ECB publishes results of second staff survey

• Survey shows 90% of employees proud to work for the ECB
• Significant progress in areas such as workload, working time and flexibility since last survey
• Follow-up action underway in areas identified for further improvement 

The European Central Bank (ECB) today announced the results of its second staff survey. The survey highlighted that staff value the ECB as an employer and as an ethical organisation, with 90% taking pride in working for the institution.

Significant improvements were made in the areas of workload, working time and flexibility. More than three-quarters of staff said they had sufficient flexibility in their work arrangements to meet personal and family needs. The survey also showed that 59% of respondents said they consider the number of hours worked in an average week to be reasonable, 10 percentage points more than in 2015, when the first survey was conducted.

This year’s survey introduced 12 new questions. One of the new questions asked staff whether they had personally experienced inappropriate words or behaviour by another ECB employee in the past year, to which 14% of respondents replied that they had. The ECB decided to add this question to get a deeper understanding of any possible issues affecting staff. Follow-up work by the ECB’s human resources department is underway to investigate in more detail and to take action.

“It is very important to us that all employees feel they work in an environment in which they can truly excel,” said Michael Diemer, Chief Services Officer. “We are encouraged by the progress we made since the last survey in 2015. However, we also decided to accelerate our efforts to address all staff concerns.”

Some 69% of staff said they believed staff members were treated fairly regardless of differences such as age, gender, national origins, disability, beliefs or sexual orientation, a finding that was 5 percentage points higher than a benchmark group of international financial institutions.

In addition, engagement went up by three percentage points to 75%, which is higher than the benchmark group results. The index measuring engagement is made up of questions that focus on whether staff are proud to work for the ECB, the overall rating of the ECB as a work place, whether the ECB inspires staff to do their best work and on treating staff members with respect, as well as staff’s intentions to stay.

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Notes:

• The 2018 staff survey’s overall response rate was 87%, compared with 90% in 2015. It was conducted between 6 and 28 February 2018 by an external provider.