NAIS Research: 2024 Survey on Executive and Administrative Assistants

By Brenna Foley
NAIS Research Analyst
July 2024

Executive Summary

NAIS Research: 2024 Survey on Executive and Administrative AssistantsThe work of assistants and support staff is critical to the well-being of schools. When the pandemic threw schools into turmoil, these school employees offered behind-the-scenes support to keep leadership and their schools running efficiently and on task. Seeking to understand these staff members’ perceptions of their work, NAIS surveyed more than 800 assistants and support staff about the scope of their work and their future plans.

A substantial majority of respondents defined themselves as assistants to the head of school or executive assistants—or both—and over half have been in their roles for under seven years.
Nearly all of them (96%) are women, and most (82%) are white. More than eight in 10 have responsibilities in calendaring, managing event arrangements, and submitting expenses. However, most of them have many more tasks as well; respondents as a whole have a median of 12 job duties, with differences by role and length of service.

Only about one in five respondents reported that they were not struggling in any area of their work. However, 40% felt that they had too much to do or were being pulled in too many directions. This was particularly true of those who identified as other support staff (87%) or chief of staff (52%).

When respondents were asked about their plans for the future, 43% said they expected to transition from their jobs within the next one to five years, and 18% intended to do so within one to two years. However, 61% of respondents also expected to continue working in their current job for the next five years, 15% intended to retire, and 11% planned to switch jobs. Longer-serving respondents were the most likely to intend to retire, with 69% of assistants who had been in their jobs for over 30 years planning to retire or stop working. Thirty percent of the first-year respondents planned to switch jobs or had “other” plans.

Methodology

NAIS surveyed executive and administrative assistants and others holding related roles at member schools to learn more about the scope of their work, their satisfactions and struggles in the job, and their future career plans. A total of 833 people responded to the survey, representing a 45.5% completion rate. The survey was open from February 20 to March 18, 2024.

This report was written by Brenna Foley, a research analyst at NAIS. Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.

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