Individen och organisationen. En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares upplevelser av sin arbetssituation

The purpose of our study is to examine social worker’s experiences of their work situation, with a particular focus on their work environment and the organization they work in. The study is based on a qualitative method and the data consist of semi-structured interviews with five social workers working in a social welfare office in a south swedish city. The study's theoretical framework is based on a demand-control-support model by Karasek and Theorell, theories of profession and previous research. The result of our study indicates that social workers have an high workload with especially administrative work tasks, which take time from the social work, that is to work with the clients, which several social workers un-derstand as the nature of social work. The result of our study also indicates that several social workers experience that the high workload is something the particu-lar social worker have to manage by their own. This mean that they are likely to individualize a problem that may be a organizational problem. In an attempt to manage the imbalance between job request and resources, the social workers are using lowering strategies, which includes prioritizing clients and other work as-signments. We have identified this prioritization as a possible risk for clients legal security. Our result also shows that support from colleagues and chiefs helps man-aging the work related stress. To sum up, a good work environment is im¬portant for the social workers well being