Administrative Professionals Week

What

Administrative Professionals Week

When

4/24/2023

HISTORY OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS WEEK
Ever wondered what the corporate world would look like without the administrative office? A giant mess! Zero organization — talk visitors storming in and out; jumbled data, reports, payrolls; missed meetings, lack of confidentiality; plus, everyone gets to deal with the headache of travel and accommodation, among other arising matters. The importance of the administrative department cannot be overemphasized and spans various duties, thereby ensuring the smooth running of an organization on a day-to-day basis.

The Administrative Professionals Week, established by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (I.A.A.P.) in 1952, traces its roots to the National Secretaries Association (N.S.A.) when the first National Secretaries Week, now known as Administrative Professionals Week, was held. The National Secretaries Association was established in 1942. It was set up as an initiative to recognize the importance of secretaries to the corporate workplace as well as showcase the field as a worthy profession calling for more intakes.

It would be in 1981 become Professionals Secretaries Week, and later Administrative Professionals Week (APW) in 2000 came about. Before this, in 1965, National Secretaries Week was moved to the last full week of April. National Administrative Professionals’ Day, also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day, is celebrated on the Wednesday of the last full week in April annually. Key figures behind the movement of the Administrative Professionals Week are Mary Hagan Barrett, Founder of the National Secretaries Association as well as National Secretaries Day; C. King Woodbridge, President of Dictaphone Corporation together with public relations account executives at Young & Rubicam, Harry F. Klemfuss and Daren Ball.