Study: Romanian corporate people – the way of thinking and the family/work balance

Maintaining a balance between the job and the family became a challenge for young people working in multinational corporations present in Romania, according to Yuppies! (Young Urban Professionals) study, made and published by Exact Cercetare si Consultanta.

The study was made between March 23rd and 30th and aimed to understand the category “Young&Hired”, that includes young people in Bucharest, aged 25-35 y.o, with high education and monthly income of over RON 2,500.

Activating for a long time on in marketing research, I realized it is a real challenge to target young people. First, they have many demands and, when they are asked what is exactly what they want from your brand, they become mysterious and hard to approach. It seems that nothing from what they consume is satisfying them completely. In this context, in which “It can be done better” appear frequently, it often appears a perspective related to their career – I am talking here mainly about young people with high education. They are sure they want to work in a multinational company, for simple reasons: development opportunities and financial benefits. Once they get there, there are other challenges that appear and other ideas for the future. We obtained some precious insight from this young people, in our Young&Hired study – an exploration of young corporate people

Lacramioara Loghin

Managing Director Exact

Exact team continues this way a study series dedicated to young people, focusing this time on professionals of 25-35 y.o. Within this target, there were identified 4 categories of people, that are differentiated through the success recipe and social and professional aspirations

The Jogger

This is the youngest of study’s categories and includes professionals with ages of around 25 years old, most of them facing their 1st experience in a multinational company.  These people chose to work in a corporation for a stable and consistent salary and they still prefer social life and fun, without thinking about giving up their career. Although they want an as good as possible salary, the people in this category avoid working extra hours and tend to invest in their professional life more to keep the job they have and not aiming to get a promotion. They spend their free time by going out with friends or by dedicating it to their personal hobbies.

The Sprint Runner

A modified perspective is seen at young people aged 25-30 y.o. This segment of age is the period when, for many corporate people, it starts a steep and quiet competition at job, one supported with working over hours, with family and marriage plans getting on the 2ns place and with an acute need of performance recognition by superiors.

Occupying usually a middle-management position, the people in this segment don’t take in consideration making a family in the near future, consider that a serious relationship will limit his time and energy and wants to invest in his professional life.

The work environment tends to take over his free time also. This is why he usually goes out with work colleagues, while some mini-holidays are replaced with team buildings paid by employers.

The Long-Way Runner

The perspective of corporate people starts changing after 30s, at least compared to the five years preceding this age. “The long-way runner” includes corporate people aged 30-32 y.o. They have around 10 years background experience, most of the times in the same company. People included in this category tend to bring back on the 1st place personal relationships, considering career important mainly because it insures the needed income to start and support a family.  Although they are preoccupied by family and future, these professionals aren’t very active socially and politically, being more socially-democratic passive oriented

The Former Runner

Includes professionals aged 33-35 y.o., that are getting, at this age, management jobs. With approximately 15 years of experience in 2 or 3 multinational companies, people in this segment are looking to get out of the corporate medium, considering freelancing or starting their own business. Although the professional life occupied the 1st place for a long time, this people want to dedicate more time to their hobbies and personal lives and they tend even to accept less money for a more flexible program. Their spare time isn’t dedicated anymore to going out, but to long time spent with their newly founded family, the one they are reporting to at their age.

The entire study, in Romanian, is available here.

Exact team working on the study was coordinated by Andrei Constantin (Qualitative Research Executive), Denisa Iacoboaea (Qualitative Research Assistant), Ioana Costache (Field Coordinator) and Malina Titirez (Client Service Director).

Exact Research & Consultancy is a full service market research agency that offers to its clients an interpretation of data that goes beyond numbers, based on consultancy and marketing knowhow.