How to handle an EA challenging my role and reporting me to HR

[BettyBlue74]

I work with this woman at work. She is an EA to the MD. She snitched on me at work to HR because I was 'short' with her - i.e. I tried to shut down a conversation with something that had nothing to do with her. My boss and also HR manager whom I suspect doesn't like her either - told me to apologise to keep the peace even though I had legit reasons to wind that up very quickly. I also told them she has rolled her eyes at me a number of times and has been rather curt with me. I don't mean it to be tit for tat but she needs to be careful what she wishes for.

I'm the office manager, and she challenged me on which dept looked after what, which is something that has NOTHING to do with her - and then she proceeded to give me a direction on what to do next. She isn't my manager. I don't report to her. The only time it's appropriate is when her boss is hosting something such as the Xmas party, end of quarter morning teas etc. Not the day to day running of things. I've been in this job for 12 months - so I now know the lay of the land.

She once a couple of months ago tried to reach into my drawer where I keep security passes and told me to give this random (whom was signed in as a visitor) to give him a pass (these are expensive and I don't want too many floating around in case you forget to switch them off). This wasn't her visitor; he was a contractor who was on-site during the day. I told her is was all under control and she got upset. She also told me that putting something in my back mailroom would crowd it out. Again, nothing to do with her. She also CC my boss with a pre drafted email message to send to people when parcels arrived in the office - I hand deliver parcels and parcels are not getting lost - this was prompted by the fact that someone had to chase up if a parcel had been delivered or not - she told the person it had...but she didn't leave it at that - she then drafted that email message I should send to people when they have parcels arrive.

I'm worried that she has legit grounds to tell me what to do - that hides behind powerful people to give her snitching legitimacy. So...what are your thoughts? I know I have to suck it up, but I how do I deal with this person?

In my organisation they are. The PA does the diary.

Is the EA female? I'm surprised the EA does so much - DH (who has more experience than I do across different organisations described this as a Chief of Staff role, I expect they'd have to pay more if someone got that title.

In our organisation EA is the title regardless of genitals. They are paid significantly more than the PA for the same Director.

In our organisation EA is the title regardless of genitals. They are paid significantly more than the PA for the same Director.

Are they female?

Sounds very much like you are the problem here

Which one? There are male and female EAs

You need to write it all down.

Then you should ask your line manager for a discussion on the items on your list so that you can get clarity about her authority.

ideally then your manager will
sort this out.

if not then you can consider whether to follow the grievance procedure

Tell her you are EA to the managing Director and l won't be discussing anything with her which does not pertain directly to the MD, and that if she is unhappy she should take it to HR who will outline exactly what her remit is, and what it is not. she does her job, you do yours.

It's a confusing job title for someone who's job is strategic and influential.

Speaking as an EA this is true, I see and hear things my boss doesn’t. There’s a fine line of when it’s appropriate for me to share things but if I see behaviour or processes that negatively affect others I will step in and say something to my boss

Really bad idea. It should always be assumed that the EA to the MD is acting on the MD's behalf. OP complains that the EA is getting involved in things which, according to OP, are nothing to do with the EA. Would she say that about the MD? If she would, she needs to wise up - there are no areas that are off limits to the MD. If not, she shouldn't say it about the MD's EA.

Not that it matters. Given the attitude OP displayed on this thread, I suspect she won't be with this employer much longer.

How is this helping the OP?

Why have an office manager if the MD's EA runs the show and makes the decisions- that's a waste of wages.

Exactly! It sounds like OP only wants things done her way, not how life works

To me the EA to the MD is senior to the office manager. They are carrying out the tasks that the MD wishes them to. If they are acting alone they are doing so with the authority of the MD.

At the least I'd hope you'd work together as your roles clearly do overlap a little.

She sounds like a cunt though.

lol … three responses down …

Depends on the organisation, but everywhere I worked (before kids, so a long time ago now) the EA was often senior to an office manager: she/he wasn’t just a ‘secretary’ or admin assistant or even what a lay person my think a PA is. My DH has two EAs - both MBAs and one is being groomed for management. Having been an EA myself, again before kids, I know that even directors jumped when I asked foe something as it was inferred that it was my boss who was asking as I was an extension of his office.

I wonder whether the issue here is that OP genuinely doesn’t understand the organisational structure and instead of working ‘with’ the EA believes she is above her?

Ahh the thread police have turned up!😂

Why bother with an office manager when there is an MD. After all, the MD runs the show and make the decisions. So, according to your logic, an office manager is a waste of wages. Indeed, so are all the other employees, so every company should just have an MD and no-one else. Do you really think that is how business works?

The EA is not trying to do OP's job. She is trying to get OP to improve the way she does her job. OP would be well advised to treat the EA's suggestions as if they came from the MD.

Hilarious. Am unclear why you were so concerned with what sex the EA was.

As an ex-EA I agree 100% with all the comments saying it's not a good idea to make enemies of them! EAs generally work very strategically (even if that isn't always immediately visible to others) and don't last that long if they're not effective. It's often conflated with an Office Manager role (and in some places, that's how it works) but my experience is that more and more EAs are essentially Ops Managers or even CoS.

I think the issue is that regardless of who is senior or how the spheres of responsibility work, what this may come down to is who is more valuable to the organisation. And that may be decided by the MD.

I definitely manage diaries but do all of the above as well.

Stop being silly, people are only trying to advise you.