Assessment of job satisfaction factors among forestry staff in Osun State Forestry Service

Employees in the forestry sector play critical roles in shaping the effectiveness, performance, and sustainability of the industry. This study assessed selected job-related attitudes among forestry staff in the Osun State Forestry Service. Using simple random sampling, 90 forestry officials were selected from various administrative zones, representing a 50% sampling intensity in the Department of Forestry. Data were collected using structured questionnaires with a five-point scale to measure job-related attitudes and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a theoretical mean rating of 3.50. The majority of respondents were male (95.5%) and married (87.5%), with most aged between 41–50 years. A significant proportion (83%) had tertiary education, 68.2% had over 10 years of service, and 65.6% held the position of forest guard. Results indicated that job security was the most significant factor influencing employee satisfaction (31.8%), while low salary (21.6%) was the primary factor influencing decisions to leave the job. Mean ratings for job satisfaction and expectations ranged from 1.56 (±0.50) to 3.10 (±1.53) and 2.14 (±0.99) to 3.96 (±0.95), respectively. The study concluded that while respondents ecognized the importance of job satisfaction, they expressed dissatisfaction with their current roles and high expectations for improvement from the State Forestry Service.