JetBrains: turning the urgent relocation of 250 employees into an ongoing mobility solution

When JetBrains decided to close offices in Russia, the company reached out to Jobbatical to support the relocation of close to 250 employees to Germany.

With 12 offices spanning from China to the USA and all over Europe, JetBrains, which is headquartered in Prague is a truly global software company dedicated to creating productivity-enhancing tools for software developers and teams. The company is home to over 2000 professionals dedicated to "making professional software development a more productive and enjoyable experience” - one of them is Birgit Steiner, Global Relocation Manager. 

The need for fast and efficient relocation, at scale‍

Birgit explains that, before 2022, relocation was a benefit for JetBrains employees, cases were few and handled internally. When the company made the decision to close offices in Russia, in March 2022, JetBrains reached out to Jobbatical to help them move close to 250 of their workers out of the country. “We used to work with our own JetBrains project management software YouTrack, Google folders and Excel sheets, but we would not have been able to do it without your platform”. Steiner shares how collaborating with Jobbatical at such a critical moment allowed JetBrains to get a timely response to their urgent immigration needs and avoid hiring costly additional resources at uncertain times. 

Making relocation a “transparent and predictable” process‍

Between automation, expert support, and documentation management, collaborating with Jobbatical has resulted in significant time savings. The regular status updates help easily spot delays, keep track of progress on visas and pinpoint employees in need of the Global Mobility team's attention. At the same time, JetBrain’s employees benefit from an updated timeline, notifications about the latest developments and the dedicated support of a Jobbatical agent. This “makes the process transparent and predictable” and eliminates the need for random check-ins with every employee, saving “an enormous amount of time”. 

Birgit further highlights how the Jobbatical platform provides everyone with a centralized source for document downloads, “it's very, very helpful, especially with this volume of relocation cases”. “It’s a big plus” that employees independently upload all their documents, while the mobility team uploads contracts and can easily remove or manage files as required. Jobbatical’s GDPR protection offers additional comfort and confidence - “we trust that our employees' data is safe at your platform”. 

A solution for the long haul‍

A successful partnership that initially addressed an urgent need has since evolved into a long-term collaboration, offering JetBrains current and future employees an exceptional mobility experience. As expressed by Steiner, “you were an enormous help during this difficult time last year and we are looking forward to continuing to work together”. We will need your help renewing work and residence permits in 2024”.