Managing Reward Systems Through HRM During Extreme Turbulence: Evidence From the Russia–Ukraine War

Extreme turbulence forces organizations to reassess the strategic value of their human resource practices. This study examines how extreme turbulence, such as war, triggers changes in reward systems and explores how organizations respond, react and adapt to the contingency to sustain employees' motivation and engagement. Under the theoretical perspective of strategic human resource management (HRM) and contingency- based perspectives, this study examines how a Ukrainian company reconfigured its employee reward mix during the Russia–Ukraine war, conceptualized as an extreme stress- test environment for HR systems. Using a case study approach, we collected qualitative evidence through semi- structured interviews with three key decision makers and conducted a multi- criteria assessment using the analytic hierarchy process. The findings indicate a clear prioritization of financial rewards as primary levers for stabilizing the workforce, while developmental and socio- relational rewards retain a complementary but meaningful strategic role. The study suggests how reward systems function as strategic adaptation mechanisms and contribute to organizational resilience under conditions of persistent instability. Implications for the strategic reconfiguration of reward portfolios in crisis contexts are discussed. The originality of this study stems from analyzing how a Ukrainian organization redesigns its reward and motivation systems while operating under the pressures of war.