National PA Day – 15 September 2011
Following the success of office*, we, the organisers, Diversified Business Communications UK, have launched an annual day to celebrate Britain’s PAs – the unsung heroes of Britain’s offices.
With the slogan “We make Britain’s offices work”, the day aims to highlight the increasing importance of the estimated 600,000 highly skilled PAs working in offices across the UK and to promote the profession to well-educated young people seeking an exciting and stimulating career.
“I am delighted to hear of the launch of the National PA Day. It is so important to have a PA who offers a consistently high level of service and who you have chemistry with. Having the support of a great PA is what brings it all together. They are someone who not only represents you in business, they become an extension of you in so many other ways.”
Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of UK lingerie chain Ann Summers and Knickerbox
1st Annual National PA Survey
To coincide with National PA Day, the UK’s 1st ever annual National PA Survey was launched, with results unveiled in full at the office* show at Earls Court, London on 15 September. Completed by 1,637 respondents during the last week of August 2011, the survey provides a ‘snapshot’ of how today’s PAs view their role in the workplace.
The results show that the majority of survey participants are highly motivated and enjoy the important work that they do. When asked what three things most motivated respondents to go to work, ‘Good Pay’ actually came in sixth place (34%), behind ‘Working Environment’ (41%), ‘My Colleagues’ (40%), and ‘Feeling Recognised and Respected’ (36%), whilst the most popular answer – perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature of the close working relationship required – was a ‘Great Boss’ at 46%, followed closely by ‘Variety of Role’ at 45%.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the three things that most frustrated respondents about their job was a perceived ‘Lack of Career Opportunities’ at 46%, followed by ‘Pay’ at 35% and ‘Lack of Recognition’ at 32%. Only 8% thought their career prospects were ‘Very Good’, with a further 63% saying they were reasonable but that the onus was very much on them.
It is the results to the survey’s question on loyalty however, that perhaps most illustrate the uniqueness of the PA’s role in the work place. When asked who they felt most loyal to, the majority of PAs – over 56% – responded with ‘My Boss’, compared to ‘The Company’ at 24% and ‘My Colleagues’ at 20%. The results offer a succinct reminder of how important a strong, close working relationship is to ensuring the professional success of both individuals – the PA and their respective boss.
Dispelling the myths and common misconceptions of overworked and under-paid PAs, the overall results of the 1st annual National PA Survey paint a distinctly positive picture of how recognised and valued the UK’s PAs actually feel, with 63% of respondents stating that they felt ‘Very valued’ by their boss, and 53% ‘Very valued’ by their work colleagues.
Whilst some of the survey’s results are perhaps not too surprising, it was the incredible variety of responses to the final two questions that is perhaps the most revealing about today’s PA workforce.
What is the best thing that you have been asked to do?
The incredible variety of responses to this question just goes to show what a satisfying career being a PA or EA can be – and sometimes not short of a few glamorous perks. Here’s just some of the highlights:
- Spending half a million pounds in Harrods on corporate gifts and being in charge of the interior design of my boss’s new house
- Organising a corporate day for our prime customers. An events company quoted £18,000 – I did it myself for £8,000!
- Go to our head office in Washington to receive an award for my hard work
- Giving my personal opinion on business ideas for the company
- Pass on my expertise to other PAs
- Setting up a regional office from scratch
- Getting more responsibility – being asked to do the marketing plan and social media strategy and own it, has been a huge highlight
- Working on my own initiative
- My input is valued in major projects – feels great to be recognized!
- Take lead when boss is absent
- To offer support at a Reception at No 11 Downing Street and meeting the PM
- House-sit in £3 million Eaton Square, complete with Range Rover to drive….
- Accompany my boss when she moved to a new company
- Helping to present medals at UEFA Cup Final
- Organising a conference in Italy
- Going on holiday to my boss’s house in Antigua
- Organising a Royal Visit
- Coordinating a meeting for the Secretary of State
- Representing my boss at meetings
- Organise an executive off-site event in Davos in an igloo
- Going to New York, staying at the Ritz, to organize an event
- Leading our training team
- Travel to the Bahamas on a private plane
- Managing the Corporate Head Office
That’s NOT in my job description!
For a little light relief, the survey also asked what the most ridiculous thing respondents had been asked to do. Thankfully, whilst most PAs have a fantastic relationship with their bosses and feel valued and respected, out of over 1600 responses from some of the best PAs in the country, there was always going to be a few exceptional ‘exceptions’. Here’s a few excerpts guaranteed to make you smile…
- Get the Prime Minister on the phone
- To ring a hotel to see if they had found my boss’s underpants
- Buy a Valentines card for a boss’s wife – and sign and send!
- Courier my boss’s urine sample (in a sunflower oil large bottle)
- Collect boss’s fathers ashes
- Cut the chicken off the bone!
- Sack the nanny
- Go shopping for a rubber ring for a piles sufferer
- Spy on a husband as she thought he was having an affair (which he was!!!)
- Photocopy all my boss’s bank statements for his divorce application
- Buy birthday cards for the ex wife and new girlfriend at the same time
- “Here’s £60K, go and buy me a car – only stipulation, it has to be black!”
- Ask why BA had cancelled a flight due to fog
- Hire a chauffeur to drive the boss’s dog from England to South of France for a family holiday (and back again!)
- To open a banana for a director who claimed not to know how to!
- Check the phone bills for calls under 10 seconds, then call the phone company to ask for a refund!
- Iron my boss’s pyjamas
- Check temperature of swimming pool at hotel
- Ring up all the airlines that fly to Australia to ask how far their arm rests go back!
- Being forwarded an email saying “forward this email to XYZ”
- My boss lost his parking ticket and couldn’t get out of the car park. So he asked me to hire a tow truck to go to the car park and collect the car, but he couldn’t remember which car park it was!
- Keep a record of mouse sighting for Health & Safety records
- Get a piece of cake encapsulated into a paperweight
- Attend a function, and pretend to be the MD’s wife
- Go out and buy a complete shooting outfit for my boss!
- Escort our MD to the station as he was afraid to get lost
- Bid on something on ebay for my boss
- Buy girlfriend’s Christmas presents
- My boss had an eye complaint and I had to administer his eye drops on a daily basis
- Send romantic emails for one of my former bosses
- Book a 2 week luxury holiday in the Caribbean, including 1st class flights, for my boss’s mistress and her sister!
- Choose presents for family members I have never met
- Complete a personal tax return
- Collect kids from school
- To purchase a new calculator that works out the new tax rate!
- Writing love letters to female friends
- ‘Lost sunglasses somewhere between home and Russia. Can you try and find them?’
- Ring up Virgin to ask why my boss’s preferred seat was not available to him………
- Arrange a funeral
- Ask the travel company for a 4p refund
- Collect daughter at the airport. At 2AM!
- Tie his shoes!
