Personal assistants
and other secretaries
Personal assistants and other secretaries provide administrative and secretarial support to individuals, departmental or management teams within organisations.
- Employees (UK)
- 164k
- Median annual pay
- £25,233
- Exposure score ?
- 3.2/10 Low 9.1/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.1/10 with-tools reading, strict is 3.2/10
- Wage exposure
- £1.32bn £3.77bn
Higher exposure than 89% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
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.
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.
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Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
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Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.
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Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.
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.
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Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
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Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
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Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
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.
Tasks via O*NET "Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive" (43-6014.00).
What AI can already do
10 of 31 tasks, unaided
Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.
Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.
Compose, type, and distribute meeting notes, routine correspondence, or reports, such as presentations or expense, statistical, or monthly reports.
Complete forms in accordance with company procedures.
Conduct searches to find needed information, using such sources as the Internet.
Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters.
Review work done by others to check for correct spelling and grammar, ensure that company format policies are followed, and recommend revisions.
Train and assist staff with computer usage.
Develop or maintain internal or external company Web sites.
What still needs a person
21 of 31 tasks
Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
Perform payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
Collect and deposit money into accounts, disburse funds from cash accounts to pay bills or invoices, keep records of collections and disbursements, and ensure accounts are balanced.
Operate office equipment, such as fax machines, copiers, or phone systems and arrange for repairs when equipment malfunctions.
Operate electronic mail systems and coordinate the flow of information, internally or with other organizations.
Schedule and confirm appointments for clients, customers, or supervisors.
Maintain scheduling and event calendars.
Establish work procedures or schedules and keep track of the daily work of clerical staff.
Provide services to customers, such as order placement or account information.
Prepare and mail checks.
Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies.
Arrange conference, meeting, or travel reservations for office personnel.
Supervise other clerical staff and provide training and orientation to new staff.
Make copies of correspondence or other printed material.
Manage projects or contribute to committee or team work.
Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.
Learn to operate new office technologies as they are developed and implemented.
Mail newsletters, promotional material, or other information.
Order and dispense supplies.
Prepare conference or event materials, such as flyers or invitations.
Tasks via O*NET "Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive" (43-6014.00).
What AI can already do
28 of 31 tasks, with tools
Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.
Perform payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
Collect and deposit money into accounts, disburse funds from cash accounts to pay bills or invoices, keep records of collections and disbursements, and ensure accounts are balanced.
Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.
Operate electronic mail systems and coordinate the flow of information, internally or with other organizations.
Schedule and confirm appointments for clients, customers, or supervisors.
Maintain scheduling and event calendars.
Compose, type, and distribute meeting notes, routine correspondence, or reports, such as presentations or expense, statistical, or monthly reports.
Complete forms in accordance with company procedures.
Establish work procedures or schedules and keep track of the daily work of clerical staff.
Provide services to customers, such as order placement or account information.
Prepare and mail checks.
Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies.
Arrange conference, meeting, or travel reservations for office personnel.
Conduct searches to find needed information, using such sources as the Internet.
Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters.
Review work done by others to check for correct spelling and grammar, ensure that company format policies are followed, and recommend revisions.
Make copies of correspondence or other printed material.
Manage projects or contribute to committee or team work.
Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.
Learn to operate new office technologies as they are developed and implemented.
Mail newsletters, promotional material, or other information.
Train and assist staff with computer usage.
Prepare conference or event materials, such as flyers or invitations.
Develop or maintain internal or external company Web sites.
What still needs a person
3 of 31 tasks
Operate office equipment, such as fax machines, copiers, or phone systems and arrange for repairs when equipment malfunctions.
Supervise other clerical staff and provide training and orientation to new staff.
Order and dispense supplies.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Administrative and secretarial occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
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.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons