“In order to evaluate adequately progress under the pillars of the employment policy guidelines and in particular under the third pillar on encouraging adaptability of businesses and their employees, including with regard to quality in work, comparable structural statistics are needed by the Member States and the Commission”
This module collects data on the working time patterns of employees and the level of autonomy that employees have in their work.
A version of this module was previously carried on the QNHS in Q2 2001 and this represents an update of the data collected on that module but also a revision of the module itself due to some concerns about its construction.
There are 13 questions in all on the module and these are asked of all respondents (both direct and proxy) who are in employment in the reference week. This includes everybody aged 15 years and over.
The questions refer only to the main job that the respondent does, if he/she has more than one.
Self-employed respondents will only answer a maximum of 4 questions
Employees will only answer a maximum of 9 questions
If the respondent is aged 15 or over
The following questions
If the respondent is Self-employed (with or without employees)
In your work do you control ?
1. .....WHEN the work is done
2. .....HOW the work is done
3. .....NEITHER WHEN nor HOW the work is done
Note: Multiple choice answers allowed
Note: 3 can only be selected if neither 1 or 2 are selected
If the respondent is Self-employed with no more than 10 employees
Do you work regularly for just one client or customer ?
1. Yes
2. No
If the respondent is an employee
How many, if any, hours overtime (both paid and unpaid) did you do in the week ending ^refweek?
[ 0-80 ]
Note: Overtime includes all hours, both paid and unpaid, in excess of the hours worked in a flat week. DO NOT include extra hours worked for FLEXI time or hours worked that can be claimed back.
If the respondent is an employee and worked overtime in the reference week
How many of these hours were paid overtime?
[ 1-40 ]
“The number of hours paid overtime exceeds the total number of hours overtime worked”.
Note: This refers to the number of hours paid overtime worked and NOT the rate at which overtime was paid (i.e. time and a half or double time)
If the respondent does shift work
You have indicated that you do shift work. Can you tell me what sort of shift pattern your organisation operates? Is it?
1. Continuous shift work (7 days 24 hours a day)
2. Semi-continuous shift work (5 week days, 24 hours a day)
3. Two-shift system (double day-shift – early morning and late afternoon starts)
4. Sometimes night, sometimes day-shift
5. Other type of shift-work pattern
Note: The pattern refers to work that is done in the workplace
If the respondent is an employee
Now I want to ask you about the way your working day is organised and whether you can choose when you start and finish work.
Which of the following best represents the pattern of your working day?
1. Fixed start and finish times
2. Start and finish times vary within defined bands, but CANNOT build up hours to claim back
3. Start and finish times vary, and only HOURS can be claimed back
4. Start and finish times vary, and DAYS can be claimed back
5. Start and finish times vary by agreement with employer
6. Start and finish times are at discretion of EMPLOYEE
7. Other arrangement
Note: ‘Other’ could include a fixed start time but the job only finishes when the work is done.
If the respondent is an employee and does not determine own work schedule
Do you have an ‘annualised hours’ contract?
1. Yes
2. No
Note: An annualised hours contract is where the annual no. of hours is specified but the weekly no. of hours worked varies during the year.
If the respondent is an employee and does not do Shift Work
Do you only report to work when called (on-call work only)?
1. Yes
2. No
Note: This is NOT the same as being ‘on-duty’ and waiting for emergency calls
If the respondent is an employee and works part-time
You have indicated that you work part-time, in general how do your weekly working hours differ from the hours of someone working full-time in the same job?
1. I work less hours per day
2. I work a half day less per week
3. I work less days per week
4. I work less hours per day and less days per week
5. I work on a week on-week off basis
6. Other
Note: If no full-time equivalent in the same job exists then compare with a regular five day working week
If the respondent worked in the reference week and is an employee and does not work from home and has some access to flexible working practices
Did you work less hours than usual in the week ending ^refweek? If so how?
1. Took a few hours off (not holidays) or worked shorter days
2. Took half or full days off
3. Took a few hours off (not holidays) AND also took a half or full days off
4. Worked more than contracted number of hours
5. Worked less hours because of enforced absence (not by choice)
6. Worked same hours as usual
Note: Do not include absences due to work-related illness/injury
If the respondent worked in the reference week and is an employee and does not work from home and has some access to variable working hours BUT did not take any time off in the reference week
You have indicated that you did not choose to take any time off in week ending ^refweek, was this because even though you wanted to, you were not allowed?
1. Yes
2. No
Note: Person wanted to take time off but was not able to do so because employer wouldn’t allow it
If the respondent does shift work or on-call work
You have indicated that do shift-work/On-call work, would you say that this type of work suits your personal life/circumstances?
1. Suits personal circumstances
2. Does not suit personal circumstances
Note:
If the respondent does evening work or night work or Sunday work or Saturday work
You have previously indicated that do night/evening/Saturday/Sunday work, would you say that this type of work suits your personal life/circumstances?
1. Suits personal circumstances
2. Does not suit personal circumstances
Note: If the respondent does some combination of evening, night, Saturday or Sunday work 1 should be selected if ALL of these suit personal circumstances, and 2 should be selected if ONE of these does not suit personal circumstances.
Data Quality Reports
This quarter each interviewer will receive an individualised report outlining the following for the data she/he collected in Q4 2003.
• Average size of household
• No. of Crime and Victimisation interviews collected
• Days of the week * No. of interviews collected
This is just the beginning of this exercise and we hope to significantly develop it in the months ahead looking in particular at, duration of interviews, quarter on quarter changes, the quality of text strings and co-ordinator and national averages.
We also aim to carry out a number of live checks of the data as it comes in from the field and provide this analysis to co-ordinators regularly during the quarter.
Module being asked, No of lines skipped within household,
No of estimated ages etc.
As ever the critical point for any interviewer is to make sure that she/he is accurately updating the key Labour Market data each quarter.
•‘No change’ should not be recorded as a matter of course
• Interviewers should ask every question on the survey
• Interviewers should always ask the questions as written and NOT put their own interpretation on the questions.
In an effort to improve the timeliness of the publication we are flagging to all interviewers the need to get their data in to the co-ordinator as soon as the interviews are completed
1. From Q4 2004 we will be implementing a two week cut-off point for all data from the field. Interviewers will have the week after the reference week (“Sunday the week ending…”) and the following week in which to collect and submit data to the Office. Data which is not in the Office within this period will not be paid for.
Currently about 5-6% of the QNHS data is collected in the third week after the reference week and it is this data that we are targeting.
Therefore it is in the interest of all interviewers to start adhering to this schedule immediately
2. It is also our intention to close the data flow from the field three weeks after the end of the quarter
irrespective of outstanding data.
It is each interviewers responsibility to make sure that all of their data is with their co-ordinator as soon as possible after the quarter has closed.
The following table illustrates the interview date of data collected in relation to the end of the quarter. This illustrates that only a tiny proportion of data (1.3%) is collected after the two week cut-of point
|
When interviewers were collected in Q4 2003 |
Frequency |
Percent |
CumulativeFrequency | Cumulative Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before end of quarter |
32780
|
97.68
|
32780
|
97.68
|
| After end of quarter but on time (within 2 weeks of ref week) |
337
|
1
|
33117
|
98.69
|
| After end of quarter and more than 2 weeks after ref week |
441
|
1.31
|
33558
|
100
|
Reference week = Sunday the week ending
1 Week following reference week
2 Second week following reference week
3 Third week
Table 2: Current cut-off point is 3 weeks after reference week
| Weeks after reference week | Frequency | Percent | Cumulative Frequency | Cumulative Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
-30
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
-29
|
2
|
0.01
|
3
|
0.01
|
|
-28
|
4
|
0.01
|
7
|
0.02
|
|
-27
|
8
|
0.02
|
15
|
0.05
|
|
-24
|
5
|
0.02
|
20
|
0.06
|
|
-23
|
12
|
0.04
|
32
|
0.1
|
|
-22
|
3
|
0.01
|
35
|
0.11
|
|
-21
|
15
|
0.05
|
50
|
0.15
|
|
-20
|
22
|
0.07
|
72
|
0.22
|
|
-19
|
9
|
0.03
|
81
|
0.24
|
|
-11
|
7
|
0.02
|
88
|
0.26
|
|
-10
|
2
|
0.01
|
90
|
0.27
|
|
-9
|
1
|
0
|
91
|
0.27
|
|
-7
|
3
|
0.01
|
94
|
0.28
|
|
-6
|
14
|
0.04
|
108
|
0.33
|
|
-5
|
11
|
0.03
|
119
|
0.36
|
|
-4
|
45
|
0.14
|
164
|
0.49
|
|
-3
|
3
|
0.01
|
167
|
0.5
|
|
-2
|
13
|
0.04
|
180
|
0.54
|
|
-1
|
84
|
0.25
|
264
|
0.79
|
|
Reference week
|
714
|
2.15
|
978
|
2.94
|
Interviewing Period |
1
|
24792
|
74.63
|
25770
|
77.57
|
|
2
|
4896
|
14.74
|
30666
|
92.31
|
|
|
3
|
1653
|
4.98
|
32319
|
97.29
|
|
|
4
|
409
|
1.23
|
32728
|
98.52
|
|
|
5
|
217
|
0.65
|
32945
|
99.17
|
|
|
6
|
166
|
0.5
|
33111
|
99.67
|
|
|
7
|
27
|
0.08
|
33138
|
99.75
|
|
|
8
|
10
|
0.03
|
33148
|
99.78
|
|
|
10
|
9
|
0.03
|
33157
|
99.81
|
|
|
11
|
23
|
0.07
|
33180
|
99.88
|
|
|
12
|
2
|
0.01
|
33182
|
99.89
|
|
|
13
|
7
|
0.02
|
33189
|
99.91
|
|
|
14
|
4
|
0.01
|
33193
|
99.92
|
|
|
15
|
5
|
0.02
|
33198
|
99.93
|
|
|
18
|
10
|
0.03
|
33208
|
99.96
|
|
|
19
|
2
|
0.01
|
33210
|
99.97
|
|
|
23
|
6
|
0.02
|
33216
|
99.99
|
|
|
27
|
4
|
0.01
|
33220
|
100
|
|
• All interviews more than three weeks in advance of the reference week are likely to be errors on the laptop system dates, or result from data brought forward at interviewer training sessions.
• However, it seems possible at least that some of the dates one and two weeks before the reference week might result from interviewers going into the database prior to interviewing to verify that their data is being brought forward correctly or in some cases be data collected in advance by interviewers.
Telephone numbers
It is compulsory for the interviewer to ask each household for a contact number. Obviously some householders are reluctant to provide telephone numbers but results from most areas so far are quite encouraging and all interviewers are expected to collect this information.
As we have said previously this information may be used at some stage in the future to arrange appointments for call backs in light of the deteriorating budget situation. As we have mentioned before, telephone numbers can be used by the co-ordinator to carry out data quality checks and liase directly with individual households.
Reminder: Please ensure that you enter an accurate postal address on the LDU book for each Wave 5 household you interview each quarter.
Some reminders regarding fieldforce Health and Safety.
• Every interviewer should carry a mobile phone when interviewing, and phones must be made available for regular contact with co-ordinators. Voicemail is a free service and should be used by all interviewers.
• Interviewers should carry dog dazers and personal alarms with them even if they never think they will use them.
• Interviewers should let a family member or their co-ordinator know when they are going out interviewing, where they are going and when they expect to return.
• All incidents should be reported to your co-ordinator and an incident sheet completed. This incident sheet should firstly be forwarded to your co-ordinator who will then forward it to CSO Cork. A copy will then be forwarded to the Fieldstaff Health and Safety Rep by CSO Cork.