ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210111
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON THE ROANOKE TIMES
America's secretaries want to be recognized for their key roles and treated as professionals.
Call up a secretary and ask her what she wants the boss to do for Professional Secretaries Day - the answer may surprise you. She may be too busy to talk.
America's secretaries are a busy group, juggling more than ever. Wednesday is when bosses can be expected to show appreciation.
But if she - 98.5 percent are female, said the U.S. Commerce Department - can get a free moment, she'll be direct about how best to do it.
The way most bosses celebrate - with flowers, candy or lunch - somewhat misses the point, said Virginia Tech secretary Mary Whitlock.
"There are quite a few of us who consider this a career. We consider ourselves professionals and you don't send a professional, a doctor, a lawyer or whatever, flowers to say - hold on just a second, I've got to take this outside call" - pause - "that they are doing a good job."
Her counterparts across the nation would agree, according to Rich Stroud, spokesman for Professional Secretaries International and The Association for Office Professionals, the industry's two trade groups, both based in Kansas City, Mo.
In Whitlock's case, the flowers she has received on previous secretaries days from administrators in the university's College of Human Resources and Education were just fine. The administrators long ago embraced the point of Professional Secretaries Day - that secretaries play key roles in their organizations and deserve opportunities for education and development. For instance, when Whitlock asks to attend a training conference, they send her.
But Whitlock, who has been in the profession 20 years, said not all secretaries have that support.
She agrees with efforts to raise awareness of the profession and secretaries' need for increased training and equipment - and that effort comes to a head on secretaries day. The day is a 45-year tradition started by the National Secretaries Association, now Professional Secretaries International, and by the president of Dictaphone Corp. and the public relations firm Young & Rubicam. Its original purpose in 1952 was to ease a shortage of secretaries by drawing attention to the occupation.
While some question whether secretaries should be singled out with gifts, gift-giving etiquette now recommends tailoring any gifts to the job.
Stroud accounts for the gifts of candy, flower and lunch to "the traditional male-female relationship" and the fact that until recently most bosses were men and secretaries were women who mainly typed and made coffee.
Today there are 50,400 men among the nation's 3.4 million secretaries, based on the Commerce Department's 1995 counts. And their duties include acting as office computer experts, performing key communication roles and helping their bosses make decisions. Fewer than half are still called secretaries.
The manager of a Roanoke Valley manufacturing plant, asked of his plans for next week, said: "Aaaah, to be quite honest with you, I haven't given it a lot of thought yet. I guess I'm embarrassed."
But he was set on some show of appreciation, he said, because his company's secretaries "give a lot of value to the organization." The boss asked not to be identified for this story.
Whitlock thinks that kind of attitude should show year-round, not just Wednesday.
"One day is nice, but we're here all year," she said.
And Whitlock wanted to make another point: She has maintained her industry's professional certification since 1981 and uses the initials CPS after her name.
"It's what CPA is to an accountant," said Mary Whitlock, CPS.
HERE'S WHAT THEY WANT
A seminar in computer skills, communications, secretarial ethics or a related area; tuition for a college course
Subscription to a business or professional magazine
Membership in a trade grouup or association
Encouragement and support to earn a professional certification
A chance to participate in a career day on scretarial work, if one exists
An ergonomically correct chair, computer software, new business cards, gift certificate for buying business clothing, a desk nameplate
Lunch, flowers, candy
Source: Professional Secretaries International and The Association for Office Professionals
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM THE ROANOKE TIMES. Wednesday is Professionalby CNBSecretaries Day, but the way most bosses celebrate - with flowers,
candy or lunch - somewhat misses the point, said Virginia Tech
secretary Mary Whitlock.