EWCS

The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) is designed to provide policy makers and researchers with invaluable, up-to-date and objective data about working life and the quality of work in your country and across Europe.

For its 8th edition, Eurofound will be working in cooperation with Verian to interview approximately 50,000 workers in more than 30 European countries.

For more information on past editions of the EWCS, please visit the website.

The survey covers different aspects of working life including:

  • How you work
  • Your working hours
  • Work-life balance
  • The way work affects your health

Who can take part?

Selected participants who …

  1. are aged between 16-74
  2. and did any work as employee or self-employed in the last week, even if for just one hour, provided payment in money or payment in kind was received

For more information on who is eligible to take part, please to see the full criteria.

We would like to ensure that all people who work in atypical circumstances are offered the chance to participate. You can also participate if any of the following circumstances apply to you:

  • You are currently on leave, but your contract is still valid, and/or you have kept your attachment to your company/organisation (this includes maternity or paternity leave, sick leave, or a temporary absence from a business you own)
  • You do not have a formal contract of employment, but you are earning money by carrying out small ad hoc tasks or selling minor goods or products
  • You work on your own agricultural farm and intend to sell or barter the main part of the agricultural output, or you are an unpaid family worker
  • You are carrying out platform work (for example, UBER, AIRBNB, AMAZON, DELIVEROO)
  • You have been laid off, but you are still being paid or you have assurance that you can come back to work after a while
  • You are a seasonal worker and are not working off season, but you have an agreement to come back to work next season or are continuing to be paid a fee

How are the data from EWCS used?

The EWCS helps to gauge the realities of life at work, identifies the real opportunities and challenges people face and provides an incredibly rich dataset allowing for analysis in multiple areas. Some of the recent publications include:

Privilege or necessity? The working lives of people with multiple jobs
Gender equality at work
How your birthplace affects your workplace
How does employee involvement in decision-making benefit organisations?
Striking a balance: Reconciling work and life in the EU
Working conditions in the time of COVID-19: Implications for the future
Working conditions and workers' health
Working conditions in a global perspective

Eurofound

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) is an agency of the European Union focusing on how people across Europe live and work, and how this is changing over time.

Eurofound was established in 1975, with its mission to provide knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies. To accomplish this, Eurofound is working closely with European institutions, national governments, employers’ organisations, trade unions, companies, and workers with a view to improving how people work in Europe.

For more information on Eurofound, please visit their website.

Verian

This research is being carried out by Verian to the highest scientific standards.

Verian is a world leading independent specialist research, evidence and advisory business providing services to government and the public realm, across all aspects of public policy.

In other words, they interview lots of different people to help improve the understanding of the changing social, political and business landscape.

Examples of Verian’s work

You can read more about Verian’s work on their website.

Verian and Data Protection

Any answers or information you give will be treated in the strictest confidence and the anonymity of each respondent is guaranteed. All the data that are collected will be used for research purposes only.

Taking part is entirely voluntary and you will not need any special knowledge to answer the questions.

Issues of data security, storage, protection and confidentiality will be taken very seriously. Verian has designed data security procedures that minimise the risk of data loss and ensure that respondents’ confidentiality is protected at all times.

For more information on this, please see the data protection notice by following this link.