In the field of social protection, social workers can perform their work both in the public sector and in non-governmental organizations, within which they have certain jobs and tasks. In my thesis, I was interested in whether the jobs and tasks of social workers in the field of social protection are significantly different, what importance they attach to the work environment for quality work, what obstacles they face at work, what support they receive, what importance they attach to their mental health and, if is properly cared for it in the workplace. To investigate these issues, I conducted a qualitative survey on non-random convenience sample of 12 social workers employed in the field of social care; four were employed at the center for social work, four in other institutions and four in associations. The research showed that the work tasks of social workers are similar in many aspects (working with users, administrative and bureaucratic work), but research has shown that they also differ. Social workers in institutions and associations are more dependent on funding, but have more open hands at work, while at social work center they have to work more according to the law, but they have permanent funding available at work. Research has shown that social workers are mainly faced with barriers of too much pace work, work overload, as well as too many users of social work services and these barriers of work are mainly related to systemic issues. Research has shown that the working environment of social workers is important for quality of working life. I also found that mental health and care for mental health are important for social workers and that it is largely related to the satisfaction or quality of working life. Social workers also find important to take care of mental health at home and they do take care of it both physically and mentally. However, I found that in the workplace is mostly not specifically taken care for mental health of employees. There is definitely an opportunity to improve mental health care in the workplace. Firstly, changes at the systemic level would be necessary, which would improve the quality of working life of social workers and thus also the care for their mental health.
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