Analysis of Public Relations Practitioners' Views on Satisfaction at the Workplace in Croatia

Mnogi autori stava su kako o zadovoljstvu radnika i njihovoj motivaciji za kvalitetno obavljanje radnih zadataka ovise izvrsni radni rezultati koji u konačnici doprinose ostvarenju strategija i ciljeva organizacije. Međutim, mnogi su čimbenici u radnom okruženju koji su važni za procjenu zadovoljstva zaposlenika, koji u konačnici ovise od struke do struke. Iznimno dinamičan i stresan tempo rada, visoki stupanj odgovornosti, mnogi prekovremeni sati, poslovna putovanja, kontinuirana dostupnost klijentima te nerijetki radni vikendi, neki su od elemenata posla praktičara odnosa s javnošću. Stoga je cilj rada detaljnije istražiti, analizirati i zaključiti stavove o tome s kojim segmentima radnog okruženja su praktičari zadovoljni, a s kojima nisu. Stres, interna komunikacija, odnos s kolegama, odnos s nadređenima, plaća, samo su neki od segmenata anketnog upitnika ovog kvantitativnog istraživanja. Rezultati su pokazali kako su praktičari odnosa s javnošću u Hrvatskoj uglavnom zadovoljni na svojem radnom mjestu te uglavnom svoj posao smatraju stresnim. Kao najčešće uzroke stresa izdvajaju: preveliki broj i preveliku raznolikost radnih zadataka, rokove za ispunjenje istih te odnos s nadređenima i prekovremene sate. Rezultati ovog istraživanja, osim što mogu poslužiti kao praktične smjernice organizacijama za stvaranje boljih radnih uvjeta za praktičare odnosa s javnošću u Hrvatskoj, ujedno mogu otvoriti prostor za nova i dodatna istraživanja u području razvoja ljudskih potencijala, radnog okruženja i organizacijske kulture vezane uz komunikacijski sektor, a kojih je do sada bilo vrlo malo, posebice uzme li se u obzir odnose s javnošću kao propulzivnu djelatnost koja bilježi snažan razvoj posljednjih godina.Many authors are of the opinion that excellent work results, that ultimately contribute to the achievement of the organization's strategies and goals, depend on the satisfaction of workers and their motivation for quality performance of work tasks. However, there are many factors in the work environment that are important for evaluating employee satisfaction, which ultimately depend on the profession. An extremely dynamic and stressful pace of work, a high degree of responsibility, many overtime hours, business trips, continuous availability to clients and frequent working weekends are some of the elements of the work of a public relations practitioner. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to investigate, analyze and conclude the views on which segments of the working environment the practitioners are satisfied with and which are not. Stress, internal communication, relationship with colleagues, relationship with superiors, salary are just some of the segments of the survey questionnaire of this quantitative research. The results showed that public relations practitioners in Croatia are generally satisfied with their workplace and generally consider their work stressful. The most common causes of stress are: too many and too much diversity in work tasks, deadlines for their fulfillment, relationship with superiors and overtime hours. The results of this research, in addition to serving as practical guidelines for organizations to create better working conditions for public relations practitioners in Croatia, can also open up space for new and additional research in the field of human resources development, work environment and organizational culture related to the communication sector. and of which there have been very few so far, especially if we take into account public relations as a propulsive profession that has seen strong development in recent years