Romanian managers require flex-time, as the number 1 benefit in 2020

Romanian managers have chosen flex-time as the number 1 benefit in 2020, followed by free insurance and medical services. These are the conclusions of an opinion survey conducted among managers in Romania by EXEC-EDU, the leader of the executive education market, the top segment of the training market.

Thus, 67.7% of Romanian managers wanted to have flexible working last year, while 46.2% requested insurance and free medical services, with financial bonuses being on the third place in the benefits top, required by only 38.5% of managers. The next positions in the benefits ranking are occupied by courses and coaching (27.7%), holidays and days off (26.2%), company car (21.5%).

”The pandemic changed the Romanian managers options in terms of fringe benefits. As expected, medical insurance has become important, but also flexible working, which is no longer an exception, but a legally regulated standard in the labour market. Many graduates told us that 2020 showed them how productive remote work can be, while benefiting from other advantages, such as being able to work without interruption when needed, the comfort of working from home, the possibility of supervising their children. The advantages are also on the side of employers, because they can better assess really productive managers. The lack of performance is more obvious now and easily measured, especially in the case of popular managers who have built their careers more on their charm and relationships, rather than their efficiency,” says Oana Scarlat, CEO EXEC-EDU.

Asked how the company’s benefits package has changed in the pandemic, 63.1% of managers surveyed say the package remained at the same level. For 20% of companies this package has decreased, while for 16.9% of companies the benefits have increased.

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76.3% of respondents noted that the top management benefit package was correlated with the company’s financial performance.

The study also shows an increase in interest in courses and other forms of personal development. Thus, in 2021, the main benefit requested by managers in this area are the niche specialization courses (58.5%), followed by coaching and wellbeing which are required by 49.2% of them, while 15.4% of them are interested in attending an MBA.

In terms of courses chosen by managers for their teams, 76.9% of respondents prefer outsourced courses, supported by specialized training and executive education companies, while 44.6% opt for in-house courses delivered by internal trainers.

The EXEC-EDU survey, conducted in July, was answered by managers and representatives of human resources departments in industries such as retail, IT, oil and gas, gambling, education, FMCG, banking, agribusiness, courier, transport, consultancy, farm, real-estate, telecom, automotive, insurance.

61.5% of respondents work in companies with turnovers of more than 10 million euros, 18.5% work in companies with turnovers of 5-10 million euros, and 20% are in companies with turnovers smaller than 5 million euros.