ING Bank Romania switches to flexible/collaborative work concept at new headquarters in Bucharest

ING Bank Romania, one of the biggest lenders in Romania, has moved almost 2,000 employees working at its headquarters in Bucharest to a new office building. The move marks 25 years since the Dutch group started operations in Romania. It also comes with a new office concept, with flexible workspaces and relaxation/entertainment areas, which are more common to tech companies. ING is the first local lender to implement such an office concept in Romania.

“Compared to the previous headquarters where there were three types of spaces (offices, meeting rooms and kitchens), the new offices bring nine types of spaces and a new organization, according to Agile working policies and those developed by ING Group worldwide. Thus, the nine floors include office spaces, areas for collaboration, concentration, and relaxation,” ING Bank explained in a press release.

In the Agile work concept, the workspaces are flexible, and the employees have the opportunity to choose where they want to work depending on the activity, and the time they arrive at the office. Employees can choose when they want to start their work schedule, between 7:30 and 10:30, as well as work from home or from another space where they feel productive.

The new ING Bank headquarters has 1,346 individual spaces or "flexible" offices, fewer than the current number of employees, as the bank considered the daily flow influenced by "remote" holidays or working days (outside the office). During 2019, about 40% of the employees took at least one working day from home. The new offices also come with 203 areas for concentration (with low background noise) marked by sofas or insulating furniture, including the classic cubicles. The collaborative spaces include the formal ones (meeting rooms), which can accommodate 92 people, and the informal ones (open, located in the center of each floor, with armchairs and sofas), for 180 people.

The relaxation areas are equipped with massage chairs, ping pong, billiards, foosball tables, basketball hoop, treadmill, and are located on each floor in the kitchenette area. The parking area is optimized with automatic vehicle recognition technology, charging stations for electric cars and bicycle racks.

The new headquarters also brings two new types of spaces for ING: a common workspace and an event room. On the ground floor of the building there is a common workspace where anyone from outside the bank can work quietly. Communication HUB is a modern room with modular furniture, which accommodates approximately 80 people for events dedicated to ING employees or clients, as well as events with external organizers.

The new ING Bank headquarters occupies an area of 18,000 sqm in the Expo Business Park office complex, on Aviator Popisteanu street, in the Expozitiei area – northern Bucharest. The BREEAM Excellent-certified project has been developed by Portland Trust with an investment of EUR 80 million. The project includes three buildings with a total leasable area of 42,000 sqm.