Administrative Professionals Day: Appreciation, History, and the Risk of Getting It Wrong

Recently, the Executive Director of one of my clients called me to talk through how to approach Administrative Professionals Day on April 22. I appreciated the question because it was thoughtful and honest. She was not just asking, “Should we do something?” She was really asking, “What does this day mean now, and how do we handle it in a way that feels respectful rather than dated, performative, or tone-deaf?”

That is the right question.

As an HR consultant, I view Administrative Professionals Day as more complex than many organizations realize. It is not complicated because administrative professionals are somehow less deserving of appreciation. Quite the opposite. They are often the people holding an organization’s infrastructure together. They keep operations moving, create order out of chaos, support leaders and teams, carry institutional knowledge, manage logistics, solve problems before they escalate, and quietly absorb work that others do not even see.

The complication is not the value of the people. It is the history of the day, the cultural baggage that comes with it, and the way even well-intended recognition can sometimes reinforce the very stereotypes many organizations say they want to move away from.

The history matters

Administrative Professionals Day did not begin as a neutral modern observance. It began in 1952 as National Secretaries Week, with a designated National Secretaries Day during that week. The effort was supported by the National Secretaries Association and promoted during a very different era of work, one in which the secretary role was closely tied to a heavily gendered office culture. Over time, the observance and the profession were renamed to reflect broader, more modern responsibilities. The International Association of Administrative Professionals, or IAAP, traces its roots to that original organization and now describes the day as one created to give administrative professionals a collective voice and recognition for the profession’s contribution.

That evolution matters. It tells us two things at once.

First, the roots of the day are absolutely from an older workplace era. Second, the profession itself has spent decades moving away from the narrow, outdated “secretary” framing toward recognition of administrative work as skilled, strategic, and profession-based. So when people say, “It feels a little Mad Men,” they are not making that up. They are responding to the real history attached to the observance.

Why the DEI lens matters

From a DEI perspective, the issue is not just the name of the day. It is the history of who has been expected to do support work, how that work has been valued, and how easily appreciation can slide into stereotype if employers are not thoughtful.

Women are still heavily overrepresented in office and administrative support roles. That matters because work that has long been feminized can carry real baggage. Men in administrative roles can also feel the weight of those stereotypes, especially when recognition still reflects a narrow, gendered image of who these roles are for.

I also think employers need to consider the reality of a multigenerational workforce. Employees are not all bringing the same frame of reference to this day. Some may see it as a harmless gesture of appreciation. Others may connect it more directly to an older workplace culture and hierarchy. Employers should not assume the day will land the same way for everyone.

Why this gets complicated

There are several reasons this day can feel loaded, even when the intent is positive.

It can feel patronizing when appreciation for skilled, essential work gets packaged as a special office ritual rather than treated as part of the normal culture of respect. It can feel performative when symbolic gestures take the place of fair pay, advancement opportunities, professional development, inclusion, trust, and real recognition of expertise.

The way appreciation is expressed can also reinforce outdated stereotypes. Traditional gestures like flowers, cutesy gifts, or overly gendered messaging may feel natural because of the day’s history, but they can also fall flat. And because administrative work has long been tied to issues of status, invisibility, and undervalued labor, even a well-intended recognition effort can carry more weight than employers realize.

Interestingly, as I have been thinking and writing about this, I have also been talking with administrative professionals on my own team, and their reactions are not all the same. That alone says a lot. Even among the people most directly connected to the day, there is a range of perspectives, comfort levels, and interpretations. To me, that reinforces the point that employers should not make assumptions about how recognition will land. Thoughtful recognition starts with listening, not assuming.

Another complication: who actually counts?

Another layer of complexity is that “administrative professional” is not always a clean or universally understood category. In some organizations, the term is used narrowly to refer to roles like administrative assistants, executive assistants, and reception or office support staff. In others, it may extend to coordinators, office managers, operations support roles, or even leadership positions within administrative functions.

That ambiguity matters because it raises the question of whether this day is meant to recognize a type of work, a certain level in the organization, or a traditional class of support roles. Employers should be careful not to treat “administrative” as shorthand for “lowest in the hierarchy.” Administrative work exists at different levels, and the better question is what kind of work is actually being recognized and why.

That is also why organizations should think before making assumptions about who is included. A director overseeing an administrative function may not experience the day the same way as an administrative assistant or receptionist, even if there is overlap in the broader category. Titles, status, and organizational context matter.

My recommendation as an HR consultant

Organizations should not hide from the history of the day. They also should not act as though acknowledging it is automatically wrong. The better approach is honesty.

If you are going to acknowledge Administrative Professionals Day, I would recommend:

• Be transparent. Say that you put thought into how to recognize the day without having it send the wrong message or land in the wrong way.
• Acknowledge the history. Do not pretend the observance is neutral or that everyone experiences it the same way.
• Focus on the substance of the work. Talk about professionalism, judgment, coordination, responsiveness, discretion, and the many ways administrative professionals keep organizations functioning.
• Avoid leaning into stereotypes. Stay away from overly cute, gendered, sentimental, or watered-down recognition.
• Be intentional about inclusion. Think carefully about who is being recognized and why, rather than relying on vague assumptions about who counts.
• Make sure the message aligns with reality. Appreciation will ring hollow if the role is not valued, developed, and respected throughout the rest of the year.
• Think beyond whether to post or stay silent. The better question is what message the organization wants to attach to a day that already exists in the broader culture and that employees are likely to encounter, whether the organization addresses it or not.

I also think it is fair to say that, while administrative professionals should be appreciated throughout the year, society has designated April 22 as the day of that recognition. We do not need to pretend the day is perfect. We do not need to ignore the baggage attached to it. And we do not need to overcorrect and act as though acknowledging it is automatically wrong. We can simply own our response.

Final thought

Administrative professionals deserve meaningful recognition. The day itself comes with baggage. Both things can be true.

When that is the case, I would rather see an organization acknowledge that complexity openly and handle it with care than pretend it is not there. We may not control the history of the day or the name on the calendar, but we do control whether our response sounds like respect or like an outdated tradition we never stopped to question.