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Gender Balance in Business FAQ's

What is the Gender Balance in Business Survey?

The Gender Balance in Business Survey asks for basic information on the gender representation of the Senior Executive Team and the Board of Directors of companies in Ireland. The results will provide the first official statistics on this topic and will support the Balance for Better Business initiative launched by the Government in the summer of 2018.

Who is conducting the survey?

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) will administer the survey and process the results. All results will be in aggregate form; no information on individual people or companies will be disclosed in the results.

When will the survey be carried out?

The survey will be carried out for a period of 11 weeks from the 18th February to the 10th May 2019.

Who will be taking part in the survey?

The survey is being issued electronically to large enterprises (i.e. those with over 250 employees) active in the Republic of Ireland.

How do I take part in the survey?

The Gender Balance in Business Survey is available online only. Enterprises included in the survey will be able to take part by completing an online questionnaire. Access will be provided via a generic link which will be disseminated to nominated contact persons in each enterprise.

How long does the survey take to complete?

The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.

Is it compulsory to take part?

No, it is not compulsory to take part, but participation is encouraged as the survey will provide the first official statistics on this topic. The survey is also supported by the Balance for Better Business initiative and has the support of employer groups and relevant bodies.

What data is being collected?

The survey asks for basic information regarding each member of the Senior Executive Team and Boards of Directors in the enterprise, for example, their name and gender. For the Senior Executive Team, we’re also asking for the job title, number of years in the post and number of years in the company. For the Board of Directors, we’re asking to distinguish the chairperson, executive and non-executive board members and the number of years on the board.

What will be done with the information that is collected?

Your responses to the survey will be analysed by the CSO. A report will be published in Quarter 2 2019 and it is envisaged that the survey will be run every two years to monitor progress towards a balanced gender representation in top management teams and boards of directors.
The data from the survey will be retained for additional analysis, including comparison with future instances of the survey.

Will the survey data be stored securely?

Yes, the data will be stored securely.
Data provided to CSO is stored on CSO's internal IT Network with appropriate security, access controls, and backup and recovery procedures in place. Within CSO the anonymised survey data is accessible only to the Gender Balance in Business Survey team.

How long will the survey data be stored?

The survey response data will be stored indefinitely on CSO's internal IT network and processing system for further analysis and reporting.

How often will the Gender Balance in Business Survey be conducted?

The survey will be run every two years.

Why you can Trust the CSO

Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.