Industry 4.0: an Employee Perception (Case of the Czech Republic)

Abstract

Considering the fact that the initiative Industry 4.0 started in the Czech Republic in 2016, it is still a relatively unexplored topic. However, there is a significant lack of researches, which examines the perception of Industry 4.0 by employees whose jobs are directly threatened by Industry 4.0. The aim of the paper was found out how Czech employees perceive Industry 4.0 and whether a general pattern can be created for a group of employees who perceive it as a potential threat to their existence based on their characteristics (age, gender, education, and the job position). Information about this initiative is often tendentiously presented by media, even managers don't have precise information about the benefits and outcomes of Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 from the employees' point of view is connected with job loss or substitution of human work by robots. And this state might build barriers to implementation Industry 4.0.