National Secretary's Day & Administrative Professionals Week -
April 23, 2008

National Secretary Day is part of Professional Secretary's Week or Administrative Professionals week celebrated throughout the USA and Canada from April 22 - 28, 2007.  It was created in 1952 through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young and Rubicam to recognize the importance and value of the position to a company or business. Although most occupation-based holidays do not bring to mind gift-giving, this particular holiday usually means the boss gets the secretary a gift and takes them out to lunch to show their appreciation for their performance and loyalty over the year.

Given the nature of the boss-secretary relationship, choosing a gift can be problematical for the boss. If the gift is too personal, it can cause damage to the professional relationship and if it is too professional, it can hurt feelings. If it is forgotten, the secretary can feel unappreciated and sometimes "on the way out". 

This all stems from the days when most secretaries were female and bosses were male. Things have changed in the workplace. With the onset of gender role changing and sexual harassment, some though has to go into handling National Secretary's Day. 

Some good ideas are:

If you go to lunch....make sure others are invited. This prevents rumors, misconstrued feelings and lets the secretary be in the limelight.

For gifts, look towards work-oriented gifts, pen sets, paper weights, desk decorations are traditional and safe. Flowers for women and themed gift baskets for men are easy. Remember that giving a gift with an innuendo may be funny but not in your best interests, i.e. the coffee mug that indicates too many coffee breaks.

Online shopping for items is a good way to get things done without having to go out and search. Just watch the shipping times. If your secretary is really good, he/she will find a tactful way to remind you of their special day sometime in March.