JOB SATISFACTION DURING COVID-19: INDUSTRY 5.0 AS A DRIVER OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER EQUALITY

Employee job satisfaction is essential for organizations because it influences motivation as well as productivity, and consequently the overall performance of an organization. As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many work-related processes and practices, the Industry 5.0 framework formulated new approaches for a sustainable and resilient European industry. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the pandemic on job satisfaction in terms of gender differences and firm size in the context of the Industry 5.0 paradigm. Job Satisfaction Surveys (JSS) from the year 2013 to 2021 were analyzed. Our results indicate that in the Czech Republic, overall job satisfaction did not decline during the pandemic, and women were slightly more satisfied than men. Moreover, overall job satisfaction was slightly higher in small firms. These are surprising results, given the negative impacts on employment reported by many countries. We explore the differences in government policies and programs enacted during the pandemic to assist employers and employees to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic. In general, Czech and EU policies appeared to be better in mitigating unemployment rates than US policies. The findings are valuable for crafting best practices for organizations and future policy and program planning for governments. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

Evaluation of Distance Learning from the Perspective of University Students - A Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on education. Almost overnight, it basically halted teaching at most educational institutions, and has gradually affected all educational levels. This situation was unprecedented. Educational institutions had to switch to a new form of education urgently. The pandemic affected the means as well as the methods of learning. It affected all stakeholders, i.e., teachers, students/pupils and institutions. The aim of this paper is to present the research results of a questionnaire that was focused on the distance learning experience of students. The questionnaire provided student feedback about the distance form (remote modality) of teaching they had experienced. The research was carried out at the Faculty of Informatics and Management (FIM) at the University of Hradec Králové. The surveyed students studied during the 2020/2021 academic year using distance learning. Overall, 122 students took part in the research. Results show that online tools such as Microsoft Teams and BlackBoard are most often used at FIM. Students indicated that the BlackBoard Learning Management System (LMS) was the most beneficial tool. Overall, respondents are equally satisfied with distance learning and face-to-face learning. It cannot be unequivocally determined whether students prefer distance learning or face-to-face learning. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.