Developing corporate social responsibility in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic

The paper presents the results of the study of the manifestations, trends of business social responsibility during the pandemic and gives the dominant directions of its practical implementation. The paper provides the results of the analysis of the evolutionary development of views and approaches to theoretical and conceptual understanding of corporate social responsibility. The impact of business social responsibility on the results of its activities and the quality of relationships with stakeholders is revealed. A study was also conducted on the transformation of directions and tools for the practical implementation of CSR initiatives before and during the spread of the pandemic. Potential directions for establishing a constructive conversation business structure with society, which will have a positive impact on the success and stability of the business, as well as on social development in the current environment have been identified. A study was carried out to evaluate the perception of the social responsibility by domestic business organizations and awareness of its trends, and the need for its implementation and advantages. A comparative analysis of the development of corporate social responsibility in the world and in Ukraine has been conducted. Trends and mechanisms that have a transformational impact on the formation and implementation of CSR in modern conditions of development are identified. The priority vectors of CSR programs of international business entities in the face of a pandemic are outlined. The necessity of developing a business process management model based on corporate and social responsibility tools has been formulated, taking into account the desire of business to conduct successful activities in a highly dynamic global environment.

Demand of HR-competency in Ukraine: changes and challenges at the labor market under pandemic COVID-19

The experience of the last year of business operation has highlighted the need to find new ways and approaches to managing people, through the crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. New socio-economic reality, digitalization and socialization are transforming the people management processes of, which, in turn, changes the modern requirements for HR competencies. The article’s purpose is to form a model of personnel manager competencies by clusters of general and professional competencies based on the implementation of best international experience in forming and developing HR competencies models and considering demand trends in the Ukrainian labor market in the segment «HR Management» in modern realities. To produce results, the following methods were used: abstract-logical to generalize the scientific literature; monographic and analogies to summarize the international experience of forming HR-competencies models; empirical for the analysis of trends in the formation of demand for HR-competencies in the Ukrainian labor market; modeling to develop a modern HR competencies model for Ukraine; generalizations to draw conclusions. The generalization of the current state of scientific research and international experience in modeling HR-competencies allowed to structure the current HR-competencies of SHRM, HRCI, CIPD and to develop proposals for their implementation in Ukrainian HR-practice. The analysis of the demand for HR-competence in Ukraine allowed to select the most popular of them by general, managerial, and special clusters; to identify the frequency of demand for HR-competences and calculate their weight level. On this basis, the structure of demand in the labor market of Ukraine in the segment of «HR-Management» was generalized. The influence of changes and challenges of the organization’s activity during the pandemic COVID-19 on the transformation of the roles of people management and the current HR competencies model in Ukraine is substantiated. Prospective directions of using the model for professional standard development, educational services improvement, and development of the national system of HR-certification for making better the quality and performance of the human resource management function in Ukraine are proposed.

Analysis of institutional factors that cause gender pay gaps in Ukraine

Despite Ukraine’s commitments regarding non-discrimination and ensuring gender equality, the issue of gender pay gaps remains relevant. The aim of the study is to identify factors that cause gender pay gaps and assess their impact on wage differences at the institutional level in Ukraine. Based on the generalization of the research results, macroeconomic and microeconomic approaches to the grouping of factors that cause gender pay gaps have been identified. Based on the analysis of statistical data, it has been determined that gender occupational segregation exists in Ukraine, as most women work in low-wage economic activities; women are more likely to lead businesses with a lower level of wages. As the result of the assessment of the impact of various factors on wage differences, it has been found that gender pay gaps are the smallest in the public sector. Part-time employment in 2018 affected gender pay gaps by 3.8%. Based on the correlation factor analysis, the positive impact of increasing the minimum wage and innovative development on reducing gender pay gaps has been substantiated. The hypothesis regarding the impact of collective bargaining on gender pay gaps at the organizational level has been refuted. Promising measures have been identified that would help to create equal opportunities and reduce gender pay gaps, and thus to fulfill Ukraine’s commitments in the context of European integration.

Mental health of staff under quarantine restrictions

The article considers the approaches to the management of the mental health of staff in the context of quarantine restrictions based on human-oriented values. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current factors influencing the mental health of staff as an important management problem, the solution of which involves the use of innovative methods and management practices for its preservation and improvement. The study substantiated the need to assess the factors of negative impact on the mental health of staff in order to eliminate them or reduce their effects. It has been proven that ensuring the mental health of staff is one of the main tasks of organizations, as the socio-economic losses from its deterioration are significant. In the course of research of theoretical approaches to an estimation of indicators of a condition of mental health of the personnel the own point of view on value and urgency of its preservation for the organizations is formed; the importance of its impact on staff productivity is determined. The method of sociological research determined that in the conditions of remote regime during quarantine such factors (causes) of stress as: overtime, work without breaks, low level of recognition and remuneration, lack of employment guarantees, insufficient support of managers, managers and/or colleagues, high emotional involvement of employees, poor communication, negatively affect the mental health and productivity of staff. Approaches to improving the mental health of staff based on innovative management practices have been developed.

Educational and scientific potential of Zaporizhia region: characteristics and guidelines of its formation

It is fundamentally important for Ukraine to overcome the imbalance in the development of regions, including Zaporizhzhia region. Its innovative development is possible only through the formation and implementation of educational and scientific potential. Therefore, the article aims to analyze the state of education and science in the Zaporizhzhia region and justify the need to develop a program for their development. The object of research is the educational and scientific potential of Zaporizhzhia region. The analysis of the state of secondary education was carried out based on the results of the independent external evaluation in comparison with the results of the independent external evaluation in the whole country. Thus, it was found out that: a significant proportion of school graduates did not exceed a certain minimum threshold; less than 20% received a high level of assessment (160-200 points) in most subjects; the share of pupils who make IET in such important disciplines as physics, chemistry decreases; the share of tests with high scores in Ukraine is higher than in Zaporizhzhia region. The rating of Zaporizhzhia region according to the state of secondary and professional education is decreased in 2013–2016 from 3rd to 6th place. Changes in the state of higher education concerned a decrease in the number of applicants and the number of institutions. In general, Zaporizhzhia region has a satisfactory innovation potential, but obstacles to its implementation are insufficient funding for research, scientific passivity of young people, as well as a decrease in human resources in the scientific field. The development strategy of the region defines the general directions of development of the education system, but the achievement of its real development requires the specification of measures in the relevant program. The program should pay attention to the modernization of material, technical and educational base of schools, ensuring full staffing of schools with highly professional teachers, improving their skills and material incentives, support and development of STEM education.

Quality of working life and inequality: gender consideration

The paper explores the impact of gender inequality on the quality of working life and analyzes the processes and factors that shape gender issues in Ukraine. The aim of the study is to assess gender inequality in the process of labor potential and human capital implementation, develop measures that would solve gender inequality problems in employment, and justify the positive impact of the proposed measures on the quality of working life. To achieve the abovementioned goal, statistical data and public opinion polls, which formed the basis of the proposed methods for solving the identified problems, have been analyzed. Determinants of gender inequality have been identified, the main of which are the gender wage gap, gender structure of employment imbalance, inequality of women’s access to decent work due to gender stereotypes, and imperfect control mechanisms for gender-sensitive statistics. Possible approaches of the state`s gender policy to achieve gender balance have been identified and expanded through a set of measures that would include improving the mechanism for controlling gender-sensitive statistical data in the form of monitoring at the organizational and state levels, budget planning with due consideration of gender dimension. The author’s vision of the content and essence of gender policy at the institutional level in the context of transformation of values and gender culture of society has been shared.

Digital economy and digital employment appearence

The article reveals the central role of information and communication technologies in the economy of the country, which have long become an important component of each person’s life and is a defining characteristic of digital transformation. The basis of digitalization is the digital presentation of data, which leads to better quality of life and economic efficiency of the individual country and the world as a whole. The article analyzes the specific features of digital economy and stipulates the consistency of creating the digital employment. It has been determined that the development of the digital economy and digital technologies leads to changes in all spheres of human life, predominantly in employment relations, manifested in the appearance of digital workplaces, workers with digital competencies, specific relations in the digital segment of labor market. The results of the work in the digital segment are the technologies, products, and services, some of which are analyzed in the article (eHealth, digital insurance, e-security, e-rights and e-technical passport, smart cities, SmartFactory – smart production, digital workplace, blockchain, “GAFAnomy”). In the digitalization process, the employment acquires the multivector flexibility, and has both positive and negative consequences. Taking these consequences into consideration is necessary for regulating the economic and social sphere.

Formation of international employee competencies in the conditions of the global labor market transformation

Globalization of the labor market and development of international innovative cooperation, taking into account international production factors, intensify the process of forming a modern type of a migrant worker – an international worker. Today’s global market of labor resources places high requirements to the workforce. New criteria appear in relation to the quality of the individual’s labor potential implemented in global economic relations, and the quality of labor, determined by the worker’s qualification and skills, work attitude and sophistication of social and economic thinking, becomes the most important criterion. The quality of labor resources in the international labor market includes many characteristics, such as availability of international work experience, knowledge of the national specifics of various countries, the importance of international communication culture, etc., which are minimally present in the characteristics of labor resources at the national level. Given the above, the purpose of this article is to study the qualities, competencies and level of training of an innovative international worker. The study characterized key factors of the process of developing an international worker, some of which are worth noting: the appearance of unified international requirements to the worker’s education and qualification, formation of global information and communication networks, growth of transnational corporations. It was concluded that the success of a worker of an international enterprise depends on the worker’s professional, social, entrepreneurial and personal competencies, etc., while the key indicators of the worker’s different-culture competence profile are professional, social, entrepreneurial and personal competences, ability to learn foreign languages and current family situation.

Digital transformation and new business models as determinants of formation of the economy of nontypical employment

With the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the formation of a new technological basis – “Industry 4.0” - a dynamic multi-vector transformation of the leading institutes of economy and society takes place, social and labor relations in general and employment in particular acquire new format and content. The quintessence of the article is a scientific-applied substantiation of the construct of nontypical employment economy, scientific argumentation and further development of previous researches of authors regarding determinants of gig-economy formation under the influence of economic and social development “digitalization” and emergence of new business models. that radically change all components of the world of work. New facets of the complex world of work and employment have been revealed and the increase of the newest knowledge in this field has been received under systematic research of a chain of changes: introduction of “Industry 4.0” breakthrough technologies → “digitalization” as a dominant vector of technological innovations → formation of new business models → changes in social division of labor and the content of labor processes → the emergence and intensive development of employment forms immanent to the new (digital) economy. It is substantiated that the main root cause, a kind of “trig- ger” for the emergence and reproduction of the chain of researched changes is digital transformation of the economy and society. The essence of today’s phenomena, which determine the development of the “gig economy”, is revealed. The argumentation of the spread of platform business models and their impact on the world of work and employment is given. A new theoretical construction of a chain of changes, the “output” of which is new forms and, a new platform for social and labor developmen t in general, has been suggested. The research focuses on finding answers to a number of questions posed to every conscious person. Among them are the following ones: Why can’t the modern economy “get along” with traditional (standard) forms of employment? Why does atypicality become not the exception but the norm? How do specific mechanisms and tools for transforming standard forms of employment into new ones, which are immanent to modern conditions of economic and social progress, behave in practice?

Ways and characteristics of employee motivation in modern conditions

An effective human resource management system is a crucial factor for all organizations and institutions. In the light of modern development, it is obvious that improving the quality of service and gaining public trust is impossible without motivating employees, evaluating their performance, clearly defining duties and building an organizational culture. It should bo noted that Georgian companies lack well-defined human resource management policy. Moreover, in most cases it is limited to administrative procedures and is considered as an operational activity, despite the fact that everyone understands the importance of each employee in achieving organizational success. Among the various ways to achieve organizational goals, one of the most important is to increase employee motivation. Increasing employee productivity depends on proper choice of the form of motivation and its wise use. If a manager meets the expectations of all employees, in this case, employee motivation increases. which means that the level of employee satisfaction is high and the organizational goal will be fully achieved. All of the above and other important issues are researched and scientifically analyzed in this paper.