The final countdown.

Good morning fellow PR students,

I am now in the final week of my internship in equipment manufacturing. This week has been a little bit hectic to say the least.

In my last post, I discussed the importance of PR professionals to be present in all major business locations, and how the company I am currently working for does not employ this tactic - rather, they have one PR person who is located in Sydney and flies to Perth if anything serious happens.

This week further demonstrated the need for in-house PR people in each major business center. A large percentage of the on site technical employees were involved in stop work industrial action. Along with union representatives, they were opposing proposed new changes to job descriptions, categories and other agreements and entitlements such as annual leave and sick leave.

While not all employees participated in the action, the result of them not working meant extra pressure on those who decided not to be involved, their supervisors and nearly everyone else on site. Customers were informed of the action and the resulting delay in jobs, but it didn't mean that they were satisfied with the extra week wait time for completion of their job.

It could possibly be suggested that had there been a PR person acting as a go-between for the employees to supervisors and decision makers, the strike may have been avoided. Perhaps if the employees felt their concerns were being heard, they would not have resorted to industrial action. This further demonstrates both the roles of an in-house PR person, and also the need for companies to have sufficient PR professionals in their employ.

So far, my internship has confirmed two things for me:
1. PR is an essential part of the success of a business
2. I made the right decision in choosing to major in PR

Until next time,

Rebecca