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Company secretaries

and administrators

Administrative and secretarial occupations, SOC 2020 code 4214. Back to the map

Company secretaries (excluding professional/chartered company secretaries) file and maintain company records, translate notes and dictation into typewritten form and perform other clerical tasks within commercial organisations.

Employees (UK)
-
Median annual pay
-
Exposure score ?
3.6/10 Low 9.1/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.1/10 with-tools reading, strict is 3.6/10
Wage exposure
- -

Higher exposure than 92% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.

Read the score as
What a model can do unaided. A model plus workflow tools, closer to how work runs in 2026.

What this score means.

A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.

If you are in this role

Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.

Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.

If you are in this role

Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.

Two clerks at the US Census Bureau punching population cards on a pantograph and a keypunch, with filing boxes behind them

Where the work usually starts.

These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.

  1. Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.

    O*NET importance 4.2 of 5 A model can do this directly

  2. Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.

    O*NET importance 4.0 of 5 A model can do this directly

  3. Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.

    O*NET importance 4.0 of 5 A model can do this directly

These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.

  1. Manage and maintain executives' schedules.

    O*NET importance 4.4 of 5 AI can do this with workflow tools

  2. Process payroll information.

    O*NET importance 4.3 of 5 AI can do this with workflow tools

  3. Make travel arrangements for executives.

    O*NET importance 4.2 of 5 AI can do this with workflow tools

Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.

Every task in the role.

Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.

What AI can already do

8 of 22 tasks, unaided

  1. Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.

    Importance 4.2 of 5

  2. Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  3. Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  4. Interpret administrative and operating policies and procedures for employees.

    Importance 3.8 of 5

  5. Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.

    Importance 3.7 of 5

  6. Provide clerical support to other departments.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

  7. Compile, transcribe, and distribute minutes of meetings.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

  8. Attend meetings to record minutes.

    Importance 3.5 of 5

What still needs a person

14 of 22 tasks

  1. Manage and maintain executives' schedules.

    Importance 4.4 of 5

  2. Process payroll information.

    Importance 4.3 of 5

  3. Make travel arrangements for executives.

    Importance 4.2 of 5

  4. Coordinate and direct office services, such as records, departmental finances, budget preparation, personnel issues, and housekeeping, to aid executives.

    Importance 4.1 of 5

  5. Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.

    Importance 4.1 of 5

  6. Greet visitors and determine whether they should be given access to specific individuals.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  7. Prepare agendas and make arrangements, such as coordinating catering for luncheons, for committee, board, and other meetings.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  8. Conduct research, compile data, and prepare papers for consideration and presentation by executives, committees, and boards of directors.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  9. Perform general office duties, such as ordering supplies, maintaining records management database systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  10. File and retrieve corporate documents, records, and reports.

    Importance 3.8 of 5

  11. Set up and oversee administrative policies and procedures for offices or organizations.

    Importance 3.7 of 5

  12. Meet with individuals, special interest groups, and others on behalf of executives, committees, and boards of directors.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

  13. Supervise and train other clerical staff and arrange for employee training by scheduling training or organizing training material.

    Importance 3.4 of 5

  14. Review operating practices and procedures to determine whether improvements can be made in areas such as workflow, reporting procedures, or expenditures.

    Importance 3.3 of 5

What AI can already do

20 of 22 tasks, with tools

  1. Manage and maintain executives' schedules.

    Importance 4.4 of 5

  2. Process payroll information.

    Importance 4.3 of 5

  3. Make travel arrangements for executives.

    Importance 4.2 of 5

  4. Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.

    Importance 4.2 of 5

  5. Coordinate and direct office services, such as records, departmental finances, budget preparation, personnel issues, and housekeeping, to aid executives.

    Importance 4.1 of 5

  6. Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.

    Importance 4.1 of 5

  7. Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  8. Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  9. Prepare agendas and make arrangements, such as coordinating catering for luncheons, for committee, board, and other meetings.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  10. Conduct research, compile data, and prepare papers for consideration and presentation by executives, committees, and boards of directors.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  11. Perform general office duties, such as ordering supplies, maintaining records management database systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work.

    Importance 3.9 of 5

  12. Interpret administrative and operating policies and procedures for employees.

    Importance 3.8 of 5

  13. File and retrieve corporate documents, records, and reports.

    Importance 3.8 of 5

  14. Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.

    Importance 3.7 of 5

  15. Set up and oversee administrative policies and procedures for offices or organizations.

    Importance 3.7 of 5

  16. Provide clerical support to other departments.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

  17. Compile, transcribe, and distribute minutes of meetings.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

  18. Attend meetings to record minutes.

    Importance 3.5 of 5

  19. Supervise and train other clerical staff and arrange for employee training by scheduling training or organizing training material.

    Importance 3.4 of 5

  20. Review operating practices and procedures to determine whether improvements can be made in areas such as workflow, reporting procedures, or expenditures.

    Importance 3.3 of 5

What still needs a person

2 of 22 tasks

  1. Greet visitors and determine whether they should be given access to specific individuals.

    Importance 4.0 of 5

  2. Meet with individuals, special interest groups, and others on behalf of executives, committees, and boards of directors.

    Importance 3.6 of 5

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This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.

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