Moving an establishment survey from telephone administration to online administration

The European Company Survey (ECS) 2019 – commissioned by two European Agencies, Eurofound and Cedefop, and carried out by Ipsos – was the first large-scale, cross-national survey of establishments to use a push-to-web approach. Establishments across all EU Member States were contacted via telephone to identify a management respondent, and, where possible, an employee representative respondent. Respondents are then asked to fill out the 20-25 minute survey questionnaire online. The questionnaire captured 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. Fieldwork for the survey took place in the first half of 2019, in all EU Member States.

Around a quarter of respondents to the ECS 2019 consented to being re-contacted for follow-up research. In November 2020 Eurofound and Cedefop approached these respondents, inviting them to complete a 10-15-minute follow-up questionnaire on the impact of COVID-19 on workplace practices.
In my presentation I will discuss the survey design, fieldwork outcomes, and the lessons we have drawn from conducting the ECS 2019 and the ECS 2020 follow-up – including the results from an experiment we ran as part of the ECS 2020 follow-up with offering customised reports to entice survey respondents. I will also briefly reflect on our plans for the next ECS which is scheduled for 2028.

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