Changes in the organization of work under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic and Industry 4.0

Abstract

. The COVID-19 pandemic deeply affects all spheres of public life across countries and regions not only in social, ethical, political and psychological context, but also in economy. The unprecedented circumstances have disturbed the existing processes and activities in the whole society and markedly altered the functioning of the labour market and the behaviour of its actors. Significant government interventions in the labour market have been justified by the introduction of restrictive quarantine measures, which affect the usual procedures. Employers as well as employees have therefore been forced to face new challenges, to which they must adapt flexibly to survive in the labour market. Professional training has also been affected as it has been carried out in virtual space for almost a year. For the time being, we can only suppose the effects on knowledge and skills of the future workforce. In addition to the negative effects, the pandemic has brought opportunities, new challenges, and space for the optimization of human resources which are becoming critically important, especially in production organizations. The use of information and communication technologies has broadened due to the introduction of the smart industry concept, which has a direct impact on the labour market, in particular on changes in labour demand. The requirements for the skills and knowledge of the workforce are changing, as is the way the work is organized. As part of two questionnaire surveys four months apart, we analysed the impact of the introduction of a home office on labour productivity, employee satisfaction as well as social isolation of individuals. The sample size of the first pilot survey was 302 respondents, the second one - 284. We subsequently processed and evaluated the acquired data using a range of statistical methods, reporting only selected results of the surveys in the present study.