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The evolution of the Girl Friday

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:42

Today the idea of employing a Girl Friday – a person to simply do the filing, greet customers and supply tea and coffee – is seriously outdated, but that does not mean the role no longer exists. Rather, a Girl Friday has matured with the times: over the years she has grown to play an indispensable role in most organisations.

As Kelly’s Managing Director, Lawrence Wordon explains, the functions of the traditional Girl Friday and the Secretary have merged to create a position that is one of the most valuable within a company – though it isn’t often recognised as such.

“A good secretarial professional knows the ins and outs about how an organisation works,” says Wordon. “They act as information and communication managers performing administrative and clerical duties which help ensure an organisation runs efficiently.”

Wordon adds that the skills of the modern secretary have evolved to such an extent that they have become highly skilled office specialists, as adept at creating PowerPoint presentations, managing databases, generating spreadsheets and using desktop publishing software and digital graphics as they are at fulfilling the core – and more traditional – responsibilities of a secretary (i.e. office administrative activities such as storing, retrieving and integrating information, disseminating information to staff and scheduling meetings and appointments).

The importance – and constant evolution – of the secretarial role comes as no surprise to Wordon. He says there has always been a need for a leader to entrust confidential matters with and to act as an assistant.

“Secretaries existed as far back as business itself,” Wordon explains. “The rapid expansion of technology into the workplace has only served to make the modern secretary even more indispensable, despite their original fear that technology would make them obsolete. Ironically, rather than replacing secretaries, technology has in fact empowered them.”

Just as a Girl Friday has matured with age, so too will her role continue to evolve as the impact of technology within the office space broadens.

As Wordon concludes: “The future for enthusiastic, computer-literate, educated and savvy secretarial professionals is bright and secure.”

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