Eurofound and Cedefop joined forces to carry out the fourth European Company Survey (ECS) in 2019.
The ECS 2019 collects data in over 20,000 establishments 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. Fieldwork is carried out by Ipsos. Establishments across all EU Member States are contacted via telephone to identify a management respondent, and, where possible, an employee representative respondent. Respondents are 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.
The overview report for the ECS 2019, published in October 2020, describes a wide range of practices and strategies implemented by European companies in terms of work organisation, human resource management, skills use and skills development, and employee voice. The report shows how these practices are combined and how the resulting ‘bundles of practices’ are associated with two outcomes beneficial to employees and employers: workplace well-being and establishment performance.
In 2020, Eurofound and Cedefop carried out an online follow-up survey focusing on workplace practices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For further information about the European Company Surveys, contact Sophia MacGoris.