Professional Development of SME Sector Employees and the Challenges of Economy 4.0

Theoretical background: Employee development is particularly important in the context of ongoing internal changes and the external environment.Purpose of the article: The understanding of what the professional development of employees in an organization is, what instruments support professional development and what challenges for the development of employees of enterprise economy 4.0 brings for the SME sector.Research methods: The article uses a quantitative approach. The survey was conducted on a sample of 101 firms from Poland. Data were collected through a questionnaire.Main findings: In the surveyed enterprises, predominates a typical approach to the issue of professional development of employees and there is no need for a radical departure from classic solutions in favor of using other (innovative) instruments of professional development.