When I found Lifehack.org’s “12 Challenges Administrative Assistants Face” on Lifehack.org, I was happy to see they talked about the administrative support experience! I already covered the first six in a previous blog post, so check those out to see my thoughts on the full list and join in the discussion in the comments!
Here are the rest of the “12 Challenges Administrative Assistants Face” article.
Admins can:
- Be Expected To Always Be Available
- Have Their Desk Used As A Dumping Station
- Have No Privacy
- Lack of Physical Activity
- Sometimes Be The Butt Of The Office Jokes
- Be Under Paid And Feel Unappreciated
Admins Can Be Expected To Always Be Available
A working lunch is a common thing for a lot of admins. It’s just easier. It’s normal for an admin who is trying to eat lunch at their desk be interrupted by someone “popping in” and start with the words, “I see you eating, just really quickly…,” or not even acknowledging our food at all.
And it’s rarely quick.
Being available applies to more activities like lunch, but also with our workload. When admins attend meetings, it typically means they are walking out with a week’s worth of tasks that were decided in 30 minutes by people who’ve never done the work they do.
If your meetings aren’t like that, that’s great.
Another example could be when you’re working on a big project and the work keeps piling on as if they don’t understand how much work is already on your plate.
In healthy work environments, colleagues and managers should understand that an admin must prioritize and respect their needs. Time management and organization are crucial to our success, not a slight against how important you think you are.
Admins Can Have Their Desk Used As A Dumping Station
It’s not just our desks, but they typically see any space in which we occupy as shared or public, unless we have our own door.
But the LifeHack.org article got it right. I’ve mentioned before that our tangible space is an important tool in our administrative system. It’s so true.
Trust me, if something is out of place in our organized chaos piles – we will know and may freak out depending on the situation.
We have a variety of tasks that require differing levels of organization and space. If people move things without notifying us, we might have to reorganize the whole thing.
This could fit in the similar challenge as “admins are expected to clean up after everyone.” Dumping in a shared space, at times, can be a way to for colleagues to get an admin to clean up after them.
Admins Can Have No Privacy
Sometimes I think it’s a power play. In reality, it goes with the idea that having an administrative professional is a novelty – a product of status. The point shows that only important people have private space, therefore why would an admin need private space?
In many examples, they used this mindset as a silent reminder/headnod to admins of where their “place” is.
Is that the case in every example where an admin lacks privacy? No. There could be many reasons why an admin could lack privacy. For example, there simply could be no space, or the role requires an admin to function in a more front-facing role.
In the LifeHack.org article, the author makes it sound like we can designate our own spaces. While most times this is true, sometimes we don’t even have the luxury of setting up our own spaces.
Sometimes, we don’t have the option to put up pictures, have things on our desks, or rearrange items. In my mind, that makes the entire space not my own space, and makes me feel like I’m renting office space rather than being at my desk.
Administrative Support Roles Can Lack Physical Activity
It’s true. Our roles can lack physical activity, but an admin moves a lot more than you think.
Depending on the type of administrative responsibilities, an admin could be responsible for putting together events or meetings. They could be restocking cabinets, carrying reams of paper, crouching fixing a tech issue, standing/running back and forth to copy/print/scan documents, running errands, organizing the mail in the mailroom, etc.
While these activities aren’t doing push-ups (thank jeebus), they are physical activities we do throughout the day that require physical activity.
I, personally, am an event-running administrative support professional. On event days, my steps range between 8000-11000 steps a day, not including the flights of stairs!
It just depends on what your role requires, but even without events, there are many opportunities where admins get more physical activity than assumed.
But, it’s true that there are also times where I get to sit all day as well.
Admins Can Sometimes Be The Butt Of The Office Jokes
“When administrative assistants make a mistake, which can happen, they are sometimes the butt of all jokes for the rest of the day. To deal with mockery, they just chime in with everyone else and laugh at their own mistakes.”
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/12-challenges-administrative-assistants-face.html
– Lifehack.org article
…
…
… WHAT?
This is bullshit. PEOPLE make mistakes, and shouldn’t be made fun of – period. Do you think admins could make fun of their colleagues or managers, and they “just chime in with everyone else and laugh at their own mistakes”?
The lies you tell!!
This could be appropriate if EVERYONE in the room is really good friends, and the environment isn’t toxic at all.
An admin shouldn’t have to deal with mockery for being human.
Why are admins not allowed the grace to make a mistake when our job is fixing others’ mistakes all day while intentionally trying our best not to even appear like we’re making fun of our colleagues?
In this scenario, the manager should realize that mocking an admin for a mistake is in poor taste, lowers morale, and should reprimand those who behaved that way and discourage that behavior in the team.
This is unacceptable. People in glass houses, man. What crap.
Administrative Assistants Can Be Under Paid And Feel Unappreciated
“The status of an administrative assistant position is debatable depending on the point of view it’s looked at. With the work-load of a hundred people, they are sometimes paid as if they are at the bottom of the totem pole.”
PREACH.
Can you really blame us? These 12 challenges are not “work” challenges they are environmental, emotional, mental, and physical challenges that we deal with every day on top of the actual work we have to perform.
The truth of it is they often ignore us until needed, invisible until blamed, and not considered until we leave. The article says, “Sometimes their employers are so busy themselves, that the admin staff need to bring up the fact that a raise should be addressed.”
While it’s true, a lot of admins don’t ask for a raise, there are some who do. From what I’ve witnessed, most of the time, it doesn’t yield a positive result. We are told they can’t afford it, or if we want a raise, “we’ll have to do more to earn it.” Sometimes, we get a “we’ll work on it,” “let me see what I can do,” or “it’s not possible.”
The truth is, we typically try to work harder to give us courage to justify even ask for a raise. It’s scary.
Admins don’t always truly know how their managers think of their position, whether they consider admins as expendable. It’s a scary gamble.
Conclusion
So we finished discussing the LifeHack.org’s “12 Challenges Administrative Assistants Face” article! Honestly, I think they did a great job, and really help me add my administrative experiences to the dialogue. If you haven’t checked out my response to the first 6 challenges, make sure you do!
