This document summarizes a session on recognizing and rewarding the work of assistants. It discusses how the session topic was chosen based on a survey of readers who felt undervalued in their roles. Research is presented showing that assistants provide a substantial return on investment through the time and productivity they allow executives to gain. However, many assistants still feel underpaid and undervalued in their professions based on various industry surveys. The document aims to explore reasons why assistants feel this way and how their contributions can be better acknowledged.

1. This
session
was
actually
crowd
sourced
by
the
Prac4cally
Perfect
PA
readers.
We
conducted
a
survey
last
year
and
one
of
the
ques4ons
asked
what
session
would
the
readers
like
to
see
at
a
conference.
We
had
a
lot
of
responses
around
the
area
of
recogni4on
for
the
work
that
assistants
do
and
the
lack
of
reward.
I
wrote
a
blog
about
this
a
few
weeks
ago
and
shared
some
of
the
responses
to
that
ques4on.
To
be
honest
it
was
pre@y
depressing
–
yes
we
did
receive
replies
that
simply
stated
‘
I
love
my
job’
but
on
the
whole
assistants
felt
undervalued.
So
out
of
that
survey
this
session
was
born.
I
want
to
look
at
the
assistant
industry
as
a
whole
and
talk
about
the
various
reasons
why
we
are
not
recognized
or
rewarded
and
then
I
want
to
finish
on
a
posi4ve
note
and
look
at
what
we
can
do
to
change
this!
1

2. I
want
to
start
by
saying
the
return
on
investment
from
assistants
is
substan4al
Melba
Duncan
in
her
now
widely
referenced
and
widely
excepted
ar4cle
–
The
Case
for
Execu4ve
Assistants
published
in
the
Harvard
Business
Review
said
this:
Consider
a
senior
execu.ve
whose
total
compensa.on
package
is
$1
million
annually,
who
works
with
an
assistant
who
earns
$80,000.
For
the
organiza.on
to
break
even,
the
assistant
must
make
the
execu.ve
8%
more
produc.ve
than
he
or
she
would
be
working
solo—for
instance,
the
assistant
needs
to
save
the
execu.ve
roughly
five
hours
in
a
60-­‐hour
workweek.
In
reality,
good
assistants
save
their
bosses
much
more
than
that.
This
is
an
incredibly
powerful
statement.
The
fact
is
that
4me
certainly
equals
money
when
it
comes
to
our
return
on
investment
but
it
doesn’t
end
there.
2

3. We
give
our
companies
and
our
execu4ves,
who
are
oUen
unapproachable
and
disconnected
with
the
rest
of
the
staff,
a
human
face.
We
know
what
is
happening
before
it
happens;
we
are
able
to
solve
problems
and
create
a
calm
environment
We
manage
our
execu4ves;
we
understand
the
needs
of
the
company
and
we
manage
complicated
tasks.
We
don’t
carry
much
cost
–
par4cularly
when
it
comes
to
training
us
up.
The
very
best
assistants
have
learnt
on
the
job
and
have
learnt
by
their
mistakes.
So
for
me
it
goes
without
saying
that
our
role
is
indispensable.
We
save
our
bosses
4me,
which
enables
them
to
be
more
produc4ve
which
in
turn,
makes
the
organisa4on
more
money.
All
of
this
translates
into
a
monetary
value
and
should
therefore
appear
somewhere
in
our
remunera4on
packages.
3

4. It’s
not
just
me
saying
this
either
–
in
a
survey
conducted
back
2013
in
by
the
Office
Team
in
the
States
94%
of
senior
Execu4ve
said
their
assistant
was
important
to
their
success
at
work
with
44%
saying
their
assistant’s
contribu4ons
were
‘very
important
‘
and
50%
saying
they
were
‘somewhat
important’.
So
we
know
how
hard
we
work.
We
know
that
our
contribu4ons
have
a
monetary
value.
Our
senior
execu4ves
know
we
help
them
achieve
success
–
so
what’s
the
problem
–
why
do
we
even
have
a
session
on
recogni4on
and
reward?
Because
we
don’t
feel
it
and
we
are
not
treated
in
the
same
way
as
other
professions
with
those
creden4als.
4

5. According
to
the
2014
Na4onal
PA
survey
conducted
by
the
Office
Show
78%
of
those
that
answered
the
survey
felt
that
being
a
PA
is
undervalued
as
a
professional
career
choice.
44%
said
they
felt
slightly
underpaid
and
51%
said
they
didn’t
feel
confident
asking
for
career
development
budget.
These
are
not
great
sta4s4cs
are
they?
But
I
doubt
many
of
us
in
this
room
are
surprised
as
we
have
been
grappling
with
this
problem
since
office
work
began
and
the
typing
pool
was
invented.
So
what
are
the
reasons
we
feel
so
undervalued?
Before
I
give
you
a
few
examples
that
I’ve
experienced
can
you
please
discuss
with
the
person
next
to
you
if
these
sta4s4c
resonate
with
you.
Do
you
feel
adequately
recognised
and
rewarded
and
if
not,
why?
Here
are
my
examples:
5

6. The
old
fashioned
view
of
the
secretary
or
the
‘mad
men
stereotype’
–
yup
this
is
really
common
and
despite
dropping
the
job
4tle
something
we
s4ll
have
to
deal
with
6

7. Billable
staff
receive
reward
and
recogni4on.
Support
staff
do
not.
By
billable
staff
I
mean
for
example
if
you
work
in
a
law
firm
it’s
the
lawyers
if
you
work
in
insurance
it’s
the
brokers.
I
used
to
work
in
insurance
and
also
for
an
accountancy
firm
so
I’ve
heard
this
one
a
lot
over
the
years
and
I
must
say
it
really
annoys
me!
7

8. Your
execu4ve
likes
the
way
things
work
and
doesn't’t
want
to
let
you
go.
Some
people
enjoy
the
status
quo
and
Execu4ves
are
no
different.
Why
promote
an
assistant
who
is
making
your
life
a
whole
lot
easier?
8

9. There
is
no
career
development
structure
in
place
for
assistants.
Again
this
is
fairly
common.
This
made
me
want
to
put
the
need
for
assistants
to
put
their
career
development
at
the
centre
of
everything
they
do
and
will
be
discussed
throughout
the
day.
Assistants
are
not
men4oned
in
succession
plans,
they
work
in
organisa4ons
that
have
development
in
place
for
the
majority
of
staff
but
not
admini
staff
and
they
oUen
don’t
have
appraisals
or
job
descrip4ons.
9

10. There
is
too
much
structure
in
place
with
competency
models
that
don’t
reflect
your
role.
For
most
professionals
having
a
lot
of
structure
and
support
from
their
organisa4on
is
a
good
thing.
They
know
what
to
expect
if
they
work
hard
–
eventually
they
will
move
through
the
grades
and
with
it
will
come
their
rewards.
How
different
is
this
for
assistants.
These
structures
don’t
reflect
our
tradi4onal
career
path
and
can
stop
us
moving
beyond
our
‘grade’
without
a
substan4al
job
change.
10

11. And
last
but
not
least
good
old
fashioned
gender
poli4cs.
I
once
heard
Lucy
Brazier
say
that
one
of
the
challenges
we
face
is
that
most
assistants
are
female
and
work
in
care
giving
type
roles
–
so
nursing,
teaching
etc.
This
image
of
females
as
care
givers
can
stop
us
being
seen
as
professionals.
Over
your
career
how
many
4mes
have
you
been
referred
to
as
the
office
wife?
I
know
I
have…
11

12. As
much
as
I
would
love
to
put
the
world
to
rights
on
some
of
these
issues
I
only
have
30-­‐minute
presenta4on
and
I
think
we
will
flesh
out
some
of
these
issues
during
the
course
of
the
day.
But
I
think
we
are
all
in
agreement
that
something
has
to
change.
The
industry
has
to
change
because
78%
of
assistants
feeling
they
are
undervalued
not
personally
but
as
a
profession
is
too
high.
So
I
am
going
to
focus
on
one
area
that
we
can
all
improve
and
that
is
ourselves
as
individuals.
What
can
we
change
in
our
day
to
day
role
that
will
help
us
feel
more
recognised
and
hopefully
rewarded?
I
just
want
to
say
these
4ps
will
make
you
be@er
at
your
job
but
I’m
not
telling
you
these
things
because
I
want
you
to
support
your
boss
be@er
or
think
about
the
needs
of
the
organisa4on
–
that
is
really
a
bi-­‐product.
I’m
giving
you
this
advice
because
it
is
going
to
help
you!
I’m
selfish
like
that
–
and
I
make
no
apologies
for
it!
12

13. So
using
the
assist
conference
themes
I
am
going
to
give
you
some
examples
of
how
you
can
firstly
change
your
own
behaviour
to
enable
you
to
gain
more
reward
and
recogni4on.
13

14. If
you
don’t
ask
you
don’t
get.
Now
for
me
personally
I
find
this
really
hard.
I
was
very
much
brought
up
by
parents
who
thought
children
should
“wait
un4l
they
are
asked.”
This
mantra
was
so
heavily
ins4lled
in
me
that
I
never
really
asked
for
anything
un4l
I
realised,
probably
in
my
mid
20s,
that
this
approach
to
life
wasn’t
doing
me
any
favours.
It
certainly
wasn’t
doing
my
career
any
good.
I
would
wait
to
be
asked
to
work
on
projects
or
take
on
extra
work
–
assuming
if
I
worked
hard
in
the
back
ground
that
eventually
my
dedica4on
would
be
no4ce
and
rewarded.
It
very
rarely
was.
So
my
first
point
is
look
at
your
own
behaviour
–
what
do
you
want
to
achieve
in
this
role
and
in
this
organisa4on.
Could
you
be
a
li@le
more
vocal
about
your
development
and
your
skill
set.
How
oUen
do
you
put
your
hand
up
for
work
and
how
oUen
do
you
talk
about
your
career
goal.
Also
don’t
make
any
assump4ons
that
you
know
what
your
boss
is
expec4ng
from
you
or
your
career
development.
You
need
to
find
out
what
their
expecta4ons
are
for
your
future.
This
is
really
fundamental
because
if
if
your
expecta4ons
do
not
align
with
their
expecta4ons
both
of
you
will
have
to
change
for
your
rela4onship
to
work.
14

15. The
next
theme
is
around
proac4vity.
Let’s
now
look
at
how
you
can
be
more
proac4ve
in
order
to
gain
reward
and
recogni4on.
15

16. I
love
the
“show
and
tell”
element
of
American
educa4on.
They
have
show
and
tell
from
an
early
age
where
they
come
in
front
of
their
peers
and
tell
them
about
their
passions.
We
need
to
adopt
a
‘show
and
tell’
antude
in
this
industry,
because
we
are
too
busy
genng
on
with
the
job
and
not
sharing
our
achievements.
I
used
to
get
really
frustrated
that
one
of
my
bosses
didn’t
know
what
I
was
doing
all
day.
She
really
didn’t
and
when
it
came
to
appraisals
we
would
have
these
really
short
conversa4ons
along
the
lines
of
‘well
I
think
this
year
has
gone
well.
You’?’
and
I
would
say’
yes,
it’s
been
good’
and
then
we
would
inevitably
talk
about
what
needed
to
happen
the
following
day.
When
I
took
a
step
back
I
understood
that
my
boss
was
incredibly
busy,
she
had
her
own
problems
and
wasn’t
going
to
be
able
to
give
me
a
decent
appraisal
or
recognise
my
achievements
without
me
telling
her.
I
started
sending
my
boss
weekly
emails
detailing
what
I
had
achieved
that
week.
The
email
wasn’t
par4cularly
sales-­‐y
but
I
did
make
sure
that
I
put
down
everything
that
I
knew
would
impress
her.
Ini4ally
I
don’t
think
she
quite
knew
how
to
respond
to
these
emails
–
in
fact
she
didn't’t
respond
at
all.
But
over
4me
I
no4ced
she
had
obviously
been
reading
them
because
in
our
daily
catch
up
sessions
she
would
know
what
I
was
doing
as
much
as
I
knew
what
she
was
doing.
She
also
started
to
ask
if
I
wanted
to
get
involved
in
projects
that
before
she
never
would
have
men4oned.
She
began
to
realise
how
much
I
did,
how
capable
I
was
and
ul4mately
it
made
a
huge
difference.
What
I
learnt
from
this
was
that
good
work
doesn’t
always
speak
for
itself
so
you
have
to
speak
up
for
it!
16

17. Another
area
that
will
help
you
gain
recogni4on
is
if
you
can
get
your
work
in
front
of
the
right
people.
I
good
place
to
start
is
by
volunteering
your
services
on
a
really
visible
project.
In
my
last
role
as
an
EA
a
group
of
colleagues
including
my
boss
decided
to
do
mo-­‐
vember.
As
my
boss,
the
COO
was
the
most
senior
member
of
staff
doing
mo-­‐vember
he
volunteered
me
(as
they
do)
to
co-­‐ordinate
the
efforts.
We
made
a
ton
of
money
for
charity
and
held
a
party
aUerwards
to
celebrate.
During
the
party
everyone
was
telling
my
boss
how
great
it
was
and
how
everyone
in
the
office
had
come
together
to
support
the
guys.
My
boss
was
wondering
how
we
could
build
on
this
momentum
so
I
suggested
we
start
a
charity
commi@ee
(well
pinched
the
idea
from
another
employer)
and
I
offered
to
head
up
the
commi@ee
knowing
it
was
a
very
visible
role.
He
sponsored
the
commi@ee
and
volunteered
a
few
more
members
of
staff
and
over
the
next
year
we
did
a
number
of
fundraisers
and
events
which
I
was
right
at
the
centre
of.
So
as
I
said
it
is
important
to
make
yourself
visible
but
it
is
also
important
that
you
make
yourself
visible
to
the
right
people.
17

18. The
underlying
theme
of
the
conference
is
punng
your
career
goals
at
the
centre
of
everything
you
do.
One
of
the
benefits
that
does
come
out
of
being
properly
recognised
and
reward
is
that
organisa4on’s
tend
to
see
their
staff
as
an
investment.
If
we
are
not
seen
as
an
investment
then
we
have
to
see
ourselves
as
one.
That
is
why
it
is
so
important
to
keep
your
career
goals
at
the
front
of
your
mind
and
constantly
work
on
how
you
are
going
to
achieve
your
objec4ves.
You
need
to
know
that
it
is
okay
to
develop
yourself
and
that
you
have
to
take
4me
out
of
your
busy
schedule
to
develop
your
skills.
Before
I
close
I’ve
got
two
more
points
on
this
theme.
18

19. My
career
development
and
reward
–
not
necessarily
recogni4on
–
has
come
from
job-­‐hopping.
The
longest
job
I
had
was
just
over
3
years.
I
was
promoted
in
that
role
and
would
have
stayed
longer
if
I
wasn’t
made
redundant.
Other
than
that
most
of
my
jobs
have
lasted
around
2
years
because
aUer
two
years
I
felt
like
I
was
no
longer
being
challenged
and
had
no
further
to
go
with
that
Execu4ve
or
in
that
company.
This
was
quite
frowned
upon
at
the
4me
and
I
always
made
sure
I
had
an
answer
during
interviews
if
my
job
hopping
ever
came
up.
I
s4ll
think
it
is
without
doubt
the
easiest
way
I
found
to
progress
my
career
and
get
a
be@er
salary
and
according
to
a
recent
survey
it
is
much
less
frowned
upon
than
it
used
to
be
and
losing
its
s4gma
with
57%
of
18-­‐34
year
olds
saying
that
changing
jobs
every
few
years
can
help
careers
(38%
25-­‐54
year
olds)
*Accountemp.
The
reason
I’m
offering
this
as
a
bit
of
advise
is
because
it
sucks
having
a
manager
or
working
for
a
company
that
don’t
invest
in
you
and
don’t
take
your
career
seriously.
If
you
are
in
this
situa4on
you’ve
got
to
ask
yourself
if
trying
something
new
within
your
organisa4on
or
in
another
organisa4on
is
maybe
a
good
op4on.
19

20. A
lot
of
the
thought
leaders
in
our
industry
are
referring
to
us
as
‘strategic
business
partners’.
I
agree
with
this
approach
if
only
because
it
moves
us
further
away
from
the
‘secretary’
stereotype
and
towards
a
professional
and
well
regarded
part
of
the
organisa4on.
Also,
I've
always
believed
that
your
job
4tle
shouldn't’
define
you
so
even
if
you
are
regarded
as
‘just
the
assistant’
it
doesn’t
mean
you
have
to
act
that
way.
Think
of
yourself
as
a
strategic
business
partner
and
the
scope
of
opportuni4es
really
does
open
up
for
you.
20

21. To
4e
everything
together
I
want
to
ask
the
most
important
ques4on
that
you
will
be
asked
today
and
it
is
worth
thinking
about
–
do
you
see
your
current
role
as
a
career
or
is
it
just
a
job?
Either
answer
is
fine,
you
just
need
to
know
but
this
impacts
everything
you
do.
In
my
early
career
I
definitely
just
had
a
job
but
once
I
realised
I
wanted
to
move
on
up
my
outlook
completely
changed.
There
is
a
huge
different
between
someone
who
has
a
job
and
someone
who
has
a
career.
If
you
want
to
have
a
career
you
have
to
work
at
it
–
par4cularly
in
our
industry.
21