Put an end to preconceived ideas!
What do executives in the Paris region really think?
their working environment?
There is a "young parents" effect in the office.
TRUE. With the arrival of children, expectations of flexibility in the office are changing. Managing the unexpected is becoming a key element in the life balance of young parents, often in their thirties, especially as they are at a strategic age in terms of career advancement; in other words, these generations can accept long working hours but must be able to organise themselves accordingly.
This expectation is stronger in outlying areas, such as La Défense / péri-Défense (72 % of executives consider flexible working hours to be essential) or the inner suburbs of Paris (70 %), in contrast to central districts such as Paris Centre Ouest (only 55 %): centrality makes executives less sensitive to flexible working hours.
Those in their thirties are the ones who consider it most important (at 55 %) to have offices close to home (compared to 41 % for the over 50s). Finally, the 30-39 age group is the most sensitive to the possibility of working from home (8 points more than other executives).
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La Défense is the next best thing to Paris.
MORE TRUE. La Défense tied for fourth place in the Paris Workplace 2015 ranking, just off the podium. The modernity of the facilities and the presence of services are highly praised by the "Défensiens". Executives working in La Défense generally appreciate the external visibility of their building and its reputation (81%), although they are more reserved about its architectural quality (66%).
But the weaknesses are not ignored. What makes La Défense unique as an office district can also prove to be a handicap: 77 % of managers and executives prefer to work in mixed districts, combining housing, shops and offices, rather than in business districts composed mainly of offices. La Défense also suffers from a relative lack of accessibility compared with Paris.
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"Everything but Seine-Saint-Denis!
FALSE. Admittedly, the northern suburbs of Paris (Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, Pantin, etc.) only ranked eighth (out of 10) in the Paris Workplace survey. This is due to the poor perceived quality of the living environment, the feeling of insecurity and the lack of amenities and shops. However, executives in Seine-Saint-Denis are no more unhappy than others: they rate their well-being at work at 6.8/10, exactly the same as the general average for executives in the Paris region. And a majority of them do not want their company to move (52%).
They particularly appreciate the department's accessibility by car (78 %, 18 points more than Paris and 10 points more than Hauts-de-Seine) and the layout of the common areas and communal spaces in their workplace. In other words, companies in Seine-Saint-Denis are taking advantage of a lower price per square metre than in Paris to offer their employees more space, thereby partially compensating for the region's lack of attractiveness.
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"The RER is hell!
MORE TRUE... In any case, it's not paradise. Executives who take the RER to work have a lower than average score for well-being at work. The reason, of course, is the distance between home and work and the resulting journey time. Executives who take the RER are the least satisfied with their travel time (50 % compared with 66 % for other modes of transport). As a result, the majority of them see the office "solely as a place of work where they prefer to spend as little time as possible" (58 %, 12 points more than other categories of executive).
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"When it comes to offices, the south-west suburbs rival Paris.
TRUE. The southern loop of Paris (Boulogne-Billancourt, Meudon, Sèvres, Issy-les-Moulineaux) is on the podium of the Paris Workplace 2015, behind Paris Centre Ouest but just ahead of Paris Rive Gauche. The Southern Loop has three key strengths:
- accessibility by car, with the highest level of satisfaction of all the areas tested: 76 %, 16 points higher than Paris ;
- a certain peace of mind, reflected in a high level of satisfaction with the quality of the living environment (cleanliness, green spaces, harmony of the neighbourhood), and with the feeling of safety (91 % satisfaction rating, second highest score);
- the architectural quality of the buildings, which, with 81 %, had the second highest satisfaction rate behind Paris Centre Ouest (82%).
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"Parisian executives are exasperated by traffic jams".
FALSE. It is true that accessibility by car and ease of parking received less than 60 % of satisfaction among executives working in Paris intramuros, compared with 78% in Seine Saint Denis and 74 % in Val de Marne. However, this result needs to be qualified, as only 14 % of executives in Paris Centre Ouest travel to work by car. The difficulties of accessibility by car are largely offset by the high level of satisfaction with accessibility by public transport (90 % of satisfaction for Paris intra-muros).
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"Money can't buy happiness.
FALSE. Money does make you happy. At the risk of contradicting the popular maxim, we can only conclude that there is a strictly proportional relationship between the level of remuneration and the rating of well-being at work given by executives. The latter ranges from 6.5 for employees earning less than €40k a year to more than 7.5 for employees earning more than €100k. The well-being score 'gains' 0.15 points for every €10K...
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"Long live cycling! Pedalling makes executives happy".
TRUE. Executives who come by bike are the happiest: they rate their well-being at work at 7.1, compared with 6.7 for those who come by public transport. Cyclists are also the executives who are most satisfied with their offices (82 %), all means of transport combined.
Naturally, the short journey time between home and work contributes to this sense of well-being, but it is not the only reason. For example, for equivalent journey times, executives who cycle say they are more satisfied with their offices than their colleagues who use public transport. Cyclists have the same level of well-being as those who walk to work, even though their average journey time is longer.
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"Open spaces are rejected by employees".
TRUE AND FALSE. Managers who work in open-plan offices are on average less satisfied with their office (71 % satisfaction rating, i.e. 7 points less than the rest of employees) and say that on average they are slightly less happy at work (well-being rating of 6.6 compared with a general average of 6.8). But it is above all the generational factor that weighs heavily: open-plan offices are rejected by the over-40s, some of whom have experienced other configurations in their careers and see this situation as a step backwards. The under-30s, who have 'grown up' with open spaces and are more sensitive to the social dimension of work, are much less hostile.
