“If you want to earn more, you’ll need to leave the role you love.”
That was the message one assistant received during a recent performance review. Not because they were underperforming, quite the opposite. They were exceeding expectations. Leading internal initiatives. Coaching others. Saving the organisation tens of thousands by stepping in where external contractors were once needed.
But they had reached the top of their salary band.
So now, the only path to a raise… is a career change.
And sadly, they’re not alone.
This isn’t an isolated experience. It’s becoming a pattern that I am seeing again and again.
High-performing assistants are being told that once their pay reaches a certain level, their growth stops.
Not because the business no longer needs what they bring.
But because the system wasn’t built to recognise it.
That’s not career structure. That’s career containment.
Assistants are increasingly doing the work of people leaders, project managers, culture drivers, operations leads – without the title, without the recognition, and without the pay. And when they try to capture that impact in data and outcomes, they’re rewarded with praise, not progression.
Worse still, some are being asked to take on new responsibilities – for example, informal leadership of teams or driving forward internal EA network initiatives. This is being dressed up as career progression but there is no support, budget, promotion or compensation for the assistant. If they push back, they risk being labelled ‘difficult.’ If they accept, they risk being exploited.
So what happens? Passion starts to fade. The desire to support others dims. And those who once championed the role begin to question whether it’s worth staying, and start looking at other roles.
That should be a wake-up call.
Because when your most committed people – the ones who go above and beyond, who build capability around them, who stay late and show up early – start asking if it’s time to walk away, the issue isn’t them. It’s the model.
We cannot continue to build our organisations on the invisible labour of assistants, and then pretend there’s no budget to invest in the very people holding things together.
💬 To the assistants reading this: You are not alone. You are not overreacting. And your contribution is not invisible, even if the system tries to tell you otherwise.
💬 To the leaders reading this: If you want to retain great assistants, the answer isn’t to redirect them into other careers. It’s to recognise the full scope of the role, introduce career progression, and reward it.
We need to build a profession where passion doesn’t mean stagnation.
And where excellence is rewarded with more than a pat on the back.
