Question: “How can I handle
other staff who treat administrative assistants as the low people on
the totem pole? Where
I work, admins get little or no respect...
Question: “The executive I support always asks for my opinions regarding changes
to office setup, administrative support staff duties, logistics for
meetings,...
Question: “Our department acknowledges birthdays by taking the birthday person
out to lunch. The person gets to choose where to eat and the entire
department...
Question: “How can I tactfully and respectfully ask my boss to stop announcing my
doctor’s appointments to other employees? I cover for other areas,...
Question: “I supervise our receptionist/secretary and share an office with her.
When the director or other staff members come into the office to speak
to me...
Question: “I am an administrative assistant with a busy schedule working for a
senior director. My problem is our receptionist, who works right
outside my...
Question: “I work in a department that is divided into teams. I am the department
administrative assistant, supporting about 25 people. The department
celebrated...
Question: "How do you resolve conflict and assuage damaging, condescending
comments that are very subtly done? The comments come from a manager
to an employee...
Question: I am responsible for coming up with the holiday gift idea for our board
members. I was given a budget of $250 - $300 and I am, unfortunately,
at a...
Question: The company I work for had an office/staff restructuring about a year
ago. I was hired as the office administrator. My boss is also new. He
tells me that as...
When a supervisor enters into a sexual relationship with a subordinate, chances are things won’t go well for the company. That’s one reason you should put in...
Question: “Earlier this year, my boss promised me a salary increase by midyear.
When I reminded him, he said he'd forgotten … and then did nothing.
(Other...
Question: "I'm sympathetic with employees who have to juggle work and child care.
But it becomes a distraction when employees bring in their kids for a
couple hours...
Negativity spreads like a virus through the workplace, causing low morale, high tension, and greater dissatisfaction, which can all lead to an increase in turnover....
Question: Telephone screening and taking messages are a very important part of my
job, but I am terrible at getting a name right when someone calls.
Does anyone...
Unexpected and unexplained events can spark rumors that, if ignored by HR and management, will take on a life of their own. But there's an art to dealing with rumors and...
How can you tell when trivial issues are poised to turn into major headaches? From conflict management experts Gayle and Nabil Oudeh, here are some warning signs to...
