CTR affected work sites have only two choices of whom they survey; the total worksite population or the CTR affected employees only. A number of factors can influence this decision. If most of your employees are full time and work day shifts, you will most likely want to survey all employees. If you have large numbers of employees who work nights, weekends, or are part-time, you may want to consider surveying CTR-affected only employees. You should also be consistent with which population you survey from one survey cycle to the next to provide the most accurate comparisons. If you have questions about which population to survey or who you surveyed during the last cycle, please contact your ETR.

Total employees:

• any employees on the company payroll: night shift, part time, and teleworking employees.
• all other persons not on the company payroll but who work at the site and are eligible to take advantage of the benefits of the CTR program.  This may include contract and temporary employees, cafeteria staff, janitorial staff, etc.

CTR-affected employees:

• work 35 or more hours in a week (Monday through Sunday). 
• begin work at a single worksite between 6 and 9 a.m.
• work on two or more weekdays (Monday through Friday) each week.
• are in a position is intended to last for at least 12 continuous months.

All employees who meet, or may meet, the definition of "affected employee" must be surveyed. If employers can definitely exclude some of their employees from the affected group, but are unsure about others, they should exclude those they can and survey the others.

In certain cases, affected employees can be exempted from a worksite's CTR program by the local government and are not required to be surveyed. Exemptions must be approved prior to each survey process. If you need to request an exemption, contact your ETR.