Administrative Professionals' Day (also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day ) is celebrated on the Wednesday of the last full week of April (April 25 in 2012). Remind your secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals that you couldn't do it without them by sending a gorgeous bouquet, plant or gift basket. To really show how much you appreciate all their hard work, you could also include lunch at a nice restaurant or some time off.
Long gone are the days of the 1960 secretary "straight out of Miss Something secretarial school," as portrayed by Elizabeth Moss' character, Peggy Olson in the television series Mad Men. International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) created National Secretaries Week with two objectives in mind: "to recognize the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of business and government offices depend," and to call attention "through favorable publicity, to the tremendous potential of the secretarial career.
In 1981 National Secretaries Week name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week, and became Administrative Professionals Week in 2000 to encompass the expanding responsibilities and wide-ranging job titles of administrative support staff. The IAAP suggests that employers support the holiday by providing training opportunities for their administrative staff through continuing education, self-study materials, or seminars.
