CHANGES OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION OF SLOVAK ENTERPRISES DUE TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

Nowadays, at the time of economic globalisation and the European labour market formation, it is possible to carry out different analyses which enable comparsions among enterprises from the geopolitical, economical and commercial point of view. In the paper we compare the level of employee motivation in the Slovak enterprises before the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008 and in 2013 when the impact of the crisis has already been felt intensely. The year 2008 was chosen as the starting point of the analyses since the level the level of motivation was not affected by the economic crisis. The reference period was the year 2013 when the crisis, on the basis of the macroeconomic indicators, continues. Basic research sample is formed by employees of the enterprises (manufacturing and non-manufacturing) operating in the Slovak Republic. Considering the size of the basic sample we could not analyse the motivation of each item of the basic sample. The random sampling was used to choose items from the basic sample. The motivation questionnaire was created on the basis of the knowledge acquired through the longterm research and through the communication with personnel clerks in the enterprises. Motivation factors that affect the employee productivity the most were used in the questionnaire. Following the sizes of selected samples and their independence we used a two-sample t-test to determine the signifi cance. The null hypothesis testing about equality of means of individual motivation factors in the particular period of time was carried out at the signifi cance level α = 0.05. Following the results of analyses we state that employees need to stay motivated also from a long-term point of view. However, essential changes occur in order of importance. We can state that in the circumstances of changed motivation factors in the year 2008 and 2013 the motivation was affected by changes in economic situation and employees are focused on monetary incentives and relationship factors more.