Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The European Company Surveys (ECS) are conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), an autonomous agency of the European Union, funded from the general budget of the European Commission. The aims of the ECS are to map, assess and quantify information on workplace policies and practices across Europe in a harmonised way and – to a lesser extent – to monitor developments over time. The ECS has been carried out every four years since 2004. It is a questionnaire-based representative sample survey carried out by telephone in the language(s) of the country. Interviews take place with the manager responsible for human resources in the establishment and when possible with an employee representative. The first ECS (known as the Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance, 2004-2005, held under SN 5655) covered workplace practices with regard to working time arrangements and work-life balance. The second ECS, carried out in 2009 (SN 6568), looked at different forms of flexibility as well as accompanying human resource management practices and the nature and quality of workplace social dialogue. The third ECS (SN 7735), carried out in spring 2013, looked at practices with regard to work organisation, human resources management, employee participation and social dialogue in European workplaces. Further information about the ECS can be found on the Eurofound European Company Surveys webpages.
Eurofound and Cedefop have joined forces to carry out the fourth European Company Survey (ECS) in 2019. The European Company Survey, 2019 collects data in over 20,000 establishments in the European Union Member States and the United Kingdomon on workplace practices with regard to work organisation, human resource management, skills use, skills strategies, digitalisation, direct employee participation and social dialogue. It allows for the identification of those bundles of workplace practices that work particularly well in creating win–win outcomes: situations where workers are facilitated and motivated to use their skills to the full, share their knowledge and insights with colleagues and management, and identify opportunities to improve both themselves and the work process as a whole, allowing establishments to thrive. The ECS 2019 is the first large-scale, cross-national survey to use a push-to-web approach. Establishments were contacted via telephone to identify a management respondent, and, where possible, an employee representative respondent. Respondents were then asked to fill out the survey questionnaire online. This approach reduces the burden on respondents and is expected to improve the quality of responses. Having the questionnaire administration fully online makes the ECS well and truly future-proof.
Main Topics:
The survey covers work organisation, human resource management, skills use, skills strategies, digitalisation, direct employee participation and social dialogue. In addition to mapping the prevalence of workplace practices, the survey contained questions about the attitudes of management and the employee representation with regard to some of these practices, as well as perspectives on the work climate and trust relations at the workplace. Finally, the survey contained questions asking for the assessment of the economic performance of the establishment and of a range of possible problems faced in terms of human resources.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)
