Eurofound surveys are regular pan-European studies that gather comparative data on living and working conditions across the European Union.
European Company Surveys (ECS)
The European Company Survey (ECS) has been carried out regularly since its inception in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work–Life Balance (ESWT). The second survey, under the new title European Company Survey, was completed in 2009, the third in 2013 and the fourth in 2019 in collaboration with Eurofound’s sister agency Cedefop(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab.
Survey objectives
The main objectives of the survey are to:
Map, assess and quantify information on company policies and practices across Europe on a harmonised basis.
Analyse relationships between company practices and their impact, as well as looking at practices from the point of view of structures at company level, focusing in particular on social dialogue.
Monitor trends.
Contribute to the Agenda for Europe through mapping and understanding company policies and practices.
The ECS is a questionnaire-based representative sample survey of business establishments with at least 10 employees. Interviews take place with the manager responsible for human resources in the establishment and when possible with an employee representative.
The first edition of the survey covered issues around working time arrangements and work–life balance at company level. The second edition looked at different forms of flexibility, including working time flexibility, contractual flexibility, variable pay and financial participation, as well as accompanying human resource measures, and the nature and quality of workplace social dialogue. The third survey looked at workplace organisation, workplace innovation, employee participation and social dialogue in European workplaces. These topics were repeated in the fourth edition which also includes questions on skills use, skills strategies and digitalisation.
The timeline below lists the countries covered in the various editions of the survey.
ECS 2019
ECS 2013
ECS 2009
ECS 2004
Eurofound expert
You can contact the following expert for questions on the survey.
Gijs van Houten
Senior research managerGijs van Houten is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He has specific expertise in cross-national survey methodology and the analysis of workplace practices and organisational strategies. He currently leads the preparations for the European Company Survey 2028, is in charge of methodology for the European Quality of Life Survey 2026, and is analysing the online data collected as part of the European Working Conditions Survey 2024, which will inform decision making on the future of surveys in Eurofound. Before joining Eurofound in 2010, he worked at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP). Gijs spent a year away in 2016, working at the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC. He holds a Masters in Sociology from Radboud University Nijmegen and a PhD in Social Science from Utrecht University.
