Administrative Professionals’ Day, also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day, is observed on the Wednesday of the last full week in April of each year. It is a day to recognize the work of secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists and other administrative support professionals.
The official period of celebration was first proclaimed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles W. Sawyer as “National Secretaries Week”, which was held June 1–7 in 1952 with Wednesday, June 4 designated as National Secretaries’ Day. The first Secretaries’ Day was sponsored by the National Secretaries Association with the support of corporate groups.
In 1955, the observance date of National Secretaries Week was moved to the last full week of April, with Wednesday now designated as Administrative Professionals’ Day. The name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week in 1981 and became Administrative Professionals Week in 2000 to encompass the expanding responsibilities and wide-ranging job titles of administrative support staff in the modern economy. The week-long observance was created in order to space out the bookings at restaurants, country clubs, and other places where administrative professionals would be taken out to lunch.