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Helping Bosses Say Thanks
A Loo at Administrative Professionals Week |
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Written by Rebecca Dumais
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A Look at Administrative Professionals Week
Employees like to be recognized for their
accomplishments and contributions – it’s important for both their
motivation and job success. In the past, this was commonly given to
secretaries in the form of high-end floral arrangements during National
Secretary’s Week. Today, not only has the week changed to
Administrative Professionals Week, but florists are creating pieces
that are unique and perhaps not always as opulent, but more
personalized.
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| Small potted orchids make ideal gifts for any employees’ desk. |
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics there are over 4.1 million administrative personnel working in the United States. Here in Canada, more than 475,000 people are employed in the administrative field.
The first observance occurred in 1952 as a way to honour staff for their efforts and at the same time, recruit or attract more people into office work. The idea was the brainchild of Mary Barrett, president of the National Secretaries Association and C. King Woodbridge, president of the Dictaphone Corporation. Both served on a council addressing a national shortage of skilled office workers. With the help of a public relations firm to help create awareness, National Secretaries Week was born. It was first celebrated on June 1-7, 1952 with Wednesday, June 4 designated as National Secretaries Day. In 1955, the date was moved to the last full week of April. Then in 1981, the name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week and then became Administrative Professionals Week in 2000 to cover the expanding responsibilities and wide-ranging job titles of today’s administrative support staff.
It would seem that the amount of floral business for Administrative Professionals Week depends largely on location. Florists in bustling downtowns are much busier than those in less metropolitan areas or with less corporate business.
“We do a lot for that week – we’re in Toronto and we deal with a lot of corporate clients,” explains Elizabeth Siciliano, who co-owns Flowers by Nature with her husband, Claudio. “My husband loves that week. It means business for us. Everybody seems to be happy – the workers are recognized, and we’re happy because we’re busy.” Siciliano adds that some clients request baskets rather than flowers, especially if the recipient is male. “Even for men that are assistants to the stockbrokers, they might get a basket of goodies.”
For Niki Mahal, owner of Sicklemore’s Flowers in Vancouver, although they still do receive business, it seems less busy these days.
“It’s a busy week, but it used to be busier maybe 5-10 years ago. It’s certainly not a floral holiday compared to Easter or Mother’s Day; it seems to have waned a bit.”
Susan Hewitt, owner of Edna Flowers & Gifts Inc. in Hamilton has also seen quite a change over her last 20 years in the business.
“I don’t really do very much for it anymore,” she says. Hewitt claims that when she started out the arrangements for secretaries were more substantial at the time. “I remember doing six arrangements for secretaries in the same office and they were getting lovely arrangements. As it is now, it seems to have really scaled down,” she recalls.
Today, arrangements or gifts take the form of tasteful fresh flowers or personalized baskets. Mahal uses lots of fresh orchids or potted orchids, little desktop pieces or vase arrangements. Planters contain seasonal greenery such as ferns, cyclamens, primula, tulips, and bulb planters.
Siciliano sees lots of arrangements with vases that contain seasonal blooms. “Because it’s April/spring, and they’re usually for women, they’re tulips or gerbers in very cheery pastel colours, or even a few roses,” she says.
Making a point of asking about the recipient also ensures the item will be well received, no matter what the order.
“We try to ask about their age, gender, if they’re a young executive or a person that’s been with the company for many years – (long term employees) seem to like the more long-lasting arrangements, whereas the young women prefer the exotics like orchids,” claims Siciliano. The same thing is done for men, again asking about preferences, etc. “A goody basket might have their favourites like chocolate, even chips or Doritos. Recently we did a basket of all Hershey’s chocolates.”
Hewitt will arrange seasonal flowers in a beautiful vase. “We do a lot of spring flowers such as tulips,” she says. “Often if we do a bouquet, we’ll do something different for each one so if we have several people (in the same office) we’ll try to keep them unique in the colour combination.”
Although a gesture of thanks is much appreciated at any time of year for work well done, acknowledging an employee’s efforts during Administrative Professionals Week, that one specific week or day that’s known and recognized all over the world, is special. An important added touch is providing detailed customer service and personalized arrangements, which lead to more business, according to Siciliano. “It makes that person happy (because their preferences were asked about) and that person will come back to us for repeat business, which is what we want.”
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