Job satisfaction analysis of the staff at Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry

This study aims to determine the job satisfaction levels of the employees in the Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry and its affiliated units (Zonguldak, Devrek, Dirgine, Ereğli, Yenice, Bartın, Ulus, Karabük, Safranbolu Forest Enterprises and Gökçebey Forest Nursery), identify factors affecting job satisfaction, to check the differences of job satisfaction levels according to some individual features (age, gender, marital status, working status of the spouse, place of birth, education, task unit, position of duty, total service duration/experience, duty duration, number of duty place, proxy duty), and to determine the relationships between individual features and job satisfaction. For this purpose, a questionnaire form consisting of three parts (Individual Features Section-12 questions; Job Satisfaction Section-43 questions; Suggestions and Comments Section) was prepared. The questionnaire forms were applied in 348 staff working at in various positions (director, deputy manager, chief, engineer, office staff, land staff and others) of the Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry and its affiliated units, in full field, by e-mail, face-to-face interview method and delivered to the enterprise directorates by hand in 2018. Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis H-Test, Correlation Analysis and Factor Analysis were used to evaluate the data. As a result of the evaluations, total job satisfaction levels of the employees were measured according to the answers given to the 43 questions with 5-point Likert scale as: low (43-100 points), medium (101-158 points) and high (159-215 points) and were found that employees had "medium job satisfaction level" according to the general average. It was found out that the most important factors affecting job satisfaction were as 1) participation in decisions and respect, 2) integration with job, 3) organizational culture based on merit, 4) organizational communication, 5) conscientious comfort, 6) working conditions, 7) award-appraisal and promotion opportunity and 67.40% of total job satisfaction was explained by these factors. In the study, it was also determined that total job satisfaction showed a statistically significant difference according to the task unit, marital status, working status of the spouse and proxy duty. However, it was determined that total job satisfaction did not show a significant difference according to the position of duty, education, age, gender, place of birth, total service duration, duty duration and number of duty place. In additionally, it was found that total job satisfaction was negatively related to the marital status and proxy duty variables, that is, if the employees are married and have no other duties in addition to their primary duties, total job satisfaction has been increased. At the end of the study, some evaluations and suggestions were made in order to increase the job satisfaction of the employees of the Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry and its affiliated units, and therefore to increase their efficiency, to be successful and to improve their performance. Keywords: Job satisfaction; factors affecting job satisfaction, individual features, Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry