LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH
Comparing working conditions in Europe over a 5-year period
Role: researcher ｜Client: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
｜Year: 2010-2012
Project context: Every five years since 1990, the Eurofound has conducted a survey in Europe and EFTA states that provides an overview of working conditions in Europe (EWCS), with the aim to contribute to European policy development in particular on quality of work and employment issues.
Subjects that were covered in the survey include employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, health and safety, work and health, physical and psychosocial risk factors, life-domain balance, worker participation, as well as earnings and financial security.
In each 5-year wave, a random sample of workers (employees and self-employed) has been interviewed.
Team: I was part in this Europe-wide, longitudinal research project commissioned by the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs about working conditions in Europe. I was responsible for all the data preparation/”cleanup” and much of the data analysis, comparing data over a 5-year period
I co-authored two governmental reports and one academic book chapter.
Impact
We organized a conference for researchers, politicians, and leaders of labor unions where we presented the findings incl. a panel discussion with experts.
The findings were used as a basis to assess and update legislation in Switzerland on (flexible) working time regulations.
Co-authored 3 articles and 1 book chapter that gave an overview on working conditions in Switzerland and Europe and included various recommendations for organizational design and management systems.
Methods used:
Surveys
Data analysis with SPSS (primary tool) and Excel
Selection of Insights from one of the reports
The research was conducted in German—the graphics from the report are therefore also in German.
We analyzed data spanning all European countries, compared countries with one another, and did in-depth analyses for Switzerland. The in-depth analyses looked at psychological and physical strains and stressors based on age group, industry, education level, working situation, and more.
The report was a 147 page document, with summaries after each chapter for better readability. Only a selection of the analyses we did were integrated into the final report.
Here is a (small) selection of some of the analyses that were included for reference in the appendix.
Study challenges
More coming soon