Being an office assistant of any levels will come with a range of demands, duties, and will require a level of skillsets and qualifications that are considered much needed depending on who the managing supervisor is. We have to remember the key factor that regardless of the title the assistant wears, he/she is still an adult…a human being and should not be treated any less than that nor spoken to as if they were a child.
Of course, the managing supervisor is entitled to ensuring that their assistant is doing the tasks they are assigned for the day, as well as any follow ups that they must adhere to when requested, but if there is a mistake made, or of something falls through the crack, at no time does the managing supervisor have the right to reprimand their assistant in front of other colleagues, customers, or clients. It’s an embarrassing and humiliating moment and many assistants have quit their job for such a situation.
Photo by Rene Jackson all rights reserved.
Bottom line is respect is not automatically given, it is earned. Assistants walk into their new role with automatic utmost respect for the people they are working for and who they are reporting to. That respect goes out of the window when it is not mutual and when they are not treated with the same level of respect as they have made an effort in given. Truth be told, it works both ways and if management from the managing supervisors to the higher ups are not in the habit of showing respect for the people they employ, they may as well call it day and shut the doors and discontinue doing business.
Let’s look at it like this –> Employees are the nuts and bolts of a company. They are what holds the spinning wheels together. Those nuts and bolts continue to thrive when a company continues to show a genuine care and concern for their efforts and reward them accordingly for the hard work that they do. The wheels on the machine of the company starts to break down when the nuts and bolts are not getting the attention required to continue to thrive. Therefore, when one nut and bolt fall off, others are likely to follow. A successful company is only successful when their employees are successful, so when assistants are treated like mediocre peons, it does not give them courage to want to continue a long-term employment with that company.
Talking down to any employee is and should be considered disrespectful, and treating them as if they do not know how to to do their job is a jab at their integrity and should never be allowed. Calling them incompetent or any other word that is a negative remark against their intelligence is grounds for that employee to submit their resignation. And think about how much money a company is losing every time an assistant quits or resigns, and the time it takes to find a replacement. Some companies will go the route of not replacing that employee but rather double up the work on another employee for less than what it cost to replace the employee who left. It’s possible that some employees who have been treated poorly have filed lawsuits calling it a grievance lawsuit based on why the employee felt forced to leave their job, thus possibly costing that company thousands and thousands of dollars if it can be proven and that employee wins their case.
If you’re an owner of a company, think about how your staff is treated day to day. And the next time you want to open disrespect an employee because you are not satisfied with their work, rather than sitting them down like an adult and talking to them like their an adult, ask yourself what situation are you putting yourself in if that employee decides to quit based on how poorly you treated them.
The Diamond Press 