· About Morgan Spencer Morgan Spencer opened its doors in 2001 with an idea to bring like-minded, top notch recruiters together to offer an outstanding recruitment service in London

www.morganspencer.co.uk


About Morgan Spencer Morgan Spencer opened its doors in 2001 with an idea to bring like-minded, top notch recruiters together to offer an outstanding recruitment service in London. Our vision: to be the best recruiters in London, working in real partnership with organisations, to share our experience, thoughts and opinions to provide a full range of effective recruitment strategies. In each of the subsequent years, Morgan Spencer has grown successfully and organically. We remain an independent recruitment company with a 'can do' approach to each of our clients’ specific and individual needs. We are not restricted by layers of management slowing down our decision making processes. Therefore, we give our Clients answers immediately, sticking with our core philosophy which includes a strong connection to building relationships and a belief that it is all about people. Today we are proud to be a fully-fledged REC membership organisation, we have received a prestigious Investors in People Gold Standard award and the Diversity Assured Recruiter's Accreditation. We offer innovative solutions to help organisations achieve their strategic recruitment aims. These include devising cost-saving initiatives, offering technology advancements, outsourcing and restructuring solutions. We engage in research on emerging talent trends in the London market and the workplace, conduct surveys and work with our Clients to help them create the most forward-looking and practical recruitment strategies possible. About The Survey We contacted 5000 PAs and Executive PAs that are part of our candidate talent pool. The candidates were contacted over a 4-week period and invited to give their views to some questions we posed. The results that follow give some insight to how the current crop of the best PAs for the London market think.


Questions with fixed option answers

Why this question? Establishing both an internal and external employer brand is key to staff acquisition and retention. It can be the definitive factor for some when joining a firm and/or why they are prepared to stay at a firm. Respondents who are moderately proud or below represent an obvious risk to your business in terms of staff retention and a definite risk when competing with other films in your sector/location. Action to be taken

• Conduct an internal survey on your employer brand. • Add employer brand questions to your interview & selection process. • Add employer brand questions to your exit interviews. • Test your recruitment partners’ knowledge of your employer brand.


Why this question? Probably obvious to all but the candidates are telling us what they really want in this picture. In markets where there is heavy competition for candidates like the PA and Executive PAs sector it is important that your job opening is as well sold to the candidates as they are asked to sell themselves to you. Action to be taken

• Check your jobs spec presents your strengths in these 5 key areas. • Ensure the interview process presents your case in all 5 areas. • Test for issues in these areas with your exit interviews. • Test your recruiters’ knowledge of how to sell you well in these 5 areas.


Why this question? In many cases how well you interact with your fellow workers is key. However the relationship between manager and subordinate is a difficult one when you have such a direct working relationship as a PA or Executive PA does. In the previous questions we saw that liking your boss was not the highest on the needs of the PA/Executive PA but here we see relationships are in a good place for the majority. Action to be taken

• Personality is key so increased testing and or looking at personality matches will help find the right people.

• Make sure your recruiters have first hand knowledge of your hiring managers.

• Make sure your recruitment suppliers meet the candidates they send you.

• Test on exit interviews what was not liked and evaluate if it is something you can change and/or tweak.


Why this question? Having meaning is key to satisfaction. It is great to see that there is such a healthy view by the respondents on this question. PAs and Executive PAs we speak to express meaning in many ways, but mostly it is about recognition for their efforts. Action to be taken

• For the most part it is do more of the same please. • Tea and coffee making is seen as a menial task by many, it is not that

it needs to be excluded from daily tasks but respected as a benefit by the PAs manager not a serious part of their job description.

• Meaning leads to a sense of pride and that will produce higher quality work.


Why this question? Much like meaning, challenge is key to the PAs and Executive PAs we interview and it figures highly in why they want to change jobs when questioned by our team. A new challenge figures very highly in the list of needs of the PAs and Executive PAs we meet daily. Action to be taken

• Ensure the job roles have growth in them, or scope to take on additional responsibilities.

• Look for areas to improve your PAs and Executive PAs skills with training in formal areas like project management, procurement etc.

• Challenge means different things to different people, test for what it means to your people.

• Seek feedback from your recruiters on what challenge means to specific candidates.


Why this question? Stress is a major issue for modern employers and in exit interviews we take with PAs and Executive PAs stress can often be avoided. Stress seems to relate mostly to increased workload without recognition of the pressure it puts on the PAs and Executive PAs. For example, if they were looking after one member of staff and then increased to two, three or more. The message from the PAs and Executive PAs is they are happy to take on the challenge but they cannot serve two, three or more in the same way they used to serve one. Action to be taken

• Add stress related questions to your appraisals if you do not have them.

• Add stress related questions to interviews both inbound and exit interviews.

• Seek further feedback from your recruiters on what stress means to PAs/Executive PAs.


• Look for what positive changes you can implement from the evidence gathered.

Why this question? Opinions can be linked to all manner of job satisfactions keys, and asking for your PAs and Executive PAs opinions can be the simplest and most effective way to give their role more meaning. Equally we see in the PAs and Executive PAs that progression and challenges they are looking for in new roles is about being given greater decision making tasks. If you can link these tasks then it is a win, win for all. Action to be taken

• Look for instances where your PAs and Executive PAs can be more involved.

• Find instances where responsibility for decisions are taken solely by the PAs and Executive PAs.

• Add questions related to opinions to your inbound and exit interviews. • Add opinion related tasks to your job descriptions. • Appraise your recruiters of aspects of the role where their opinions will

be sought and matter.


Why this question? Here we have a mixed bag of results with strong showing for the PAs and Executive PAs having either extremely or very realistic expectations of them. Those who answered in extremely or very realistic were often those most likely to stay with their employers. What this tells us is that while the job duties of the respondents rarely differed happy PAs and Executive PAs thought their job tasks were realistic, whereas those looking to leave or thinking of leaving thought they were not. Action to be taken

• Again this is a candidate question for inbound and exit interviews. • Detailed job descriptions will help to set expectations for all. • Regular dialogue with PAs and Executive PAs post change or pre-

change of duties is a good way to keep harmony in respect of duties new and old.


Why this question? Progression is a regular topic in our interviews with PAs and Executive PAs. It is recognised that the role is a specialist role and linked to the success of the person/people you support. However candidates want to see progression in their own roles. Again progression is often not what we know it to be in the traditional sense, it is quite often just about gaining training, qualifications and opportunities to work on new tasks, which add value to the organisation. Action to be taken

• Look for progression outside of the traditional hierarchy method. • Cover career progression options in your job descriptions. • Talk about the progression options.


Why this question? The clear message here is the PAs and Executive PAs have concerns about pay, although as you have read with other questions, it is not their primary motivator. Action to be taken

• Make the best offers you can. • Ensure your offer calculation covers all your benefits and their financial

value to a candidate. • Keep pace with salary surveys (see our last page)


Why this question? A more diverse view here (more options too) but still predominantly a negative view. Action to be taken

• Budget permitting press home for better benefits. • Look outside the box for what constitutes a benefit, for example

training, opinions being taken into consideration, or flexibility for those with difficult commutes etc. all count.


Why this question? Here you can see that the PA and Executive PA community have suggested there is lots of room to question their satisfaction. Some of the simple things you can do is regulate things like calls out of hours. One of the biggest gripes of the mobile phone is that it means too many you are at work 24/7, 365 days a year. Impacting a person’s social time affects not only them but their family/social circle. Work life balance is a key issue. Action to be taken

• Look for areas where low satisfaction is connected. • Make sure to vocalise your appreciation of your team. • Take work life balance seriously. • Add satisfaction test/questions to your appraisals.


Why this question? This result tells you there is movement in the market, and if the moderates are to be considered moveable then it is the largest section of PAs and Executive PAs that will move. Action to be taken

• Make sure you job specs cover the action points in the survey. • Now is the time to be recruiting.


We also asked PAs and Executive PAs what is their pet hate about their job in 2016. This is a selection of memorable answers or trends in answers: The ‘OMG’ moments

• Bosses who throw a fit when you buy the wrong rice cakes! • Being treated like a piece of trash. • I have to walk to dog and clean up after it. • Dry cleaning is not a PAs job. • Hmm, iron shirts while travelling with boss, getting lunch/personal

presents, deal with boss's bad mood... Respect & Recognition

• People who think we are tea & coffee makers only. • Being looked down upon or being talked down to. • Our roles constantly being questioned. • Lawyers who think they are better than us.

Gripes

• Why do people want us to manage business cards still, why can’t they use email?

• My boss thinks I am a mind reader when it comes to tasks they want done.

• Hand written diaries… why? • Staff members who try to go round you, not through you. • Rudeness • Hot desking

Fears & Concerns

• As peoples’ computer skills grow the role of a PA feels a bit redundant. • Budgeting means my role is ever being diluted from 1 boss to looking

after teams of bosses. Without more pay. • Lack of progression.


We also asked how has your role changed over the last 3-5 years? This is a selection of memorable answers or trends in answers: Memorable answers

• Role has become more business focused not just reactive. • So many rules and regulations around travel and expenses that were

not around 5 years ago! • Managers continue to become more self sufficient in many ways and

we become more of the expediters and project managers. • Every role has different demands, I think senior people do appreciate

their assistants and younger ones feel they are inferior • More tech problem solving • Doing more of my boss's work and being expected to take their

stresses for far less money • A lot busier and a lot more involved. I definitely work more as a general

business assistant than ever before.

Most common theme PAs and Executive PAs are being asked to do more for less. That might be working hours, duties within their role but by far the largest was being moved from supporting one person to supporting a few people are whole teams without any change in pay, conditions or benefits.


We also asked, have gender equality and/or diversity had any impact on the people that you support as PAs? 95% Ninety five per cent of those surveyed has not had issues with diversity. 5% of the five per cent, the issues raised were about gender equality and regional equality. Namely where you commute to London from had some impact on how you were treated in the work place.


What duties were not/are not on your job spec but you do them anyway? Here is a selection of answers from our candidates

• Oh so much! As a PA your line in your job description "other duties as requested" can mean anything and everything and the adaptability you have as a PA makes you a prime candidate to get those extra roles.

• Acting up (5 months in a higher role), IT guru, Dishwasher, you name

it.....

• Nothing really, maybe helping out others when and where I can but I think I would also do that in any role I had.

• Larger team role than originally specified.

• IT and technology guru!

• Supporting a committee. I hate committee work and would not have

taken the overall role if I had known.

• Unofficially supporting members of his team who do not have adequate PAs.

• Office manager, HR assistant, health and safety co-ord, first aider.

• Not being respected.

• Generally project management, but also management-style duties and

HR.

• BD involvement and tech help.


What duties were not/are not on your job spec but you do them anyway?

Continued:

• I got allocated an extra director and team to look after.

• I don't have a job spec.

• Chief Complaints Officer.

• The job spec bears no resemblance to the role I now have but this has been my choice. The only thing I said at the interview that I didn't do was minute taking and it has taken me the best part of 6 years to get out of doing them.

• Taking minutes at the weekly meetings.

• Well, being a travel agent, accountant an IT manager as budgets get

cut back and you end up doing suppliers work for them.

• Quality assurance Administrator.

• Putting up with the veiled put downs and childish tantrums of the upper echelon.

• Scanning notes, doing research but I don't mind at all.

• Emotional support. Being mum!

• Running meetings in place of the boss as the organisation has grown.

• Covering another PA. Often left to deal with things when she just hasn't

got time.

• Personal PA tasks and Legal compliance work.

• It's what was written on the job spec that's NOT materialised that's the problem. I was sold a 'challenging role to include marketing and conferencing'. The role's not challenging and has nothing to do with marketing! My conference got cancelled.



Continued:

• Ad hoc duties such as photocopying, faxing and scanning for all team members.

• I have several hats and one of them is internal HR manager; not on my

job spec at all.

• Corporate communications and CSR responsibility and line management would be the two biggest.

• The loss of status during a restructuring of the company.

• Ad hoc duties is definitely written in my job spec!

• Finance, facilities management.

• Supporting the Chairman of the Board. Not a problem, but would have

been nice to have had a heads up!

• Too many to list. It's hard to confine a true PAs role to one simple job spec.

• Drafting of legal documentation, control of original documentation and

signature process.

• Project work

• It depends and varies

• Assisting members of team as well as the MD

• Finance reporting, accounting, supplier coordination, landlord contact, personal PA

• The level of financial duties.



Continued:

• A lot!

• The incredibly long hours and commitment to being a 24 hour PA not a 9-5 PA.

• Supporting reception, hunt group calls and overflow from that.

• Hmm, iron shirts while travelling with boss, getting lunch/personal

presents, deal with boss's bad mood...

• I think as a PA no day is the same and having new jobs everyday is part of what I like as a PA you never quite know what you will be involved in and it makes you one of the most experienced people in the office. I love being a go to person to solve problems and help out. You have to be in this mind frame to be a successful PA. Who wants to do the same thing day in day out!! Not me. I welcome extra duties in fact.



Foundedin2001,15yearsandcounting

MorganSpencerbyNumbers

40,000websitefollowers

8000PAs&ExecutivePAs

100,000+candidates

3000newcandidateregistrationsperday

3500permjobsfilled

36000tempassignmentsfilled

Documents

· About Morgan Spencer Morgan Spencer opened its doors in 2001 with an idea to bring like-minded, top notch recruiters together to offer an outstanding recruitment service in London