The share of employees with mobilization reservation has noticeably increased in the Ukrainian IT sector. Over the year, the indicator among surveyed men nearly doubled. At the same time, the ability to obtain reservation differs significantly depending on specialization, company size, and business direction.
This is evidenced by the results of the DOU study published on November 9. Analysts used responses from 7,979 men working in Ukrainian IT and located in Ukraine. The survey was conducted in May-June 2026, and the results were compared with data from the previous two waves.
As of June, 31% of surveyed men had reservation: 24% from their primary employer, while 7% from another job. In June 2025, the total share of reserved individuals was 17%.
At the same time, the share of specialists with reservation directly from the employer increased from 13% to 24% over the year. This indicator grew most actively in the first half of 2026.
Simultaneously, the number of respondents without reservation decreased: their share declined from 44% to 30%. About 15-16% of respondents reported having a deferment for other reasons.
The most noticeable difference is observed between managerial and technical specialties. Among top company executives, 53% have employer reservation, while among software developers the figure is 20%, and among testing specialists it is 21%.
Professional level also matters. Senior specialists have 25% reservation, Middle have 19%, and Junior only 6%.
The study also revealed a correlation between business scale and the share of reserved employees. In companies with over a thousand employees, 33% of respondents have this status, whereas in small teams of up to ten people the figure is 9%.
Among IT companies directly, product enterprises have a higher indicator - 26%. In the outsourcing segment, it is about 20%, in startups - 19%, and in outstaffing companies - 16%.
The highest share of reserved employees was among defense technology (DefTech) and MilTech specialists - 63%. This is more than twice the average employer reservation rate among survey participants.
Relatively high indicators were also recorded in government digital technology (GovTech) - 34%, industrial technology - 33%, and cybersecurity - 30%.
There are also regional differences. Among major IT hubs, the highest share of employees with employer reservation was recorded in Kyiv and the region - 30%. In Lviv it is 24%, Dnipro - 21%, Odesa - 16%, Kharkiv - 14%.
Therefore, the survey results indicate an increasing prevalence of reservation among its participants, but this process is uneven. The highest indicators are observed in defense technologies, among managers, and employees of large companies.
At the same time, DOU data are based on responses from voluntary survey participants, not on official reservation statistics. The study covers only men residing in Ukraine, so the presented indicators should not be automatically extrapolated to all IT industry employees. Certain professional and industry groups also have small samples.
