In March–April 2006, the Centre for Partnership and Equality conducted a study of the Bucharest labour market entitled ‘Women and men in organisations’. The research examined issues such as: the time spent at the workplace and its consequences; career development; opinions about women and men in the workplace, and their effects; and gender discrimination. More than half of the survey respondents believe that job promotions are biased.
About the study
‘Women and men in organisations’ was a survey conducted on behalf of the Centre for Partnership and Equality (Centrul Parteneriat pentru Egalitate, CPE) by the Institute of Marketing and Polls (Institutul de Marketing şi Sondaje, IMAS) during the period of March–April 2006. The population sample was deemed to be representative of the labour market in Romania’s capital city, Bucharest. The respondents comprised 695 workers (47.8% of whom were women) and 123 managerial staff (37.4% of whom were women) from 43 organisations, who filled in individual questionnaires.
A total of two focus groups were created for both men and women aged 25–40 years: one group for holders of a master’s degree, and one for secondary school graduates with 12 years of education.
The survey raised questions regarding:
- the time spent by workers and managers at the workplace – for example, the length of time at work, reasons for doing overtime and the consequences in terms of work-life balance;
- how employees are assessed and promoted;
- men’s and women’s opinions of one another, and the effect of such opinions on their careers;
- aspects related to gender discrimination, and management style.
Key findings
Overtime work
Respondents answered a question regarding how often they work the normal working time as follows:
- almost daily – 25% of the men and 15.7% of the women chose this option;
- two to three times a week – 23.1% of the men and 19.6% of the women;
- never – 8.8% of the men and 5% of the women.
With regard to the reasons for performing overtime work (Figure 1), this was mainly ascribed to:
- urgent demand – by 58.1% of all respondents;
- work arrears caused by co-workers – 6.9%;
- work overload – 6.5%.
About 26.7% of male and 25.3% of female respondents stated that it is rather difficult or almost impossible for them to take one or two hours off their monthly working time to attend to family matters.
Professional evaluation and career development
Representatives of 40% of the 43 organisations surveyed admitted that they had no employee performance assessment schemes of their own. In the organisations which do have such a scheme, workers are evaluated according to a variety of measures. The evaluation was based on a one-to-one discussion between the manager and employee in 55.8% of cases, with the aid of dedicated scoring grids in 23% of cases, through questionnaires filled in by workers in 16.3% of cases, and through questionnaires completed by managers in 11.6% of cases.
Asked to name the top three obstacles that workers meet in their career development, 57.6% of respondents identified ‘biased’ promotion. Some 19.2% of the respondents agreed that a female employee’s lack of availability due to maternity and childcare leave is one of the prime obstacles to her professional advancement.
Gender and other forms of discrimination
The representatives of most of the organisations surveyed (86%) confirmed that they had internal rules forbidding gender discrimination and protecting maternity rights, while 84% of the female workers surveyed and 88% of the male workers stated that they had been informed of such regulations. Internal rules included provisions under three main headings:
- against gender discrimination – in 73% of the organisations surveyed;
- for the protection of maternity – in 82% of cases;
- against sexual harassment in the workplace – in 50% of cases.
When asked about violations of their rights or forms of discrimination experienced (Figure 2):
- 11% of employees pointed to working conditions affecting their health and safety at work;
- 22% blamed employers for unpaid overtime;
- 7% complained of having to perform undeclared work or being employed on contracts understating the actual working time or pay.
Of the persons questioned, 14% viewed pay lower than that of co-workers doing the same work as the most distressing form of discrimination, and 8% of them placed unpaid overtime and unsafe working conditions at the top of their reasons for discontent. Just over half of the interviewees (51%) did not know or would not give an answer to the question asking them to arrange the various possible types of discrimination and violations on a scale according to importance.
Luminiţa Chivu, Institute of National Economy
