To not run personal errands for my boss

[Sundaycoffee]

How would you handle a boss asking you to run personal errands when it is not in your job description. I am her personal assistant and also look after 2 other directors (but she is my main line manager), so this is a bit of a grey area maybe due to my job title? Nowhere on my job description does it mention running personal errands and none of the other PAs in the business run personal errands for their managers. (I have asked and they all seem shocked at the things I am being asked to do).

Recently she has asked me to:
Find quotes for taxis to the airport for a personal holiday
Print off personal forms for her husband who doesn't even work in the company.
Research bars for her to go on a night out with friends
Research holiday villas for a girls holiday

I do all these things during work hours and not in my own time but I just feel like this seems really cheeky when I am already run off my feet doing work related tasks.

Is it worth approaching this in any way or do I just grin and bear it?

A senior exec with a PA may not be working to rule either. They could well be taking calls in the taxi you booked on the way to the airport, or having to check a couple of emails in the lounge before boarding.
Their boss my expect to be able to contact them whilst they are on holiday in the villa you booked. Maybe there’s even a business associate they will be expected to have a coffee/dinner with while they are abroad. It could be company culture.

Whether that’s healthy or not is another thing, and of course none of that may be true and they are taking the piss. But I’d be wary of escalating it unless it’s having a very negative effect on your performance.

It's quite usual for a PA to pick up some personal errands, like picking up dry cleaning or getting them lunch.

How long have you been in the role?

I really wouldn't make this into 'a thing'. I don't think it is a big deal. If she starts asking you to do that much stuff that it is forcing you to work 'overtime' then it is time to set boundaries, but I think it is pretty common and not worth getting riled up about. The tasks you have listed are very quick tasks. IME I have found that PA's quite like doing these tasks as it is different than the usual day to day work.

Very normal when I was a PA to a Managing Director of a top British company. I did everything he was too busy to pull in. Home and work lives sometime overlap, we have all arranged bits of our home life durirng work time, especially when working long hours, and when corporate stuff takes priority your PA would book your holidays, haircuts, holiday jabs, dog groomers, dry cleaning etc. I got a very generous Christmas box for my trouble, as well as use of the boss's airmiles for my own holidays.

I do this for my boss occasionally (maybe 3 times a year) and don't mind simply because I have the time. If I was rushed off my feet I wouldn't want to. He's an elderly professor who struggles with online things so sometimes I'll help book him parking at the airport for a holiday or something. I'd look at your overall workload, your relationship with your boss etc.

The problem is this: "none of the other PAs in the business run personal errands for their managers. (I have asked and they all seem shocked at the things I am being asked to do)."
can you get an answer from HR ?
If it is overload, then you have to say that you are PA for 3 different people & will obviously prioritize the company business, but will see if you have time.
then don't stay late for her personal business

As you know, I also work for director an and director b. My workload is high and I need to prioritise company work to ensure I get that done first. If there’s time after that, I will certainly do your personal tasks and I will let you know if there are any I haven’t managed to get done during my working day.

What's the context for this OP? Is this a new manager or have you worked for them for ages and only now have they asked you?

Is it that the jobs are personal that you don't like or would you be happy to do them if you had the time?

It’s not unusual for PA’s to do stuff like this, and the more senior your boss the more likely it is. It’s usually covered by ‘any other tasks’ as PP says.

If it’s genuinely getting in the way of you getting work done, set a boundary that you will do it if you have time and say that to her when gives you such a task. You might decide you are OK w printing docs but not with research, in which case you can ‘sorry I couldn’t get to that’. If it’s a point of principle, then you could explain to your boss you aren’t comfortable with it.

Obviously you have to set this against pissing your boss off.

It really depends on how frequently and if it's impacting the ability to delivery against your accountable deadlines.
Our CEO asked me last week to find him a flight home urgently, he'd had terrible news and didn't want anyone on the team to know yet - I'm his 2IC. Dropped everything and did it, but it's not exactly what I'm paid for.
I sometimes send our interns out on errands if they are bored, or look bored, mostly they are happy to get out of the office for a bit of know there is something in it for them.
Although one refused because he was 'too hot and it was too far to walk' - fair enough

Depends on the business and the nature of the role.

If it's a small/family run type business and the job was advertised as very much a personal role then I'd say that's fine. So managing their diary, organising their appointments, running errands, dealing with their personal admin, keeping them organised etc.

If it's more of an executive PA role at a large company where your boss isn't actually the owner then I wouldn't expect to be researching bars and holidays. Id expect to be dealing with business related admin and errands. I have been a PA for a senior dept manager of a large company and I was only ever asked to run errands for the business. Id go out to the post office, organised franked mail, book venues for meetings or business events etc. I'd be shocked to be asked to deal with their dry cleaning or book a doctors appointment for them.

Entirely normal unless you’re NHS or government. If you’re genuinely stretched because of other team work, tell her as she gives it to you that it’s going to take x time to get to it because of what you’ve already got to do for the others.

I have never worked as a PA, but I have been good friends with a few over the years. The ones that worked for the very senior ones, C-suite all did an amount of personal errands for their boss.

It's normal unless you're public sector. The point is that the exec is working extra hours, so if you do the personal tasks then they have time for even more business tasks. In a team admin type of role, you wouldn't do that. So it depends really on the industry and whether your role is supporting the person or the overall team.

A few assistants gasping because you tell them it's scandalous means nothing one way or the other, they are just in gossip mode. Ask your boss for priorities and ask HR if you can be moved if you don't like the boss.

Completely normal in all senior PA roles I've done over the years. Paid school fees, booked holidays, presents for wife and household staff, stuff that means my execs had more time to do their jobs rather than do life admin.

Former EA to C Suite execs, and this was completely normal. TBH it wasn't exactly something that could be pushed back on.

The only time I baulked, was when the CEOs SAHM to school aged children, used to call and send me emails of stuff she wanted me to do for her...

My friend is a PA and once she was asked to go to a hotel room that the CEO had been staying at to "collect his luggage" and bring it back to the office..

She said the room was an absolute state, he hadn't packed anything and his dirty boxers were on the floor 😷

Does she email these requests? I'd ignore the email while you're completing your other tasks and if she sticks her head out her office/goes to you in person to ask if you've done it say "I'm just completing the travel bookings for Alice's trip to Zurich/sorting the venue for the committee meeting/finalising the catering for the event next week/insert something relevant to your role here" I'll get to it when I can. Then if you have the time do it but if not then don't.

The alternative is to not do something one of the other managers asked you to and when pulled up on it tell them innocently that you were too busy to get it done in your working day because you were researching hen do venues for your manager 😉

OP, is her name Suella 😂?

I once had to buy an MD’s tampons for her when I was a temp, and also had to return a “faulty “ item of clothing. The assistant in Armani (where boss was obviously a very good customer) replaced the faulty item with a larger size but not until he’d unpicked and replaced the size tag with the size she’d originally bought 🤣. All good comedy and it made me more aware with my own PA’s thereafter.

Hmm I think it depends on the culture of your work place. Lots of PA are happy to help. I would possibly ask her if she can help you prioritise putting the company stuff first as you're finding it difficult to fit in her personal stuff and see if she takes the hints but this can be a standard manner of working in many PA jobs.

Every job description I’ve ever had has included Other additional duties as required by the line manager. I’d be surprised if yours didn’t have that clause, OP. Perhaps you’re unsuited to be a PA.

My PA did all sorts of things for me that aren't in her work remit.

I didn't think about it tbh

I'm a business owner and I'd never ask our admin team to do any of the things you've mentioned. They may have taken some personal post to the post office for me, but only if they're already going anyway.

We don't have PAs in my office, but in my old work we did and one PA did do personal admin for the boss. But, and a very big but too, she had the time in her day to do it, and he owned the company, so I think they both just saw it as part of her role.

If I were you OP, especially if you've plenty of actual work to do, you need to start saying no.

"Can you get some taxi quotes for me please?"
"No, sorry, I need to get XYZ done so I don't have the time to."

If she wants to complain to someone that you're not doing work that's not in your job description and for her personal benefit and not the company's, let her. I doubt it will go well. Or if the bosses say you should do it, then at least you know it's now part of your job description and you can prioritise your work accordingly.

Things like getting lunch I see as reasonable, not the things you've been asked to do.