A PA's Perspective on PSW

This workplace has been the epitome of good teamwork since we returned from Easter. All those bitter personal rivalries put to one side (“For the last time, I did not take your scissors…”) so that we can work together in common cause. We’ve ignored our egos, debated without rancour and come up with a plan. April 19th to 23rd is Professional Secretaries Week and this year we are prepared.

Last year there were several colleagues who didn’t get so much as a ‘Ta very much’, let alone any public recognition during PSW, so this year we have decided on an all out marketing campaign. Fortunately, most managers are absent sunning themselves in Lanzarote (apparently, it’s been raining. Shame.), so we have taken advantage of their absence to project manage ourselves. We did consider emailing them DeskDemon’s splendid presentation on just how damn good we all are but it’s far too subtle for our lot. We think it would work better if instead of stills of someone putting on make up there was a shot of one of us standing over a coffee mug with a packet of Rat Ban and a demonic smile. So we have worked on our own presentation that isn’t as smooth but gets home the message.

We’ve aimed at subliminal messages which we know are unethical and illegal but, hey. Our PowerPoint promo starts with information about our organisation and then has a slide saying ‘One of us did for Kilroy-Silk and we can do for you too’. The only problem is that we can’t get it to appear for a nanosecond and then vanish so instead of it leaving the viewer with an unaccountable chill playing down their spine, it comes over part of a Sopranos script. It’s not quite what we were aiming for. Some colleagues think that carrot works better than stick and have put in ‘Happy PA = nice life’. Whether it has any effect on our managers or not is immaterial as constant exposure to the materials means we’ve decided that we’re at least twice as intelligent, mature and skilled as we first thought.

The other strands of our marketing campaign include judicious use of reminders in the bring forward system. Pieces of brightly coloured paper declaring ‘I am fab’ inserted halfway through meeting papers can be very handy reminders. And, of course, as true professionals, we are using our diary management skills to put in a ‘Professional Secretaries Week’ reminder so that no day will go by without our managers being reminded that support staff are indispensable. That’s reminded on the hour, every hour. With an alarm.

If all of this fails, we aim to point out that some people, such as footballers, get applauded for simply turning up for work so it’s not too much to expect extra gratitude for one measly week a year. And if nothing else, it’s a good example of enlightened self-interest to appreciate the person who does your expenses.

I do appreciate that I am paid to do my job as a PA but it is always nice to get public recognition. Fortunately, I am blessed with working for someone who publicly acknowledges me when I have pulled off a major project. But that’s of scant comfort to my contemporaries who feel that they are not recognised as professionals, regardless of how many additional skills they gain (languages, IT proficiency, accounting, negotiation and influencing to name but a few). This isn’t about being given a metaphorical lump of sugar after performing run-of-the-mill duties – that’s just patronising. It’s about being recognised for the breadth and depth of our skills and for the insights we bring to our roles. It doesn’t matter whether you are contributing to the business plan by sitting round a table signing deals. You contribute every time you deal with a member of the public in a courteous and helpful way. You contribute when your professionalism means you leave no stone unturned so that your colleagues go to meetings fully briefed. You add value to your organisation every time you pay attention to detail so that the correspondence, the bid document, the publicity looks wonderful and makes sense. You earn your corn every time you find out what has to be done to make something work – and then make sure it gets done. This very often looks to others as though there’s nothing to it but the fact that you don’t break sweat means that you are good at retaining grace under fire, not that the work is easy.

We teach other people how to treat us, so during PSW, whatever your job title, whatever the status of the person for whom you work, whatever industry you are in and however long you have been there, hold your head up and treat yourself with the respect a true professional deserves. You have earned it and I salute you.