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).
European survey on working time and work-life balance (ESWT)
Eurofound's first pan-European company survey was carried out in 2004–2005 as the European survey on working time and work–life balance (ESWT). The survey aimed to complement existing Eurofound data and research on working time which is based primarily on surveys of individual workers and on literature reviews and case studies. As part of the survey, personnel managers and – where available – employee representatives were interviewed about working time arrangements and work–life balance at their workplaces.
The survey was designed to find out whether, why and how companies make use of the broad variety of working time arrangements, including flexible working hours, overtime, full-time and part-time work, flexitime, work at unusual hours (such as shift work, night work, weekend work), childcare leave or other forms of long-term leave, and phased or early retirement.
The survey was carried out between September 2004 to June 2005.
More than 26,000 interviews were conducted across 21 European countries.
The survey was conducted by computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with personnel managers and employee representatives.
Two types of questionnaire were used: a management and employee representative questionnaire in the languages of each participating country.
A dashboard for this survey round is currently not available. Please refer to newer rounds of the survey to access data visualisations.
An overview report published in 2006 outlines initial results of the survey on working time and work–life balance issues. This was followed by a series of four additional reports focusing on specific working time arrangements: part-time work, childcare leave, early and phased retirement, and extended and unusual operating hours. A further two reports analysed the data in a more comprehensive way and focused on flexibility at company level and the social dialogue at company level in relation to working time and work–life balance issues.
This section provides further information targeted in particular at researchers.
The following publications were produced in relation to the 2004–2005 company survey.
Methodology
The survey was designed to find out whether, why and how companies make use of the broad variety of working time arrangements, for example full-time and part-time work, overtime, flexi-time, shift work, phased and early retirement and childcare leave arrangements.
The ESWT mainly focused on investigating the views of central actors at establishment level, specifically the management and, where they existed, formal employee representatives, and not at the individual level of workers.
Contractor
TNS Infratest Sozialforschung, Munich (Germany)
Coverage
21 European countries including the EU15 and six of the new Member States that joined the EU in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia
Fieldwork period
The ESWT was carried out in the autumn of 2004 and the spring of 2005. In autumn 2004 (September until November), interviews were conducted in all the EU15 countries; in spring 2005 (May and June), the survey was extended to six of the 10 new Member States that joined the EU on 1 May 2004.
Target population
In total, the universe comprises some 2.7 million establishments with about 121 million employees in the 21 countries.
Sample
The survey included all companies with 10 or more employees across all sectors of activity. Personnel managers and – where available – employee representatives were interviewed about working time arrangements and work–life balance at their workplaces.
Sample size
The survey was conducted in over 21,000 establishments, covering both the private and public sectors. The number of management interviews per country ranged from about 350 cases in the smallest economies to 1,500 cases in the largest economies. The number of employee representative interviews ranged from 68 in Greece to 674 in Finland.
Type
The survey was conducted through b2b telephone interviews.
Quality assurance
In the course of quality control procedures, data were additionally checked by comparing the weighted survey results with existing information from other sources. Such checks were made by TNS Infratest Sozialforschung, by the experts involved in the data collection phase and by Eurofound.
Survey design - Phase 1
Telephone interviews were carried out in more than 16,000 workplaces in the EU15 Member States
Both personnel managers and – where available – employee representatives were interviewed. The survey is representative for all establishments with 10 or more employees, and covers both the private and public sector.
The establishments interviewed were randomly selected.
Fieldwork started in the second half of September 2004
Survey design - Phase 2
After completion of the first phase, the survey was extended to six of the new EU Member States that joined in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia.
Telephone interviews were carried out in more than 4,000 workplaces.
Phase 2 fieldwork started in May 2005.
Interviews were conducted by the following national institutes: Cyprus: Synovate, Nicosia; Czech Republic: TNS AISA, Prague; Hungary: TNS Hungary, Budapest; Latvia: TNS Baltic Data House, Riga; Poland: TNS OBOP, Warsaw; Slovenia: RM Plus, Maribor
For the survey, two types of questionnaires were used: a management questionnaire directed at the highest ranking manager responsible for human resources (HR) in the establishment and an employee-representative questionnaire directed at the chairperson of the formal employee representation in those establishments where such a representation existed and where an interview with the management had been successfully carried out before. TNS Infratest Sozialforschung developed the questionnaires, in close cooperation with Eurofound and a team of experts from different countries. The questionnaires aimed to cover a broad spectrum of different policies and practices regarding working time at establishment level, rather than going into greater depth about a few selected working time arrangements.
Eurofound experts
You can contact the following experts 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.
Sophia MacGoris
Surveys officerSophia MacGoris is surveys officer based in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She works on all three of Eurofound's surveys. Having been involved in cross-national surveys for many years, she uses her experience and her transversal role to ensure a continuity of learning and quality assurance to the highest level during the entire survey process. Prior to joining Eurofound in 1996, she worked for several years in the European Commission in Brussels in the area of science, research and development. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Social Science specialising in Social Policy.
