More than just another name on your roster, administrative professionals often have a greater impact on your company culture than you might realize. Serving as the backbone of the organization, their responsibilities touch the entire team.
Since the tasks associated with the job largely dictate your culture, it’s important to choose wisely when hiring. Opting for the wrong candidate can have a negative bearing on both your employees and clients.
4 Ways Administrative Talent Impacts Your Company Culture
External Communications
Serving as the frontline of your company, administrative professionals are frequently the first person to interact with clients, vendors and anyone else outside your company. The way they communicate with these people speaks volumes about your culture. If they’re warm and welcoming, people will want to do business with you; if not, they’ll likely move on to one of your competitors.
Internal Communications
When company-wide news needs to be relayed, the administrative team is typically tasked with writing an email. This responsibility holds significant weight, because the tone of the message is in their hands. They can choose to make it serious or give it light-hearted undertones, but either way, this speaks volumes to your culture.
Other factors, such as spelling and grammatical issues also come into play. Memos laden with errors hint at a culture where employees don’t take care about their work, whereas those without a single mistake display a sense of pride.
Activity Scheduling
Many top executives rely on administrative talent to manage their calendar, and how they do this says a lot about your culture. For example, keeping a person’s daily schedule jam-packed suggests a cutthroat, business-first mentality. On the other hand, if they make sure their bosses get a daily lunch break and are out of the office by a reasonable hour each day, this conveys a more relaxed, employee-friendly environment.
Typically in charge of planning team gatherings, activities they select weigh heavily on culture. For example, planning the office holiday party at a Dave and Busters is an entirely different vibe than a formal dinner at a fancy restaurant.
Organizational Duties
Administrative professionals are responsible for many behind-the-scenes tasks — e.g., ordering office supplies, opening mail, filing documents. These responsibilities often fall below the radar, but if they’re not done properly and in a timely manner, your culture can take a hit.
Hiring someone who takes these duties seriously is crucial, because it conveys a culture based on doing your part for the team. Administrative workers have a very high-profile role, so if they don’t take their jobs seriously, other employees could follow suit.
Need top administrative talent in Los Angeles or Ventura counties? Allow the local staffing professionals at Barrington Staffing to assist. Contact us today to start your search!
