Esther steals the show

APA would like to extend a special vote of thanks to Esther Burke FAPA DipPA for her support on the stand at Office*. Esther took two days out of her busy life to help APA promote membership and training opportunities and make contact with a new network of her PA peers. Her friendly and professional manner combined with a generous sprinkle of Irish charm helped convince many to look seriously at joining APA..

Gareth Osborne said: “Esther is a great PA and a passionate member – it is people like her who make APA the one big family of professional people that it has become. She was fun to work with and a great ambassador for the profession. She is a shining example of a true APA member.”

APA

MU joins APA at Office*

Dr Paul Griseri and Olivia Cooper talking to APA Member Sarah Tarry

Staff and friends from APA’s academic partner, Middlesex University Business School, were present on the stand throughout office* 2011 to promote the new PA Degrees (Bachelors in Business Administration for PAs and the Masters in Business Management for PAs). The degrees attracted considerable interest with attendees registering requests for more information after the show.

PA Course Leader, Dr. Paul Griseri, Course Coordinator, Olivia Cooper, and Nerissa Bryden (of the marketing team) spoke with a host of PAs who were interested to learn more about the new new modular approach to the degree; where PA s can take modules in isolation and accrue credits towards an eventual award. This approach demonstrates the unique understanding MUBS possesses for the busy life of a PA.

For more information contact: Olivia Cooper at MU pa@mdx.ac.uk

APA

Office* 2011 - the results are in

Office was a great success for APA, with hundreds of members flocking to meet Gareth Osborne, Director General, and a group of passionate members who volunteered their time to support the association by helping staff the stand. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

It was great to renew old acquaintances; especially APA Member Number 1 (Inta Batsman), and many of our recently appointed new members like Kelly McGill; who also helped out while she was there.

The show was generally thought to be good and Thursday was definitely more buoyant than last year but Friday was disappointing with significantly fewer attendees; some might suggest it was due, in part, to the excessively bouncy Planet Hollywood party on the first evening (and second morning for many).

APA would especially like to thank members - Ash O’Meara, Claire Howard, Joan May, Sam Herridge, Kelly McGill and Esther Burke for their time, god humour and outstanding enthusiasm in helping us promote APA.

Gareth Osborne said: “Despite launching our own PA Conference and Exhibition next year we will continue to support office*. We believe that Diversified, the organiser’s, took a brave step and invested heavily in the PA profession when they took on the challenge to hold a national show last year. I have great admiration for their innovative approach and APA will continue to support them; next year at its new location - Olympia.”

APA

We're ready for Office* 2011

Come and see APA on Stand 6001 at Office* 2011 opening at Earls Court at 09:30 tomorrow (Thursday 15th September) and running until Friday at 17:00. The show promises to be the best yet

 1. Keep your skill sets up-to-date with the office* conference - If you haven’t already, remember to plan which of the 32 seminars you want to attend - online booking for these will be closing shortly. If you don't get chance to book in advance you can still book your place on the day!

2. Network with new & existing business suppliers - Check your inventory before your arrive and have your shopping list at the ready, there are over 160 leading exhibitors waiting to offer you some incredible ‘show only’ savings on your essential business purchases.

3. Meet Middlesex University and learn about the PA Degree - Come and meet the MU team on the APA stand (6001) and talk through the possibility of you enrolling for a BA or MA created specifically for the PA.

And above all, visit APA and enjoy the show.

APA

The battle of the sexes still rages over pay

Female executives are currently being paid more at junior executive level than their male counterparts but achieving equal pay across all seniority levels will take another 98 years, research reveals.

UK female junior executives are earning an average salary of £21,969, some £602 more than male executives at the junior level, whose average salary is £21,367.  However, men continue to be paid more on average than women doing the same jobs, earning £42,441 compared with £31,895, and revealing a gender pay gap of £10,546, according to figures released by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

The 2011 National Management Salary Survey, which sampled 34,158 UK executives, shows that salaries for female executives increased 2.4 per cent in the 12 months from February 2010 to February 2011, a 0.3 per cent higher rate of increase than for male salaries. The CMI warns that if male and female wages continue to rise at current rates, it will be 2109, or another 98 years, before the average salary for female executives catches up with that of their male peers.

The survey also reveals that this year’s pay gap is slightly bigger than the £10,031 gap in the 2010 Salary Survey. Salary increases have also fallen since last year’s survey, when male salaries were rising at a rate of 2.3 per cent and women’s by 2.8 per cent.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “I can see no evidence of Government addressing the disparity and suggest there is no impetus to see things change even by 2109. For this to be achieved we are going to have to see a radical change of strategic direction.”

APA

A crashing sensation

For three days last week APA’s access to the Internet ceased to be; apparently (and according to our service supplier) because the evaporation nanoosphere had interlocked with the endosphincter (or something like that). Three days with no link to the outside world and worse none for them to contact us, except for the telephone of course, which isn't quite the same is it, and we were climbing the walls.

However, the big shock to my system came with the realisation that for a period of time during those days I was at a loss for things to do. It was fine while I was working, but between jobs I didn’t have the Internet or emails to distract me. I contracted a type of cyber-withdrawal.

Since the 'arrival' of the phenomenon of the Internet, we have become obsessed with the speed at which it lets us live our lives. We rarely expect to get letters anymore - email is there, ready, waiting and fast. We can visit any virtual shop in the world, buy more than we could physically carry and arrange to have it delivered to our door, and all this in just minutes without even getting out of our chair.

I began to wonder about the vast number of companies whose day-to-day business is conducted online, and what would happen if for some reason the whole Internet suddenly ceased to work. The effects would be mind blowing.  

 
We all have a ‘disaster recovery plan’ (?) to enable our systems to be quickly recovered; as luckily ours was last week. But has anybody actually considered the physical stress it places on our staff and colleagues without web access. If a fast method of stopping an addictive habit is called ‘going cold turkey’ then what we experienced last week was definitely ‘going cold chips’. Something to think about.

Gareth, APA

The view of a returning Mum

I have to put aside my total shock at 84% saying that they did not want their employees to return to work following their allocated time off (see post date 20.08.11). And my disappointment for a reasonable proportion, 38%, suggesting these employees would “lack enthusiasm”. In my opinion the apathy felt by someone returning to the workplace is often created by the employer’s attitude in the first place.

Don’t tarnish all staff with the same brush. Many new mums really want to come back to work!!

After I returned from maternity leave in 2008 I had three of my most professionally fulfilling years: attained a distinction in the APA Diploma, spoke at numerous events as an ambassador of the PA profession, helped steer my department through re-structure and relocation, achieved runner-up Hays and The Times UK PA of the Year Award 2010 and became a non-exec Director at the APA.

Having a baby can actually be the time when you realise just how much you can achieve when you set your mind to it. In that time off you network massively and speak to lots of mums who’ve all got different careers and done different things. Ideas are spawned with the time you have to look more objectively at your own path and the world is once again your oyster. Employers should actually tune into this enthusiasm!

I’m just about to return to work from having my second child and whilst I have had to jump through a few ‘firey HR hoops’, with huge support from my boss I have secured my flexible work programme which will allow me a decent work/life balance whilst still doing a fulltime job.

It really is the employer’s responsibility to enthuse the returning mother, ensuring their policies are clear from the outset and are more than just words on a page. When you go back to work you want to feel that your employer wants you, your knowledge, experience and personality back in the business. They need to encouraging ‘keep in touch’ (KIT) days which are a great way to keep the lines of communication open. As well as using accrued holiday to settle back in e.g. work 3 or 4 days a week for a couple of months while you build back up to full time. Justifying your flexible working proposal should be a positive process, not one that makes you feel like you have to prove your innocence!

Emma Kernan-Staines FAPA DipPA, Director , APA

Workers choose a shorter working week

The majority of UK workers would be prepared to lose a day’s pay to enjoy a three-day weekend, research finds. According to a study conducted by HR consultant www.Reabur.com of more than 1,200 Britons in full time employment, 51% say they would welcome the opportunity for an extra day off at the expense of remuneration.

A further 14% of respondents would willingly sacrifice ‘half a day’s wages’ in order to finish work at ‘lunch time on a Friday’, while 4% state that they would prefer the half day to be taken on a ‘Monday morning’. Some 6% of respondents say that they would be prepared to ‘permanently lose two paid working days’ in order to receive a ‘four day’ weekend and therefore just attend work three days a week.

Just 9% state that they feel ‘happy’ with working a five day week with the standard two days for a weekend and ‘wouldn’t want it to change’; while 2% of the respondents admitted that they felt ‘impartial’.

Sharon Rowe HR Advisor to APA said: ‘Many companies do offer flexible working but this research could add to the weight of evidence supporting the need for even greater flexibility in the workplace and the case for introducting job sharing schemes. In the current economy, with high levels of unemployment, job sharing can be an effective way of engage more people; each doing fewer hours, whilst retaining a viable and trained workforce in anticipation of better days ahead.”

APA

Life without web access

I would like to apologise to all those who are trying to contact APA or access the website. Our service supplier took a major hit from an external source yesterday that corrupted one of its core servers; sadly the one APA is lodged with, and we have been without service since 10:00 am yesterday. Opnes has worked on the problem all day yesterday and overnight. It is rebuilt now and is being recreated within the Cloud but it will still take some time until it is re-established and available to access. In the meantime we have no incoming or outgoing emails. Please bear with us and forgive technology all its sins!

It really is amazing how lost we are without it and thank goodness for 'disaster recovery planning'.

As at Saturday (3rd) noon: The website is still down but emails are working.
Gareth, APA

Clean sweep for Diploma course 68

The latest London-based Diploma course (number 68) made a clean sweep in their test and work assignments and every member achieved a passing grade. They are all now able to use the designatory letters DipPA after their names; indicating a level of knowledge and understanding that will add real and measurable value to their boss in the achievement of his or her strategic goals.

About the Diploma course Pamela Mork of Thames Valley Housing said: “Thank you so much for the support and time that you provided me in completing the Diploma. I am so excited to have achieved a Pass with Credit grade and Jack (my boss) is very pleased for me too. The APA is a great organisation and the support that you and your team provide to PA’s is very much appreciated.”

To find out more about the Diploma go to http://www/paprofessional.com and click ‘APA Training’ on the navigation bar.

APA

Pictured (L-R) are: Claire Brewer, Chrystal Nagle, Jordana North, Sarah Weber and Pamela Mork.

Effective leadership is important to long term business success

New research from talent management consultancy, DDI, and CIPD reveals that only a third (36%) of UK leaders and one in five (18%) UK HR professionals rate the quality of leadership as 'high' in their organisations.

Despite findings pointing to an overall lack of leadership in UK organisations, only four in 10 (38%) of both UK leaders and HR professionals rate their organisations' leadership development programmes as highly effective. Twenty per cent of leaders and 24% of HR professionals rate the programmes as ineffective.

Steve Newhall, Managing Director, DDI, says: "The findings of the survey must be read in the context of a severe recession. Organisations in the UK suffered greatly and their leaders have been under intense pressure. So the poor picture of UK leadership is perhaps not surprising. But the report tells us that leadership really does matter and good leadership makes an immense difference to the success of the organisation. Leaders themselves are telling us the skills they need and what development and talent management processes are most effective."

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “The research is new but the message isn’t, UK businesses and the HR profession has been under-funding training for many years; right across the board, and it bites deeper in a recession when fewer average-ability staff have to work harder. There has never been a better time to invest in training and PAs should be prime recipients.  From our own research we know that a great PA will increase his or her boss’s productivity by as much as 45% and that represents a massive return on investment (ROI). Training; especially APA professional training, is one of the keys to an increase in business productivity and should be considered by all CEOs.”

APA