Work life balance

Romania flagAccording to Eurostat data, Romanian employees work an average of 41 hours per week, which is slightly greater than the European average of 40.4 hours, when it comes to work life balance in Romania.

Almost 29% of the employed population work in agriculture in Romania, which is the highest proportion in the EU and significantly greater than the European average of 5%.

At the opposite end of the scale, Romania has the lowest percentage of employees working in service sector market, 43% compared to a European average of 69.8%.

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National holidays

In Romania, the public holidays are:

  • the 1st and 2nd January;
  • May 1st;
  • December 1st;
  • the First and Second day of Easter – not fix date;
  • the First and Second day of Rusalii – not fix date;
  • 15th August – St. Mary’s Day
  • 30th November – St. Andrew’s Day
  • the First and second day of Christmas – 25th and 26th December;
  • 2 days for each of the two annual religious festivals for people of other religions than Christians;

Each year employees are also entitled to annual leave of between 15 to 30 working days, according to their seniority at work and position. Most annual leave is taken during the month of August, with the remainder decided according to personal negotiation and employer needs.

Useful link: http://www.morgansol.ro/content/view/85/50/

Working hours

Normal office hours for company employees in both public and private organisations are from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Shops are typically open every day from 9am to 10pm.For full-time employees, the normal working week is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. For young people aged up to 18 years, working hours are limited to 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week.

Some companies may adopt an unequal distribution of working hours, subject to the normal working week. The maximum legal working time is 48 hours per week, including overtime, except under specific terms and conditions that may be set down in a collective bargaining agreement.

Pregnant women and anyone under the age of 18 cannot work a night shift between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

When daily hours exceed 6 hours, employees are entitled to unpaid lunch and other breaks. People under the age of 18 have lunch breaks of at least 30 minutes, if daily working time exceeds 4 ½ hours.

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Work culture

Romanians are taking their jobs seriously and generally work more then the normal working program. The work in Romania is subject of specific legislation very similar with other European countries. They are open to foreigners and treat them as professionals if they are coming from countries with best practices and expertise in the area. They respect the foreigners for their skills not for their origins or titles.

Health insurance

In Romania, all employers and employees are responsible for contributors to the state social insurance system, which are deducted from employee wages on a monthly basis.

Social insurance is governed by the fiscal code and is used to fund public health care services, unemployment benefits, pensions, risk and accidents at work and occupational health benefits, etc.

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