AdminSecret

You’re excited about your new job. The pay is good, the office setting is comfortable and the commute is easy. But as you start the actual work, you confront an unsettling truth: Your new boss is an organizational train wreck. He hasn’t mapped out a plan for your first few days or weeks. He doesn’t give you any guidance on the ...

It’s pretty obvious that the marketing of today has changed. You have newspapers going virtual/web only, Twitter and Facebook replacing postcards and phone calls, and potential clients now being the main target of your press releases as opposed to editors. It’s all changing and to do PR today, you need to change with it. The good news is that it’s never ...

Below, "Three Easy Ways to Cut Business Costs" then see the slideshow for 10 More Ways to Cut Business Costs Small business owners are always looking to cut expenses where they can. But in today's business climate, reducing outlays may be particularly important. In this column, Smart Answers shares several tips on how small companies can save on operating expenses. Do ...

I recently attended an IAAP dinner meeting and we had a lawyer speak to us about the proper disposal of confidential documents. As assistants we often work with information that is confidential and we need to use good practices when disposing of these documents. In Canada document disposal came to the attention of Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner in the filming of a ...

Sexual harassment of admins can be as simple as a client's unwanted flirtatious winks or as elaborate as a male boss's systematic assaults on female employees. And admins are likely to encounter this occupational hazard. Approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year. 31% of the female workers claimed to have been harassed ...

How green is your office? Do you regularly practice the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle? Listed below are ten strategies for reducing your office’s environmental footprint. How many of these do you do on a regular basis? h4. Saving Paper -Use recycled paper products. -Before you click on that Print button, ask yourself if you really need a hard copy. ...

Hot topic age discrimination Last month, Channel 4's Dispatches programme exposed the problem of age discrimination in the workplace. The law states employees can be forced to retire at age 65 without any explanation from their employer, but 25% feel employers should have the right to force employees to retire at 65. Dispatches claimed 67% of 1,000 employees who were forced ...

From the blog post Looking for Great Deals for Your Office? Are you the person that purchases stationary and other items for your department? Do you feel that you could find better buys, not just by going to the different stores such as Staples or Grand & Toy, but online as well? There are some companies that, unfortunately, don’t allow for ...

You may think that sexual advances are just a part of the stereotype that surrounds administrative staff - for years, the "Secretary" icon has been linked to sexuality and femininity in a derogatory manner. For some, the boss's daily comment on how you look is just part of the job. After all, you're the first person that clients encounter, you have ...

..Contd.. Try to draw out the reasons behind the behavior As you talk with the difficult employee, actively listen to what they say. Stay calm and stay positive, but remain impartial and non-judgmental. Ask leading questions that can't be answered in one or two words. Don't interrupt. When you do respond to the difficult employee, remain calm. Summarize back to them ...

Have you ever noticed how Harvey Norman, Domayne, Bunnings Warehouse or just about any other major retail outlet sends out catalogues each month? Hell, if we take Bunnings for example, they’ve even gone one step further and called their standard catalogue a “dogalogue”. Sure, it’s unique but it’s memorable and the whole catalogue idea serves a very important purpose and that’s ...

Unpredictable. Slow. Bleak. Grim. Gloomy. All words that have been used to describe the economic outlook for the balance of 2008—and depending upon who you talk to, the scenario for 2009 and beyond. Standard & Poor's believes the economic difficulties we've been experiencing due to the mortgage mess and skyrocketing oil prices will be at their worst early next year (BusinessWeek.com, ...

I’m managing someone who claims to have stress and is working reduced hours, but I think they are pulling the wool over my eyes. As times get tougher, the rest of the team are becoming increasingly suspicious and resentful. This will come as no surprise to an increasing number of managers. As times get tougher, organizations can increase the pressure without ...

9 Surefire Ways to Get Fired Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer Copyright 15/09/2008 Careerbuilder, LLC - Reprinted with permission. Mistakes help us grow as individuals and make us better people, or so we're told. At work that's definitely true. Call the CEO by the wrong name once and you'll never do it again. For this reason, level-headed bosses aren't looking to fire ...

As an administrator in an era of massive layoffs, it's your job to stave off survivor guilt before it lowers the morale and productivity of remaining employees. The subject of survivor guilt—the despair employees feel when co-workers fall victim to downsizing— comes up during every recession, but 2009 promises a uniquely virulent strain of the affliction. "The layoffs are just starting," ...

For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social Web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn't putting itself out there, it ought to be. But before you take the plunge, bear in mind the many myths that surround social media. 1. ...

Many work/life coaches glibly assert that administrative professionals must be responsible for achieving their own balance in the face of ever-increasing demands -- from 9 to 5 and beyond. But given their spot in the org chart, admins often feel compelled to sacrifice too much for their jobs. “It’s a partnership, but management has the bigger responsibility for admins’ work/life balance, ...

Business is booming at Supreme Asset Management & Recovery, one of the nation's largest recyclers of electronic waste. Inside a cavernous warehouse in the industrial section of Lakewood, N.J., workers in T-shirts grapple with newly arrived truckloads of old computer monitors, keyboards, printers, and TVs: tons of e-waste that contains dangerous lead, mercury, and cadmium. Such major manufacturers as Panasonic and ...

Disaster Preparedness is essential for disasters. A written plan of your insurance information, medical and personal information, as well as inventory of belongings and copies of your important papers will help you get back up and running after the disaster is over. Prepare now. A complete plan of action of where you will go, what you will take, and who will ...

Businesses produce 40% of the garbage in the U.S. Here's how to clean up your act. PAPER, GLASS, PLASTIC, ALUMINUM It starts with the paper cups that hold your morning caffeine fix. Then come the stacks of junk mail, which get added to the old business cards, notebooks, and page after page of outdated sales reports. Each employee typically uses 1.5 ...