Workplace culture and media monitoring

I am really enjoying the workplace culture in the communications office in which I am currently interning. Everyone is friendly, makes an effort to make me feel included and someone always has cake! Cake, chocolates, even last week someone brought in Krispy Kreme's. While food doesn't have anything to do with the actual work that I have been doing, it definitely adds to that workplace environment and culture.

Something that I also really love is the sport culture that exists in my organisation. Each day the office runs sports at lunch time and aims to get everyone involved. I think that this particular government organisation does a really good job at promoting and encouraging team building and a positive workplace environment which is crucial to the success of an organization. Not only does it make me happy to come in each day, but it makes me want to put in that extra effort to make the work that I produce of a high standard. It's safe to say that I will be leaving this placement 5kg heavier thanks to all the cake but also with a new appreciation and understanding of the importance of a good workplace environment.

The last thing that I want to write about encompasses both the workplace culture and some actual work that I have been doing at my internship. Each day, the first thing I do when I come in is media monitoring. I read through the newspapers and the online news websites. I then write up daily editions of news stories that involve our particular organization, as well as other areas of interest and some fun news stories. Then I email this out to our 100 staff. This has been a regular task of the communications department for years and is part of their culture. Everyone looks forward to reading about current issues and areas of interest, and getting an early morning giggle at the fun news stories that are included.

Media monitoring has opened my eyes up to the importance of media reviewing. Whilst I knew that writing up and sending out press releases was a key responsibility of a corporate PR professional, I never really thought much into the amount of time and effort that goes into scanning all media publications and reviewing what has actually been published about them and whether it disseminated the intended message.

I am really enjoying putting theory into practice and learning from experienced industry professionals, and hopefully my next post will delve a little more into some of the PR tasks that I am working on.

Lana Lynch

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