Using of human capital management in small and medium-sized enterprises in context of Industry 4.0

Human capital management (HCM) helps manage and develop human capital (HC) in businesses through investments that increase the value of HC and contribute to improving the financial situation of companies. Industry 4.0 (4IR) presents new challenges especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The article aim is to find out how important SMEs perceive investments in HC, whether they evaluate the effectiveness of investments in HC and which of the selected HCM activities related to digitization they consider essential. It was used basic scientific methods, Cronbach's alpha, descriptive statistics, and the chi-square test. It was found that in 2020 up to 49.56% and in 2021 up to 63.94% of respondents consider the funds spent on employees as investments in HC. In connection with digitization, it is striking that up to 76.98% of SMEs in 2020 and 68.34% of respondents in 2021 did not use a personnel information system (HRIS) and an even greater number of companies did not even prepare reports for the HC area. The originality of the article lies in the processing of a two-year questionnaire survey and in the intersection of HCM and Industry 4.0. This is a very current topic, which is also emphasized by the European Union. Future research could focus on employee training models (HC development), or on the culture of innovation and adaptability in companies that digitalize.