THE PERCEPTION OF SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF PERSONNEL RISK IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SMEs

Abstract

Research background: The issue of personnel risk management has received less attention from scholars than other types of managerial risks. Employees represent important capital for an enterprise, which can significantly influence its performance and success Purpose of the article: The aim of the study is to present and quantify significant factors of personnel risk in the SME sector. Part of the goal is to compare entrepreneurs’ approaches to these factors based on company size and the entrepreneurs’ education and age. Methods: The empirical research was conducted on a sample of 250 respondents from Slovakia via an online questionnaire. The statistical hypotheses were tested using descriptive statistics (percentages) and Pearson’s statistics (chi-square and Z-score). Findings & Value added: The research confirmed that personnel risk posed a significant business risk for SMEs, as up to 32 % of all the respondents rated this risk as unacceptable. Neither employee turnover nor employees’ error rate level represented a significant problem for SMEs at the time of the study. Only a small proportion of the respondents agreed with the opinion that their employees attempted to improve their performance, and that competition prevailed among them. The research demonstrated that some differences in entrepreneurs’ overall attitudes related to their age and education. Additionally, differences were identified in the entrepreneurs’ positive attitudes towards individual claims based on their education and age. Meanwhile, the results show that the issue of personnel management in the effective management of personnel risks in the SME environment could be an exciting issue for scientific research.