Hiring and employment procedures for one-person-enterprises

Flash EurobarometerEuropean

Commission

Hiring and employment procedures for one-person-enterprises

Fla

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Fieldwork: 2004

Publication: 2004

This survey was requested by the Directorate-General Enterprise and coordinated by Directorate-General Press and Communication

This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission.

The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors.

FLASH EUROBAROMETER 163

Hiring and Employment procedures for

one-person-enterprises

Realised by EOS Gallup Europe upon the request of the European Commission (Directorate-General “Enterprise”)

Survey organised and managed by Directorate-General “Press and Communication” (Opinion Polls, Press Reviews, Europe Direct)

This document does not reflect the views of the European Commission. Any interpretations or opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors

alone.

SURVEY: 2004

ANALYTICAL REPORT: 2004

EOS Gallup Europe Flash EB 163 “Hiring and employment procedures for one-person-enterprises” - Report p. 1

Table of contents

PRESENTATION ...............................................................................................2

1. Expanding Solo Operations...................................................................4

1.1. Current support ................................................................................4 1.1.1. Short-term employees ......................................................................4 1.1.2. Family or friends..............................................................................6 1.1.3. Subcontracting ................................................................................8

1.2. Past employment contracts ..............................................................10 1.3. Future employment needs................................................................12

2. Hiring Procedures...............................................................................15

2.1. Legal administrative procedures........................................................15 2.1.1. Information sources.......................................................................15 2.1.2. Administrative bodies .....................................................................18 2.1.3. Time and effort required .................................................................21 3.1.4. Initial time and effort required prior to employment ............................24

2.2. Suitability of administrative procedures ..................................................26

3. Employment Procedures.....................................................................29

3.1. General prohibitory factors ...............................................................29 3.2. Administrative procedures................................................................34

3.2.1. Barriers to employment ..................................................................34 3.2.2. On-going time and effort required during employment.........................35

3.3. Tax requirements............................................................................37

4. Initiatives for small companies ..........................................................39

4.1. Awareness levels ............................................................................39

CONCLUSION.................................................................................................43

ANNEXES Tables Technical Note Questionnaires


PRESENTATION

Small enterprises are the driving force for innovation and job creation in Europe. Their small size makes them sensitive to changes in the industry and environment in which they operate. This is why the need to facilitate the development of small enterprises was emphasized at the European Council in Feira, Portugal on 19 and 20 June, 2000. In the field of employment, there is evidence that administrative burdens, which result from employment regulation, adversely affect the overall job creation, particularly in small firms. It is said that smaller businesses are disproportionately affected because they have limited management resources and no specialist staff to understand and meet the legal requirements1. At the same time, SMEs are recognised to be an important generator of employment. However, if administrative burdens have a negative impact on SMEs’ recruitment decisions, their job creation potential cannot be fully exploited. In the European Commission’s observatory of European SMEs report, administrative burdens with regard to the recruitment process are defined. Administrative burdens may, on the one hand, stem from the number and nature of administrative procedures in the recruitment process, their complexity and obscurity. Administrative procedures include obligatory contacts with authorities, form completion or delivery of the requested information to the respective authorities. On the other hand, they may result from the (frequently changing) employment legislation and its complexity and obscurity. Both aspects might pose considerable burdens on enterprises and therefore present a bottleneck for employment creation especially in small firms2.

The European Council meeting in Luxembourg in 1997 – known as the Luxembourg Jobs Summit – endorsed an ambitious European employment strategy. It encompasses the co-ordination of the Member States’ employment policies on the basis of commonly agreed Employment guidelines in the framework of the so-called Luxembourg process. The Member States have committed themselves to bring their policies into line with the objectives of these Employment Guidelines and they have started to implement the policy reforms and initiatives outlined in the National Action Plans. One explicitly announced aim is to review and simplify the administrative burdens posed on SMEs when recruiting employees3. In view of on-going efforts since then, DG Enterprise wanted to assess how one-person-enterprises in particular perceive hiring and employment procedures. The target group (one-person-enterprises) is of specific interest to DG Enterprise, as the growth of such companies often implies a need for support in the form of additional personnel. The methodology used in this survey, carried out by EOS GALLUP EUROPE, is the Directorate-General Press and Communication (Unit B/1 "Opinion polls") FLASH Eurobarometre surveys.

1 OECD, Business’ Views on Red Tape, Administrative and regulatory burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises, Paris, 2001, p. 21 2 Observatory of European SMEs No 7, Recruitment of employees: Administrative burdens on SMEs in Europe, 2002, p. 11 3 http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/98_guidelines_en.htm


A total of 3,929 owners or persons running one-person-enterprises were interviewed by telephone. Between 21 June and 16 July 2004, one-person-enterprises in 14 Member States (European Union Member States, except for Greece, prior to the latest enlargement) were interviewed. Between 1 and 9 September 2004, one-person-enterprises in 5 of the new Member States (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland) were interviewed. The sample was selected according to two criteria: country and sector of activity. In Member States with the most companies (Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Poland), approximately 300 one-person-enterprises per country were interviewed. In those with the fewest companies (Ireland, Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus and Estonia) the figure was approximately 100 each and 200 owners or persons running their business were consulted in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. The person interviewed at each company was the owner or person running the enterprise. For each theme addressed, our analysis4 looks at the:

• 19 Member States involved as a whole (EU-19) and each individually;

• company characteristics for EU-19:

sector of activity: construction, industry, trade and services;

age of the business (number of years that the business has been in existence or taken over by the person currently running it);

turnover (turnover of the business in the last fiscal year)

• other characteristics for EU-19:

one-person-enterprise’s past experience of recruiting employees under a regular work contract (based on responses to Q2.1)

A detailed description of the sample is included in the methodological note in the annex.

4 In some cases, due to the rounding of figures, displayed sums can show a difference of one point with the sum of the individual cells. Also, note that the total percentages shown in the tables of this report may exceed 100% where the respondent is allowed to give several answers to a particular question.


Q1a. Could you tell me if you employ staff on a short term basis ?

4%

11%

15%

11%

4%

3%

7%

4%

3%

5%

17%

40%

31%

20%

26%

26%

16%

19%

20%

17%

20%

18%

17%

16%

15%

13%

11%

11%

8%

8%

78%

49%

54%

69%

69%

72%

77%

78%

77%

78%

78%

79%

80%

82%

84%

84%

86%

89%

90%

89%

2%

2%

3%

3%

3%

2%2%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

IE

EE

UK

FI

DE

PT

ES

PL

LU

LT

AT

IT

DK

CY

FR

CZ

SE

BE

NL

Often Sometimes Never [DK/ NA]

1. Expanding Solo Operations 1.1. Current support In this section we will look at the current level of support owners of one-person enterprises receive. Our analysis will focus on each of the following forms of support: short-term employees, support from family or friends as well as subcontracting services. Source questionnaire: Q1a, Q1b and Q1c

- Three in four one-person-enterprises receive some form of assistance in their work with most relying on informal support through family or friends compared to more

formal support via short-term staff or subcontractors -

1.1.1. Short-term employees


Q1a. Could you tell me if you employ staff on a short term basis ?

4%

3%

5%

6%

3%

17%

16%

26%

15%

17%

28%

13%

78%

81%

68%

82%

78%

65%

83%

2%

7%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services

PAST RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE

Yes

No


At the EU-19 level, one in five persons running their own enterprise employs staff on a short term basis: 4% do so often and 17% only sometimes. Ireland and Estonia stand out with more one-person-enterprises employing short-term staff than in any other Member State interviewed. In Ireland, 51% employ staff on a short-term basis (11% responded “often” and 40% responded “sometimes”) and in Estonia, 46% employ short-term personnel (15% responded “often” and 31% responded “sometimes”).

In Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands nine in ten owners of one-person-enterprises “never” employ short-term staff. Breakdown by company categories Looking first at sector of activity, companies in construction stand out for the relatively high proportion of one-person-enterprises employing short-term staff.

Companies which have recruited employees under a regular work contract in the past are slightly more inclined to currently employ short-term staff compared to those who have not hired full-time, permanent employees.


Q1b. Could you tell me if you receive help at your work from family members or friends ?

17%

37%

25%

31%28%

22%

23%18%

16%

20%12%

21%

18%21%

10%

18%19%

10%

9%9%

37%

36%

48%

38%37%

43%

41%45%

46%

40%45%

33%

36%32%

43%

34%31%

36%

31%27%

46%

27%

27%

30%35%

33%

36%37%

38%

40%43%

47%

46%47%

46%

48%51%

54%

60%64%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

EE

FI

LT

AT

SE

CZ

IE

DE

PL

LU

IT

UK

PT

NL

CY

DK

ES

BE

FR


1.1.2. Family or friends

Family or friends correspond to the most significant source of help for one-person-enterprises. At the EU-19 level, 17% often receive help at work from family or friends, 37% sometimes receive such help and 46% never receive such support. In 15 of the Member States surveyed, at least one in two one-person-enterprises receives help at work from family members or friends. Looking at the results by country, Estonia once again stands out, along with Finland, for the high level of support one-person-enterprises receive from family or friends. 73% receive such support in both countries.

It seems that in France and Belgium those running their enterprise single-handedly do not rely on such support, with respectively 64% and 60% “never” receiving support from family or friends.


Q1b. Could you tell me if you receive help at your work from family members or friends ?

17%

23%

9%

21%

15%

21%

16%

17%

17%

20%

16%

37%

40%

37%

39%

34%

36%

33%

44%

37%

38%

36%

46%

36%

55%

39%

51%

43%

51%

39%

46%

42%

48%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years


Yes

No

Often Sometimes Never

Breakdown by company categories Looking first at the influence the sector of activity bears, one-person-enterprises in industry and trade are more inclined to receive support from family members or friends compared to those in other sectors. The graph above shows that one-person-enterprises which have been in existence for less than 12 months are more likely to “often” rely on support from family or friends than longer-established firms. Companies which have employed full-time, permanent employees in the past are slightly more inclined to currently receive help at work from family or friends.


Q1c. Could you tell me if you subcontract or buy services from others ?

12%11%13%

34%34%

21%15%

10%14%

18%14%

12%16%

14%20%

8%12%

8%7%9%

5%7%

27%23%

38%

38%34%

34%36%

41%34%27%

27%29%20%

20%13%

25%21%

21%20%17%

21%14%

61%65%

49%

28%32%

44%49%48%

51%53%

59%58%

64%65%67%67%67%

69%73%

73%73%

79%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

EU 14

NMS 5

EE

SE

LT

CZ

PL

FI

UK

NL

IE

BE

PT

LU

FR

ES

AT

DE

DK

IT

CY


1.1.3. Subcontracting

At the EU-19 level, 38% of one-person-enterprises subcontract or purchase services from others; 12% do so often and 27% do so sometimes. 61% never turn to service-providers. For this particular question, it is worth noting the schism between the 14 “old” Member States and the 5 new Member States surveyed (EU-14: 35% respond “often” or “sometimes”; NMS-5: 51% respond “often” or “sometimes”). In the graph above, we can see that here also Estonia stands out together with Sweden with respectively 72% and 68% of one-person-enterprises indicating that they subcontract or purchase services from others. In Sweden, responses are equally split between “often” and “sometimes” and more or less the same can be said for Estonia.

On the contrary, Cyprus (79%) stands out for the proportion of one-person-enterprises who never subcontract or buy services from others.


Q1c. Could you tell me if you subcontract or buy services from others ?

12%

17%

16%

9%

11%

9%

12%

22%

20%

14%

11%

27%

32%

39%

20%

26%

27%

32%

30%

34%

30%

25%

61%

50%

44%

71%

62%

64%

56%

47%

46%

56%

64%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros


Yes

No


Breakdown by company categories Looking first at sector of activity, as we might expect, enterprises in construction stand out for the high proportion of one-person-enterprises which either subcontract or buy services from others. Turnover seems to be a significant indicator of whether or not one-person-enterprises subcontract or purchase services. There is an increasing relationship between turnover and sub-contracting or purchasing services whereby the greater the turnover, the more likely the one-person-enterprise is to engage the activities of service-providers. We could presume that a higher level of turnover implies that the workload is greater and hence the need for assistance. This however, is coupled with the presumption that these enterprises are better placed to finance such needs. One-person-enterprises which have recruited employees in the past are more likely to subcontract or buy services from others. Before concluding this section, it is worth noting that three in four one-person-enterprises receive some form of assistance in their work with most relying on informal support through family or friends compared to more formal support via short-term staff or subcontractors. Consequently, there is a potential for recruitment of employees in the future thereby confirming the need to assess the associated procedures.


Q2.1 In the past, did you ever recruit for your business one or more employees under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract?

28%25%

37%

50%40%

38%34%34%

31%30%29%29%28%

26%

25%24%

12%8%

5%3%

72%75%

63%

50%59%

61%66%66%

69%70%71%71%

71%74%

75%75%

75%88%

92%95%

97%

26%25%

74%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19EU 14NMS 5

PLDKEEESIE

DEBECYLTATIT

CZLUPTUKFRNLFI

SE

Yes No [DK/ NA]

1.2. Past employment contracts This question serves as a means of distinguishing between first-time recruiters and firms which have already experienced this. In the graph below, we have regrouped “yes, several times” and “yes, once” responses. Source questionnaire: Q2.1

- 28% of one-person-enterprises have past experience of recruiting full-time, permanent staff -

At the EU-19 level, 28% of one-person-enterprises have, in the past, recruited one or more employees under a regular work contract. There is a significant difference between the past recruitment experiences of the 14 “old” Member States (25%) and the 5 new Member States (37%). Looking at the country breakdown of results, the graph above shows that Poland is where most one-person-enterprises have recruited employees under a regular contract, being the case of one in two firms.


Q2.1 In the past, did you ever recruit for your business one or more employees under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract?

28%

36%

29%

26%

27%

10%

19%

34%

72%

64%

71%

74%

73%

90%

81%

66%

3% 97%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years

Yes No

In contrast, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands can be distinguished for the particularly high proportions of one-person-enterprises, respectively 97%, 95% and 92%, which have never recruited employees under a regular contract. In parallel, in Sweden and the Netherlands, we previously noted that in both countries few one-person-enterprises employ short-term staff. While Finland ranks highest for the proportion of one-person-enterprises which receive help from family or friends. Breakdown by company categories Looking first at sector, persons running enterprises in industry are more inclined to recruit employees under a regular work contract compared to businesses in other sectors of activity.

As we might expect, there is an increasing relationship between the number of years since the business has been established and past experience of recruiting employees under a regular contract: enterprises which have been in existence for more than five years are more likely to have past experience of this than more recently established firms.


Q2.2 Considering the current situation of your business, do you think that you would need to recruit one or more employees in the next six months?

15%

22%

20%

19%19%

19%19%

18%17%

16%

6%4%

3%3%

83%

78%

78%80%

80%

79%76%

82%80%

83%84%

86%88%

93%

94%96%

95%95%

11%7%

11%14%

14%

19%

86%

81%

1%

2%

2%

3%

2%

1%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

CY

LT

ES

IT

UK

EE

PL

IE

LU

DK

FR

FI

SE

CZ

PT

DE

NL

BE

AT

Yes No [DK/ NA]

1.3. Future employment needs Source questionnaire: Q2.2.

- On average, 15% of one-person-enterprises would need to recruit additional employees within the next six months -

At the EU-19 level, 15% of one-person-enterprises believe that that they would need to recruit one or more employees in the next six months. In most Member States, less than one in five owners of one-person-enterprises believes that it would be necessary to recruit additional employees within the next six months.


In Cyprus and Lithuania, growth opportunities are most promising with respectively, 22% and 20% confirming their belief that they would need to recruit employees within the coming six months.

Looking now at enterprises which do not anticipate a need to recruit additional employees in the next six months, the Netherlands (96%), Belgium and Austria (both 95%) rank highest.


Q2.2 Considering the current situation of your business, do you think that you would need to recruit one or more employees in the next six months?

15%

14%

21%

14%

32%

21%

20%

13%

19%

14%

83%

84%

76%

85%

64%

78%

78%

86%

86%

81%

80%

78%

85%

27%

19%

18%

13%

14%

73%

84%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros


Yes

No

Yes No [DK/ NA]

Breakdown by company categories Looking first at sector of activity, construction once again stands out for the relatively higher proportion of one-person-enterprises confirming their short-term recruitment needs. Note that this sector stood out previously for their tendency to currently employ short-term staff. This would suggest that employment opportunities in construction are inclined to be greater than in other industry categories.

Owners of recently established firms (less than 12 months) seem to be more optimistic about expansion in the short-term.

One-person-enterprises with a turnover of more than 250,000 euros are more inclined to anticipate the need for recruitment in the next six months. As mentioned earlier, a higher level of turnover would lead us to believe that this category of enterprise is better placed to finance its recruitment needs. One-person-enterprises which have employed full-time, permanent employees in the past are more inclined to confirm their need to recruit within the coming six months.


Q8. Suppose that you want to hire somebody. In your opinion, where do you think you could best obtain the necessary information regarding procedures

and your duties? - EU 19

50%

25%

16%

11%

10%

7%

8%

2%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Your accountant, your legal or f inancial advisor or a similar person

Chamber of Commerce or Professional Association

Family or friends

The Local Authorities

The National Authorities

Banks

[OTHER]

[DK/NA]

2. Hiring Procedures In this section the nature of hiring procedures as viewed by one-person-enterprises is explored. We will analyse preferred information sources, opinions on the number of obligatory institutions which should be contacted, the time required to gather all of the required information and fulfil procedures before turning to perceptions of the suitability of administrative procedures to hiring. 2.1. Legal administrative procedures

2.1.1. Information sources Source questionnaire: Q8

- One in two one-person-enterprises would prefer to turn to accountants or legal or financial advisors for information on hiring procedures -

At the EU-19 level, the graph above shows that one in two owners of one-person-enterprises would rather turn to their accountant, legal or financial advisor or a similar person. Following next, we see that one in four would prefer to turn to a chamber of commerce or professional association for such information.


The table below shows the country breakdown of preferred information sources.

Your accountant, your legal or financial advisor or a similar person

Chamber of Commerce

or Professional Association

Family or friends


The National

Authorities Banks [OTHER] [DK/NA]

EU 19 50% 25% 16% 11% 10% 2% 7% 8%

EU 14 53% 31% 15% 11% 8% 2% 6% 7%

NMS 5 40% 6% 18% 8% 17% 0% 8% 10%

IT 78% 17% 7% 2% 1% 0% 1% 4%

FI 70% 23% 13% 37% 11% 2% 19% 1%

FR 57% 67% 10% 9% 12% 1% 5% 1%

LU 57% 57% 11% 9% 18% 1% 9% 2%

BE 56% 50% 8% 11% 7% 4% 19% 6%

IE 54% 10% 38% 20% 21% 2% 9% 5%

DE 53% 43% 20% 11% 17% 2% 11% 5%

NL 49% 45% 3% 4% 4% 1% 4% 13%

PL 49% 10% 18% 6% 21% 0% 3% 7%

AT 48% 54% 12% 19% 11% 2% 6% 7%

ES 43% 17% 19% 6% 4% 1% 4% 9%

EE 43% 0% 42% 15% 21% 0% 19% 6%

DK 42% 22% 8% 18% 8% 3% 13% 9%

PT 42% 24% 18% 5% 12% 1% 7% 10%

SE 37% 15% 19% 41% 10% 1% 4% 3%

UK 34% 24% 22% 23% 10% 6% 8% 12%

CZ 33% 3% 17% 9% 14% 0% 12% 12%

LT 28% 4% 28% 22% 11% 0% 8% 10%

CY 10% 6% 35% 1% 18% 0% 9% 25%

For most Member States surveyed, a majority or at least a relative majority would rather look to accountants or legal or financial advisors for information on hiring procedures. The average result for the choice of “accountants or legal or financial advisors” masks considerable differences across the Member States surveyed. In Italy, a staggering 78% of one-person-enterprises would turn to these professionals for information on procedures and duties with regard to hiring. Also, this source would be the preference for the vast majority of Finnish one-person-enterprises, being cited by 70% of those interviewed. In France and Austria, a majority would opt for a “chamber of commerce or professional association” for such information, with respective results of 67% and 54% here. In Sweden, a relative majority of one-person-enterprises (41%) would rather refer to “local authorities” for such information. In Cyprus, a relative majority (35%) would choose “family or friends”. Owners of one-person-enterprises in Luxembourg are equally split between “accountants or legal or financial advisors” and a “chamber of commerce or professional association” (57% for each) as a source of information on hiring procedures. One-person-enterprises in Lithuania are equally split between “accountants or legal or financial advisors” and “family or friends”.


Breakdown by company categories


Chamber of Commerce

or Professional Association

Family or

friends


The National

Authorities Banks [OTHER] [DK/NA]

EU 19 50% 25% 16% 11% 10% 2% 7% 8%

Sector Industry 51% 19% 15% 9% 15% 1% 8% 6%

Construction 45% 24% 19% 11% 12% 2% 8% 9%

Trade 55% 24% 16% 9% 8% 2% 5% 8%

Services 48% 29% 14% 12% 10% 2% 7% 7%

Age of business < 1year 56% 30% 18% 18% 11% 2% 5% 2%

1-3 years 57% 38% 14% 10% 10% 2% 5% 4%

4-5 years 57% 31% 13% 10% 6% 2% 8% 5%

> 5 years 47% 22% 16% 10% 11% 2% 7% 9%

Turnover <=25 000 euros 42% 24% 18% 13% 12% 2% 6% 7%

25 001 - 100 000 56% 29% 13% 8% 12% 1% 9% 4%

100 001 - 250 000 56% 37% 15% 11% 12% 4% 5% 5%

> 250 000 euros 62% 18% 18% 12% 11% 1% 8% 6%

Past recruitment experience

Yes 50% 22% 16% 6% 9% 1% 8% 9%

No 50% 27% 16% 12% 11% 2% 6% 7%

We will first look at the company category influence on the choice of “accountant, legal or financial advisor”. With regard to sector, it seems that one-person-enterprises in trade are more likely to turn to this source compared to enterprises in other sectors of activity.

Companies with a turnover of more than 250,000 euros are more inclined to turn to an accountant or a legal or financial advisor for information on hiring procedures than companies with a lower turnover.

Turning now to Chambers of Commerce, it seems that one-person-enterprises in the services sector, firms which have been established for between 1 and 3 years, and/or firms with a turnover of between 100,000 and 250,000 euro are more inclined to opt for this source of information when it comes to hiring. One-person-enterprises which have been established for less than 12 months are more likely to turn to local authorities compared to longer established firms. When it comes to national authorities, in the sector of activity category, firms in industry would tend to refer to this source for information on hiring.


Q5. Suppose you want to hire somebody. How many different institutions (agencies, government bodies etc) do you think you would have to deal w ith before you could actually employ this person? - EU 19

31%

23%

15%

20%

11%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

[DK/ NA]

3 or more

2

1

0

2.1.2. Administrative bodies

Source questionnaire: Q5 When recruiting an employee, enterprises are obliged to contact various institutions. In this section we will look at the number of institutions one-person-enterprises believe that they would need to deal with before employing their chosen candidate. - Some uncertainty regarding the number of institutions that one-person-enterprises

need to deal with before employing their chosen candidate - The type of institutions that one-person-enterprises would potentially need to deal with in this context includes the social insurance office, tax authority, employment office, accident insurance, pension scheme etc. The average result for EU-19 shows that 31% of one-person-enterprises do not know how many different institutions they would have to deal with before they could actually employ their chosen candidate.

11% optimistically believe that they would not have to deal with any institution. 20% consider that they would need to deal with a unique institution and 23% believe that they would have to deal with three or more institutions before employing their chosen person. The number of obligatory institutions that one-person-enterprises would need to contact when recruiting an employee varies from one Member State to the next. In the European Commission’s observatory of European SMEs5 the number of institutions to be contacted when recruiting the first employee for the 14 Member

5 Observatory of European SMEs No 7, Recruitment of employees: Administrative burdens on SMEs in Europe, 2002, p. 24


Q5. Suppose you want to hire somebody. How many different institutions (agencies, government bodies etc) do you think you

would have to deal w ith before you could actually employ this person?

Response: 3 or more

5%

6%

7%

10%

11%

12%

14%

15%

20%

26%

26%

29%

30%

31%

33%

38%

42%

43%

41%

17%

23%

1%

0% 20% 40% 60%

CY

IT

PT

EE

UK

ES

DK

IE

LU

SE

BE

NL

LT

AT

FR

FI

DE

CZ

PL

NMS 5

EU 14

EU 19

States is detailed. Looking at this group of countries, the number of institutions varies from 1 in Ireland, Austria and Sweden to 5 in Belgium. In the case of Ireland, Austria and Sweden, less than one in five are aware that they would need to deal with a unique institution when recruiting their chosen candidate. The graph below shows the proportion of company owners who believe that they would have to deal with 3 or more institutions before they could employ somebody. It is worth noting the schism here between the 14 “old” Member States (17%) and the 5 new Member States (41%).


Poland (43%) and the Czech Republic (42%) stand out with the highest proportion of owners of the opinion that they would have to deal with 3 or more institutions when recruiting their chosen candidate. Following next, is Germany with 38% believing that they would have to deal with 3 or more institutions.

Perceptions seem more optimistic in Cyprus, Italy and Portugal where respectively 1%, 5% and 6% of company owners believe that they would have to deal with 3 or more institutions before they could employ somebody. However, in Italy and Portugal, this result is partly explained by the fact that 43% of company owners in Italy did not know or could not answer this question and the same is true for 63% of company owners in Portugal. Breakdown by company categories One-person-enterprises which have previously recruited an employee under a regular work contract are more likely to confirm that they would need to deal with either 1 or 2 institutions compared to company owners who do not have such experience.


Q6. How much of your working time do you think you would need in order to gather all the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in

order to hire your first employee?

14%

17%

17%

20%

21%

22%

23%

25%

26%

27%

28%

28%

30%

34%

36%

39%

39%

39%

45%

25%

25%

12%

35%

21%

28%

23%

28%

15%

19%

32%

27%

31%

33%

17%

29%

24%

30%

22%

20%

25%

38%

27%

40%

32%

38%

34%

41%

29%

21%

23%

36%

31%

22%

28%

21%

18%

28%

23%

17%

31%

23%

8%

26%

12%

20%

8%

31%

33%

17%

9%

10%

16%

21%

13%

15%

18%

18%

20%

3%

44%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

IT

PT

PL

CY

SE

BE

FR

NL

ES

CZ

DE

LT

IE

UK

LU

DK

FI

EE

AT

EU 19

One day or less Tw o to three days 1 w eek or more [DK/ NA]

2.1.3. Time and effort required

The objective of this question is to estimate perceptions of the time necessary to collect the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in order to hire the first employee. The term administrative procedure includes all obligatory contacts an employer has to make with the respective authorities in the recruitment process. This question focuses on procedures related to hiring the first employee. There is in fact a distinction between procedures related to the recruitment of the first employee and procedures related to the subsequent employee. As certain registrations only need to be done once, the number of obligatory steps, and hence the time necessary can differ between both cases6. Source questionnaire: Q6

- Uncertainty with regard to the number of days required to fulfil administrative procedures for hiring -



Q6. How much of your working time do you think you would need in order to gather all the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in

order to hire your first employee?

25%

24%

24%

33%

32%

30%

23%

25%

27%

27%

31%

27%

28%

24%

31%

34%

37%

25%

24%

28%

33%

18%

15%

13%

12%

16%

14%

20%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros


Yes

No

One day or less Tw o to three days 1 w eek or more [DK/ NA]

At the EU-19 level, one in four owners of one-person-enterprises believes that they would only need “one day or less” in order to gather all the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures before hiring their first employee. An identical proportion believes that this would take “two to three days” and 31% believe that this would take “one week or more”7. 18% of owners of one-person-enterprises did not or could not respond to this question. One-person-enterprises in Austria seem to be considerably more optimistic than those in other Member States surveyed about the time necessary for dealing with administration related to hiring with 45% believing that this would take “one day or less”. Estonia, Finland and Denmark are also among the most optimistic with 39% considering that this would take one day or less. It is worth recalling that in Estonia and Denmark, 38% and 40% respectively of one-person-enterprises have past experience in recruitment (subsection 1.2), suggesting that in practice, from a time point of view, the experience was positive.

Looking at the combined responses for “one week or more” category, it seems that relatively higher proportions of one-person-enterprises in France (41%) and Poland (40%) believe that the time required for dealing with administrative procedures would take at least one week. In Poland, 50% of one-person-enterprises have recruited employees in the past (subsection 1.2), which would lead us to believe that the administrative procedures were indeed time-consuming. Breakdown by company categories 7 The corresponding table of results (in the annex), details answer options as follows: one week, two to three weeks and more than three weeks.


Company turnover seems to bear an influence on the perception owners of one-person-enterprises have of the time they believe it would take to gather all the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in order to hire their first employee. Companies with a higher level of turnover (over 100,000 euros) are more inclined to believe that this would take “one day or less” compared to enterprises with a smaller turnover. It is worth noting that companies with past experience of recruiting employees under a regular work contract are more likely to consider that they would need only “one day or less” in order to gather the required information and fulfil all the necessary administrative procedures before hiring their first employee.


Q7.(…)In your opinion, how much time would be necessary before this person can begin to actually work in your company?

23%

25%

25%

25%

25%

26%

27%

27%

29%

30%

31%

31%

31%

33%

34%

36%

37%

39%

39%

28%

11%

12%

14%

18%

13%

6%

16%

11%

13%

9%

13%

7%

11%

10%

23%

6%

10%

10%

26%

13%

19%

15%

6%

13%

17%

10%

15%

5%

10%

12%

17%

16%

15%

17%

13%

13%

10%

12%

12%

14%

38%

34%

30%

27%

30%

43%

37%

29%

35%

41%

22%

28%

21%

33%

27%

25%

29%

33%

18%

33%

9%

13%

26%

18%

13%

5%

28%

13%

8%

17%

22%

7%

20%

5%

3%

12%

14%

3%

17%

16%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

PL

IT

NL

CZ

LT

BE

FR

PT

UK

SE

ES

LU

AT

DE

FI

CY

DK

IE

EE

EU 19

The employee can start working immediately, procedures can be sorted out later

One day or less Two to three days One week or more [DK/ NA]

3.1.4. Initial time and effort required prior to employment

Here we will look at how much time one-person-enterprises believe would be necessary before their chosen candidate actually starts work. Regulations vary across Member States: in some countries certain administrative procedures must be terminated before the newly recruited employee starts work, while other steps should be followed after the employee has started work8. Source questionnaire: Q7 - 28% of one-person-enterprises would postpone administrative procedures until after

the employee starts working -



28%

27%

29%

26%

36%

33%

26%

13%

11%

15%

18%

12%

14%

13%

14%

14%

15%

16%

11%

14%

14%

33%

34%

34%

32%

30%

30%

33%

12%

13%

7%

9%

11%

9%

14%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros


Yes

No

The employee can start w orking immediately, procedures can be sorted out later

One day or less Two to three days One w eek or more [DK/ NA]

Q7.(…)In your opinion, how much time would be necessary before this person can begin to actually work in your company?

At the EU-19 level, 28% of persons running one-person-enterprises believe that the employee can start working immediately and that administrative procedures can be sorted out later. 13% believe that this could take “one day or less”, 14% consider that “two to three days” would be necessary and 33% are of the opinion that this could take one week or more9. One-person-enterprises in Estonia (39%), Ireland (39%) and Denmark (37%) feel less inhibited by employment administrative procedures and would rather the employee start immediately and sort out procedures later. It is interesting to note that according to the European Commissions observatory on SMEs, in both Ireland and Denmark procedures can in fact be followed after the employee starts work10. In Belgium and Sweden, more than two in five one-person-enterprises believe that administrative procedures would take one week or more to sort out before their chosen candidate can actually begin to work.

A relatively high proportion of owners of one-person-enterprises in Portugal (28%) and the Netherlands (26%) did not or could not respond to this question. Breakdown by company categories Owners of one-person-enterprises with a turnover of over 250,000 euros are more inclined to consider that they could postpone administrative procedures until after the employee begins working compared to firms with a smaller turnover. Also, one-person-enterprises with past experience of recruiting full-time, permanent employees are more inclined to believe that they could deal with administrative procedures after the employee commences work.

9 The corresponding table of results (in the annex), details answer options as follows: one week, two to three weeks and more than three weeks. 10 Observatory of European SMEs No 7, Recruitment of employees: Administrative burdens on SMEs in Europe, 2002, p. 22


Q12. Overall, would you say that the administrative procedures for a company like yours are very well suited, rather well suited, rather unsuited or rather not suited

at all to hiring somebody in [OUR COUNTRY]?

17%

18%

19%

21%

22%

24%

26%

27%

27%

28%

30%

31%

33%

35%

43%

44%

47%

60%

67%

20%

31%

29%

71%

62%

50%

66%

49%

22%

50%

48%

59%

59%

33%

51%

42%

47%

40%

43%

23%

21%

13%

63%

50%

53%

11%

19%

32%

14%

29%

54%

24%

25%

14%

13%

37%

19%

26%

18%

17%

13%

30%

19%

20%

17%

19%

19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

DE

CZ

LT

PL

PT

NL

BE

DK

FR

AT

SE

UK

ES

IE

IT

FI

CY

LU

EE

NMS 5

EU 14

EU 19

Well suited Unsuited [DK/NA]

2.2. Suitability of administrative procedures For this question we have grouped “very well suited” and “rather well suited” responses into “well suited”. The same was done for “unsuited” responses Source questionnaire: Q12

- One-person-enterprises call for improvement of administrative procedures related to hiring -


At the EU-19 level, one in two owners of one-person-enterprises believes that the administrative procedures for a company like theirs are unsuited to hiring. Such a perception is indeed of concern and could be a potential threat to employment opportunities in one-person-enterprises. This result rises even higher when we take the average result for the 5 new Member States (63%). Different perceptions across Member States reflect differences in national administrative procedures for hiring.

The results in Estonia and Luxembourg stand out with respectively 67% and 60% of one-person-enterprises satisfied with hiring administrative procedures.

In Finland and Italy, opinion is more or less split between company owners who consider that the administrative procedures related to hiring are well suited to their company and those who are of the opposite point of view.

The result in Germany is of particular concern with as many as seven in ten owners of one-person-enterprises believing that administrative procedures for a company such as theirs are unsuited to hiring. Also, worth noting is the high proportion of one-person-enterprises in Poland (66%), the Czech Republic (62%), Austria (59%) and France (59%) which express the same concern.


Q12. Overall, would you say that the administrative procedures for a company like yours are very well suited, rather well suited, rather unsuited or rather not suited

at all to hiring somebody in [OUR COUNTRY]?

29%

32%

27%

29%

28%

32%

28%

53%

53%

58%

49%

54%

54%

52%

19%

16%

15%

22%

18%

15%

20%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

SECTOR

Industry

Construction

Trade

Services


Yes

No

Well suited Unsuited [DK/NA]

Breakdown by company categories Owners of one-person-enterprises operating in industry are slightly more inclined to believe that administrative procedures are “well suited” to hiring somebody in their country compared to firms in other sectors of activity. It is somewhat encouraging to see that one-person-enterprises with past experience of recruiting persons under a regular work contract are slightly more inclined to consider that administrative procedures are “well suited” to a company such as theirs (32%) compared to companies who are inexperienced in such recruitment (28%).


Q3. From the following list, what are the two main reasons that could best explain why you do not currently employ anybody under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary)

work contract? Firstly & Secondly - EU 19

2%

11%

9%

11%

17%

17%

18%

18%

36%

40%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

[DK/ NA]

[OTHER] [SPECIFY:...]..

It w ould cost too much to train a new employee

The legal and administrative procedures for hiring,employing or dismissing staff are too complicated

Your expectations for your future businessdevelopment are not suff iciently good

You w ant to keep full control over all aspects of yourbusiness

It is diff icult to f ind a suitably qualif ied person

The w ages you w ould have to pay are too high

The additional labour costs are too high

Your business is not yet big enough

3. Employment Procedures 3.1. General prohibitory factors In this question owners of one-person-enterprises were asked to give the two main reasons that could best explain why they do not currently employ anybody under a regular work contract. The tables in the annex show what owners of one-person-enterprises cited as the first and second most important barriers to employment. In this section, we will analyse the combined “firstly” and “secondly” responses. Source questionnaire: Q3 - The main reasons why one-person-enterprises do not employ another person is that their business is not yet big enough and/or the additional labour costs are too high -


Q3.g. The additionnal labour costs are too high Firstly & Secondly

10%14%14%15%16%16%18%18%

22%25%26%26%27%

35%36%37%39%

56%75%

54%30%

36%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

NL

DK

UK

AT

LU

CY

PT

EE

SE

ES

IE

LT

FI

IT

DE

CZ

BE

FR

PL

NM S 5

EU 14

EU 19

At the EU-19 level, one of the two reasons why most one-person-enterprises do not employ anybody is that their business is not yet big enough, being cited by 40% of one-person-enterprises. For 17% of one-person-enterprises their expectations for future business development would not imply a need for a full-time, permanent employee.

The next most important prohibitory factor against employing another person is that the additional labour costs are too high, being cited by 36% of one-person-enterprises. Since this appears to be a relatively widespread barrier to employment, we will analyse the detailed results for this item in the following paragraphs. This result is compounded by the fact that for 18%, they do not currently employ somebody under a regular contract as the wages they would have to pay are too high.

We will also examine the item which is of particular interest to this research, namely, administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff. The graph below shows the country results for one-person-enterprises who consider that “the additional labour costs are too high”. The results vary considerably across the individual Member States surveyed, reflecting the diversity of national labour markets in the European Union. It is also worth noting the difference in results between the 14 “old” Member States (30%) and the 5 new Member States (54%).


Q3.h. The legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff are too complicated

Firstly & Secondly

1%3%4%

5%6%6%6%

9%9%

11%11%

12%12%

17%18%18%18%19%

24%

14%10%11%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

EE

IT

ES

PT

BE

FR

CY

LU

LT

NL

FI

SE

CZ

AT

DE

UK

PL

IE

DK

NM S 5

EU 14

EU 19

Poland stands out from all other countries with as many as three in four owners of one-person-enterprises considering that additional labour costs is one of the main reasons why they do not currently employ anybody. Following next is France with 56% citing this as one of the main deterrents to employing a full-time, permanent employee. Ranking lowest here is the Netherlands with only one in ten managers of one-person-enterprises considering this to be one of their main reasons for not employing anybody else. Focusing now on “legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff”, we can see that Denmark ranks highest with close to one in four owners of one-person-enterprises considering that such legal and administrative procedures act as a barrier to employing another person.

In contrast, in Estonia, the Mediterranean countries surveyed, as well as Belgium, France and Cyprus very few owners of one-person-enterprises would perceive this as being one of most important prohibitory factors to employing another person.


Q3.g. The additionnal labour costs are too high Firstly & Secondly

36%

39%

39%

31%

20%

42%

33%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

EU 19

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros


Yes

No

Breakdown by company categories As we might expect, one-person-enterprises with a lower turnover, are more likely to cite additional labour costs as being one of the main factors that would prevent them from hiring an employee under a regular contract than companies with a higher turnover. Owners of one-person-enterprises with past experience of recruiting full-time, permanent employees are more inclined to cite additional labour costs as a deterring factor to employing another person under a regular work contract compared to firms who do not have recruitment experience.


Q3.h. The legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff are too complicated

Firstly & Secondly

11%

6%

6%

12%

13%

11%

12%

18%

19%

0% 10% 20% 30%

EU 19

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros

One-person-enterprises which have been established for a longer period are more likely not to employ another person as they perceive the legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff to be too complicated compared to more recently established firms.

Similarly, owners of companies with a turnover of over 100,000 euros are more inclined to cite this reason than companies with less financial might.


Q4. One of the reasons why you do not have an employee is due to the complexity of the legal and administrative procedures. From the following list,

what exactly are the two main reasons best explaining your opinion? Firstly & Secondly? - EU 19

10%

5%

7%

28%

30%

31%

32%

37%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

[DK/NA]

[OTHER] [SPECIFY]

You would not have enough freedom to select an employeebecause of anti-discrimination rules

You would have to comply with too many health and safetyregulations

Fulfilling the requirements for withholding taxes and other taxrelated work would be too complicated and time-consuming

You are afraid that it would be too difficult to dismiss anemployee in the future

The expenses related to the administrative procedures for hiringsomebody are too high

Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil your obligations regardingsocial contributions would be too complicated and time-

consuming

3.2. Administrative procedures

3.2.1. Barriers to employment In this question we will focus on why owners of one-person-enterprises are of the opinion that the legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff are too complicated. This question was put to those who previously cited this as being one of their main reasons for not employing staff. As the corresponding table in the annex shows, our respondent base is considerably reduced. Consequently, at the country and socio-demographic levels our results are not statistically reliable for analysis. Source questionnaire: Q4

- Fulfilling obligations regarding social contributions emerges as the foremost reason explaining one-person-enterprises opinion that the complexity of the legal and

administrative procedures prevent further employment -

Owners of one-person-enterprises were asked to give two reasons best explaining why they perceive hiring, employing or dismissing legal and administrative procedures as being too complicated. As in question 3, our analysis here focuses on the combined “firstly” and “secondly” responses. As the graph below shows, the responses at the EU-19 level, in general, are relatively evenly distributed. The exception to this is anti-discrimination laws, which is only cited by 7% of one-person-enterprises.

Ranking highest, we see that fulfilling requirements regarding social contributions is perceived to be too complicated and time consuming by 37% of owners of one-person-enterprises.


Q9. How much time per month do you think you would have to spend on administrative procedures related to this employment (e.g. fulfilling tax

and social security obligations...)?

21%

25%

26%

34%

34%

35%

36%

37%

39%

40%

41%

42%

43%

48%

49%

49%

53%

57%

58%

39%

15%

17%

26%

11%

31%

29%

24%

36%

27%

25%

24%

27%

29%

35%

25%

21%

32%

30%

14%

25%

7%

14%

12%

18%

10%

9%

13%

12%

10%

12%

8%

14%

6%

6%

3%

8%

12%

12%

6%

5%

1%

5%

50%

37%

20%

35%

21%

22%

9%

19%

24%

18%

9%

9%

22%

4%

14%

19%

14%

21%

1%

3%

5%

5%

4%

3%

8%

8%

7%

7%

8%

4%

10%

8%

20%

13%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

PT

CY

LT

ES

PL

CZ

IT

SE

BE

NL

UK

DK

DE

EE

FR

AT

IE

FI

LU

EU 19

A few hours About one day Two or three days M ore than three days [DK/NA]

3.2.2. On-going time and effort required during employment

In this section, we will look at perceptions of the amount of time that would be required for dealing with employment administrative procedures on a monthly basis. Source questionnaire: Q9 - A relative majority of one-person-enterprises are of the opinion that they would have

to spend a few hours per month on administrative procedures related to the employment of another person -


Q9. How much time per month do you think you would have to spend on administrative procedures related to this employment (e.g. fulfilling tax and social

security obligations...)?

39%

42%

43%

48%

37%

38%

42%

41%

53%

25%

32%

23%

17%

25%

27%

27%

30%

19%

12%

14%

10%

12%

15%

12%

6%

13%

6%

6%

9%

19%

12%

14%

20%

15%

13%

14%

13%

10%

2%

5%

4%

3%

5%

5%

21%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

EU 19

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years

TURNOVER

<=25 000 euros

25 001 - 100 000

100 001 - 250 000

> 250 000 Euros

A few hours About one day Tw o or three days More than three days [DK/NA]

At the EU-19 level, 39% of those running one-person-enterprises are of the opinion that they would have to spend “a few hours” per month on administrative procedures related to the employment of another person. 25% believe that this would take “about one day”. Approximately, one in five one-person-enterprises did not or could not answer this question. In Luxembourg and Finland owners of one-person-enterprises are most optimistic about the time that they would need to devote to administrative procedures related to employment with respectively 58% and 57% believing that this would take “a few hours” per month. In fact, in most Member States surveyed, a relative majority believes that “a few hours” per month would be required for administrative procedures related to employment.

In Portugal, Cyprus and Spain, a large proportion of one-person-enterprises were unable to answer this question, with respective “dk/na” results of 50%, 37% and 35%. Breakdown by company categories In the age of business category, persons running enterprises which exist for between 4 and 5 years are more likely to believe that they would need to devote “a few hours” per month to employment administrative procedures. Owners of one-person-enterprises which were set-up within the last twelve months are more inclined to believe that they would need “about one day” per month to fulfil administrative requirements related to employment compared to those in longer-established firms.

Company turnover also seems to influence results: owners of one-person-enterprises which have a turnover of over 250,000 euros tend to be more likely to consider that they would only need “a few hours” per month to fulfil employment administrative requirements compared to companies with a lower turnover.


Q11. If you pay that employee a gross salary of 100 euros, how much do you think you would have to pay ON TOP OF THIS AMOUNT for the various social

security contributions, for special taxes related to the employment and other mandatory payments?

AVERAGE

66,3

97,989,4

80,275,7

71,471,2

68,565,4

63,763,162,261,961,160,3

46,743,4

4034,1

29,1

0 20 40 60 80 100

EU 19

BE

AT

PL

FR

IT

LU

PT

SE

DE

FI

NL

ES

CZ

LT

IE

EE

DK

UK

CY

3.3. Tax requirements In this question, one-person-enterprises were asked to estimate how much they believe that they would need to pay for social security contributions, special employment taxes and other mandatory payments on top of a salary of 100 euros. In order to facilitate analysis, we have calculated the average results for each country and will refer to this supplementary payment as a percentage since this is based on a salary of 100 euros. Source questionnaire: Q11 - Perceptions of mandatory payments for employment of another person could hamper

employment opportunities for one-person-enterprises - At the EU-19 level, on average, this is estimated to be equivalent to 66.3% of a gross salary.


Q11. If you pay that employee a gross salary of 100 euros, how much do you think you would have to pay ON TOP OF THIS AMOUNT for the various

social security contributions, for special taxes related to the employment and other mandatory payments?

AVERAGE

66,3

72,7

65,4

77,9

65,2

0 20 40 60 80 100

EU 19

AGE OF BUSINESS

< 1year

1-3 years

4-5 years

> 5 years

The graph above shows the average results for each of the 19 Member States surveyed. As we can see, the average result of 66.3% masks considerable differences across countries.

The result in Belgium stands out from all others. One-person-enterprises here are of the opinion that mandatory payments related to employment of another person would be, on average, as high as 97.9% of their gross salary. Such negative perceptions of mandatory payments could be a major deterring factor for one-person-enterprises seeking to employ another person. In 14 of the Member States surveyed, one-person-enterprises consider that, on average, the amount that they would be obliged to pay for the employment of another person would be at least 60% of their gross salary. The only countries where mandatory payments are perceived to be below 50% of gross salary are Ireland (46.7%), Estonia (43.4%), Denmark (40%), the United Kingdom (34.1%) and Cyprus (29.1%). Breakdown by company categories The number of years which a company has been in existence seems to exert a certain influence on the average amount one-person-enterprises believe they would have to pay on top of a gross salary of 100 euros. Persons running enterprises which have been established for between 4 and 5 years, tend to believe that they need to pay more for social security contributions and other mandatory payments than those in other “age of business” categories.


4. Initiatives for small companies Smaller sized enterprises are exempted from certain legal obligations as long as the number of their employees stays below the defined threshold. Existing relief is mainly related to the reduction or exemption of social security contributions, the availability of grants and tax incentives, as well as exemptions from certain legal obligations such as worker representation, health and safety, dismissal protection as well as in the field of disability law11. In this section we will analyse to the extent to which one-person-enterprises are aware of exemptions and other forms of support favouring small firms. 4.1. Awareness levels Source questionnaire: Q10 - Low levels of awareness of exceptions from legal and administrative requirements or

special initiatives with regard to hiring and employment for small companies - The table below shows the proportion of one-person-enterprises by country which, are aware of the various exceptions from legal and administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies.

11 Observatory of European SMEs No 7, Recruitment of employees: Administrative burdens on SMEs in Europe, 2002, pgs. 37-40


Exemptions from rules that

protect employees

from dismissal

Special reductions for

taxes and social security contributions

for small companies

Special financial support

(subsidy, grants…)

available for small

companies that hire staff

Exceptions and special rules

that make the administrative

process of hiring easier

Relaxing employment

rules that make

employing staff less

burdensome

EU 19 36% 34% 36% 21% 24%

EU 14 38% 37% 36% 23% 25%

NMS 5 27% 22% 35% 16% 19%

BE 22% 30% 27% 16% 18%

DK 20% 12% 29% 10% 9%

DE 33% 32% 36% 18% 19%

ES 35% 40% 35% 27% 32%

FR 34% 37% 38% 29% 26%

IE 37% 26% 32% 16% 18%

IT 53% 47% 40% 30% 32%

LU 42% 28% 34% 26% 17%

NL 26% 27% 25% 11% 12%

AT 24% 37% 34% 15% 21%

PT 32% 34% 25% 14% 12%

FI 40% 40% 32% 18% 19%

SE 35% 31% 18% 8% 14%

UK 37% 32% 37% 17% 20%

CY 25% 18% 9% 8% 9%

CZ 22% 20% 27% 12% 11%

EE 41% 22% 34% 13% 14%

LT 19% 38% 21% 7% 12%

PL 31% 25% 46% 21% 28% For each of the exceptions covered in this question, only a minority of one-person-enterprises have heard of them. At the EU-19 level, “exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal” and “special financial support available for small companies that hire staff” rank highest with 36% of one-person-enterprises confirming that they have heard of these initiatives. 34% are aware of “special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies”. A considerably lower proportion of one-person-enterprises have heard of “relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome” (24%) and “exceptions and special rules that make the administrative process of hiring easier” (21%). These results show that there is a strong need to heighten the awareness among one-person-enterprises of the special programmes and initiatives which they are entitled to avail of.


For most of the initiatives covered in this question, awareness levels are highest in Italy: “exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal”, 53%, “special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies”, 47%, “exceptions and special rules that make the administrative process of hiring staff easier”, 30% as well as “relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome”, 32% (for this last item, an identical result was observed in Spain). However in Poland, more one-person-enterprises are aware of “special financial support available for small companies that hire staff”, 46%, than in any other Member State surveyed. Awareness levels rank lowest in Denmark for “special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies”, 12% and “relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome”, 9% (the latter result was identical in Cyprus). “Exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal” was least well-known among one-person-enterprises in Lithuania, 19%. Awareness levels of “special financial support available for small companies that hire staff” are least well-known among companies in Cyprus (9%). “Exceptions and special rules that make the administrative process of hiring staff easier” are least well-known among one-person-enterprises in Lithuania (7%). It is clear that in all Member States surveyed, there is a need to boost awareness levels of those running their business single-handedly, of the existence of special programmes and initiatives aimed at facilitating hiring and employment for small companies.


Breakdown by company categories The table below shows the proportion of one-person-enterprises by company category which, are aware of the various exceptions from legal and administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies. Here we will highlight some of the more striking tendencies regarding the influence of company characteristics on awareness levels of initiatives for small companies. The annual turnover of a company seems to have an influence on the levels of awareness of “special financial support for small companies that hire staff”: persons running companies with a turnover of less than 25,000 euro are more likely to be aware of its existence than those with a larger turnover. Owners running enterprises which have been in existence for between 4 and 5 years are more likely to be aware of the “relaxing of employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome” compared to other “age of business” categories. One-person-enterprises which have past recruitment experience are generally more inclined to be aware of exceptions from legal and administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies. The only exception where this factor did not bear a significant influence was on “special reductions for taxes and social security contributions”.

Exemptions from rules that

protect employees

from dismissal

Special reductions for

taxes and social security contributions

for small companies

Special financial support

(subsidy, grants…)

available for small

companies that hire staff

Exceptions and special rules

that make the administrative

process of hiring easier

Relaxing employment

rules that make

employing staff less

burdensome

EU 19 36% 34% 36% 21% 24%

Sector Industry 32% 30% 40% 21% 22% Construction 32% 30% 32% 19% 22% Trade 37% 34% 35% 21% 24% Services 36% 36% 37% 23% 24% Age of business < 1year 40% 42% 34% 18% 21% 1-3 years 34% 35% 34% 22% 22% 4-5 years 40% 43% 38% 22% 31% > 5 years 35% 32% 37% 21% 23%

Turnover <=25000 euros 31% 33% 39% 22% 26% 25001 - 100000 37% 33% 34% 21% 22% 100001 - 250000 30% 27% 31% 20% 23% > 250000 euros 37% 28% 29% 15% 20%

Past recruitment experience

Yes 41% 33% 40% 23% 28%

No 33% 34% 34% 20% 22%


CONCLUSION Three in four one-person-enterprises receive some form of assistance in their work with a majority relying on informal support through family or friends compared to more formal support via short-term staff or subcontractors

Three in four one-person-enterprises receive some support either via short-term employees, family or friends or subcontractors. The most widespread form of support tends to be informal coming from family or friends, being cited by 54% compared to more formal types of assistance such as short-term staff or service-providers. Such a high level of informal or temporary assistance demonstrates the potential for future recruitment possibilities within one-person-enterprises. Also, according to our results, 15% of one-person-enterprises confirm that they would need to recruit one or more employees within the next six months. One-person-enterprises call for improvement of administrative procedures related to hiring

An accountant or legal or financial advisor would be the preferred source for one in two one-person-enterprises when seeking information on hiring procedures. Our results show that, at the national level, there is a marked disparity in opinion on the number of obligatory institutions that need to be dealt with as well as the time necessary to fulfil the administrative procedures required for hiring the first employee. In Estonia and Denmark, countries where close to two in five one-person-enterprises have past experience in recruitment, from a time point of view, the administrative side was positive with 39% believing that this would take one day or less. However, in Poland, where one in two one-person-enterprises have recruited employees under a regular work contract, the experience seems to have been negative with 40% considering that this would take at least one week.

In spite of the apparent lack of familiarity with administrative procedures related to hiring and the confirmed lack of experience of their application by a majority of one-person-enterprises, one in two confirms their conviction that these procedures are unsuited to a company such as theirs. Uncertainty with regard to hiring administrative procedures and the confirmed lack of direct experience of recruiting could put the validity of this result into question. However, what we should bear in mind is that what we are measuring here are perceptions and that these negative perceptions (even if not based on fact or experience) could be damaging to potential employment opportunities in this particular, and often volatile, category of enterprise. 40% of respondents do not employ another person because their business is not big enough yet additional labour costs is a barrier for many

The main reason given by one-person-enterprises, for not employing another person is that their business has not yet grown sufficiently. However, for 36%, the additional labour costs would be a prohibitory factor. Perceptions of mandatory payments for employment of another person could discourage employment growth in one-person-enterprises with owners of one-person-enterprises in 14 of the Member States surveyed believing that social security contributions and other legal employment costs would be equivalent to 60%, on average, of a gross salary. Persons running their own


business in Belgium believe that, on average, this would, be equivalent to, 97.8% of an employee’s gross salary. The significance of supplementary costs such as employer’s contribution to social security is perceived very differently across the individual Member States surveyed, reflecting the diversity of national labour markets in the European Union. Need to boost levels of awareness of special exceptions from legal and administrative requirements granted to small companies

Results show exceptionally low levels of awareness of the exceptions, granted to small companies, from legal and administrative requirements or special initiatives with regard to hiring and employment. A vast majority of persons running their business single-handedly have not heard of exceptions and special rules that facilitate the administrative process of hiring (76%), relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome (74%), special financial support for small companies that hire staff (62%), special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies (64%) and exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal (62%). In opinion polls, it is unusual to have such a high proportion of respondents admitting that they are not familiar with the matter in question. Indeed, such a widespread acknowledged lack of awareness of special exemptions granted to small companies signals a pressing need to disseminate information on hiring and employment procedures and regulations for one-person-enterprises. With this knowledge, one-person-enterprises can benefit from public policy measures aimed at encouraging their future growth and development.

TABLES

Flash EB 163 “Hiring and employment procedures for one-person-enterprises” - 1 -

Q1. Pour chacune des situations suivantes, pourriez-vous me dire si vous … a) Employez du personnel sur une courte période

Q1. For each of the following situations, could you tell me if you …

a) Employ staff on a short term basis

Total Souvent/

Often Parfois/

Sometimes Jamais/ Never

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 4% 17% 78% 0% EU 14 3012 5% 18% 77% 0% NMS 5 917 3% 15% 82% 0%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 2% 8% 90% 0% DK 204 2% 16% 82% 0% DE 300 3% 26% 72% 0% ES 311 4% 19% 78% 0% FR 303 2% 13% 84% 0% IE 92 11% 40% 49% 0% IT 300 3% 17% 80% 0% LU 100 5% 17% 78% 0% NL 200 2% 8% 89% 1% AT 200 3% 18% 79% 1% PT 200 7% 16% 77% 0% FI 100 4% 26% 69% 1% SE 201 0% 11% 89% 0% UK 300 11% 20% 69% 1%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 1% 15% 84% 0% CZ 200 3% 11% 86% 0% EE 102 15% 31% 54% 0% LT 215 1% 20% 78% 1% PL 300 3% 20% 77% 0%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 3% 16% 81% 0% Construction 550 5% 26% 68% 1% Commerce / Trade 1183 2% 15% 82% 0% Services 1685 6% 17% 78% 0%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 6% 12% 80% 2% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 4% 18% 78% 0% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 4% 15% 81% 0% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 4% 18% 78% 0%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 2% 15% 84% 0% 25 001 - 100 000 850 4% 22% 73% 0% 100 001 - 250 000 303 7% 22% 71% 0% > 250 000 Euros 211 8% 24% 69% 0%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 7% 28% 65% 0% Non / No 2842 3% 13% 83% 0%


Q1. Pour chacune des situations suivantes, pourriez-vous me dire si vous … b) Recevez de l'aide à votre travail de la part de membres de votre famille ou d'amis


b) Receive help at your work from family members or friends

Total Souvent/

Often Parfois/

Sometimes Jamais/ Never

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 17% 37% 46% 0% EU 14 3012 16% 36% 49% 0% NMS 5 917 22% 40% 38% 0%








Q1. Pour chacune des situations suivantes, pourriez-vous me dire si vous … c) Sous-traitez ou achetez des services à d'autres personnes


c) Subcontract or buy services from others

Total

Souvent/ Often

Parfois/ Sometimes

Jamais/ Never

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 12% 27% 61% 0% EU 14 3012 11% 23% 65% 0% NMS 5 917 13% 38% 49% 0%








Q2.1 Avez-vous déjà, par le passé, engagé pour votre entreprise un ou plusieurs employés avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (c-à-d normal, ordinaire) ?

Q2.1 In the past, did you ever recruit for your business one or more employees under a regular

(i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract?

Total

Oui, plusieurs

fois / Yes,

several times

Oui, une fois / Yes, once

Non, jamais / No, never

[NSP/SR] / [DK/ NA]

Oui / Yes

EU 19 3929 16% 12% 72% 0% 28% EU 14 3012 14% 11% 75% 0% 25% NMS 5 917 23% 14% 63% 0% 37%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 17% 13% 70% 0% 30% DK 204 31% 9% 59% 1% 40% DE 300 20% 11% 69% 0% 31% ES 311 18% 16% 66% 0% 34% FR 303 6% 7% 88% 0% 12% IE 92 23% 11% 66% 0% 34% IT 300 14% 12% 74% 0% 26% LU 100 16% 8% 75% 0% 25% NL 200 5% 3% 92% 0% 8% AT 200 15% 13% 71% 1% 28% PT 200 11% 14% 75% 0% 25% FI 100 1% 4% 95% 0% 5% SE 201 2% 2% 97% 0% 3% UK 300 14% 10% 75% 1% 24%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 17% 12% 71% 0% 29% CZ 200 13% 13% 74% 0% 26% EE 102 18% 19% 61% 1% 38% LT 215 13% 16% 71% 0% 29% PL 300 35% 15% 50% 1% 50%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 20% 16% 64% 0% 36% Construction 550 19% 10% 71% 0% 29% Commerce / Trade 1183 14% 12% 74% 0% 26% Services 1685 16% 11% 73% 0% 27%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 2% 0% 97% 0% 3% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 3% 7% 90% 0% 10% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 9% 10% 81% 0% 19% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 20% 13% 66% 0% 34%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 13% 10% 77% 0% 22% 25 001 - 100 000 850 18% 12% 70% 0% 30% 100 001 - 250 000 303 15% 13% 72% 0% 28% > 250 000 Euros 211 19% 13% 68% 0% 32%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 58% 42% 0% 0% 100% Non / No 2842 0% 0% 100% 0% 0%


Q2.2 En pensant à la situation actuelle de votre entreprise, pensez-vous que vous aurez besoin d’engager un ou plusieurs employés dans les six prochains mois ?

Q2.2 Considering the current situation of your business, do you think that you would need to

recruit one or more employees in the next six months?

Total

Oui, certainement

/ Yes, certainly

Oui, probablement

/ Yes, probably

Non, probablement

pas / No, probably not

Non, certainement

pas / No, certainly not

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/ NA]

Oui /

Yes

Non /

No

EU 19 3929 4% 11% 18% 65% 1% 15% 83% EU 14 3012 3% 12% 17% 67% 1% 15% 84% NMS 5 917 5% 10% 23% 58% 4% 15% 81%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 1% 2% 6% 90% 2% 3% 95% DK 204 6% 11% 11% 72% 1% 16% 83% DE 300 1% 4% 14% 81% 0% 6% 94% ES 311 5% 14% 25% 55% 1% 19% 80% FR 303 5% 9% 18% 66% 2% 14% 84% IE 92 7% 11% 25% 57% 0% 18% 82% IT 300 2% 17% 13% 68% 0% 19% 81% LU 100 2% 15% 24% 56% 3% 17% 80% NL 200 1% 3% 11% 86% 0% 4% 96% AT 200 0% 3% 6% 89% 1% 3% 95% PT 200 1% 5% 23% 70% 0% 7% 93% FI 100 3% 11% 16% 70% 0% 14% 86% SE 201 7% 4% 27% 61% 1% 11% 88% UK 300 5% 15% 19% 60% 1% 19% 80%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 4% 19% 13% 65% 0% 22% 78% CZ 200 4% 7% 17% 69% 3% 11% 86% EE 102 8% 11% 18% 61% 2% 19% 79% LT 215 3% 17% 11% 67% 2% 20% 78% PL 300 5% 14% 31% 45% 5% 19% 76%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 3% 11% 21% 63% 2% 14% 84% Construction 550 4% 17% 24% 52% 2% 21% 76% Commerce / Trade 1183 4% 10% 16% 68% 1% 14% 85% Services 1685 4% 11% 17% 67% 1% 14% 84%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 15% 18% 13% 51% 3% 32% 64% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 5% 16% 21% 57% 2% 21% 78% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 4% 16% 16% 62% 2% 20% 78% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 3% 10% 18% 68% 1% 13% 86% Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 3% 9% 19% 67% 1% 13% 86% 25 001 - 100 000 850 4% 13% 18% 64% 1% 18% 81% 100 001 - 250 000 303 8% 11% 17% 63% 1% 19% 80% > 250 000 Euros 211 6% 21% 16% 57% 1% 27% 73%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 6% 14% 21% 58% 2% 19% 78% Non / No 2842 3% 11% 17% 68% 1% 14% 85%


Q3. Parmi la liste suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons qui pourraient expliquer le mieux pourquoi vous n’employez actuellement personne avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire)?

Premièrement?

Q3. From the following list, what are the two main reasons that could best explain why you do not currently employ anybody under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract?

Firstly?

Q3 Firstly ? Premièrement ?

Total

Votre activité

n'est pas encore assez

grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough

Vos prévisions pour le

développement futur de votre entreprise ne

sont pas suffisamment bonnes / Your expectations

for your future business

development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez

garder le contrôle complet de tous

les aspects de votre

entreprise / You

want to keep full control over all

aspects of your

business

Cela coûterait trop cher

de former

un nouvel

employé / It

would cost too much to train a new

employee

Il est difficile de trouver la

personne adéquatement qualifiée / It is difficult to

find a suitably qualified person

Les salaires

que vous auriez à payer

sont trop élevés /

The wages you

would have to pay are too high

Les coûts additionnels

liés à l'emploi sont trop élevés /

The additional labour are too high

Les procédures légales et

administratives pour engager, employer ou licencier du

personnel sont trop

compliquées / The legal and administrative procedures for

hiring, employing or dismissing

staff are too complicated

[AUTRE] / [OTHER]

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 29% 9% 10% 4% 8% 7% 20% 5% 6% 2% EU 14 3012 32% 10% 11% 4% 8% 8% 15% 4% 5% 2% NMS 5 917 21% 8% 6% 3% 6% 5% 35% 7% 9% 1%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 31% 10% 10% 5% 7% 6% 21% 1% 8% 0% DK 204 43% 5% 10% 4% 7% 9% 8% 13% 1% 0% DE 300 24% 23% 8% 2% 5% 7% 20% 5% 5% 1% ES 311 37% 8% 5% 4% 12% 14% 13% 1% 3% 1% FR 303 37% 5% 11% 2% 9% 4% 28% 2% 3% 0% IE 92 33% 2% 15% 5% 12% 14% 8% 10% 1% 0% IT 300 28% 11% 10% 5% 7% 9% 19% 3% 5% 2% LU 100 32% 10% 18% 1% 9% 8% 10% 2% 9% 2% NL 200 39% 4% 28% 5% 4% 3% 3% 4% 10% 0% AT 200 45% 6% 8% 7% 4% 8% 5% 6% 11% 0% PT 200 46% 12% 4% 7% 11% 6% 5% 1% 7% 1% FI 100 35% 7% 9% 2% 8% 11% 17% 4% 6% 0% SE 201 61% 1% 6% 0% 2% 6% 10% 4% 2% 7% UK 300 30% 6% 17% 5% 9% 6% 5% 9% 8% 7%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 29% 16% 15% 4% 13% 12% 5% 2% 5% 0% CZ 200 29% 6% 9% 4% 7% 5% 20% 8% 10% 1% EE 102 50% 18% 6% 1% 6% 3% 10% 0% 6% 0% LT 215 51% 19% 3% 3% 4% 6% 9% 4% 0% 2% PL 300 10% 10% 2% 0% 4% 5% 55% 6% 7% 0%


Q3 Firstly ? Premièrement ?

Total

Votre activité


grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough





development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez



entreprise / You


aspects of your

business


de former

un nouvel

employé / It


employee




Les salaires

que vous

auriez à payer sont trop

élevés / The

wages you







personnel sont trop




[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR]/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 29% 9% 10% 4% 8% 7% 20% 5% 6% 2%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 28% 8% 12% 4% 9% 4% 24% 7% 4% 1% Construction 550 20% 7% 14% 5% 13% 5% 18% 8% 7% 2% Commerce / Trade 1183 34% 10% 8% 3% 5% 10% 21% 4% 5% 1% Services 1685 29% 10% 10% 3% 8% 7% 19% 4% 8% 2%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 49% 6% 6% 3% 8% 4% 15% 0% 4% 4% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 42% 4% 10% 4% 7% 5% 20% 2% 6% 2% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 36% 4% 10% 5% 11% 8% 18% 4% 2% 1% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 25% 11% 10% 3% 8% 8% 20% 6% 7% 2%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 31% 11% 8% 2% 7% 7% 20% 5% 6% 2% 25 001 - 100 000 850 29% 9% 9% 3% 9% 7% 22% 5% 5% 1% 100 001 - 250 000 303 28% 9% 11% 5% 8% 9% 16% 7% 5% 1% > 250 000 Euros 211 27% 14% 14% 3% 8% 3% 11% 10% 7% 3%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 18% 14% 6% 3% 10% 7% 27% 6% 7% 1% Non / No 2842 34% 7% 12% 4% 7% 7% 17% 5% 6% 2%



Deuxièmement?


Secondly?

Q3 Secondly ? Deuxièmement ?

Total

Votre activité


grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough





development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez



entreprise / You


aspects of your

business


de former

un nouvel

employé / It


employee




Les salaires

que vous


élevés / The

wages you







personnel sont trop




[AUTRE]/ [OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 3661 12% 8% 8% 5% 11% 12% 17% 7% 5% 16% EU 14 2824 11% 9% 8% 5% 11% 11% 16% 6% 5% 19% NMS 5 837 16% 7% 7% 7% 11% 13% 21% 8% 6% 4%




Q3 Secondly ? Deuxièmement ?

Total

Votre activité


grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough





development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez



entreprise / You


aspects of your

business


de former

un nouvel

employé / It


employee




Les salaires

que vous


élevés / The

wages you







personnel sont trop




[AUTRE]/ [OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 3661 12% 8% 8% 5% 11% 12% 17% 7% 5% 16%







Premièrement & Deuxièmement


Firstly & Secondly

Q3 Firstly & Secondly Premièrement & Deuxièmement

Total

Votre activité


grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough





development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez



entreprise / You


aspects of your

business


de former

un nouvel

employé / It


employee




Les salaires

que vous


élevés / The

wages you







personnel sont trop




[AUTRE] / [OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 40% 17% 17% 9% 18% 18% 36% 11% 11% 2% EU 14 3012 42% 18% 19% 9% 19% 19% 30% 10% 10% 2% NMS 5 917 35% 14% 12% 9% 15% 16% 54% 14% 14% 1%




Q3 Firstly & Secondly Premièrement & Deuxièmement

Total

Votre activité


grande / Your

business is not yet

big enough





development are not

sufficiently good

Vous voulez



entreprise / You


aspects of your

business


de former

un nouvel

employé / It


employee




Les salaires

que vous


élevés / The

wages you







personnel sont trop




[AUTRE] / [OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 40% 17% 17% 9% 18% 18% 36% 11% 11% 2%






[SI LE REPONDANT CITE h) EN Q3 ‘PREMIEREMENT’ OU ‘DEUXIEMEMENT’] Q4. L’une des raisons pour laquelle vous n’avez pas d’employé est due à la complexité des procédures légales et administratives. Parmi la liste

suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons, qui expliquent le mieux votre opinion ? Premièrement?

[IF RESPONDENT SAYS h) IN Q3 EITHER FIRSTLY OR SECONDLY]

Q4. One of the reasons why you do not have an employee is due to the complexity of the legal and administrative procedures. From the following list, what exactly are the two main reasons best explaining your opinion?

Firstly?

Q4. Firstly ? Premièrement ?

Total

Remplir les conditions pour

retenir les impôts et autres taxes liées à l'emploi serait trop

compliqué et prendrait trop de

temps/ Fulfilling the requirements for withholding taxes

and other tax related work would be too complicated and time-consuming

Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos

obligations à l'égard des cotisations

sociales serait trop compliqué et

prendrait trop de temps / Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil

your obligations regarding social

contributions would be too complicated

and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous soumettre à

trop de règlements en

matière de santé et de sécurité /

You would have to comply with too many health and safety regulations

Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop difficile de licencier un employé dans le futur / You are afraid that it

would be too difficult to dismiss an

employee in the future

Vous n'auriez pas assez de liberté pour choisir un employé à cause des règles de non- discrimination / You would not have enough freedom to select an employee

because of anti-discrimination rules

Les dépenses liées aux

procédures administratives pour engager quelqu'un sont trop élevées / The expenses related to the administrative procedures for

hiring somebody are too high

[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 448 19% 19% 14% 17% 1% 17% 3% 10% EU 14 342 25% 15% 12% 16% 2% 14% 4% 12% NMS 5 106 6% 27% 19% 19% 0% 23% 2% 3%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 13 9% 22% 0% 17% 0% 13% 22% 17% DK 50 25% 21% 5% 17% 0% 25% 0% 7% DE 53 23% 20% 10% 19% 0% 18% 3% 8% ES 14 35% 8% 18% 22% 0% 8% 0% 8% FR 18 12% 22% 12% 26% 6% 17% 0% 6% IE 18 11% 11% 22% 11% 0% 40% 0% 5% IT 11 10% 11% 0% 16% 0% 32% 0% 31% LU 9 14% 0% 0% 18% 0% 37% 0% 31% NL 23 11% 19% 3% 47% 0% 13% 0% 8% AT 32 28% 20% 17% 5% 4% 23% 4% 0% PT 11 0% 14% 12% 55% 0% 11% 7% 0% FI 11 20% 18% 0% 47% 0% 8% 0% 8% SE 23 27% 8% 0% 36% 15% 0% 0% 14% UK 56 31% 12% 17% 9% 2% 8% 6% 14%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 6 0% 0% 36% 0% 0% 46% 18% 0% CZ 23 4% 27% 13% 21% 0% 30% 0% 4% EE 1 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% LT 20 26% 0% 9% 14% 14% 22% 0% 15% PL 56 8% 28% 24% 17% 0% 18% 4% 2%


Q4. Firstly ? Premièrement ?

Total

Remplir les conditions

pour retenir les impôts et autres taxes

liées à l'emploi serait trop

compliqué et prendrait trop

de temps/ Fulfilling the requirements

for withholding taxes and other tax

related work would be too complicated and time-consuming

Remplir les conditions

pour satisfaire à vos

obligations à l'égard des cotisations

sociales serait trop

compliqué et prendrait trop

de temps / Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil your obligations regarding

social contributions would be too complicated and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous

soumettre à trop de

règlements en matière de santé et de

sécurité / You would have to comply with too many health and

safety regulations

Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop difficile de licencier un

employé dans le futur / You are afraid that

it would be too difficult to

dismiss an employee in the future

Vous n'auriez pas assez de liberté pour choisir un employé à cause des

règles de non- discrimination / You would

not have enough

freedom to select an employee because of

anti-discrimination

rules



hiring somebody are

too high

[AUTRE] / [OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 448 19% 19% 14% 17% 1% 17% 3% 10%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 59 10% 22% 28% 17% 0% 12% 3% 8% Construction 95 27% 15% 17% 10% 0% 22% 0% 9% Commerce / Trade 124 22% 18% 9% 19% 4% 14% 4% 10% Services 170 16% 20% 13% 19% 0% 17% 5% 10%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 12 0% 30% 19% 9% 0% 2% 11% 30% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 57 14% 2% 10% 39% 1% 17% 4% 14% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 36 33% 2% 4% 19% 0% 23% 9% 9% > 5 ans / > 5 years 341 19% 22% 16% 14% 1% 17% 3% 9%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 108 10% 28% 15% 15% 1% 23% 2% 6% 25 001 - 100 000 120 22% 16% 18% 14% 3% 13% 6% 8% 100 001 - 250 000 58 23% 13% 9% 30% 0% 12% 2% 10% > 250 000 Euros 38 30% 22% 8% 13% 0% 21% 0% 5%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 140 24% 19% 12% 21% 1% 8% 2% 12% Non / No 306 17% 19% 16% 15% 1% 20% 4% 9%



suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons, qui expliquent le mieux votre opinion ? Deuxièmement?



Secondly?

Q4. Secondly ? Deuxièmement ?

Total


retenir les impôts et autres

taxes liées à l'emploi serait trop compliqué

et prendrait trop de temps/

Fulfilling the requirements

for withholding taxes and other tax related work

would be too complicated and time-consuming

Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos obligations à l'égard des

cotisations sociales serait trop

compliqué et prendrait trop de temps / Fulfilling the requirements

to fulfil your obligations

regarding social contributions would be too complicated

and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous soumettre à trop de règlements en matière de santé et de sécurité /


Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop difficile

de licencier un employé dans le futur / You are

afraid that it would be too difficult to

dismiss an employee in the

future

Vous n'auriez pas assez de liberté pour choisir un

employé à cause des règles de

non- discrimination / You would not have enough freedom to select an employee

because of anti-discrimination

rules



hiring somebody are

too high

[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 392 12% 21% 15% 15% 6% 16% 2% 13% EU 14 292 12% 19% 15% 16% 7% 17% 1% 13% NMS 5 100 10% 23% 16% 14% 5% 16% 3% 12%




Q4. Secondly ? Deuxièmement ?

Total


retenir les impôts et autres

taxes liées à l'emploi serait trop compliqué

et prendrait trop de temps/

Fulfilling the requirements

for withholding taxes and other tax related work

would be too complicated and time-consuming

Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos obligations à l'égard des

cotisations sociales serait trop

compliqué et prendrait trop de temps / Fulfilling the requirements

to fulfil your obligations

regarding social contributions would be too complicated

and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous soumettre à trop de règlements en matière de santé et de sécurité /


Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop difficile

de licencier un employé dans le futur / You are

afraid that it would be too difficult to

dismiss an employee in the

future

Vous n'auriez pas assez de liberté pour choisir un

employé à cause des règles de

non- discrimination / You would not have enough freedom to select an employee

because of anti-discrimination

rules



hiring somebody are

too high

[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 392 12% 21% 15% 15% 6% 16% 2% 13%







suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons, qui expliquent le mieux votre opinion ? Premièrement & Deuxièmement



Firstly & Secondly

Q4. Firstly & Secondly Premièrement & Deuxièmement

Total

Remplir les conditions pour retenir les

impôts et autres taxes liées à l'emploi serait

trop compliqué et prendrait trop de

temps/ Fulfilling the requirements for

withholding taxes and other tax related work

would be too complicated and time-

consuming

Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos obligations à l'égard

des cotisations sociales serait trop


temps / Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil



and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous




safety regulations

Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop

difficile de licencier un

employé dans le futur / You are afraid that it would be too

difficult to dismiss an




not have enough


anti-discrimination

rules


procédures administrative

s pour engager

quelqu'un sont trop élevées / The expenses related to the administrative procedures for

hiring somebody are

too high

[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 448 30% 37% 28% 31% 7% 32% 5% 10% EU 14 342 35% 31% 25% 30% 7% 29% 5% 12% NMS 5 106 16% 50% 35% 32% 5% 39% 5% 3%




Q4. Firstly & Secondly Premièrement & Deuxièmement

Total

Remplir les conditions pour retenir les

impôts et autres taxes liées à l'emploi serait

trop compliqué et prendrait trop de

temps/ Fulfilling the requirements for

withholding taxes and other tax related work

would be too complicated and time-

consuming

Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos obligations à l'égard

des cotisations sociales serait trop


temps / Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil



and time-consuming

Vous auriez à vous




safety regulations

Vous avez peur qu'il serait trop

difficile de licencier un

employé dans le futur / You are afraid that it would be too

difficult to dismiss an




not have enough


anti-discrimination

rules


procédures administrative

s pour engager

quelqu'un sont trop élevées / The expenses related to the administrative procedures for

hiring somebody are

too high

[AUTRE] /

[OTHER]

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 448 30% 37% 28% 31% 7% 32% 5% 10%






Q5. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un. Avec combien d’institutions différentes (agences, services gouvernementaux, etc) pensez-vous que vous auriez à traiter avant de

pouvoir effectivement employer cette personne ?

Q5. Suppose you want to hire somebody. How many different institutions (agencies, government bodies etc) do you think you would have to deal with before you could

actually employ this person?

Total 0 1 2

3 ou plus / 3 or more

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 11% 20% 15% 23% 31% EU 14 3012 13% 23% 13% 17% 34% NMS 5 917 6% 11% 23% 41% 19%








Q6. De combien de votre temps de travail pensez-vous que vous auriez besoin pour rassembler toutes les informations nécessaires et de vous acquitter de toutes les procédures administratives

en vue d’engager votre premier employé?

Q6. How much of your working time do you think you would need in order to gather all the

necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in order to hire your first employee?

Total

Un jour ou moins

/ One day or less

Deux à trois

jours/ Two to three days

Une semaine/

One week

Deux à trois

semaines/ Two to three weeks

Plus de trois

semaines/ More than

three weeks

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 25% 25% 20% 6% 5% 18% EU 14 3012 25% 23% 20% 6% 6% 20% NMS 5 917 23% 33% 21% 7% 3% 13%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 22% 23% 24% 6% 4% 20% DK 204 39% 24% 12% 4% 2% 20% DE 300 28% 27% 22% 6% 8% 9% ES 311 26% 19% 14% 4% 3% 33% FR 303 23% 28% 27% 8% 6% 8% IE 92 30% 33% 11% 10% 1% 16% IT 300 14% 25% 24% 7% 7% 23% LU 100 36% 29% 9% 9% 3% 13% NL 200 25% 15% 18% 6% 5% 31% AT 200 45% 20% 13% 3% 1% 18% PT 200 17% 12% 14% 3% 10% 44% FI 100 39% 30% 21% 2% 5% 3% SE 201 21% 28% 20% 11% 7% 12% UK 300 34% 17% 16% 6% 6% 21%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 20% 21% 18% 4% 10% 26% CZ 200 27% 32% 19% 2% 2% 17% EE 102 39% 22% 18% 4% 1% 15% LT 215 28% 31% 19% 9% 3% 10% PL 300 17% 35% 24% 12% 4% 8%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 22% 33% 19% 7% 3% 15% Construction 550 30% 21% 20% 7% 3% 18% Commerce / Trade 1183 26% 25% 20% 5% 6% 19% Services 1685 23% 24% 21% 7% 6% 19% Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 27% 21% 27% 6% 4% 15% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 22% 29% 20% 6% 8% 14% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 25% 25% 23% 9% 3% 14% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 25% 24% 20% 6% 5% 20%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 24% 27% 24% 6% 4% 15% 25 001 - 100 000 850 24% 27% 24% 7% 6% 13% 100 001 - 250 000 303 33% 31% 15% 5% 5% 12% > 250 000 Euros 211 32% 27% 14% 4% 6% 16%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 30% 28% 18% 6% 4% 14% Non / No 2842 23% 24% 21% 6% 6% 20%


Q7. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un et que vous avez trouvé le candidat parfait. Toutefois, vous n’avez pas encore commencé les procédures administratives. A votre avis, combien de temps faudrait-il avant que cette personne puisse effectivement commencer à

travailler dans votre entreprise ?

Q7. Suppose that you want to hire somebody and that you have found the perfect candidate. However, you have not yet started the administrative procedures. In your opinion, how much

time would be necessary before this person can begin to actually work in your company?

Total

L'employé peut commencer à

travailler immédiatement, les procédures peuvent être

réglées pus tard / The employee can

start working immediately,

procedures can be sorted out later

Un jour ou moins / One day or less

Deux à trois jours / Two

to three days

Une semaine / One week

Deux à trois

semaines / Two to

three weeks

Plus de trois

semaines / More

than three weeks

[NSP/SR] / [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 28% 13% 14% 18% 8% 7% 12% EU 14 3012 29% 13% 14% 18% 8% 7% 12% NMS 5 917 24% 14% 16% 18% 7% 7% 14%




Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 28% 18% 12% 19% 10% 2% 11% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 25% 15% 13% 20% 9% 8% 9% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 30% 11% 18% 18% 6% 6% 11% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 28% 12% 14% 17% 7% 7% 13%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 27% 11% 14% 19% 8% 7% 13% 25 001 - 100 000 850 29% 15% 15% 17% 9% 8% 7% 100 001 - 250 000 303 26% 18% 16% 19% 3% 10% 9% > 250 000 Euros 211 36% 12% 11% 21% 7% 2% 11%



Q8. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un. A votre avis, où pensez-vous que vous pourriez le mieux obtenir les informations nécessaires concernant les procédures et vos

obligations ?

Q8. Suppose that you want to hire somebody. In your opinion, where do you think you could best obtain the necessary information regarding procedures and your duties?

Total

Les Autorités nationales

/ The National

Authorities

Votre comptable, conseiller légal ou

financier ou une

personne similaire /


Les Autorités locales / The Local Authorities

La Chambre de Commerce ou Association professionnelle / Chamber of Commerce or Professional Association

Les banques / Banks

La famille ou les amis / Family

or friends

[AUTRE] [PRECISER:...]

/ [OTHER] [SPECIFY:...]

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 10% 50% 11% 25% 2% 16% 7% 8% EU 14 3012 8% 53% 11% 31% 2% 15% 6% 7% NMS 5 917 17% 40% 8% 6% 0% 18% 8% 10%








Q9. Imaginons que vous avez engagé un employé avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire). A votre avis, combien de temps par mois pensez-vous que vous auriez à

consacrer aux procédures administratives liées à cet emploi (par ex. remplir les obligations de taxes et de sécurité sociale) ?

Q9. Imagine that you have hired an employee under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work

contract. How much time per month do you think you would have to spend on administrative procedures related to this employment (e.g. fulfilling tax and social

security obligations...)?

Total

Quelques heures /

A few hours

Environ un jour /

About one day

Deux ou trois

jours / Two or three days

Plus de trois

jours / More than three days

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 39% 25% 12% 5% 19% EU 14 3012 40% 23% 12% 6% 19% NMS 5 917 34% 30% 14% 5% 17%








Q10. Pourriez-vous me dire si vous êtes au courant des exceptions suivantes aux exigences légales et administratives ou initiatives et programmes spéciaux pour les petites

entreprises ? Des exceptions et des règles spéciales qui rendent les procédures administratives

d'embauche plus faciles

Q10. Could you please tell whether you are aware of the following exceptions from legal and administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies?

Exceptions and special rules that make the administrative process of hiring easier

Total Oui / Yes Non / No [NSP/SR]

/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 21% 76% 2% EU 14 3012 23% 75% 2% NMS 5 917 16% 80% 4%

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 16% 83% 1% DK 204 10% 88% 3% DE 300 18% 82% 1% ES 311 27% 68% 5% FR 303 29% 71% 0% IE 92 16% 84% 0% IT 300 30% 68% 2% LU 100 26% 70% 5% NL 200 11% 85% 5% AT 200 15% 75% 10% PT 200 14% 76% 10% FI 100 18% 81% 1% SE 201 8% 91% 1% UK 300 17% 82% 1%

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 8% 83% 9% CZ 200 12% 83% 5% EE 102 13% 82% 5% LT 215 7% 77% 15% PL 300 21% 77% 2%

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 21% 78% 1% Construction 550 19% 79% 2% Commerce / Trade 1183 21% 76% 3% Services 1685 23% 76% 2%

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 18% 81% 2% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 22% 77% 1% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 22% 76% 2% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 21% 76% 3%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 22% 75% 3% 25 001 - 100 000 850 21% 78% 1% 100 001 - 250 000 303 20% 80% 0% > 250 000 Euros 211 15% 84% 1%

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 23% 75% 2% Non / No 2842 20% 77% 2%



entreprises ? Un assouplissement des règles d'emploi qui rendent l'emploi de personnel moins

lourd


Relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome


/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 24% 74% 3% EU 14 3012 25% 73% 2% NMS 5 917 19% 77% 4%









entreprises ? Des exceptions aux règles qui protègent les employés d'un licenciement

Q10. Could you please tell whether you are aware of the following exceptions from legal and

administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies? Exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal


/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 36% 62% 2% EU 14 3012 38% 60% 2% NMS 5 917 27% 70% 3%









entreprises ? Des réductions spéciales de taxes ou de contributions de sécurité sociale pour les

petites entreprises


Special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies


/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 34% 64% 2% EU 14 3012 37% 61% 2% NMS 5 917 22% 75% 3%









entreprises ? Un soutien financier spécial (subventions, allocations.) disponible pour les petites

entreprises qui embauche du personnel

Q10. Could you please tell whether you are aware of the following exceptions from legal and

administrative requirements or special programmes and initiatives for small companies? Special financial support (subsidy, grants.) available for small companies that hire

staff


/ [DK/NA]

EU 19 3929 36% 62% 2% EU 14 3012 36% 62% 1% NMS 5 917 35% 60% 4%








Q11. Supposons que vous ayez engagé quelqu’un avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire). Si vous payez à cette personne un salaire brut de 100 euros, combien pensez-

vous que vous aurez à payer EN PLUS DE CETTE SOMME pour les différentes contributions de sécurité sociale, pour les taxes spéciales liées à l’embauche et autres paiements obligatoires?

Q11. Imagine that you have hired an employee under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work

contract. If you pay that employee a gross salary of 100 euros, how much do you think you would have to pay ON TOP OF THIS AMOUNT for the various social security contributions, for special taxes related to the employment and other mandatory

payments?

Total 0 -25 26 -50 51 -75 76 -100 101 & / [NSP/SR]

/ [DK/NA]

Moyenne /

Average EU 19 3929 11% 30% 9% 17% 5% 28% 66.3 EU 14 3012 13% 28% 7% 16% 6% 30% 65.2 NMS 5 917 3% 37% 16% 20% 5% 19% 69.6

Pays UE 14 / Countries EU 14 BE 201 13% 20% 10% 38% 18% 1% 97.9 DK 204 30% 40% 5% 7% 1% 17% 40.0 DE 300 10% 48% 9% 19% 5% 9% 63.7 ES 311 10% 24% 6% 7% 6% 47% 61.9 FR 303 5% 32% 14% 28% 9% 12% 75.7 IE 92 27% 29% 1% 3% 3% 37% 46.7 IT 300 9% 31% 7% 28% 6% 20% 71.4 LU 100 35% 18% 2% 6% 23% 16% 71.2 NL 200 8% 36% 5% 14% 6% 31% 62.2 AT 200 6% 22% 7% 30% 12% 24% 89.4 PT 200 8% 16% 1% 9% 7% 59% 68.5 FI 100 7% 38% 26% 19% 3% 6% 63.1 SE 201 2% 44% 19% 17% 5% 13% 65.4 UK 300 24% 13% 2% 0% 1% 59% 34.1

Pays NEM 5 / Countries NMS 5 CY 100 27% 12% 6% 0% 0% 55% 29.1 CZ 200 3% 44% 11% 20% 2% 19% 61.1 EE 102 3% 59% 17% 3% 0% 17% 43.4 LT 215 3% 41% 6% 8% 5% 37% 60.3 PL 300 3% 29% 23% 21% 8% 17% 80.2

Secteur / Sector Industrie / Industry 511 12% 33% 7% 20% 5% 22% 63.8 Construction 550 10% 27% 10% 15% 5% 34% 64.6 Commerce / Trade 1183 9% 31% 9% 18% 5% 27% 67.6 Services 1685 12% 29% 9% 16% 6% 27% 66.5

Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 20% 15% 9% 16% 8% 32% 72.7 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 11% 30% 9% 20% 5% 24% 65.4 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 8% 29% 4% 15% 9% 36% 77.9 > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 10% 31% 10% 17% 5% 28% 65.2

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 8% 35% 9% 17% 6% 26% 66.0 25 001 - 100 000 850 14% 34% 11% 21% 5% 15% 63.4 100 001 - 250 000 303 9% 34% 10% 20% 6% 21% 63.3 > 250 000 Euros 211 17% 31% 8% 13% 8% 22% 65.1

Déjà engagé par le passé / Past recruitment experience Oui / Yes 1077 11% 29% 11% 18% 6% 25% 66.9 Non / No 2842 11% 30% 8% 17% 5% 29% 66.0


Q12. Globalement, diriez-vous que les procédures administratives pour une entreprise comme la vôtre sont très bien adaptées, plutôt bien adaptées, plutôt inadaptées ou pas adaptées du

tout pour engager quelqu’un en [NOTRE PAYS]?

Q12. Overall, would you say that the administrative procedures for a company like yours are very well suited, rather well suited, rather unsuited or rather not suited at all to hiring

somebody in [OUR COUNTRY]?

Total

Très bien

adaptées / Very well

suited

Plutôt bien

adaptées / Rather

well suited

Plutôt inadaptées / Rather unsuited

Pas adaptées du tout /

Not suited at

all

[NSP/SR] /

[DK/NA]

Bien adaptées

/ Well

suited

Inadaptées / Unsuited

EU 19 3929 4% 25% 30% 23% 19% 29% 53% EU 14 3012 4% 27% 28% 22% 19% 31% 50% NMS 5 917 2% 18% 37% 26% 17% 20% 63%




Age de l'entreprise / Age of business < 1 an / < 1year 175 3% 32% 26% 16% 22% 36% 42% 1-3 ans / 1-3 years 693 4% 28% 32% 17% 18% 32% 50% 4-5 ans / 4-5 years 316 4% 32% 25% 20% 19% 36% 45% > 5 ans / > 5 years 2734 3% 23% 30% 25% 18% 27% 55%

Chiffre d'affaire / Turnover <=25 000 euros 1161 2% 22% 35% 24% 17% 25% 58% 25 001 - 100 000 850 3% 29% 31% 22% 15% 32% 53% 100 001 - 250 000 303 4% 22% 34% 26% 13% 26% 60% > 250 000 Euros 211 5% 23% 29% 29% 13% 28% 58%


TECHNICAL NOTE

TNS Sofres SA – Coordination EOS Gallup Europe

Réalisation de ce sondage Conducting this survey Ce sondage téléphonique FLASH EUROBAROMETRE 163: « 0 employé » a été réalisé pour la Direction Générale ENTREPRISE de la Commission européenne.

This telephone survey FLASH EUROBAROMETER 163: “0 employee” was conducted on behalf of the DG ENTERPRISE of the European Commission.

Il s'agit d'un FLASH EUROBAROMETRE CIBLES SPECIFIQUES « ENTERPRISE », géré et organisé par la Direction Générale PRESSE, Unité B/1.

It is a SPECIFIC TARGET “BUSINESSES” FLASH EUROBAROMETER SURVEY, organised and managed by the Directorate General PRESS, Unit B/1.

Les interviews ont été réalisées entre le 21 juin et le 16 juillet 2004 et entre le 1e septembre 2004 et le 9 septembre 2004 par les Instituts EOS GALLUP EUROPE dont la liste suit :

The interviews were conducted between the 21st of June and the 16th of July 2004 and between the 1st September 2004 and 9th September 2004 by these EOS GALLUP EUROPE Institutes:

Belgique BE TNS DIMARSO - BRUXELLES (Interviews : 23/06/2004 – 29/06/2004) Belgium Danemark DK TNS GALLUP - KOBENHAVN (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 25/06/2004) Denmark Allemagne DE TNS EMNID - BIELEFELD (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 30/06/2004) Germany Espagne ES TNS DEMOSCOPIA - MADRID (Interviews : 23/06/2004 – 01/07/2004) Spain France FR TNS SOFRES - MONTROUGE (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 29/06/2004) France Irlande IE IRISH MKTG SURVEYS - DUBLIN (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 08/07/2004) Ireland Italie IT DOXA - MILANO (Interviews : 22/06/2004 – 02/07/2004) Italy Luxembourg LU TNS ILReS - LUXEMBOURG (Interviews : 22/06/2004 – 16/07/2004) Luxemburg Pays-Bas NL TNS NIPO - AMSTERDAM (Interviews : 22/06/2004 – 30/06/2004) Netherlands Autriche AT ÖSTERREICHISCHES

GALLUP-VIENNA (Interviews : 23/06/2004 – 25/06/2004) Austria

Portugal PT TNS EUROTESTE - LISBOA (Interviews : 02/07/2004 – 02/07/2004) Portugal Finlande FI TNS SUOMEN GALLUP - ESPOO (Interviews : 23/06/2004 – 29/06/2004) Finland Suède SE TNS SVENSKA GALLUP -

STOCKHOLM (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 29/06/2004) Sweden

Royaume Uni UK ICM - LONDON (Interviews : 21/06/2004 – 21/06/2004) United Kingdom Chypre CY SYNOVATE - NICOSA (Interviews : 01/09/2004 – 03/09/2004) Cyprus Rép. Tchèque CZ FACTUM – PRAHA (Interviews : 02/09/2004 – 08/09/2004) Czech Republic Estonie EE TNS EMOR – TALLINN (Interviews : 01/09/2004 – 09/09/2004) Estonia Lithuanie LT TNS GALLUP - VILNIUS (Interviews : 01/09/2004 – 08/09/2004) Lithuania Pologne PL TNS OBOP - WARSZAWA (Interviews : 01/09/2004 – 09/09/2004) Poland

Représentativité des résultats Representativeness of the results La cible de ce Flash a été définie par la Commission européenne: les entreprises avec « 0 employé », c'est-à-dire les entreprises d’une personne, - agriculture et administration exceptée- et installées dans 19 Etats membres de l'Union européenne mentionnés ci-dessus.

The target for this Flash was defined by the European Commission as: companies with 0 employees or in other words one-person-enterprises in the 19 Member States of the European Union mentioned above – agriculture and administration excluded.

Pour chaque pays, les listes des entreprises qualifiées pour répondre ont été préparées en tirant un échantillon. Ce tirage a été réalisé selon deux critères : le pays (19 niveaux) et le secteur d'activité (4 niveaux : Construction, Industries, Services et Commerce/Distribution). Le tirage a été réalisé au hasard.

For each country lists of companies which were qualified to be interviewed were prepared by drawing a sample. Sampling has been made according to two criteria: the country (19 levels) and the activity sector (4 levels: Construction, Industry, Services and Trade). The sampling has been made at random

. La répartition de l'échantillon total entre les cellules de la grille d'échantillonnage s'est faite d'une manière non proportionnelle à la distribution des entreprises des 19 Etats membres : les petits pays et les petits secteurs d’activités ont été « sur-échantillonnées » de manière à obtenir une base statistique suffisante pour chaque niveau d'analyse, à savoir :

The total sample has been distributed between these sampling "cells" in a way which does not follow the actual distribution of businesses within the 19 Member States involved : the small countries and small activity sectors were intentionally « over-sampled » in order to get significant results for each level of analysis, i.e. :

- les 19 pays membres - the 19 Member States - les quatre secteurs d'activités - the 4 activity sectors Bien sûr au moment du traitement des données chaque cellule de la grille d'échantillonnage a été repondérée de manière à reprendre son poids exact dans les 19 Etats membres concernés. De cette manière les résultats « totaux » ne sont pas biaisés par une éventuelle sur- ou sous-représentation des composantes de l'univers analysé.

Of course, during the data processing, each cell in the cross distribution of the sample has been re-weighted up or down according to its real weight within the 19 Member States involved. Thus, the total results presented are not affected by over- and under-sampling and are representative of the total universe examined.

Dans chaque entreprise la personne interrogée est la propriétaire de l’entreprise/celle qui la gère. C'est l'enquêteur qui s'assure de l'identité de ce dirigeant, en même temps qu'il contrôle l'exactitude des caractéristiques renseignées dans le base des données, à savoir : le nombre de personnes employées et le secteur d'activité.

The person interviewed in each company is the owner/person running the business. The interviewer checks the identity of this person, at the same time that he/she controls the accuracy of the enterprises characteristics, as indicated in the database, namely: the number of employed persons and the activity sector.


Tailles des échantillons Sizes of the samples Les tailles d'échantillon vont de 100 à 300 entreprises selon les pays.

The sample sizes range from 100 up to 300 businesses, depending on the countries.

Ci-dessous nous présentons le nombre exact d'interviews réalisées dans chaque pays, et les conséquences de leur re- pondération lors du traitement des données de manière à obtenir des résultats représentatifs à chaque niveau de l'analyse.

Hereafter the exact number of interviews conducted in each country are presented and the consequences of re-weighting this sample during data-processing, in order to get representative results at each level of analysis.

Chaque tableau descriptif se lit de la manière suivante :

Each of these sample description tables gives : 1. Dans la première colonne sont renseignées les fréquences absolues et relatives des interviews effectivement réalisées.

1. In the first column one gets the absolute and relative frequencies of the interviews as they have been conducted.

2. Dans la deuxième colonne sont renseignées les fréquences après la pondération faite pour corriger la sur- représentation accordée aux petits pays et aux petits secteurs d’activités. C'est cette pondération qui est utilisée pour présenter les résultats du total (Colonne Total (UE-19) des "Volumes A" et l'ensemble des "Volumes B").

2. In the second column one gets the structure of the sample when the over-sampling of the small countries and activity sectors has been corrected. This "weighted" sample is used to present all the results at the total level (i.e.: the Total column (EU-19) of the "Volumes A" and all the results presented in the "Volumes B".).

Interviews Sample CONDUCTED WEIGHTED EU19 Base 3012 100,0% 3929 100,0% BELGIQUE 201 5,1% 127 3,2% DANMARK 204 5,2% 28 0,7% DEUTSCHLAND 300 7,6% 402 10,2% ESPANA 311 7,9% 471 12,0% FRANCE 303 7,7% 404 10,3% IRELAND 92 2,3% 10 0,3% ITALIA 300 7,6% 685 17,4% LUXEMBOURG 100 2,5% 3 0,1% NEDERLAND 200 5,1% 73 1,9% OSTERREICH 200 5,1% 25 0,6% PORTUGAL 200 5,1% 7 0,2% SUOMI-FINLAND 100 2,5% 38 1,0% SVERIGE 201 5,1% 34 0,9% UNITED KINGDOM 300 7,6% 724 18,4% CYPRUS 100 2,5% 9 0,2% CZECH REPUBLIC 200 5,1% 479 12,2% ESTONIA 102 2,6% 2 0,1% LITHUANIA 215 5,5% 4 0,1% POLAND 300 7,6% 402 10,2%

SECTEUR D’ACTIVITE - ACTIVITY SECTOR Industries - Industry 511 13,0% 393 10,0% Construction 550 14,0% 541 13,8% Commerce - Trade 1183 30,1% 1255 31,9% Services 1685 42,9% 1740 44,3%

Interviews Sample CONDUCTED WEIGHTED EU14 Base 3012 100,0% 3012 100,0% BELGIQUE 201 6,7% 127 4,2% DANMARK 204 6,8% 28 0,9% DEUTSCHLAND 300 10,0% 400 13,3% ESPANA 311 10,3% 468 15,6% FRANCE 303 10,1% 401 13,3% IRELAND 92 3,1% 10 0,3% ITALIA 300 10,0% 681 22,6% LUXEMBOURG 100 3,3% 3 0,1% NEDERLAND 200 6,6% 72 2,4% OSTERREICH 200 6,6% 25 0,8% PORTUGAL 200 6,6% 7 0,2% SUOMI-FINLAND 100 3,3% 38 1,2% SVERIGE 201 6,7% 34 1,1% UNITED KINGDOM 300 10,0% 720 23,9%

SECTEUR D’ACTIVITE - ACTIVITY SECTOR Industries - Industry 357 11,9% 236 7,8% Construction 423 14,0% 421 14,0% Commerce - Trade 910 30,2% 954 31,7% Services 1322 43,9% 1400 46,5%


Interviews Sample CONDUCTED WEIGHTED NMS 5 Base 917 100,0% 917 100,0% CYPRUS 100 2,5% 10 1,0% CZECH REPUBLIC 200 5,1% 490 53,5% ESTONIA 102 2,6% 2 0,2% LITHUANIA 215 5,5% 4 0,4% POLAND 300 7,6% 411 44,8%

Tableaux de résultats Tables of results

* VOLUME A : PAYS PAR PAYS * VOLUME A : COUNTRY BY COUNTRY Le VOLUME A présente les résultats pays par pays. Chaque tableau est complété du TOTAL MARGINAL PONDERE (EU19, EU14, NMS5), comme expliqué ci-dessus.

The VOLUME A presents the results country by country. Each table is completed by the MARGINAL WEIGHTED TOTAL (EU19, EU14, NMS5) (as explained above).

Volume A1 (UE14) Volume A1 (EU14)

Volume A2 (NEM5) Volume A2 (NMS5)

* VOLUME B : DESCRIPTIFS DES ENTREPRISES * VOLUME B : CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTERPRISES

Le VOLUME B présente les résultats de l'Union Européenne (14 Etats Membres), pour quelques caractéristiques essentielles des entreprises considérées ainsi que les sociodémographiques :

The VOLUME B presents the results for the European Union (14 Member States) by company category and socio-demographic characteristics of the selected enterprises :

Volume B1 (Catégorie d’Entreprise) Volume B1 (Company category) - Secteur d'activité - Sector of activity - Age de l’entreprise - Age of business - Chiffre d’affaire - Turnover Volume B2 (Sociodémographiques) Volume B2 (Socio-demographics) - Sexe - Gender - Age - Age - Education - Education * VOLUME C : DESCRIPTIFS DES ENTREPRISES * VOLUME C : CHARACTERISTICS OF THE

ENTERPRISES Idem Volume B, mais pays par pays Same as Volume B, but country by country


Valeur statistique des résultats Statistical significance of the results Les résultats d'un sondage ne sont jamais valables que dans les limites d'une marge statistique d'échantillonnage. Cette marge est plus ou moins grande, et dépend de trois choses :

The results in a survey are valid only between the limits of a statistical margin caused by the sampling process. This margin varies with three factors:

1. La taille de l'échantillon (ou de la partie d'échantillon que l'on analyse) : plus le nombre de répondants est grand, plus la marge statistique est petite ;

1. The sample size (or the size of the analyzed part in the sample) : the greater the number of respondents, the smaller the statistical margin ;

2. Le résultat lui-même : plus le résultat est proche de 50%, plus la marge statistique est grande ;

2. The result in itself: the more the result approaches 50%, the wider the statistical margin will be ;

3. Le degré de certitude que l'on exige : plus on est sévère, plus la marge statistique est grande.

3. The desired degree of confidence: the more "strict" we are, the wider the statistical margin will be.

A titre d'exemple, prenons un cas imaginaire : As an example, examine this illustrative case: 1. 500 personnes ont répondu à une question ; 1. One question has been answered by 500 people; 2. Le résultat analysé est de 50 % environ ; 2. The analyzed result is around 50% ; 3. On choisit un degré de certitude de 95 % (c'est le niveau le plus utilisé par les statisticiens, et c'est celui adopté pour la table ci-dessus) ;

3. We choose a significance level of 95 % (it is the level most often used by the statisticians, and it is the one chosen for the table here above) ;

Dans ce cas illustratif la marge statistique est de : (+/- 4.4%) autour des 50% observés. Et en conclusion : le résultat pour la population totale se situe entre 45.6% et 54.4%.

In this illustrative case the statistical margin is : (+/- 4.4%) around the observed 50%. And as a conclusion: the result for the whole population lies between 45.6% 54.4 %.

Nous reproduisons ci-dessous les marges statistiques calculées pour différents échantillons et différents résultats observés, au degré de certitude de 95%.

Below we reproduce the statistical margins computed for various observed results, on various sample sizes, at the 95% significance level.

MARGES STATISTIQUES D'ECHANTILLONAGE STATISTICAL MARGINS DUE TO THE SAMPLING PROCESS (AU NIVEAU DE CONFIANCE DE 95 %) (AT THE 95 % LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE) Différentes tailles d'échantillon sont en lignes ; Various sample sizes are in rows; Différents résultats observés sont en colonnes : Various observed results are in columns:

5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% n=50 6.0 8.3 9.9 11.1 12.0 12.7 13.2 13.6 13.8 13.9 13.8 13.6 13.2 12.7 12.0 11.1 9.9 8.3 6.0 n=50 n=75 4.9 6.8 8.1 9.1 9.8 10.4 10.8 11.1 11.3 11.3 11.3 11.1 10.8 10.4 9.8 9.1 8.1 6.8 4.9 n=75 n=100 4.3 5.9 7.0 7.8 8.5 8.9 9.3 9.6 9.8 9.8 9.8 9.6 9.3 8.9 8.5 7.8 7.0 5.9 4.3 n=100 n=150 3.5 4.8 5.7 6.4 6.9 7.3 7.6 7.8 8.0 8.0 8.0 7.8 7.6 7.3 6.9 6.4 5.7 4.8 3.5 n=150 n=200 3.0 4.2 4.9 5.5 6.0 6.4 6.6 6.8 6.9 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.6 6.4 6.0 5.5 4.9 4.2 3.0 n=200 n=250 2.7 3.7 4.4 5.0 5.4 5.7 5.9 6.1 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.1 5.9 5.7 5.4 5.0 4.4 3.7 2.7 n=250 n=300 2.5 3.4 4.0 4.5 4.9 5.2 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.2 4.9 4.5 4.0 3.4 2.5 n=300 n=400 2.1 2.9 3.5 3.9 4.2 4.5 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.7 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.5 2.9 2.1 n=400 n=500 1.9 2.6 3.1 3.5 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.0 3.8 3.5 3.1 2.6 1.9 n=500 n=600 1.7 2.4 2.9 3.2 3.5 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.2 2.9 2.4 1.7 n=600 n=700 1.6 2.2 2.7 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.7 2.2 1.6 n=700 n=800 1.5 2.1 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.1 1.5 n=800 n=900 1.4 2.0 2.3 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.3 2.0 1.4 n=900 n=1000 1.4 1.9 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.2 1.9 1.4 n=1000 n=1500 1.1 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.5 1.1 n=1500 n=2000 1.0 1.3 1.6 1.8 1.9 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.3 1.0 n=2000 n=2500 0.9 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.2 0.9 n=2500 n=3000 0.8 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.1 0.8 n=3000 n=5000 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.6 n=5000 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%

QUESTIONNAIRE

Flash EB 163 ‘0 Employé’ Ref : 5025PCTL00 Flash EB 163 ‘0 Employee’ Version Questionnaire 17/06/2004 – Page 1 CONFIDENTIAL Questionnaire Version 17/06/2004 – Page 1

12 Place Henri Berger, 1300 Wavre, Belgium Tel: +32 10245616 Fax: +32 10243368

[email protected] www.eosgallupeurope.com

D1. Combien de personnes ayant un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd

normal, ordinaire) votre entreprise ou société emploie-t-elle dans [NOTRE PAYS]?

N= [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[SI 1 OU PLUS D’UNE PERSONNE EMPLOYEE STOP INTERVIEW – INTERVIEW NON VALIDE]

[SI NSP/SR STOP INTERVIEW- INTERVIEW NON VALIDE] D2. Votre entreprise est-t-elle principalement une entreprise :

[LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE]

- de construction ou de travaux publics ............................................ 1 - d’exploitation minière, d’extraction................................................ 2 - de production et de fabrication de biens......................................... 3 - de commerce et de distribution (en gros ou au détail) ..................... 4 - de transport (de biens ou personnes) ............................................ 5 - de services financiers (banques, assurances, courtage).................... 6 - de services aux entreprises .......................................................... 7 - de services aux consommateurs.................................................... 8 - d’autres services ......................................................................... 9 - (aucun de ces cas) [PRECISEZ… VERIFIEZ LES EXCLUSIONS!!] .10

[Agriculture STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NON VALIDE] [Administration STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NON VALIDE]

[NSP/SR STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NON VALIDE] D3. Quand avez-vous débuté votre entreprise ou repris l’entreprise

que vous dirigez actuellement : ... [LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE]

- Il y a moins d’un an ....................................................................1 - Il y a entre un et trois ans ...........................................................2 - Il y a entre quatre et cinq ans ......................................................3 - Il y a plus de 5 ans .....................................................................4 - [NSP/SR] ..................................................................................5

D5. Sexe du propriétaire de l’entreprise:

[RECODER]

- Homme............................................................ 1 - Femme ........ ................................................... 2

D1. How many people does your business or company employ under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract in [OUR COUNTRY]?

N= [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[IF 1 OR MORE PEOPLE EMPLOYED STOP INTERVIEW – INTERVIEW NOT VALID]

[IF DK/NA STOP INTERVIEW- INTERVIEW NOT VALID] D2. Is your company mainly involved in…

[READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER]

- construction or civil engineering ....................................................1 - mining, extractive industry ...........................................................2 - production and manufacturing of goods ..........................................3 - trade and distribution (wholesale or retail)......................................4 - transport (of goods or people) ......................................................5 - financial services (banking, insurance, brokerage) ...........................6 - business services.........................................................................7 - personal services .........................................................................8 - other services .............................................................................9 - (none of those cases) [SPECIFY… CHECK EXCLUSIONS!!] .......... 10

[Agriculture STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NOT VALID] [Administration STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NOT VALID]

[DK/NA STOP INTERVIEW - INTERVIEW NOT VALID] D3. When did you start your business or take over the business

you are currently running: ... [READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER]

- Less than one year ago ............................................................... 1 - Between one and three years ago................................................. 2 - Between four and five years ago .................................................. 3 - More than five years ago ............................................................. 4 - [DK/NA] ................................................................................... 5

D5. Gender of business owner:

[RECODE]

- Male................................................................ 1 - Female ....... ................................................... 2




D6. Age Exact: [_][_] Ans [ 0 0 ] [REFUS/SANS REPONSE]

D6. Exact Age: [_][_] Years old [ 0 0 ] [REFUSAL/NO ANSWER]

D7. Age de fin d’études : [AGE EXACT EN 2 CHIFFRES] [_][_] ans [00] [REFUS/ SR] [01] [JAMAIS ETE A L'ECOLE PLEIN TEMPS]

D7. Age when finished full time education : [EXACT AGE IN 2 DIGITS] [_][_] years old [00] [REFUSAL/ NO ANSWER] [01] [NEVER BEEN IN FULL TIME EDUCATION]




Q1. Pour chacune des situations suivantes, pourriez-vous me dire si vous …

[LIRE – ROTATION – UNE SEULE REPONSE]

- Souvent........................................ 1 - Parfois ......................................... 2 - Jamais.......................................... 3 - [NSP/SR] ...................................... 4

a) Employez du personnel sur une courte période ................... 1 2 3 4 b) Recevez de l’aide à votre travail de la part de membres de votre famille ou d’amis................................................ 1 2 3 4 c) Sous-traitez ou achetez des services à d’autres personnes... 1 2 3 4

Q1. For each of the following situations, could you tell me if you … [READ OUT – ROTATE – ONLY ONE ANSWER]

- Often ........................................... 1 - Sometimes .................................. 2 - Never........................................... 3 - [DK/NA] ....................................... 4

a) Employ staff on a short term basis ....................................1 2 3 4 b) Receive help at your work from family members or friends ...1 2 3 4 c) Subcontract or buy services from others.............................1 2 3 4

Q2.1 Avez-vous déjà, par le passé, engagé pour votre entreprise un ou plusieurs employés avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (c-à-d normal, ordinaire) ? [LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE]

- Oui, plusieurs fois ..............................................1 - Oui, une fois .....................................................2 - Non, jamais ......................................................3 - [NSP/SR] .........................................................4

Q2.2 En pensant à la situation actuelle de votre entreprise, pensez-vous

que vous aurez besoin d’engager un ou plusieurs employés dans les six prochains mois ? [LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE]

- Oui, certainement ..............................................1 - Oui, probablement .............................................2 - Non, probablement pas ......................................3 - Non, certainement pas .......................................4 - [NSP/SR] .........................................................5

Q2.1 In the past, did you ever recruit for your business one or more employees under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract? [READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER]

- Yes, several times ............................................. 1 - Yes, once ......................................................... 2 - No, never ......................................................... 3 - [DK/NA] .......................................................... 4

Q2.2 Considering the current situation of your business, do you think

that you would need to recruit one or more employees in the next six months? [READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER]

- Yes, certainly .................................................... 1 - Yes, probably.................................................... 2 - No, probably not ............................................... 3 - No, certainly not................................................ 4 - [DK/NA] .......................................................... 5




Q3. Parmi la liste suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons qui

pourraient expliquer le mieux pourquoi vous n’employez actuellement personne avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire)?

Premièrement? Deuxièmement? [LIRE – ROTATION UNE REPONSE SEULEMENT POUR "PREMIEREMENT" ET UNE REPONSE SEULEMENT POUR "DEUXIEMEMENT"]

a) Votre activité n’est pas encore assez grande .............................. 1 b) Vos prévisions pour le développement futur de votre entreprise ne sont pas suffisamment bonnes ............................................. 2 c) Vous voulez garder le contrôle complet de tous les aspects de votre entreprise ................................................................ 3 d) Cela coûterait trop cher de former un nouvel employé................. 4 e) Il est difficile de trouver la personne adéquatement qualifiée........ 5 f) Les salaires que vous auriez à payer sont trop élevés .................. 6 g) Les coûts additionnels liés à l’emploi (tels que les cotisations de l’employeur à la sécurité sociale, etc.) sont trop élevés...................................................................... 7 h) Les procédures légales et administratives pour engager, employer ou licencier du personnel sont trop compliquées ........... 8 i) [AUTRE] [PRECISER:………………]................................................ 9 j) [NSP/SR] ..............................................................................10

- Premièrement..............1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Deuxièmement ............1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Q3. From the following list, what are the two main reasons that could

best explain why you do not currently employ anybody under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract? Firstly? Secondly?

[READ OUT – ROTATE ONE ANSWER ONLY FOR "FIRSTLY" AND ONE ANSWER ONLY FOR "SECONDLY"]

a) Your business is not yet big enough...........................................1 b) Your expectations for your future business development are not sufficiently good .....................................................................2 c) You want to keep full control over all aspects of your business ......3 d) It would cost too much to train a new employee..........................4 e) It is difficult to find a suitably qualified person ............................5 f) The wages you would have to pay are too high ...........................6 g) The additional labour costs (such as employers’ contributions to social security, etc.) are too high ...........................................7 h) The legal and administrative procedures for hiring, employing or dismissing staff are too complicated...........................................8 i) [OTHER] [SPECIFY:………………].. ................................................9 j) [DK/NA] ............................................................................... 10

- Firstly ........................ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Secondly .................... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10




[SI LE REPONDANT CITE h) EN Q3 ‘PREMIEREMENT’ OU ‘DEUXIEMEMENT’] Q4. L’une des raisons pour laquelle vous n’avez pas d’employé est due à

la complexité des procédures légales et administratives. Parmi la liste suivante, quelles sont les deux principales raisons, qui expliquent le mieux votre opinion ? Premièrement? Deuxièmement? [LIRE – ROTATION UNE REPONSE SEULEMENT POUR "PREMIEREMENT" ET UNE REPONSE SEULEMENT POUR "DEUXIEMEMENT"]]

a) Remplir les conditions pour retenir les impôts et autres taxes liées à l’emploi serait trop compliqué et prendrait trop de temps... 1 b) Remplir les conditions pour satisfaire à vos obligations à l’égard des cotisations sociales serait trop compliqué et prendrait trop de temps........................................................... 2 c) Vous auriez à vous soumettre à trop de règlements en matière de santé et de sécurité ............................................ 3 d) Vous avez peur qu’il serait trop difficile de licencier un employé dans le futur ......................................................... 4 e) Vous n’auriez pas assez de liberté pour choisir un employé à cause des règles de non-discrimination ................................... 5 f) Les dépenses liées aux procédures administratives pour engager quelqu’un sont trop élevées...................................6 g) [AUTRE] [PRECISER:………………..] .............................................. 7 h) [NSP/SR] ............................................................................... 8

- Premièrement......................1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 - Deuxièmement ....................1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

[IF RESPONDENT SAYS h) IN Q3 EITHER FIRSTLY OR SECONDLY] Q4. One of the reasons why you do not have an employee is due to the

complexity of the legal and administrative procedures. From the following list, what exactly are the two main reasons best explaining your opinion? Firstly? Secondly? [READ OUT – ROTATE ONE ANSWER ONLY FOR "FIRSTLY" AND ONE ANSWER ONLY FOR "SECONDLY"]

a) Fulfilling the requirements for withholding taxes and other tax related work would be too complicated and time-consuming .........1 b) Fulfilling the requirements to fulfil your obligations regarding social contributions would be too complicated and time-consuming ................................................................2 c) You would have to comply with too many health and safety regulations....................................................................3 d) You are afraid that it would be too difficult to dismiss an employee in the future ........................................................4 e) You would not have enough freedom to select an employee because of anti-discrimination rules ...........................................5 f) The expenses related to the administrative procedures for hiring somebody are too high...............................................6 g) [OTHER] [SPECIFY:………………..] ................................................7 h) [DK/NA] .................................................................................8

- Firstly ................................ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 - Secondly ............................ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

[A TOUS] Q5. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un. Avec combien

d’institutions différentes (agences, services gouvernementaux, etc) pensez-vous que vous auriez à traiter avant de pouvoir effectivement employer cette personne ?

[REPONSE SPONTANEE – CODER 99 SI NSP/SR]

N= [ ] [ ] institutions

[TO ALL] Q5. Suppose you want to hire somebody. How many different

institutions (agencies, government bodies etc) do you think you would have to deal with before you could actually employ this person?

[SPONTANEOUS ANSWER – CODE 99 IF DK/NA]

N= [ ] [ ] institutions




Q6. De combien de votre temps de travail pensez-vous que vous auriez

besoin pour rassembler toutes les informations nécessaires et de vous acquitter de toutes les procédures administratives en vue d’engager votre premier employé?


- Un jour ou moins ......................................................................... 1 - Deux à trois jours ........................................................................ 2 - Une semaine ............................................................................... 3 - Deux à trois semaines .................................................................. 4 - Plus de trois semaines .................................................................. 5 - [NSP/SR] .................................................................................... 6

Q6. How much of your working time do you think you would need in order to gather all the necessary information and fulfil all administrative procedures in order to hire your first employee?


- One day or less ............................................................................1 - Two to three days.........................................................................2 - One week ....................................................................................3 - Two to three weeks.......................................................................4 - More than three weeks..................................................................5 - [DK/NA] ......................................................................................6

Q7. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un et que vous avez trouvé le candidat parfait. Toutefois, vous n’avez pas encore commencé les procédures administratives. A votre avis, combien de temps faudrait-il avant que cette personne puisse effectivement commencer à travailler dans votre entreprise ?


- L’employé peut commencer à travailler immédiatement, les procédures peuvent être réglées pus tard................................... 1 - Un jour ou moins ......................................................................... 2 - Deux à trois jours ........................................................................ 3 - Une semaine ............................................................................... 4 - Deux à trois semaines .................................................................. 5 - Plus de trois semaines .................................................................. 6 - [NSP/SR] .................................................................................... 7

Q7. Suppose that you want to hire somebody and that you have found the perfect candidate. However, you have not yet started the administrative procedures. In your opinion, how much time would be necessary before this person can begin to actually work in your company?


- The employee can start working immediately, procedures can be sorted out later ............................................................................1 - One day or less ............................................................................2 - Two to three days.........................................................................3 - One week ....................................................................................4 - Two to three weeks.......................................................................5 - More than three weeks..................................................................6 - [DK/NA] ......................................................................................7




Q8. Supposons que vous voulez engager quelqu’un. A votre avis, où

pensez-vous que vous pourriez le mieux obtenir les informations nécessaires concernant les procédures et vos obligations ?

[LIRE – ROTATION - MAXIMUM DEUX REPONSES POSSIBLES]

- Les Autorités nationales ................................................................ 1 - Votre comptable, conseiller légal ou financier ou une personne similaire.................................................................. 2 - Les Autorités locales..................................................................... 3 - La Chambre de Commerce ou Association professionnelle ................ 4 - Les banques ................................................................................ 5 - La famille ou les amis ................................................................... 6 - [AUTRE] [PRECISER:………………..] ................................................... 7 - [NSP/SR] .................................................................................... 8

Q8. Suppose that you want to hire somebody. In your opinion, where do

you think you could best obtain the necessary information regarding procedures and your duties?

[READ OUT – ROTATE – MAXIMUM TWO ANSWERS POSSIBLE]

- The National Authorities ................................................................1 - Your accountant, your legal or financial advisor or a similar person ....2 - The Local Authorities.....................................................................3 - Chamber of Commerce or Professional Association ...........................4 - Banks .........................................................................................5 - Family or friends ..........................................................................6 - [OTHER] [SPECIFY:………………..]......................................................7 - [DK/NA] ......................................................................................8

Q9. Imaginons que vous avez engagé un employé avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire). A votre avis, combien de temps par mois pensez-vous que vous auriez à consacrer aux procédures administratives liées à cet emploi (par ex. remplir les obligations de taxes et de sécurité sociale) ?

[LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE] - Quelques heures ........................................................................1 - Environ un jour...........................................................................2 - Deux ou trois jours .....................................................................3 - Plus de trois jours .......................................................................4 - [NSP/SR] ...................................................................................5

Q9. Imagine that you have hired an employee under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract. How much time per month do you think you would have to spend on administrative procedures related to this employment (e.g. fulfilling tax and social security obligations...)?

[READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER] - A few hours .............................................................................. 1 - About one day ........................................................................... 2 - Two or three days ...................................................................... 3 - More than three days.................................................................. 4 - [DK/NA] .................................................................................... 5




Q10. Pourriez-vous me dire si vous êtes au courant des exceptions suivantes aux exigences légales et administratives ou initiatives et programmes spéciaux pour les petites entreprises ?

- Oui..............................................................1 - Non.............................................................2 - [NSP/SR] .....................................................3

[LIRE – ROTATION – UNE REPONSE PAR LIGNE] - Des exceptions et des règles spéciales qui rendent les procédures

administratives d’embauche plus faciles ................................. 1 2 3 - Un assouplissement des règles d’emploi qui rendent l’emploi de personnel moins lourd .......................................... 1 2 3 - Des exceptions aux règles qui protègent les employés d’un licenciement ........................................................................ 1 2 3 - Des réductions spéciales de taxes ou de contributions de

sécurité sociale pour les petites entreprises ............................ 1 2 3 - Un soutien financier spécial (subventions, allocations…) disponible pour les petites entreprises qui embauche du personnel............ 1 2 3


- Yes ............................................................. 1 - No .............................................................. 2 - [DK/NA] ...................................................... 3

[READ OUT – ROTATE – ONE ANSWER PER LINE] - Exceptions and special rules that make the administrative process of hiring easier......................................................... 1 2 3 - Relaxing employment rules that make employing staff less burdensome........................................................................ 1 2 3 - Exemptions from rules that protect employees from dismissal ............................................................................ 1 2 3 - Special reductions for taxes and social security contributions for small companies ............................................................. 1 2 3 - Special financial support (subsidy, grants…) available for small companies that hire staff .............................................. 1 2 3

Q11. Supposons que vous ayez engagé quelqu’un avec un contrat de travail “régulier” (càd normal, ordinaire). Si vous payez à cette personne un salaire brut de 100 euros, combien pensez-vous que vous aurez à payer EN PLUS DE CETTE SOMME pour les différentes contributions de sécurité sociale, pour les taxes spéciales liées à l’embauche et autres paiements obligatoires?

[REPONSE SPONTANEE EN EUROS – CODER 9999 SI NSP/SR]

N= [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] euros

Q11. Imagine that you have hired an employee under a regular (i.e. normal, ordinary) work contract. If you pay that employee a gross salary of 100 euros, how much do you think you would have to pay ON TOP OF THIS AMOUNT for the various social security contributions, for special taxes related to the employment and other mandatory payments?

[SPONTANEOUS ANSWER IN EUROS – CODE 9999 IF DK/NA]

N= [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] euros




Q12. Globalement, diriez-vous que les procédures administratives pour une entreprise comme la vôtre sont très bien adaptées, plutôt bien adaptées, plutôt inadaptées ou pas adaptées du tout pour engager quelqu’un en [NOTRE PAYS]?

[LIRE – UNE SEULE REPONSE] - Très bien adaptées...................................................................... 1 - Plutôt bien adaptées.................................................................... 2 - Plutôt inadaptées ........................................................................ 3 - Pas adaptées du tout................................................................... 4 - [NSP/SR] ................................................................................... 5

Q12. Overall, would you say that the administrative procedures for a company like yours are very well suited, rather well suited, rather unsuited or rather not suited at all to hiring somebody in [OUR COUNTRY]?

[READ OUT - ONLY ONE ANSWER] - Very well suited...........................................................................1 - Rather well suited........................................................................2 - Rather unsuited...........................................................................3 - Not suited at all...........................................................................4 - [DK/NA] .....................................................................................5

D4. Une dernière question. Quelle était le chiffre d’affaire annuel de votre entreprise en [NOTRE PAYS], la dernière année fiscale ?

[REPONSE SPONTANEE – PRECISER EN MONNAIE LOCALE – NE PAS LIRE L’ECHELLE CI-DESSOUS] .............................................................

[NE PAS LIRE - CODER ENSUITE LE CHIFFRE D’AFFAIRES A L’AIDE DE CETTE ECHELLE – CONVERTIR EN EURO POUR LES PAYS HORS ZONE EURO]

- 10.000 euros ou moins ........................................................ 1 - Entre +10.000 et 25.000 euros............................................. 2 - Entre +25.000 et 50.000 euros............................................. 3 - Entre +50.000 et 100.000 euros........................................... 4 - Entre +100.000 et 250.000 euros ......................................... 5 - Entre +250.000 et 500.000 euros ......................................... 6 - Entre +500.000 et 1 million euros......................................... 7 - Plus d’1 million d’euros ....................................................... 8 - [NSP/SR] ........................................................................... 9

D4. One last question. What was the annual turnover of your company in [OUR COUNTRY], last fiscal year?

[SPONTANEOUS ANSWER - SPECIFY IN LOCAL CURRENCY – DO NOT READ OUT THE SCALE BELOW] .............................................................

[DO NOT READ OUT - THEN CODE THE TURNOVER WITH THE HELP OF THIS SCALE – CONVERTED INTO EURO FOR OUTSIDE EURO ZONE]

- 10.000 euro or less............................................................. 1 - Between +10.000 and 25.000 euro ...................................... 2 - Between +25.000 and 50.000 euro ...................................... 3 - Between +50.000 and 100.000 euro .................................... 4 - Between +100.000 and 250.000 euro .................................. 5 - Between +250.000 and 500.000 euro .................................. 6 - Between +500.000 and 1 million euro ................................. 7 - Above 1 million euro .......................................................... 8 - [DK/NA] ............................................................................ 9

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Hiring and employment procedures for one-person-enterprises

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