A Voice That Is Not Heard: Invisible Work and Women’s Talent in Czech Micro-enterprises

Imagine a small workplace where people learn mostly on the job and where close working relationships shape everyday life. It might seem that in such an environment, talent would naturally come to the fore. However, research by Zdena Hrušková and Lenka Komárková from the Faculty of Management at Prague University of Economics and Business shows that the reality is more complex. Interviews with women working in Czech micro-enterprises revealed that some employees’ contributions can remain unheard or invisible — not only because of their abilities, but also because of the way recognition is created and confirmed in everyday work. 

Why Micro-enterprises and Women’s Position? 

The Czech economy relies heavily on small and medium-sized enterprises — companies with fewer than ten employees accounted for as much as 96% of them in 2022. Women are also strongly represented in services, a sector in which a significant share of Czech micro-enterprises operate and on which this study focused. 

Most workplace learning takes place informally: directly through work, while solving everyday problems, or through collaboration with colleagues. Often, it happens without formal certificates, separate training sessions, or detailed manuals. The question at the heart of this research is deceptively simple: whose contribution is truly recognised in such an environment — and whose quietly disappears? 

The Structural Limits of Micro-enterprises and Their Impact 

Micro-enterprises have their own specific limitations. They often lack the time, money, and capacity for formalised processes — written manuals, structured performance reviews, or regular feedback. As a result, much knowledge and practical know-how remains unwritten and is passed on through everyday work. 

For newcomers — and especially for those with limited presence in the workplace — these unwritten norms can be difficult to absorb. They often do not have one place where they can find the answers that formal documentation could provide, and they may not have enough time to become naturally involved in informal relationships and everyday interactions. The structural limits of the company can thus unintentionally shift the burden onto those who have been there for the shortest time or are present the least. In an environment where formal structures are missing, visibility is therefore determined to a large extent informally — through everyday communication and through whether a person’s contribution becomes part of collective work. 

When Contribution Is Not Said Out Loud 

Everyday conversation in micro-enterprises has no fixed form or predefined rules. It unfolds quickly and situationally, at the intersection of work-related and personal relationships — and it is within this flow that decisions are made about whose contribution will be named and whose will fade away. The legitimacy of an employee’s contribution does not emerge automatically: it is created in small everyday moments. Who receives attention in a conversation, whose idea is attached to a specific name and whose passes without response, which work is verbally appreciated and which is taken completely for granted. 

Simply voicing an opinion or doing the work is not enough. For a contribution to become genuinely recognised, others must attribute weight to it — and this recognition gradually becomes visible in how the team works and in what it considers a natural part of its practice. 

If this process fails, a state of obscured participation occurs. An employee genuinely contributes to the running of the business, but her voice does not gain sufficient weight and her work is not fully recognised as part of the collective outcome. One participant in the study, for example, recalled an earlier internship in which she performed a substantial amount of work, but it was understood merely as “learning” and therefore remained unpaid or undervalued. The actual work contribution was present, but it did not receive corresponding recognition. 

Work Position Matters 

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with women employees in micro-enterprises with predominantly female teams. The aim was to understand how everyday work and informal learning gain legitimacy in women’s accounts — the intention was therefore not to compare women with men. 

What proved decisive in this case was work position: length of time in the company and type of employment contract. Experienced full-time employees had built trust, decision-making autonomy, and a clearly named place in the team. By contrast, newcomers working part-time or as interns more often faced the risk of obscured participation — they were contributing in real terms, but their voice or work did not necessarily receive the same recognition. An unstable work position and limited experience can create conditions in which a person’s contribution is more easily overlooked. And because women are more often represented in non-standard work roles, this mechanism can affect them particularly strongly. 

The Double-Edged Sword of the “Family Company” 

In micro-enterprises, the rhetoric of the “family company” is very widespread. A friendly atmosphere and a sense of belonging are undoubtedly valuable — but they can also create invisible pressure. In an environment where relationships are personal and close, it can be difficult to ask for recognition or name one’s own contribution without feeling that one is disrupting harmony. This pressure can be stronger for those whose position in the company is less established. A warm atmosphere can therefore paradoxically function as a mechanism that keeps newcomers’ contributions, needs, and abilities less visible — not out of bad intent, but because openly naming a problem may feel like disturbing good relationships. 

Small Solutions with a Big Impact 

The study’s conclusion is constructive. Micro-enterprises do not need to invest in corporate HR processes. Small but systematic habits in everyday communication can help: 

1. Name contributions out loud. Coordination, client care, and administration are key — consciously and explicitly appreciating this work can change the rules of the game. 
2. Use experienced colleagues as guides. Natural mentoring works, but best when experienced employees themselves have a stable position and recognition from management. 
3. Hold a short reflection after a project. A ten-minute review can explicitly name whose contribution stood behind the success. 
4. Use outside feedback as a mirror. When a client gives praise, use it to identify within the team whose specific work made it possible. 

Real change begins when the rhetoric of the “family company” is complemented by conscious naming of what each team member actually contributes — even when, and perhaps especially when, they contribute quietly. 

Key to Success

The study shows something very precise and practically useful: what matters most is everyday communication and whether recognition becomes part of shared practice. Both can be consciously shaped — even without major investment. 

Hrušková, Z. and Komárková, L. (2026), “Unheard, unrecognised and yet learning: discursive struggles for legitimacy in women’s informal work”. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 325–348