Are you looking for a career that is both challenging and rewarding? Look no further than administrative roles in a hybrid world of work! With the rise of hybrid work, many people have questioned the role of administrative professionals in this new virtual work environment. But the truth is, administrative positions are just as important as ever.
As the world continues to evolve, so too will the role of administrative professionals. So, whether you are a seasoned employee or a complete newbie, learning how administrative positions have evolved over the past couple of years will aid you in pushing your career forward.
The Office is A Thing of the Past
The mobility restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic made the office space irrelevant and fixed work schedules started to be questioned. Now, the typical work model of the average American is no longer defined by a 9-5, and the employee experience is very different from what we had pre-pandemic.
A survey of administrative workers showed 79% said they were happier working from home, and 85% viewed hybrid work as a more productive way of working. This is because hybrid work provides them with more freedom and flexibility to manage their working hours, as well as to prioritize their role-related tasks.1
It’s clear, from these numbers, that working only in a traditional office truly is a thing of the past.
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Administrative Work – An Endangered Species in Hybrid Working?
Now that employees are freeing themselves from the office and embracing hybrid work models, administrative work is at a crossroads. With the ubiquity of the remote workplace, how will administrative work come to change in a hybrid workplace? Most importantly, how can administrative professionals evolve to stay relevant?
The Relevance of Administrative Careers: Then and Now
Administrative professionals continue to be in demand because of the variety of soft skills that they possess. They remain essential to the productivity and success of any organization, regardless of work model.
For one, administrative professionals have good communication skills. They can effectively work with people of varying personalities and work styles. This critical trait comes in handy in a hybrid workforce because remote work presents a more significant challenge in promoting organizational culture in the absence of a common shared physical space.
Hence, administrative professionals are tasked to be agents of the organization’s values and workplace culture to hybrid teams and remote workers.
For many organizations, administrative professionals give the first impression. In fact, as an administrative professional, you, in all likelihood, are the voice and face of your organization. With hybrid work becoming more and more mainstream, this responsibility has become more relevant than ever before.
Administrative Work: Defining the Employee Experience
The digital employee experience is now as important as that of the onsite employee experience. Considerations of employee well-being, workplace culture, and employee training come to the forefront, along with a volatile career market where employee hiring, and retention are also major challenges.
Given all these factors, administrative professionals are faced with the challenge of creating and maintaining a working environment that is collaborative, communicative, and well-connected.
Technology plays a major role in defining employee experience in a hybrid work environment. An organization’s tech stack is the tool to create and maintain an outstanding employee experience that encourages hybrid teams to be productive, efficient, and engaged in their roles. Administrative professionals play a crucial role in realizing of all these.
As an administrative professional, how do you implement a near-seamless working environment for employees? More importantly, do you have full mastery of your organization’s tech stack? This will be the primary tool for you to reach your team.
If your role before entailed literal paperwork and office maintenance, the post-pandemic administrative work entails the ability to multi-task across several digital platforms to ensure that the hybrid workforce is aptly supported and that clients are engaged on time. This responsibility includes digital platforms and personal and onsite customer and employee engagements.
How your team collaborates, communicates, and ultimately connects are basic tenets of the employee experience. Hence, it is of utmost importance that administrative professionals lead the way to ensure that these interactions with technology are efficient and in line with the organization’s culture and values.
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Keeping a Culture of Openness
At a time when hybrid work has completely been cast into the mainstream, administrative employees also carry with them the responsibility of maintaining a culture of openness among employees – both remote and onsite. Not only that, but administrative professionals also offer vital support in seeing to it that the culture of transparency in the workplace is not only lateral but also horizontal – from top to bottom. Administrative professionals have a responsibility to ensure information is conveyed correctly and properly within the hybrid work environment.
As organizations incorporate flexibility, it is important for managers and administrative professionals to ensure that they provide certainty, stability, and connectedness in the workplace despite the headwinds of change.
Ultimately, administrative professionals must strive to inspire their co-workers, helping steer them toward engagement and excellence. With all the different work models that have come and gone, administrative professionals are now needed more than ever to ensure fluidity in the workplace despite every disruption and evolution in today’s world of work.
Now that you have had a revitalized look at the importance of administrative roles in the age of hybrid work, consider applying for one, whether you are new to administrative work or an experienced pro. While today’s labor market remains fierce and highly competitive, you will never run out of support when looking for the perfect administrative role where you can grow and thrive.
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TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS WITH ACS PROFESSIONAL STAFFING
Let ACS Professional Staffing help you find that ideal administrative position. ACS is a full-service staffing firm that specializes in the placement of qualified workers with top private companies and government agencies, we have been helping employers and candidates for more than two decades.
Contact us for some expert guidance on landing the perfect administrative role for you!
References
- Battilana, J. and Dorado, S. (2010) “Building Sustainable Hybrid Organizations: The case of commercial microfinance organizations,” Academy of Management Journal, 53(6), pp. 1419–1440. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.57318391