Articles & Press Releases

Administrative Professionals' Week
by Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA
Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services

Since 1952, the last full week of April (23-29, 2000) has been designated Administrative Professionals Week (formerly called Secretaries Week) by the International Association of Administrative Professionals, with the 26th being the official Administrative Professionals Day.

Traditionally, bosses use this time to show their appreciation to their assistants for all of their hard work throughout the year.

To help bosses along (apart from giving the usual flowers and candy) we contacted several administrative assistants who were more than willing to give us some suggestion for bosses to show their appreciation. Each business relationship is different so you may want to talk to your assistant first, but here are some of the ideas that they came up with:

• Take her/him out for a nice, long lunch at a local fine restaurant
  
  
• Provide a morning at a local spa
  
  
• Give a gift certificate for a dinner for two or an evening at a hotel or resort.
  
  
• Arrange for the afternoon off to go shopping and throw in a little spending money
  
  
• Provide a long distance calling card
  
  
• Arrange for a housekeeper for the day
  
  
• Book & pay to have the car tuned up and spring cleaned
  
  
• Present a plaque for her/his years of valued work
  
  
• Provide a family pass to the movies and plenty of popcorn money
  
  
• Arrange to have her/his carpets cleaned or yard prepared for the coming season
  
  
• Arrange for groceries to be paid for and delivered
  
  
• Find out who is her/his favorite author and buy their latest book
  
  
• Offer a three hour lunch...better yet...THE DAY OFF!
  
  
• Outsource some of his/her work to an off-site administrative assistant
  

 

Don’t forget that this isn’t the only time of year you should show your appreciation to your assistant. Ensure that you make them feel valued throughout the year. You’d be amazed at how far a ‘thank you’ or kind word can go.

Now, if you are an entrepreneur without an assistant, don’t let this day go by without patting yourself on the back for handling all of the administrative tasks. Why not outsource some of your work to a Virtual Assistant and give yourself back some personal or revenue generating time.