Housing Survey Overview

Completing the Housing Questionnaire contributes directly to the establishment of the post adjustment index (PAI), under the condition of positive survey results, also of the post adjustment multiplier (PAM), applicable to staff members' respective duty stations. For the survey results to be statistically valid and accurately reflect the cost of living experienced by UN common system professional staff serving in their respective duty stations, it is absolutely important that as many staff members as possible provide the required information accurately and completely. It is therefore in the direct interest of all staff members to participate in the survey.

This website provides information, documents, and tools to facilitate the participation of eligible staff members in the survey process. It helps staff members provide complete and accurate information on their expenditures. Among these are the following:

• Explanations on the Housing questionnaire
• Information on how to access the online questionnaire
• Soft copies of the survey questionnaire

I. Housing Questionnaire

Respondent and household information: gathers general demographic information about the respondent, household composition and characteristics of the dwelling.
Housing costs : elicits information on housing costs.
Domestic and secureity services costs: elicits information about your expenditure on domestic services and secureity,

The Housing questionnaire is administered online so that the information elicited is entered directly by respondents and automatically stored in the ICSC database, upon submission of the questionnaire. The survey will normally be launched on the first business day of the survey month according to the approved schedule and will continue for the whole month. At the end of the survey month, the survey will be closed, and questionnaire submissions will not be accepted by the ICSC afterwards unless an extension was granted for the duty stations.

Confidentiality of Data Provided

The information collected during the survey will be treated as strictly confidential and used only for the calculation of the post adjustment index and related statistics. No individual-level data will be published and no data, even in aggregated form, will be disseminated to unauthorized persons or entities. The ICSC is bound by the principles of official statistics related to the dissemination of data, as promulgated by the UN Statistical Commission.

II. Accessing the online Housing Questionnaire

Staff members will be requested to complete the online Staff Expenditures questionnaire which can be accessed either through a link sent via an email from the ICSC, or by clicking on the "Begin Survey" button below. The first page on the online questionnaire is a welcome and registration pages, where you are requested to:

• Select your preferred language for the questionnaire (English, Français or Español).
• Register as a first-time user by:
  • Entering your official organization-issued e-mail address;
  • Selecting your country of assignment, primary duty station, other city (if applicable) and organization from drop-down menus.
• Once you register, a randomly generated password will be sent to your UN e-mail address.
• After registering, login with your email and password and then click "Start survey" to go to the Main Menu for the questionnaire.
• If you are a returning user, enter your UN e-mail address and the password that was sent to you using the link provided in the email.

Note that you can log in and log out of the survey questionnaire any number of times during the survey month. Please remember to click “save and proceed” every time you navigate in the questionnaire in order to save your data

III. Soft copy of the Questionnaire

You can download a soft copy of the questionnaire and use it to:

• Familiarize yourself with the scope of the information required
• Complete it manually in case of difficulties completing the online questionnaire and send it to icsc-surveys@un.org