Relational factors play the most important role in the environment of Slovak and Czech SMEs

Small, medium, and micro enterprises are an important productive group in the European economy, and their existence is more challenging in some respects. Human resources represent the most significant competitive advantage. Their competitive advantage is their human resources, which they must be able to properly motivate. The aim of this study is to compare the level of employee motivation in Slovak and Czech small and medium-sized enterprises and to determine whether there are differences in the level of motivation in the environment of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. The fulfilment of the objective is based on the results of the research on a sample of 3057 Slovak employees and 1873 Czech employees of SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises), who were interviewed during the years 2022–2023. The results of parametric statistical tests for the comparison of means of two or more groups show that the difference in motivational preferences of employees is statistically significant for financial, work, career, and social factors, and the importance attached is the same for the most important group of factors.