Back in October 2024, I first raised the question: “Should the price per job posting in large packages be higher than in small ones?” The discussion was interesting, though not particularly heated—48 comments in total. Yet the question itself is extremely important.

Bulk Packages, Pricing, and Discounts Remain a Relevant Issue

For the past two years, Ukraine’s shortage of working-age people has exceeded 30% and, unfortunately, continues to grow. At the same time, the number of vacancies has long since returned to 2021 levels, averaging more than 100,000 job postings every month.

Competition for candidates keeps intensifying. There simply are not enough candidates for the number of open positions available. However, the pricing models used by Work.ua and other platforms still largely reflect an era when vacancies were scarce and job seekers abundant—the so-called employer’s market.

When there were not enough vacancies, and a large company approached us saying it was ready to post 100 or even 500 jobs, we were naturally very interested. That is how substantial discounts for bulk packages emerged. For packages of 500 vacancies or more, the effective discount per job posting could reach 80% or even exceed that level when annual purchases were involved.

Whether that was fair to small businesses, and whether those discounts could have been smaller—and by how much—are important questions as well. But regardless, that is now part of history.

Since then, the labor market has changed dramatically because of the war. Today, Ukraine lacks people, not vacancies. For this reason, we have already revised and reduced bulk-package discounts several times. Nevertheless, they remain significant, still reaching 50% or more, especially when purchasing six or twelve packages at once.

Is It Still Right to Offer Bulk Discounts?

We have been thinking about this since 2024. And, to be honest and transparent, the conclusion we keep arriving at is simple: no, it is not.

I understand that this may be difficult to accept, especially for large companies that already allocate substantial budgets to recruitment. But at some point, this change has to happen.

If we continue reducing discounts gradually—by 10–20% at a time—it would take another five years to achieve pricing parity. More importantly, it is genuinely hard to justify why, in a market where people are in short supply, small businesses should pay full price while large companies continue to receive discounts.

Interestingly, the conversation can go even further. We wrote about this back in 2024 in our article “Should the price per vacancy in large packages be higher than in small ones?” There are many examples of companies such as Google and Amazon, where the price per unit of service actually increases with larger purchases. The reasoning is straightforward: smaller businesses face greater challenges, while larger organizations can naturally afford to pay more, including for each additional workplace they create.

For example, at Google, the price per user in packages of up to 100 users is $6, while for more than 150 users it rises to $12 per user, and for 250 or more users it reaches $18 per user.

Will we adopt a similar approach in the future? We honestly do not know yet. It requires much more thought and discussion. What is already clear, however, is that in the foreseeable future we will move away from bulk packages and large discounts.

Let’s Discuss the Future Together

First and foremost, we would greatly appreciate your comments and perspectives. We understand that news like this can be difficult to process emotionally. But we ask you to look beyond personal reactions and consider the realities of today’s labor market.

Try to see this not only through the lens of your company’s interests—where things may have been more advantageous before and will now become more equal—but through a broader question: was the previous system truly fair?

And perhaps, rather than focusing on frustration that things may become less favorable today, we might also appreciate how long conditions remained considerably better than elsewhere.

I do not know whether everyone will see it that way. But we will find out. What is certain is that we need to talk, exchange views, and think about these issues together.

That is why we invite you to join us on March 17 at 4:30 PM at the Ukrainian School of Management (118 Antonovycha Street, Kyiv), so that we can discuss these questions in a genuine dialogue rather than in comment sections.

If at least 50 people express interest, we will definitely hold the meeting.

Sincerely — Founder and CEO of Work.ua, Arthur Mikhno.