Executive Assistants are the backbone of senior management. They manage both the personal and professional aspects of their executive’s universe. And they save their executive hours of work.
The amount of responsibilities the average executive assistant has is daunting. And top-level executive assistants are expected to do and be more. They play the role of confidante, listening and advising; the role of psychic, anticipating needs; the role of chief of staff, managing office and/or household staff; and the role of etiquette consultant, knowing the savoirs (eg. savoir-faire and savoir-dire) of their executive’s professional and social universe.
For these reasons and much more, an executive assistant is very important to an executive’s success. So, all gifts to an executive assistant should reflect that knowledge.
Unless it is your company’s policy, generosity should be your norm.
THE BEST GIFT
Just like most workers today, the majority of executive assistants want money. So, cash and cash equivalents (eg. American Express/Visa/Mastercard gift cards) are by far the best gift you can give to your executive assistant.
How much money you present depends on several factors. Other than your company’s gifting policies, the most important factor is: how many times a year you give your assistant a gift.
If you only plan to give one gift a year (and no bonus), that gift is akin to a bonus. So, the gift amount should be higher than secondary gifts.
Since executive assistants can make anywhere from $30,000 to $400,000, the gift-bonus amount vary.
The general rule is: the higher the executive title and salary, the higher the gift-bonus amount. The higher the executive’s bonus, the higher the gift-bonus amount. After all, an executive assistant plays a large role in her/his executive’s success.
There are some other variations to consider. For example, executives in large cities like New York City tend to give more than their counterparts in small cities like Kansas City. Executives in large companies tend to give more than those in mid-size and small companies. However, if you stick to the general rule of basing the gift-bonus amount on salary, you do not have to consider these two variations.
Due to all of these variations including the executive assistants’ salaries, gift-bonuses can range from $100 to $60,000 or 5% to 15% of the executive assistant’s annual salary.
Secondary, “in-between gratitude”, cash or cash equivalent gifts should start at $50+. Generally, the higher the assistant’s salary, the more money you should give.
MORE GIFT IDEAS
If you cannot give cash as a gift, if you want to give something other than cash or if you want something to give alongside cash — know you do have several options.
You can give a…
– box of chocolates
– gift basket
– gift card to Amazon
– gift card to a coffee house
– gift card to a restaurant
– 1 or 2 paid days off
Whichever you choose, we recommend you take into considerations your assistant’s desires and needs. Afterall, the best gift is the gift that is wanted.
BALISSANDE FINISHING SCHOOL 