The virtual way of working is becoming increasingly popular due to its potential for cost savings; it is also a way for an organization to be more agile and adapt to crises such as global pandemics. This innovative way of working brings new challenges to organizations that suddenly have to switch to telework. In fact, telework raises quite a few issues for employees, related to communication, collaboration, and the application of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). This study examined the evaluation of telework through a questionnaire by different conditional groups of 436 teleworkers in Lithuania. Through a correlation analysis between the study variables, the findings suggest that there are differences in the evaluation of factors affecting telework efficiency and qualities required from a remote worker, depending on gender, age, education, work experience, and experience of telework. The results are discussed in terms of the characteristics of the most satisfied and the most dissatisfied teleworkers.

The new challenges that will currently affect the existence and sustainability of businesses stem from the dramatic changes that come from the fourth industrial revolution. Based on the concept of intellectual capital management as a resource-based strategic management approach, which leads to the management of structural, human, and relational capital, sustainable human resource management underlines the involvement of partnerships and external relations in learning and personal development processes. Industry 4.0 expects major changes in human resource management and processes such as education. Organizations will benefit from the new knowledge in the near future that will need to be brought into the internal environment of the organization constantly. However, this will require cooperation with the external environment, and the resulting new education opportunities built on cooperation with external partners, organizations, and educational institutions. Innovations as essential factors in adapting to major changes in the environment will be key in all organizational processes, including educational. This paper focuses on comparing highly innovative countries and less innovative countries in Central Europe, analyzing 1482 businesses by looking at differences in attitude towards employee education and individual forms of employee education. The main statistically significant difference is in the strategic approach to employee education and development and the set-up between innovative countries and moderate innovators.

Quality human resources are an integral part of corporate strategy. Human capital development is an essential step towards the success of the business on the market. This paper fills the hole by providing the information about the ways how to motivate employees in terms of occupational classification and the age. The aim of the research was to determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of importance of employee motivation in terms of occupational classification and the age of respondents and the studied areas of motivation. A total of 3720 employees in small and medium-sized enterprises were analysed all over Slovakia using the method of simple random sampling. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sampling units. The differences in the values of the importance of motivation factors of individual groups were tested using the method of Tukey’s HSD at the level of significance α = 5%. Following the results, the fact that there are significant differences in terms of occupational classification and the age in the analysed areas of motivation can be stated. Therefore, the managers have to motivate employees in different ways that result in the more complicated management of human resources associated with meeting enterprise goals. Thus, the issue of individual motivation programmes created for individual employees tailored to employees’ needs must be discussed.

The operation of companies in the current environment, introducing the concept of Industry 4.0 and the establishment and expansion of inter-company networks, as well as open and knowledge-based systems in organizations, is a precondition for success in the efficient acquisition, processing, storage, and sharing of key information. The instruments created for this purpose came to the market gradually during the Third Industrial Revolution; however, with the outbreak of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, their development underwent a leap, whereas this stage is associated with the introduction and use of big data in human resources management. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current state of organizations operating with a focus on Slovakia, as well as the importance and knowledge value of the organizations, their way of internal sharing, and the level of knowledge database use for this purpose in the context of the region in which the organizations operate. On one hand, the results show a lack of businesses orientation with regard to this issue, especially in comparison with neighboring countries; however, on the other hand, they also show relatively significant progress in this area, which may increase competitiveness internationally in the near future.

The European Union (European Parliament) understands industry 4.0 as a term for an environment of fast transformations of production systems and products. The basic characteristic of the change in the methods of creating added value in the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution is digitalization. Digitalization changes people management in two stages. The first stage is the adaptation of systems to the integration of physical inputs into digital systems, and the second stage is the redefinition of values for the internal and external customer. The purpose of this paper is to examine the content of the first digitalization stage and its impact on the transformation of values of corporate people management in the second stage of digitalization. The study published in this paper points out the level of digitalization applied towards the internal and external customer. The research results verify relations in the portfolio of corporate value and prove their present implementation of digitalization and its and importance for the future sustainability of the business. The study confirmed the independence of the levels of corporate digitalization and companies’ value portfolios. Furthermore, the study proved the universal nature of corporate value orientation, irrespective of the size, business focus or performance of the people management system. Meaningfulness, communication and cooperation dominate in terms of importance for business sustainability. The results of the study in Slovakia support the opinions of published foreign research, which emphasize the importance of introducing technological innovations aimed at employees to a much greater extent.

The examination of the impact of digital innovations on employee motivation and engagement is crucial given the rapid technological advancements. This study focused on digital HRM practices, such as digital interaction platforms. The results indicated that respondents generally had positive to neutral views on these practices, with big data analytics receiving the highest rating for its potential to enhance organizational performance and employee engagement. The study revealed a moderately strong positive correlation between the use of digital platforms and big data analytics, suggesting a holistic approach to digital transformation in HRM. However, a weak correlation between digital innovations and engagement suggests that the direct impact of digital tools on employee engagement is limited by other factors. Larger companies tend to implement advanced digital HRM practices more due to their greater resources. The study’s limitations include a restricted sample from the Central and Eastern European region and reliance on self-assessed data. Future studies should include more diverse regions and long-term studies, combining quantitative data with qualitative insights. Digital innovations in HRM offer promises for process improvement and data-driven decision-making, but their impact on employee engagement is complex and requires an integrated approach of technological and managerial practices.