Stir Up the Profession:
Trailblazing the Path Forward
(Tonya Roth)
Tonya gave a heart-warming presentation about how everyone should be included, everyone should be valued. Everyone should work at their peak performance.
At Procter & Gamble where Tonya works in Human Resources as Associate Director, they have created staffing principles and processes for the administrative and executive assistant professionals.
Common elements at P&G for the administrative professional employees are: a talent council, succession planning, career path and competency models.
They follow a rigorous selection and recruiting process, including identifying future executive assistants, recruiting talent supply and visiting local colleges to help students explore the administrative professional field and opportunities at P&G.
Tonya showed a company philosophy of collaboration and team building, showing a P&G commercial featuring “you’ll never walk alone,” which was a very popular hit commercial.
She also discussed their approach to skills training, including their focus on matching skill competencies to training; exploring internal and external training opportunities.
The key policies and practices centered around whether they treated administrators differently than other employee tracks, and should that practice be done? So, they decided to look at compensation levels, salary standards and the exempt versus non-exempt status employee tracks.
Just how does this vital information help us?
We should know the best practices in place within our own company and the industries, nationwide. We should understand what goes on in our profession.
Tonya emphasized that we should educate others by talking about these areas with our own companies’ HR departments.
Lastly, Tonya recommended we each be a leader, and educate ourselves about what is going on in the administrative field and industry.
It was a welcome surprise when P&G bags filled to the brim with awesome P&G products were handed out to all attendees. We received Old Spice shower soap; Eveready batteries; Febreze room freshener, Tide laundry booster, Downey softener additive, and more.
Tonya also shared two commercials from the “P&G Thanks, Mom” campaign, which celebrated that special person in the lives of Team USA athletes who supported their child selflessly to help them succeed (commercials shared below).
It was a poignant moment to see the commercial featuring Special Olympics Michigan athlete Molly Hincka and her mom Kerry (see below). The video demonstrated the amazing testament to our Special Olympics mothers who fight everyday to ensure their children fulfill their dreams.
Trailblazing the path forward is something each participant at the conference can take back to their own company, so that other administrative professionals can also benefit.
