Administrative employees have new responsibilities
HUMAN RESOURCES / ROLES RE-SHAPED
Diane Moore
Mar 26, 2003
Wanted: attractive, unmarried girl, under 30 years of age, who can type
and take shorthand.
If you look at newspaper advertisements for secretarial help from the
1960s and '70s, it wasn't unusual to see a description like this, taken
from an actual classified ad.
In fact, if you could go back about 40 years to a typical place of
business, you would likely see managers, usually all men, sitting in
offices, while secretaries, usually all women, sat outside those
offices.
Managers made decisions and gave orders; secretaries took dictation and
carried out the orders.
Administrative workers were given little opportunity to grow outside
their roles and it was difficult, if not impossible, for a secretary to
move into a supervisory or management role.
Times have changed. The role of office professionals has been so
dramatically transformed in the last few decades, today's
administrative workers bear little resemblance to their predecessors,
according to Marcia O'Hearn, the international director, Canada
district, for the International Association of Administrative
Professionals.
"Changing technology has played the biggest role in re-shaping the
administrative profession," said Ms O'Hearn, who works as an executive
assistant for a Toronto executive search firm.
"Not only do office workers need to keep themselves up to date, but
they are often the ones who are training their peers and managers in
the latest technology and tools and being asked to make recommendations
about software purchases."
Today's office professionals handle many responsibilities previously
restricted to managers, such as hiring and training new staff, making
decisions about key corporate purchases, managing projects and
supervising the work of others. Overall, it is easier for office
support staff to move into supervisory roles.
To continue developing this broad base of skills, Ms O'Hearn recommends
administrative workers obtain professional certifications such as the
certified professional secretary and certified administrative
professional, available through the association.
'Not only do office workers need to keep themselves up to date, but
they are often the ones who are training their peers and managers in
the latest technology and tools and being asked to make recommendations
about software purchases.'
One change that recognizes the administrative evolution is the
re-naming of Secretaries Day to Administrative Professionals Day, this
year on April 23. Secretaries Day was created in 1952 by the
association to provide employers with an opportunity to recognize the
contributions of their administrative staff.
The association's website www.iaap-hq.org offers recommendations for
appropriate gifts for administrative staff, such as paying for a
seminar or online course, purchasing a subscription to a professional
publication or sponsoring membership in a professional association.
©2006 by Diane Moore. All rights reserved.