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Appreciating Administrators
Administrative Professionals Week is coming |
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Written by Carol Neshevich
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Administrative Professionals Week is coming soon. How popular is it for florists across the country?
 Every spring, one week is designated for thankful bosses to show their appreciation for their busy (and often under-appreciated) administrative assistants. This year, Administrative Professionals Week occurs April 24 to 30, with Administrative Professionals Day falling mid-week on April 27. A very worthy occasion, of course – but how did it begin? Just how popular is this occasion in Canada? And how much business does it bring in for Canadian florists these days?
It all began in 1952. The National Secretaries Association in the U.S. – with the help of public relations executive Harry Klemfuss and a group of office product manufacturers – organized National Secretaries Week. The purpose was two-fold: to show appreciation for all the hard work done by secretaries, and also to promote secretarial work as a career. The occasion grew immensely in popularity over the years, both in the U.S. and Canada. Then, to reflect changing roles and responsibilities of the secretarial profession, the name of the week was changed to Administrative Professionals Week in 2000.
According to many Canadian florists, the popularity of this occasion for florists really depends on your location. In urban areas near lots of businesses, the week can be extremely successful. This is definitely the case for Kellie Federici, owner/director of Nature’s Wonders Florist Ltd. in the heart of downtown Vancouver. “For us, it’s very busy,” she says.
To give an indication of how it ranks in comparison with other floral occasions, Federici says Administrative Professionals Week is less popular than Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas; but it ranks well above Easter and Thanksgiving. Sandra Schenck of Toronto’s The Flower Gallery – whose shop is located close to lots of businesses as well – strongly agrees with Federici. “It definitely outdoes Easter and Thanksgiving,” she says.
Both Schenck and Federici say they heavily promote the occasion. They do this through in-store signage, ad campaigns and by contacting nearby businesses (primarily via e-mail) to remind them about it. “We remind our corporate clients in every way possible. We even follow up with a phone call to regular clients,” says Federici, who thinks these reminders are generally much more effective than in-store signage or displays. The Flower Gallery’s Schenck agrees, adding that she typically starts promoting the occasion about two weeks before it occurs. “If you do it too far in advance, it’s ‘out of sight, out of mind’,” she explains.
But while these downtown Vancouver and Toronto shops see a lot of business for Administrative Professionals week, this isn’t the case everywhere in Canada. “It’s just not a big occasion for us,” says Yvonne Arsenault, the designer at Atlantic Gardens & Greenery Florist in Bedford, N.S. She says her shop isn’t located near a lot of businesses, which she believes really makes the difference. “We do try though,” she notes. They’ll send out faxes to businesses and they usually do a bit of in-store promotion for the occasion. From those efforts, they do sell some stock for Administrative Professionals Week – usually smaller tokens of appreciation, like dish gardens or small bouquets of posies.
At Galbraith Florist in Saint John, N.B., owner Wendy Maber finds it’s almost a non-existent occasion – even though she is located near a large industrial park. She says the week used to be extremely busy for her, but that all changed a couple of years ago. That’s when the gift-giving trend shifted in her area. It seems most businesses near her shop decided two to three years ago that they preferred to bring all the admin staff out to lunch for Administrative Professionals Week instead of buying them flowers. Because it’s been so slow for her in recent years, she doesn’t even do much in the way of advertising for the week anymore.
In fact, Maber bought a case of “secretary dishes” two years ago – they were bud vases with slots for mail and a spot for a notepad. But because they couldn’t sell any of these, she repackaged and redecorated them this year for Christmas, putting Christmas napkins in where the secretary’s mail slots once were.
Interestingly, even though Vancouver’s Federici and Toronto’s Schenck both find it to be a very successful occasion, they both noted that sales did slow down a bit once the name was changed from Secretaries Week to Administrative Professionals Week. They each offer different ideas on why this may have occurred.
“Now it’s more general,” says Federici, who believes that more staff probably fall under the banner “administrative professionals” as opposed to “secretary.” As a result, bosses may be confused as to who qualifies and so they don’t do anything to mark the occasion; or they may find more people qualify so it’s easier just to throw a lunch party for all of them instead. Schenck thinks it’s even simpler than this. She has heard some managers say that if the administrative professionals don’t want to be called “secretaries” anymore, why should bosses have to give them flowers on a specially designated week?
Overall though, both maintain it’s still a very successful occasion for their stores. Floral arrangements for Administrative Professionals Week are typically modest and inexpensive, but elegant. “Bud vases are the big seller for us,” says Federici. Some of her corporate clients are large organizations with more than 100 administrative professionals, she explains, so they really can’t afford to spend much more than $10 or so per arrangement. Also, they need something that can fit on a small desk, so small bud vases tend to be ideal.
Schenck says that the amount people spend really depends on the boss and the budget, but it can range anywhere from $7 to $50. “And I hate to be sexist, but I’ve noticed that female bosses tend to spend more,” she says with a laugh. Generally, though, “it’s a lot of mixed cut flower bouquets, planters and small plants.”
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