Administrative Professionals Day is on Wednesday, April 24th this year. It is a day most executives and business owners would agree is imperative for showing appreciation to our support staff, but what exactly should we do to show our appreciation?
Years ago a man named Harry F. Klemfuss recognized the need for more secretaries in the workplace. He also realized that they had become instrumental to the workforce, but there wasn’t a ton of recognition of that fact. So in 1952 he created National Secretaries’ Day to show appreciation and also encourage more women (of course today it’s men and women, and doesn’t refer solely to secretaries) to become secretaries.
Over the years, as admin jobs have evolved, National Secretaries’ Day was changed to Administrative Professionals Day. The day is now designated to not only secretaries, but administrative assistants, executive assistants, receptionists, and other admin support staff.
While we all try our best to ensure those who help us succeed in business on a daily basis know they’re worth their weight in gold, sometimes with projects, deadlines, and days that quickly turn into days, weeks, and months passed, we may not ALWAYS be the best at doing this.
No worries though if you feel like you’ve flopped a bit lately on communicating how much you value you them. We’ve put together 6 ways you can show your administrative professionals you appreciate them.
1-Give them a half day off-Since Administrative Professionals Day isn’t a day that the workplace actually closes for, giving your employee a half day off is a fun way for them to get rewarded for their continual hard work. Of course depending on the size of your business and their job duties you’ll have to consider if this is feasible for you or not.
Also, consider doing something tangible to go along with the well-deserved time off; even if it is as simple as flowers or some sort of gadget.
2-Take them to lunch-Maybe you can’t give them the day off, but we all have to eat, right? Find out what they’re favorite types of food are, block a longer slot off for lunch so you’re not rushed, and find a nice restaurant that serves the types of food they like.
3-Create a recognition page-Perhaps even more than free stuff, people want to be recognized for their hard work. Throw a page up on your website summarizing the value they add to your business with a photo of them. You could even just use your blog page to do this and then push it out to your social media. Bonus is it’s nice for your community to see that you care for your employees, and that you get that others contribute to the viability of your company.
Again, it would be nice to also give something tangible. Depending on your budget, ipad minis and tablets are popular choices for a techy gift, and is something they will actually use and truly appreciate.
4-Upgrade their seating arrangement-I’m not saying get them a corner office overlooking the city, but spending a little bit of money on a nice, comfortable office chair that will make sitting in front of a screen all day easier is both a functional gift and something they will appreciate. Check out our office chair selection to find something that would fit your office style, and that your administrative assistant will love! Plus, ensuring the chair is ergonomic can actually reduce days missed from ailments such as back and neck pain!
5-Gift baskets-If you you feel like you have a pretty good handle on the types of things your administrative assistant enjoys, order or put together a gift basket for them. You can fill it with some of their fav snacks, coffees or teas, maybe some nicer office supplies than the company typically buys, and throw in some smaller gift cards to establishments close by they like to grab for lunch. These are all things that show you appreciate them, but are also things that they can have for the office to make life a bit easier and enjoyable. Plus, it will make them feel good that you pay attention to their likes.
6-A massage-What better way to say I know you work hard than to give a gift specifically to help unwind and destress. Especially since your administrative assistant probably spends a good chunk of time on a computer, and most definitely has tension built up from that in their neck and shoulders.
If you have a larger admin staff due to the size of your company, it may be more economical to cater lunch at the office and have a massage therapist come in to do chair massages. You could extend their lunch time to make sure they get enough time to eat and get a chair massage in before heading back to their desks.
We all want our administrative staff to know we care, understand how hard they work for us, and know that we pay attention to who they are as a person; not just what they can do for us. It’s not that we don’t want to do things to communicate this, but sometimes it’s just hard to come up with ideas of things they will enjoy and value. Hopefully one of these 6 ways to show your appreciation on Administrative Professionals Day feels like a good fit for you.
