals in these regions. Similar situations are regularly reported by volunteers who rescue animals directly near the front lines.
Tafiychuk noted that the public outcry surrounding the situation prompted changes not only at “Nova Poshta”: other companies have also begun placing water bowls for animals and announcing their own pet-friendly policies.
“This was a difficult test for the company, and I’m glad that even in such challenging times, we’re staying true to our values and remaining human,” he concluded.
“Nova Poshta’s” post about rescuing the dog garnered 13,000 reactions and over a thousand comments. Some users supported the company’s actions, but quite a few readers noted that the photos of the rescued dog featured the very same employees who had previously chased the animal away with a mop—some commenters described this as unacceptable, while others asked rhetorically whether these people would treat the dog better than before.
The company responded to the criticism by removing from the post a photo showing the fired employees hugging the dog—users viewed this as an attempt to mitigate the damage to its reputation rather than to acknowledge a mistake, and the wave of outrage online intensified. As of the publication of this article, there had been no public statements from relevant animal welfare organizations regarding this incident.
This is reported with reference to Tafiychuk’s Facebook post.
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