Human resource practices accompanying industry 4.0 in European manufacturing industry

Purpose Recent research has shown that the implementation of Industry 4.0 requires companies to (re)adjust their human resource (HR) policies. This article focuses on the relationship between Industry 4.0 and three HR practices: i.e. employee involvement, job design and skill development. Design/methodology/approach We use data of the European Company Survey (ECS) (2019). This nationally representative survey in the EU28 gathers data on workplace practices among managers from establishments employing at least 10 employees. We focus on 5,609 establishments in the manufacturing sector. Findings Firstly, employee involvement shows a strong positive correlation with Industry 4.0, irrespective of the digital technology used, country or firm size. Secondly, weak but significant correlations are found with increasing job complexity and skill development. Research limitations/implications Research should engage in fine-grained analyses of the alignment between particular digital technologies and their respective HR practices. Practical implications Our results stress the importance of involving employees during the implementation of Industry 4.0. Originality/value Despite frequent acknowledgement across Industry 4.0 roadmaps and maturity models, the predictions for HR practices are empirically incomplete and theoretically inconclusive.

Automated summary

Recent research highlights the importance of adjusting HR policies for the implementation of Industry 4.0. Employee involvement shows a strong positive correlation with Industry 4.0, while there are weak but significant correlations with job complexity and skill development. Fine-grained analyses of the alignment between digital technologies and HR practices are recommended for future research.