Key insights into Executive Assistant Roles

In August 2020, Collagis undertook a survey of current Executive Assistants and Executive Officers within the Australian market. The survey was conducted to understand the role of the Executive Assistant (EA) and Executive Officer (EO) across industry in Australia.
Following are 6 key insights into Executive Assistant roles that have been gleaned from the results.

Job Satisfaction Insights
Job satisfaction was positive across the range of those surveyed. All parameters surveyed indicated that over 70% were somewhat satisfied or very satisfied. The highest degree of satisfaction was about their own level of effectiveness followed by their salary and a positive attitude towards their organisation.
On the contrary, job dissatisfaction, where it occurred, was under 5% and was linked to two primary causes: dissatisfaction with the Executive supported and dissatisfaction with the level of ongoing training received.

The level of satisfaction is supported by the extended tenure of those currently in the EA role, typically greater than 10 years. Also, the level of tenure significantly exceeds other mainstream roles in both the Public and Private sectors.

Pay Insights
Executive Assistant’s in the Private sector have an average base salary of $91k which represents a 5% premium over their peers in the Public sector at $87k.
Executive Assistants in the Public sector in capital city metro locations have an average salary of $87k versus their regional counterparts’ average salary of $83k, a 4.3% premium.
An incentive component was added to base salary for just over half of survey respondents.

Role Type Insights
The level of Executive supported, where “Level” is the number of organisational hierarchy steps from the most senior person in the organisation, it was noted that on average an Executive Assistant primarily supports levels 0 to 3.
 
Training & Career Insights
More than half of the sample surveyed are career EA’s (i.e., more than 10 years’ service in role). A significant percentage are degree qualified including some with post-graduate degrees. More than 90% of EA’s have no formal EA-specific training. Furthermore, a similar percentage of the Executives they support have no formal training in how to best utilize the EA’s that support them.
 
Support Model insights
The models observed and explored included the following:

• Dedicated: one-to-one ratio of EA to Executive
• Shared: one-to-several ratio of EA to Executives.
• Pooled: dynamic allocation of EA to Executives based on short-term demand and availability, with the EA’s being managed as a Centre of Excellence (CoE).
• Blended: one-to-one or one-to-several ratio of EA to Executive supported by Personal Assistants and/or administration staff.

In the opinion of those surveyed, the optimal ratio between and EA and the Executive(s) they support is 2:1. The rationale for this according to the verbatims is that a higher ratio than this dilutes focus and/or reduces level of support possible for the individual Executive, whereas less than this may not fully utilise an efficient EA.
 
Work Duties Insights
Work duties varied by role type, industry and organisation, with the most common responsibilities pertaining to Executive Calendar Management, Administration, Meetings and Management of Executive Physical office space. Staff management was uncommon in role respondents.
 
This blog has only touched the surface of the insights gained from this survey and the data collected. For a more comprehensive analysis and insight into understanding the role of the Executive Assistant (EA) and Executive Officer (EO) across industry in Australia, you will need to download the entire report from this site. 

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