Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey 2021: Technical Report
Technical report for the 2021 Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey.
Questionnaire design
Questionnaire development and changes from the 2019 survey
The vast majority of the questionnaire for 2021 was aligned with the questionnaire used for the 2019 survey to allow for time-series comparisons on key measures. The EPS 2019 questions that were not included in the 2021 survey are shown in Appendix D.
Some longstanding EPS questions had additional codes added or deleted to the read-out and non-read out lists. New codes added or deleted to the existing questionnaire (including those related to Brexit and COVID-19) are summarised in Table 5 below. Table 6 lists the only new question added in 2021.
| Question reference | Question text | Codes added or deleted |
|---|---|---|
| C2/3 | Have you heard of any of the following services or initiatives? And has your establishment made use of the following to recruit staff over the past 12 months? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| C4a | Over the last 12 months has your establishment done any of the following to fill vacancies…? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| C5 | I'd now like you to think about the factors your establishment looks for in candidates when looking to recruit new employees. For each factor that I read out, please say if it is critical, if it is a significant factor, if you place a small amount of value on it, or if it has no value for your establishment? (Prompted) | New iteration of question:
|
| C10nw | And still thinking about the role this young person was recruited to, did your establishment use any of the following to fill this role…? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| C10nwii | Which government schemes or services did you use to fill this role? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| C20 | What are the main reasons you offer work experience placements or internships at this site? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| C23a | What are the main reasons why your establishment has engaged in these types of activities? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| C27 | You mentioned that your site has not had any work placements or internships in the last 12 months, or engaged with educational institutions to provide other forms of work-related experience to their students. What would you say are the main reasons for not doing so? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| D2 | Has anyone at this establishment received advice or help on skills and training related issues in the last 12 months from any of the following? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| D4 | Which of the following schemes and initiatives have you heard of…? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| D14 | For which of the following reasons has your establishment NOT arranged training for your employees that was designed to lead towards the achievement of a vocational qualification? (Prompted) | New codes
|
| D27C | And why did you start offering apprenticeships? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| D33 | Why does your establishment not currently offer apprenticeships? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| D34A | Is there any particular reason you do not plan to offer apprenticeships in the future? (Unprompted) | New codes
|
| Question reference | Question text | Codes |
|---|---|---|
| D27Ai | And how did you hear about apprenticeships? (Unprompted) |
|
Piloting the 2021 survey
Prior to the launch of the mainstage of the survey, a pilot was conducted. The main aims of the pilot were to establish the average length of the questionnaire, to ensure it worked well in terms of 'flow', and to assess respondents' comprehension of any questionnaire changes.
A total of 20 pilot interviews were completed on 9th and 10th November 2021 among employers across a range of sizebands and sectors. Sample was drawn from respondents that agreed to be re-contacted during the 2020 Scottish Employer Skills Survey.
The pilot found that the questionnaire was running over length – averaging 25 minutes – which was above the budgeted 22 minutes. As a result, some questions that were added in the development phase had to be removed. Table 16 in Appendix D lists the new questions that were piloted but were not included in the final questionnaire. Mainstage fieldwork was launched on a 'rolling pilot' basis, meaning that the length of interview would be monitored as fieldwork progressed. The average interview length was still running over time so it was agreed that D29 would also be removed part way through fieldwork.[4]
Questionnaire timings
The average overall interview length was around 25 minutes and 30 seconds. This varied between different employers depending on the size of their establishment; smaller employers with 2-4 employees averaged 21 minutes while businesses with 100 or more employees averaged 32 minutes.
As shown in Table 7, interviews with larger establishments took longer on average given that they were more likely to have trained their staff and use more services or initiatives.
| Sizeband (employees) | Average length of interview |
|---|---|
| 2 to 4 | 21 minutes |
| 5 to 9 | 24 minutes |
| 10 to 24 | 27 minutes |
| 25 to 49 | 28 minutes |
| 50 to 99 | 30 minutes |
| 100+ | 32 minutes |
| Overall | 25.5 minutes |
Contact
Email: FHEstatistics@gov.scot
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