EMEA Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2024
Bucharest, July 2019: The employees working in Bucharest in modern offices make an average of 46 minutes between home and work, 52% of them considering the commuting time to be long or too long, according to the first edition of the Working Habits and Commuting Patterns study, realised by the real estate consultancy comapany Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
The average distance between home and work is 10.7 kilometers, therefore the average commuting speed at peak hours is about 14 kilometers per hour, in this study being included both the employees who use their personal or work car, and the ones who use public transport or alternative means of transport.
More than half (54%) of the employees use the metro, 38% use the car, and a significant number of respondents need more means of transport to get to work.
At the office, 22% of the respondents declare themselves dissatisfied with the facilities (services, restaurants, leisure facilities) in the area, while 47% consider that the offer could be improved, with the most demanding functions being those in the restaurant area and cafes (37%), fitness centers (26%) and supermarkets (24%).
If the employees could choose their office location, half of them would prefer to work in the Center, Tineretului – Unirii – Universitate (31%), and CBD, Piaţa Victoriei – Aviatorilor (19%). The other preferred areas are Military – Drumul Taberei (16%) and Piaţa Muncii – Pallady – Pantelimon (13%), districts with a smaller office stock, but with a high density of the population.
The time spent in traffic also reflects in the employees’ desire to work from the office or not – if there would be complete freedom in choosing the place to work, only 45% of the time would be spent in an office, while the rest of the program would be assigned to work from home (35%), in a coworking space (10%) or an unconventional space, such as a cafe or the food-court (10%).
However, in the process of selecting the job, the most important criteria taken into account are the salary and the job description, followed by the benefits package and the flexibility of the working hours.
Mădălina Cojocaru, Partner, Office Agency, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “The way the employees work in Bucharest is constantly changing, being influenced by the city dynamics, new technologies and lifestyle changes. Employees are looking for more flexibility to render efficient their time, they have quickly embraced the alternative means of transport, such as bicycles and scooters, and have a preference for the mixed-use projects with residential and retail components, as well as to those located in central areas, that are better connected to the public transport network and to the city’s major points of interest.”
The Working Habits & Commuting Patterns study was realised by Cristi Moga, Head of Research and Vlad Săftoiu, Research Analyst Cushman & Wakefield Echinox and was conducted between April and May 2019 on a sample of 500 respondents in Bucharest, while the data was collected online by MKOR Consulting company. The average age of the respondents is 34 years, and 92% of them have higher education diploma or are still students.
Cushman & Wakefield Echinox is one of the largest real estate consulting companies in the local market, and the exclusive affiliate of Cushman & Wakefield in Romania, owned and operated independently. The Office department is active in Bucharest and in the largest cities of the country, such as Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Iaşi sau Braşov, and has been involved over the past three years in over 100 transactions with a cumulative surface area of about 150,000 square meters. The Research Department has conducted more than 50 customized reports for local and international investors, banks and European institutions over the last three years.
Cushman & Wakefield Echinox team of over 60 professionals and collaborators offers a full range of services to investors, developers, owners and tenants across all segments of the real estate market. For more information, visit www.cwechinox.com.
Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services company with 51.000 employees in more than 70 countries, helping owners, occupiers and investors to optimize the value of their real estate. Cushman & Wakefield revenues of $8.2 billion come from core services of investment & asset management, capital markets, agency leasing, tenant representation, asset and facility services, project management, valuation & advisory. To learn more, visit www.cwechinox.com.
MKOR Consulting is an innovative market research agency that combines business experience, know-how at doctoral level and MBA, as well as top expertise to provide in-depth understanding of the business environment. The activity of MKOR Consulting covers all types of research and offers increased flexibility to its clients, with the aim of understanding and delivering the most detailed market perspectives. For more details, visit: https://mkor.ro.
