If you work in a small organisation (like 15 ish) how many PAs are there?

[tinseloatcake]

We have two. Both servicing one person. There are potentially 2 other people who require PA services but this is not set in stone.

For current needs I am thinking about reducing it to one.

Pa work is mainly diary management and when appropriate meeting and greeting. Both of the two currently spend a lot of time on general office admin.

Not small anymore but when we were none, director just did everything himself.

Sorry that isn't clear - each servicing one person. There are two senior people, each of whom have a pa.

That’s waaaaay more than most organisations need!

Previous company I worked in had staff of 12, one PA for the MD.
Current company has ~200 staff & 3 PAs; one each for CEO, CFO & Marketing Director who does a lot of travelling.
2 for such a small company seems excessive, but from what you say there's room for one PA and one office admin or manager?

Totally depends how much office admin there is? Aren't those sorts of roles quite old fashioned these days, most people, however 'senior' tend to do their own admin and diary management. Although a friend of mine had a really cushy job a few years ago for an investment banker, paid ££££s and the main role seemed to be printing out emails for her boss to read .

You also need to think about who will do the work if the PA is not available - a lot of that sort of work is deemed 'women's work' and there will be resentment about who does/doesn't pick it up in the PA's absence.x

I think this comes down to business needs rather than what other businesses do (if a small business legitimately needs 2 PAs, it doesn't matter what other businesses do).

It sounds as though only one true PA is needed if there's a lot of office admin (but who would fulfil that requirement if you got rid of a PA)?

One PA and one admin person would seem more appropriate.

I am in a small organisation within a larger one. There is one admin assistant for the team (of 16). Much of the time i should spend on my Actual Job I spend sorting out admin jobs, as do my colleagues. I am by no means saying I should not do my own admin, but I spend some weeks doing more admin than my own work. Due to the pay difference, it would be more cost effective to get greater productivity in our actual roles and have someone to do the other things.

Thanks for responses. I think there should be one PA and some more admin, but a few people in my sector have asked who the resilience is. I thought the admin could be the resilience...

It is an admin heavy organisation for sure.

In an office that small I've only ever known it to be one PA.

What exactly do you mean by 'office admin'? Those people who are not senior should be doing their own diary management, travel booking, photocopying etc.

If you reduce it to one then you need to be clear with the entire office what they can and cannot ask of the PA moving forwards. I.e. if they make drinks for everyone now or manage all travel that will likely have to stop.

I think it depends what they're doing now and whether there is anyone else to pick that work up.

In a company of c.200, we have:
1 PA part-time, covering both the CFO and CEO, facilities stuff, external visitors, and exec level meeting support
1 marketing administrator who covers events, and related travel / hotels
1 accounts administrator who also supports with expenses
2 logistics people who cover all couriers and shipping (we're a manufacturer)
1 HR officer who covers recruitment. We use HR software that allows people to book and manage their own holiday, and edit their personal details etc.

Not sure what you mean by the 'resilience'.

At 15 people we had 1 PA, one admin.

At 22 people we had 2 PAs and one admin. At 50 people 3 PAs and one admin. One of the PAs does a lot of work outside her role though, that is bordering on manager level. And most of the company do their own diaries and travel arrangements.

You have to look at the work they are actually doing before deciding to reduce the number of people. PA roles vary so much - the diary management might be a lot smaller part of what they do than you think.

Thanks all.

I am not talking about reducing the admin overall, but changing a PA to an administrator. The current PAs only do work for the 2 principals, they then do admin - receiving and dealing with case work/ public contact, meeting secretariat, making sure the office runs smoothly - things like that.

By resilience I mean annual leave, sickness etc

We have 200 employees and no dedicated PA! We have one employee who does Reception and various other administrative bits and pieces.

50 people and one PA to the general manager. All other senior people are able to sort out their expenses and travel arrangements themselves. She has a fixed cover who is in another department but the general manager often sorts himself out during her absence.

General office admin is split between two other people, both part time though.