When the secretary gets too close to the boss

Too close for comfort, people would opine on the inordinate proximity and cordiality between some top public officials or business executives and their secretary. For there is an unwritten rule in office etiquette, some established norms in corporate ethics and cannons of official behavior that must be adhered to, in order to maintain a general atmosphere of decency in the office. The boss and the secretary work closely but not too closely so as not to cross the boundaries between what is official and what is personal. There is a right time and a right place for every right actuation. People are watching and certain acts and behavior may cause others to speculate and gossip. Relationships may be affected, decisions may be influenced and the credibility of official acts may be compromised.

Notwithstanding these boundaries however, in a Filipino socio-cultural context, official lines often get blurred. Some subordinates, secretaries included, tend to transcend the demarcation lines whenever they have become too close because of other informal relationships with the boss. For instance, some of the staff are distant relatives or godchildren, former students and close neighbors. When the boss gets entangled in a web of inter-connecting relationships, office discipline may be forgotten and set aside, official decisions may be unduly diluted by extrinsic factors and both productivity and the quality of operations may ultimately be sacrificed. This situation is definitely not in the best interest of the organization.

Whenever interactions in the office get too personal, if not intimate, eyebrows are expectedly raised, and both the boss and the secretary become the target of pernicious company gossips and intrigues. It is highly possible that they have not done any immoral or illicit acts. But their own behavioral patterns have precisely invited suspicions and insinuations to that effect. Perceptions are very strong communication means. Whatever comes around goes around. These gossips may even reach the stockholders, the company owners or the boss’ wife and family and the situation is formula for igniting a major family and corporate or office scandal. It can ruin reputations and shatter the careers of politicians, public officials and business executives.

In many actual situations, the secretary is entrusted with a number of vital documents and official information that the boss cannot even share with his own wife and children. Trade secrets are safeguarded in some highly confidential repositories and lockers that only the boss and the secretary are privy of. And because of these, she becomes indispensable and very powerful.

This unique relationship also brings together the boss and the secretary alone either very early in the morning or very late at nights in the office, in some hotels, when they are on official travel or seminars, or wherever their jobs bring them to work as a team. The secretary is even entrusted to sign checks in the absence of and by authority of the boss. There are accounts that only the boss and the secretary know. In the interest of service, of course.

In cases when the boss is outside the country or indisposed, follow-ups on official matters are made by important people on the secretary. Some would bring gifts to her, extend to her some favors and do her bidding because the secretary has direct and strong influence on the boss. Sometimes, even the wife would call the secretary to know his schedule and to get some data about her own husband. The secretary is even entrusted to attend to the medical and health needs of the boss, to make sure that he eats on time, takes his maintenance medicines and gets an executive check-up. There are many things that the secretary does for the boss and the boundaries between official and personal are often made more blurred.

If the two are not careful, their close encounters may develop into an illicit affair. In moments of human weakness, when the boss gets too pressured and seeks the comforting warmth of a woman, who, my dear readers,  is the most proximate, the most available, the most sympathetic, none other but the loyal, faithful and incidentally, pretty and young, passionate secretary. Therein lies the beginning of the end. The boundary has been crossed. The demarcation line has been transgressed. Far-reaching damages are bound to come about. And they will definitely regret the consequences, sooner than later. Mark my words.