As some of you may have noticed, a few errors crept into our article on the results of the USERs survey published in the last two issues of ECHO.

The figure “19% are unable to cover their basic needs” actually combines two situations of financial hardship: 4.7% who do “not have enough” to cover “their basic needs”, and 14.5% who have “barely enough” to cover them. This figure was consistent with the 19% who strongly disagreed with the statement that “the remuneration granted to Users is sufficient to avoid financial stress and ensure a decent standard of living”, but our interpretation of it was incorrect.

The sentence “only 33% contribute to a pension scheme” was an accidental inversion. In fact, as we presented at the ACCU, these 33% refer to USERs who do not contribute to a pension scheme. What’s more, we did not ask them why!

Finally, the sentence “only 36% of all respondents have coverage that includes the consequences of occupational accidents and diseases” does not reflect reality. The figure we actually collected is 14%, and it refers to people who pay for health insurance that does not cover these consequences. As we explained in more detail at the ACCU, this figure does not take into account any coverage that may exist outside the insurance they have taken out.

We apologise for these factual errors, which slipped in over successive rewrites and translations.

For those wondering why we only contacted 2,900 USERs when many more are registered at CERN: the survey targeted those present on site 55% of the time or more. Although the 12% participation rate remains fairly low, the results highlight situations that may be difficult enough to deserve our attention, even if they do not reflect the experience of the majority of USERs.

These results also show just how complex it is to run a survey: writing questions that are neutral, cover the full range of possibilities and leave no room for misinterpretation… Many thanks again to everyone who took part. We need your feedback and experiences in order to represent and support you, so don’t hesitate to get in touch!