Career Clinic: My secretary is wasting my time!

It depends what she looks like!

Secretary Blues -22 Jan 2009 | 09:35

Take her out for a coffee and explain it to her. Say even though you get on with her, her accuracy must improve. Ask her if there is a problem which you could help her with in order for her to improve. Collaboration, not confrontation.

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 09:48

Initially, you should raise your concerns in a private meeting with the person concerned to explain how you see the problem. Ask if there is anything you can do differently yourself. At this meeting you should also explain the procedures your firm has in place to manage performance issues like this.

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 10:10

Fire her and hire me!

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 11:48

There seems to be a Crap Secretaries Protection League out there somewhere - since when did law firms become charities!

Anon -22 Jan 2009 | 14:38

A serious issue and one that can only be commented on properly by first seeing pics of said secretary...

red robbo -22 Jan 2009 | 16:05

In the first instance she needs to made aware of the issues (which you seem to be doing), then you need to make it more formal - a one-to-one meeting as others have suggested - and finally you should involve your firm's HR department. Your firm presumably has a performance management or performance improvement procedure, and you want to ensure you retain the right to invoke that if necessary!It's not clear from your post whether you're giving her a lot of dictation or she's implementing manuscript amends? If the latter, it would be best to be sure your comments are legible before she raises that in her defence!

Northern Inhouser -22 Jan 2009 | 16:09

She's only typing what you dictate - ever thought that you might be crap?

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 16:12

Just tell her line manager to sort her out - it's not up to you to do so yourself (unless you are her line manager!). There may be reasons why she is underperforming that you don't know of and she is unlikely to tell you about.

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 16:17

Ignore the last poster's comment advising you to go to her line manager. That will only worsen the situation if you have not first done anything yourself to try and resolve the problem. I have been in this situation before and it is very stressful and annoying, but the only way to resolve it is to attempt to get a good rapport with your secreatary and make it clear what is expected of her and to let her know when she is not matching up to those expectations. You also need to assess if your dictation is clear and your handwriting legible! Good luck.

In house media lawyer -22 Jan 2009 | 16:55

(a) Is the secretary in a probationary period? If not, how did she ever manage to get through probation? (b) Has she worked for other fee earners and been passed around the firm because she is that poor? (c) Did she come to the firm from another firm? Who checked her references? (d) Is she doing it deliberately because she has a personality clash with you and knows how to press your buttons? (e) Do you make unnecessary changes, especially trivial ones? I used to have a boss who could not even do a two-line letter without changing it in some way. (f) Lastly, do you reasonably think you would make a good secretary? Try looking at it from the shoe on the other foot - swap desks for the day!

ANON -22 Jan 2009 | 19:44

I'm such an excellent secretary and I'm redundant and reading this!!!! As the other person - said FIRE HER, HIRE ME!!!!!

Anonymous -22 Jan 2009 | 20:31

I was waiting for ANON to tell you it was your fault. What a joke.

Anonymous -23 Jan 2009 | 10:35

I would never get away with being that bad - there really isn't any excuse for being so exceptionally careless. Speak to her - make it clear you are not happy and that you are prepared to take the matter further but would really prefer not to i.e. she changes her attitude or you'll complain to HR about her. Be friendly and fair but make it plain this won't do. Don't pounce on her the minute she makes a tiny mistake though, or her confidence will nosedive and she'll probably make more - give her a chance to improve. Unless, as a previous poster suggested, you are the type of fee-earner who routinely nit-picks, in which case you may need to review your attitude...

Anonymous -23 Jan 2009 | 13:04

I quite enjoyed showing this to my secretary. Who made it perfectly clear that if I ever said anything like this to her I would be thrown out of a window...

Anonymous -23 Jan 2009 | 16:14

Why would you be waiting for ANON to tell you it's your fault? Please explain why the direct target concerning myself - others have pointed out the obvious, as did I - that you give the instructions! Does she know that there is a spell check/grammar check and how to use it? Words are highlighted in RED automatically re spelling, or GREEN re grammar on Microsoft Word software. Also, do you yourself not have a PC 'ornament' on your desk - can you not access her directory and make any changes yourself? You're perceiving that there needs to be changes as a consequence of poor work by her!

ANON -23 Jan 2009 | 22:21

Tell her that her work is substandard and that there are plenty of others who would like her job if she doesn't get her act together before the end of the month

No BS -26 Jan 2009 | 16:05

ANON - forgive me if I've misunderstood. Is it not a secretary's job to type and amend documents accurately, and a fee-earner's job to, say, give legal advice? If a secretary hasn't typed a document correctly, is it really a fee-earner's job to access their directory and change it? Perhaps you should check the job descriptions on your intranet if you're unclear. To the poster - you will need to raise it with your secretary in a friendly but clear fashion. If she has a direct line manager (team secretary etc) it may be worth updating them on the position even if you are dealing with it directly - they need to have this information to manage people effectively.

Anonymous -26 Jan 2009 | 20:20

How many secretaries have you actually had in your life? Was there a particularly good one who you measure everyone else by? Do you have a reputation of temps, floats, poor standard secretaries passing through? Would you know a good secretary if you had one? Would a good secretary ever deem to work for you at whatsoever solicitor grade you are at anyway? Hence you get a poor one! Try engaging her in some PC training and/or day release course - you don't actually state whether she is British and therefore expected to be able to have had an English education nor do you state whether she is foreign. Also you neither state whether she has any qualifications - is she just out of school? Nor do you say whether she has worked as a legal secretary for X number of years and therefore expected to be competent or whether she has any secretarial experience prior to working for you! Are you a trainee as opposed to senior partner?

ANON -26 Jan 2009 | 22:41

It's your own fault for taking on one of my old secretaries. Why not ask a trusted and more experienced colleague how he handles his secretary to produce the best results? In the end you have to work together, but at the same time don't worry about saying a few hurtful things to her. It's much better to set her straight now rather than have it escalate and her end out on her ear.

Dave -27 Jan 2009 | 14:03

I am using this website for research as part of my masters (MBA). Couldn't help but post here... to say i'm surprised to be reading this post is an understatement. As a solicitor, surely you can come up with a solution without having to post on a web-board? Bizarre... hardly rocket science.

Anon -28 Jan 2009 | 09:55

Is it not the HR department's responsibility to deal with her? They will be able to advise you on how best to manage her performance and ultimately, if this is your aim, to build a case to justify a dismissal on the grounds of capability. I agree with many of the comments above that you need to initially highlight the problem to see if there is anything that can be resolved quickly to help improve her performance and monitor this for a period of time, making sure you have notes of conversations and meetings that have taken place between the two of you. Then if there is no improvement, advise your HR team that you want to start the formal capability procedure and work with them to either improve this secretary's performance or manager her out of the business. There is just no room for carrying poor performers anymore!I think there is also an issue sometimes in determining who a secretary reports to i.e. is it the fee-earner they do the work for or someone else? This results in not knowing who is responsible for addressing these issues!

Anon -28 Jan 2009 | 16:25

How did she get hired? Was the level of the work clear? Did you get a sample of the work?She has either misrepresented herself or you misrepresented the job, or there was a complete lack of caring during hiring - a 'just get a body in the chair' attitude. No sympathy.

Anonymous -29 Jan 2009 | 16:08

In response to the comment above - if the original poster was the partner who hired the secretary, then clearly it is their own fault, however, I doubt it! It is much more likely that the original poster is below partner level and as such had absolutely nothing to do with the hiring or selecting of the secretary. I have found that as long as the department head has a good secretary they do not worry too much about others in their department, leaving it to the individual fee earner to try to sort it out or live with it. Therefore the original poster should apply common sense and take advice from colleagues if appropriate and deal with the secretary's underperformance or need for better training perhaps at departmental level first, (if you can get the relevant partners to take an interest) before involving HR.

Commercial Litigator -30 Jan 2009 | 16:26

I say point out the mistakes. Without malice, let her know that this is not acceptable. If she doesn't come up to speed, let her line manager know. Keep the proof as well. Show the line manager the 2,3,4 revised copies of the work that she is doing for you which will clearly illustrate her mistakes.

anon -03 Feb 2009 | 18:20

Are you sure your instructions are clear, your writing is neat enough to read and that you are approachable? I have been a PA to some grim lawyers in my time and they have not been clear in their instructions and their writing so shocking you would not believe! Have a friendly chat with her and ask her if she could try to be more accurate and look at your own behaviour too.

Bojangles -13 Aug 2009 | 15:40

My secretary rocks!

A working relationship is a bit like a marriage. I feel for you. BUT remember a marriage is two-way. Have you tried working your side of the bargain? Secretaries who are treated well tend to give better service. Be in the know.

It takes two -20 Oct 2010 | 20:04