J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and StructureReturn

Work flexibility as an element of work flexicurity has had an impact on employment at the national level. In this study, work flexibility is expressed through flexible work arrangements. Organisations may implement various flexible work arrangements, depending on their size or specifically promoted policies in this sense. Thus, organisations indirectly contribute to higher employment at the national level. The aim of the study is to evaluate flexible work arrangements from the perspective of organizations in order to determine to what extent they are available for implementation. To test and validate the results, we develop a questionnaire that includes ten flexible work arrangements. Each flexible work arrangement is rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. The survey comprises 350 companies of different sizes from various sectors, located in urban and rural areas. In order to process, analyse and interpret the results, several statistical methods are used: principal component analysis, the ANOVA procedure and the post-hoc test. The findings show that some flexible work arrangements are better rated than others. Differences are also identified in the evaluation of flexible work arrangements by organization size. Our results provide evidence that some organizations show reluctance towards certain flexible work arrangements. Moreover, flexible work arrangements with higher scores are more likely to be implemented by organizations, which may lead to higher employment at the national level.
Implications for Central European audience: Work flexibility is an important and promising element in the context of changing work paradigms. In this context, organizations need to adapt their HR strategies and policies by taking into account work flexibility trends. It will enable them to attract the required workforce both quantitatively and qualitatively. Likewise, organizations implementing different flexible work arrangements could contribute indirectly to increasing employment at the national level.

The automotive industry is regarded as one of the most robotized sectors of the manufacturing industry. The topic of robotization is currently intensely debated as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. In this study, we focus on automobile manufacturers operating in selected countries of the European Union and analyse the level of labour productivity and employment in the period 2002-2021. Specifically, we investigate whether the annual installation of robots and the total number of robots in the automotive industry have a negative impact on labour demand. The collected data are evaluated using empirical analysis. Our estimations show that the installation of robots in the automotive industry has a positive effect on labour demand. At the same time, however, it is found that labour productivity tends to decrease as the number of robots increases. A possible explanation for these results is that major manufacturing activities in this sector are being replaced with machines at the expense of human labour.
Implications for Central European audience: Theoretical implications of the article arise from primary literature, which investigates the implications of industry robotization on the labour market. The practical implications stem from our empirical analysis, which investigates the impact of robotization on labour demand and productivity in automobile industries across the EU. 

This paper describes new trends related to the concepts contained in HR organizational structures within Czech organizations. In addition, it describes the specifics of the roles played by HR in those organizations which have transformed their HR departments in terms of the principles of the HR Business Partner Model, both in theory based on available resources, and at the practical level based on the results of primary examination. The goal of this paper is to present the key perceptions of the changes made in the HR structure within the organizations, as well as the impact of these changes on the effectiveness of the HR departments concerned. Another goal of the paper is to summarize the responsibilities of the newly created position known as the HR Business Partner in these organizations as well as the demands placed upon the personnel employed in the HR Business Partner role. The paper offers conclusions based on the results of both quantitative and qualitative surveys. It also contains a case study of one organization which has one of the best transformed HR departments, and whose services are classified, by internal clients, as being of high quality.