As our lives become busier and often include working longer hours, or blurred lines between our business and personal lives, it can be difficult find balance and continuity between these different areas of one’s life. As an executive, you may need administrative support with tasks like scheduling, setting up business travel and project management, and with a busy personal life, with duties such as running errands, setting up appointments and dealing with family matters. Hiring two people to do these very different roles can be inefficient, expensive and redundant – so what’s the solution?
Meet the Executive Personal Assistant, often shortened to EPA. The modern Executive Personal Assistant is an experienced, professional, tech-savy and multi-tasking administrative professional who performs both business and personal tasks on behalf on an executive. It’s a role that is gaining substantially in popularity. For example, in 2018, just 17% of our administrative placements were EPA’s, while this year this number has already exceeded 40%!
In a post-pandemic world, business executives are now accustomed to working in a hybrid environment, and often from different locations, so more than ever, they require a seamless blend of support and management of duties between the various parts of their life. If this sounds like your situation, you might benefit from this blended executive/personal assistant approach.
What Is An Executive Personal Assistant?
An Executive Personal Assistant is someone, typically with a background as a dedicated Executive Assistant (EA), Personal Assistant (PA) or a related field, who primary job is typically the management of an executive’s personal and professional schedule. Beyond that, there are various administrative duties and tasks that this person can perform on behalf of the executive to free this person up to attend to higher priority items. Many times, and Executive Personal Assistant also provides support to a spouse or other members of the executive’s family. For example, for couples who travel frequently between homes and businesses or have busy lifestyles, this could mean coordinating professional and private schedules across different time zones and in different regions around the world.
What Are Their Responsibilities?
An Executive Personal Assistant has responsibilities that are as unique as the person they work for. They are involved in every aspect of the person’s life and business, managing every detail. Common duties may include:
Personal
- Screening phone calls and taking messages for the recipient
- Performing various chores and errands, including shopping, light cleaning, preparing food, etc.
- Greeting visitors
- Planning travel, including flights, accommodation and ground transportation
- Organization of events/engagements
- Negotiating with service providers (hotels, car service, etc.)
- Various types of pet care
- Pro-actively anticipating client’s needs
- Supporting client with other duties as requested
Executive
- Calendar management; anticipating calendar risk and planning contingencies
- Creating and overseeing office systems that include filing and managing data
- Performing research related to an employer’s project or needs
- Scheduling meetings and appointments for the employer
- Responding to emails, letters and faxes on behalf of the employer
- Producing reports, presentations and briefs
- Drafting correspondence such as emails and letters
- Liaising with executive/senior administration positions
Where Does An Executive Personal Assistant Typically Work?
An Executive Assistant typically works in an office and is singularly focused on the business side of an executive’s life. On the other hand, a Personal Assistant takes care of an executive’s personal affairs, working either from a home office or an office associated with a business operated by the executive. Because of the hybrid nature of the Executive Personal Assistant role, an EPA must possess flexibility to work anywhere required by the executive, and also to work in varying settings throughout their day.
Why Is The Executive Personal Assistant Becoming So Popular?
In addition to a more mobile society, with people working from different locations, technology has become much more sophisticated and ubiquitous, and the distinction between an executive’s business and personal time have continued to blur. EAs at the highest level have always bridged the overlap to provide both business and personal support to the individual they support. However, post-COVID, there are many more options to work from home and remotely, leading to a substantial increase in interest in a role that can keep up.
Another reason is that an Executive Personal Assistant often supports a married or committed couple who have separate careers outside of the home. In the past, it was normal for one person to dedicate themselves to the maintenance of their household and personal lives, while the other dedicated themselves to providing resources for the family by further their career. The combined EPA position allows for a great degree of flexibility for couples with unique business and personal arrangements.
What Are The Advantages Of Hiring An Executive Personal Assistant?
To an executive, one of the greatest advantages of hiring an Executive Personal Assistant is the holistic approach of an experienced individual in this role. You won’t need to worry about their tasks falling outside of their job description (for example, asking an Executive Assistant to shop for your spouse’s anniversary gift, or pick up their dry cleaning). An EPA manages the executive’s entire life. Because of this, your schedule and priorities can be much closer managed, to ensure you are efficiently and strategically using your time each day.
What Is An Executive Personal Assistant’s Compensation?
The salary for an Executive Personal Assistant is typically higher than that of either role alone, because of the increased responsibility and flexibility required from someone in this role. EPA jobs often require moderate travel with the executive or their family, being on call after hours and other factors that require highly qualified candidates.
The current compensation range for Executive Personal Assistants throughout DC, Maryland and Virginia is $75 – 175K, although the demanding roles requiring the most qualified candidates can exceed this range.
What Type of Assistant Should I Hire?
The best personal or administrative support staff for your needs depends not just on the types of tasks you need them to perform, but also your business environment and personal lifestyle.
There are practical financial considerations. Private individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners can benefit from combining these two roles, since there is no question as to who pays for which portion of the responsibilities. At a public firm, an Executive Assistant is typically covered by the company’s payroll, while a Personal Assistant would be covered by the executive personally. Many companies understand the dual nature of these roles and are accustomed to allocating a portion of this person’s salary to the company and a portion to the executive personally, based on how their time is spent.
For additional information on Executive Personal Assistants or related administrative or personal roles, give us a call or book an introductory meeting with one of our placement specialists.
