Deloitte’s Belfast office shows its commitment to executive assistants

Deloitte’s Belfast office shows its commitment to executive assistants

One of the world’s best-known companies has demonstrated its commitment to its executive assistant staff by arranging a series of seminars on the transformation of the role and how this ‘forgotten sector’ can play a crucial role in upskilling the UK workforce.  With recent research claiming that over 56% of employees in this field do not believe their job utilises their full abilities, Deloitte engaged with the Global PA Network and PAs of Excellence to stage an event in Belfast and challenge this issue head on.

Attended by over 40 Personal Assistants, Executive Personal Assistants, Administrators and Secretaries, the event led by Rosemary Parr- founder of the Global PA network- examined the latest academic research into their profession by Kingston University and Global PA Network. The event also examined practical challenges facing this sector including time management and coping under pressure, how to create a positive synergy with your manager and the PA networking.

“We’re delighted Deloitte is taking this opportunity to engage with this sector of its workforce at a time when it’s become more important than ever” said Rosemary Parr. “The fact that our research showed only one fifth of this profession feel they have the opportunities they want for promotion, suggests that there are no systematic routes through secretarial work, and that businesses are not capitalising on the transferrable skills and experiences of secretaries and developing them into other roles. In the current economic climate, the engagement and contributions of all workers are vital.”

Glenn Roberts Senior Partner from Deloitte Belfast said: “Investment in our professional support services is extremely important and just as important as investing in client facing staff. PAs are the gatekeepers for our clients and form key relationships with them. Rosemary’s presentation was excellent and informative as well as motivational. We’ve had some superb feedback and seminars are now planned in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.” 

Joanne Wilton, PA to Senior Partner, Deloitte, Belfast added: “Rosemary’s career history tells an engaging and motivational story that captured the attention of everyone in the room.  The seminar was inspirational and refreshing, highlighting the challenges facing PAs on a daily basis and how these can be overcome and built upon as part as an upskilling process. The feedback from all of our delegates was overwhelmingly positive.”

Global PA Network brings together office professionals, including managers, office managers, team managers, executive assistants, personal assistants, secretaries and administrators from across the globe. As well as providing vital networking opportunities, Global PA Network champions and supports career development for administrative staff. The training arm of the company, PAs of Excellence Ltd, offers a combination of motivational speaking events, 1:1 performance coaching, team coaching workshops, motivational webinars, training programmes and mentoring sessions.