How to be respected as an administrator by superiors

[forwardsandbackwardsandup]

I have worked in various finance and admin positions in my time and always seem to end up in the same position of being disrespected by colleagues.

Gripes include:

• making clear the procedure for doing something to have them ignored. Example - return expense claim form via email and send me a photo of receipts. To find an email with claim form attached and being told receipts are on my desk. Yes it takes me 2 secs to take a photo of them, but it also takes that person 2 secs and I have made it clear that's the process. I'm not always in the office every week and a bundle of loose receipts can easily go missing.
• again, making clear the procedure for something then being asked to do it within a shorter timescale, or with incomplete information provided.
• not being told about events that require admin input until the last second
• being asked to raise an invoice for something that has been in their inbox for weeks and has suddenly become urgent and expecting me to drop everything to get it out that day.
• me asking for information ahead of time in order to allow us to plan work and cash flow and being told that the other team doesn't have time to provide that to us.

I could go on. The general theme is lack of respect for our team. Except it isn't just this workplace, it has been everywhere. What am I doing wrong? Or what are we doing wrong cos it isn't just me?

I've made clear countless times the correct procedures for things. Then there's the annoying thing of it taking the same amount of time for me to fix it as it would for me to reply and ask them to do it properly. Is that just enabling them? Do I/we need to toughen up? Except in my current job some of the things asked of us include helping vulnerable people and I know no one our team would want to see anyone out of pocket due to digging our heels in to prove a point.

I’m not sure I know the answer to your question. Sadly, I think in most workplaces the work completed by administrators is often not valued by higher-paid colleagues.

Expenses claims: if they don't follow the correct procedure, don't process the expenses. (Unless you're providing one-to-one support for a senior member of staff.) Put the loose receipts in an envelope and give them back, saying they need to follow the correct procedure. Don't say they need to photograph the receipts, just refer to 'the correct procedure'.

The other things, is there anyone in senior management that you can get on side? Sell it to them as lack of co-operation from other colleagues/teams is preventing you/your team from delivering an effective and efficient service.

Develop a no-nonsense and slightly intimidating demeanour. Rule with a rod of iron but don't be a jobsworth. I've worked in places where staff know not to get on the wrong side of certain PAs and admin staff because they're the key to Getting Things Done, and having them onside will help smooth the progress of whatever you're working on.

You could also try positive reinforcement - if there's an example of something going smoothly because a team engaged with you at an early stage, flag this up as a positive behaviour and outcome, and encourage others to use it as best practice. (Or it might be better coming from senior management.)

Have you escalated this with your line manager? Who developed these processes? Is there a way to streamline anything? Are any of these processes needlessly complex? People don't do things for various reasons, and disrespecting admin may only be one aspect.

You sound very rigid and no nonsense. It is your style perhaps?

Our administrators know how important they are in our organisation. They are also flexible and willing to do what needs to be done.

I'm not always in the office every week and a bundle of loose receipts can easily go missing

Then make sure they do from time to time. You will be surprised how people suddenly learn to follow procedure when they stop getting their expenses paid due to lost paperwork.

Whenever you get an expense claim email with no receipts attached, just send it back "unable to process as receipt photos not attached". Do it every time.

When they inevitably come down to your desk to find their receipts, hand them a disorganised shoebox full of all the receipts you can find.

Add a calendar appointment into everyone's diaries for (say) a Wednesday 10am "all invoice requests to OP by end of the day today for payment this week"

I agree. It’s always difficult and demoralising working in a process driven, rather than outcome driven, environment.

Thanks all. Interesting selection of responses!

Am I too rigid? I wouldn't have said so. If someone asks me to do something I will always do it because I don't want an individual to miss out, or for our organisation to look bad. It's just frustrating to be forwarded an email that has been sitting with someone for weeks to then be told it's urgent. That's disrespectful of my time.

Processes are as simple as they can be. Expenses - form and copy of receipts, that's it.
Invoice - I need name, address, contact, what were billing for and the amount and whether it has been quoted with or without VAT. I can't imagine being able to get away with anything less. Except I receive an email saying invoice X company (no address, I have to go and look it up), a figure buried within a paragraph of text (no mention of VAT). It's just little things like that.

The one that annoyed me the most was asking at 12.51 on 21st Dec to get something sent special delivery (cut off 1pm) so the person would receive before Christmas. I was out of the office on lunch and didn't receive the email til after 1. The item needing sent was for work done that morning and had been known about by that team for at least a week, however if I had been told first thing to be on standby to run to the post office before 1 then I'd have done so. Infuriating!

Sometimes being rigid is the only way to get people to follow a set process. Flexibility can come in spades for actual emergencies / new problems.

But tasks that require a specific process every week, or a deadline the person has weeks of knowledge about, should not become the administrators problem.

@DomesticShortHair you sound like you'd dump a load of receipts on my desk and expect your expenses paid. Is that how you treat your administrators?

Yes, outcomes are important. I work in the third sector and right now it's more important than ever. I understand that I don't directly do anything to influence policy, or campaign for rights, or conduct research or any of the other wonderful things my colleagues do. But in order for them to do these things without getting bogged down with admin they need to do a tiny bit to help the person who is their to support them in that function.

People not providing photos of their receipts aren't doing so because they're demoralised about working in a process-driven environment, they're doing it because they're lazy fuckers who expect someone else to do it for them.

In terms of incomplete information to create an invoice or whatever, it's not necessarily about lack of respect to admin staff - some people are just gormlessly useless, despite managing to achieve a high-level professional job.

Line manager not great tbh. There's one senior manager who is good, a woman unsurprisingly, and her team just do everything asked of them happily and quietly and get on with things. No last minute requests, or apologies if they do as it has been a last minute piece of work for them too. I think I may need to get her on board.

You've summed it up beautifully. Lazy fuckers!

Sometimes I would, it depends on how busy I am. They really do focus on getting things done, rather than finding reasons not to do things. My administrators are really good though- they genuinely want to support the business and it’s people, and they really get satisfaction out of doing so. But I have worked at many other places whose administration and support functions run along your lines, so I really do appreciate how lucky I am currently, and how valuable this admin team is.

I think sometimes, as my boss would say, you have to be bullish.

I used to deal with travel forms in my old job, I would reject any that didn't have the costs of flights on. I don't care if the quote was attached, it wasn't my job to fill out the forms. I had enough to do.

Processes are there for a reason, it's not because people like making work for others.

I think the lack of respect is breeding resentment in our team. I am much more likely to do a favour for someone who is able to follow basic processes and therefore more enjoyable to work with. It's give and take. Doesn't feel like the team in question give anything, but demand a lot.

How is wanting staff to follow a simple process to help the admin team’s efficiency akin to “finding reasons not to do things”? What an utterly bizarre comment.

OP, I’m an administrator too - aside from genuine emergencies I would stay firm and politely remind staff to do things the way they’ve been asked to. Explain why - admin teams without clear processes and systems in place are a shitshow and it helps everyone in the organisation if staff can follow basic guidance/give appropriate lead time for tasks. I worked in a different profession before moving into admin and I can’t believe sometimes how devalued this work is - people will absolutely take the piss because they don’t understand the nature of this work, nor care if their actions cause pressure in another team; unfortunately I’ve encountered a fair few who don’t see it as work requiring skill but to do it well it most certainly does!!

I’m not disputing what you do or why you do it. I’m merely saying how grateful that I’m not working in a place where you or the OP are the administrators. Like I indicated in my post, I’m not naive about it, I know it’s unusual, so it’s a real breath of fresh air.

Bloody this with bells on. I’ve changed profession to work in admin and Jesus the lack of respect admin get is unbelievable.

referring again to the mistaken for a PA thread that is currently running - people don’t do things like take photos of receipts - not because they are demoralised about working in a process driven by environment but because a) they are lazy fuckers who think admin will do it because that’s what admin do or b) think it’s beneath them because it’s what admin does. I refer to you to point A.

it’s not about being a jobsworth, it’s about people not taking the piss!

and yes to the work of admin not being valued by higher paid staff. I always say admin is the “wife work” of business - no one really sees it, values it or really gives a shit about it until it’s not there or hasn’t happened

Likewise! I don’t like working with people who are disrespectful towards admin staff and treat them like doormats. BTW sorry to break this to you but your admins probably have a picture of you on a dartboard somewhere if you’re submitting all your paperwork late/incomplete :-)

@MabelMoo23 I was literally just about to post saying it's the "wifework" of the office world.

Glad I have some who see it from my point of view. The place would fall apart without us but get little thanks for it.

@DomesticShortHair I don't know what to say really. I hope you have an extremely important job that you consider yourself too busy to take 2 secs to take a photo of your receipts in order to make life easier for someone who no doubt eases your load in ways you don't even realise. Or maybe you show your appreciation of your team in other ways. I doubt they're doing your grunt work for the satisfaction of a job well done.

Excellent point re: “wife work”!!

Larger companies have fully computerised expense systems - you submit the expense and attach a photo/scan of the receipt, it then gets passed for approval online then approved online. No attachment, no expense claim. Is this something that you could look into?

Thanks! I introduced this software in my last workplace as we had a much higher volume of expenses and it made life much easier. Now the claims are only a handful a month and are not a problem to process/pay manually. Except when people can't follow the basic process 🙃