You are a founder, CEO, or entrepreneur who has just hired an executive assistant and would like to set some ground rules.

At the top of your list of concerns is how quickly the EA should respond to your requests during business hours.

You do not want to seem overbearing as you build a working relationship with the EA, but you also want to see results.

Not to worry, the answers to your concerns are in the article below. 

TL;DR – How Fast Should an Executive Assistant Respond During Business Hours?

An executive assistant should respond promptly to requests within business hours. Still, the response time can vary based on several factors, the most important of which is the urgency of the matter:

  • Urgent Requests: They should take top priority and be acknowledged within 15 minutes, followed by a quick and practical resolution within an hour.
  • Other Tasks: They typically have a response time of one to two hours. However, this can stretch into several hours if the EA realises the matter has a flexible deadline.

Here’s something many executives miss: An EA that responds instantly is often seated at their desk waiting for their principal’s instructions. Would you rather have that or an exceptional EA who has a strategic impact on your business?

ProAssisting has found through years of experience that effective EA support is more than just instant responses. Elite EAs support your performance multipliers by wearing multiple hats, including your business partner, chief of staff, scheduler, personal assistant, and project manager. 

Hire a ProAssistant for responsive support during business hours, helping you reclaim up to 15 hours weekly.

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Why Speed Alone Doesn’t Define Great Executive Support

If you have an executive assistant who performs tasks with haste, it might not necessarily be a bad thing. They may have extensive experience that makes them highly exceptional at their job. It may also be an indicator of commitment to their role or a way of ingratiating themselves with you.

However, it is impractical to judge your EA’s performance solely by how quickly they complete their tasks. That is because unchecked speed can spiral out of control, resulting in some tasks slipping through the cracks.

Here’s why speed alone shouldn’t be a defining factor of great executive support:

  • High Probability of Mistakes: An EA handles tasks that require careful attention to detail due to the sensitive nature of the information they manage. Therefore, being hasty in completing requests can drastically increase the chances of making mistakes that may be detrimental to your organisation, such as sending confidential information to the wrong recipients. 
  • Increased Risk of Misunderstandings: Quick but superficial responses create a sense of uncertainty about the executive’s requests, resulting in EAs spending more time on tasks than they should.
  • Overemphasis on Speed Can Contribute to Burnout: A recent case study by The Interview Guys shows that 82% of employees are at risk of burnout. As such, expecting your EA to respond to requests instantly and deliver solutions within minutes consistently could burn them out, hurting their productivity in the long term.
  • Not All Tasks Require Urgent Response: Your EA doesn’t need to handle all tasks with the same level of urgency. Instead, they can create a ranking system that prioritises tasks based on importance, so they don’t fall behind as they rush to handle low-impact tasks, while urgent ones sit waiting.
  • It Can Create More Work: Quick replies that lack context, such as next steps and the agenda, can result in more work for your EA as you request subsequent clarifications.
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Factors Affecting an EA’s Response Time

How quickly your EA responds depends on their personal skills, the executive’s communication style, and other environmental factors:

  • Competing Responsibilities: According to a survey by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), executive and administrative assistants reported that their principals delegate a median of 12 distinct job duties. The more tasks your EA handles, the slower they will respond to new directives. 
  • Type of Tasks: The context of executive assistant tasks can influence their ability to respond to you. For example, if your EA is representing you in a meeting, they might not respond to your text messages immediately.
  • Role Clarity and Scope: Not all EAs have the same responsibilities. Some handle tasks such as calendar and communication management, while others offer more in-depth services, such as project management. Clearly defining the scope of duties your EA will handle will help you predict reasonable turnaround times for various tasks. 
  • Communication Skills: Both you and your EA should maintain clear, compelling written and spoken communication to avoid misunderstandings and back-and-forth messages requesting clarification. This would improve coordination between the two of you and contribute to faster resolutions.
  • Tools and Systems: Executive assistant tools influence your EA’s productivity, including how they prioritise tasks and respond to their principal’s requests. 
  • Work-Life Balance: Setting boundaries between business hours and after-hours means the executive might have to wait until the following morning unless the tasks are urgent. 

Inevitable-Group1120 agrees with this approach as they shared on Reddit:

“Three years ago, I was burnt out because I felt like I always had to be on, always had to be prompt in responding to all Slack requests, and so I’ve been trying to do better, being more intentional and not responding asap if something isn’t urgent.”

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Reasonable EA Response Time During Business Hours

ProAssisting trains remote EAs to be responsive to their principals’ requests. 

However, the response time could vary depending on industry practice or whether the request requires the EA to research and prepare a report:

Type of RequestResponse or Acknowledgement Time 
Urgent or high-impact, e.g., a crisis.Acknowledgement within 15 minutes and taking action within an hour.
Time-sensitive but non-urgent tasks, e.g., scheduling meetings or travel bookings.Within one or two hours.
Routine but essential tasks, e.g., general inquiries. Within one to four hours, but if not possible, before the end of the day. 
Standard inbox triage.Acknowledge receipt in under an hour, with a follow-up later in the day

Elite EAs strive to respond to most requests within one to two hours during working hours.

Reddit user juliacar reaffirms the view that responsiveness is not always about being on call every second by giving this perspective on response time:

“As soon as I can, within my working hours. Things usually get responded to within 2 hours, but a lot of those are very generic “let me look into that” or “I’ll follow up later” emails.”

The Executive’s Role in Clear, Strategic Communication

Receiving excellent executive assistant support requires a strong principal-assistant partnership. For example, the executive must be empathetic and realize that their actions contribute to their EA’s responsiveness.

Here’s how principals can provide a conducive environment for their EAs to work efficiently: 

  • Defining Your EA’s Duties: Integrate the executive assistant into your world by clearly outlining their responsibilities and setting expectations.
  • Create a Tiered Communication Channel: Follow a communication protocol that quickly signals message urgency and importance. For instance, use Slack for quick and urgent tasks, emails for non-urgent tasks requiring documentation, and calls for confidential or complex tasks.  
  • “Keep Your Door Open”: Empower Your EA to raise issues that might be undermining their response time, such as unclear instructions or limited decision-making authority. 
  • Respect Boundaries: Constantly hounding your EA for responses and expecting them to respond during meetings or after hours makes you seem like a micromanager. This can quickly erode trust between you and your EA because you seem unwilling to allow them to perform their duties unsupervised.
  • Establishing Response Time Service-Level Agreements (SLAs): If necessary, you can provide your EA with SLAs that define appropriate response times for various tasks and set expectations for everyone. For example, routine emails should have a response time of an hour to two hours. 

When executives treat response time as a shared responsibility, support becomes strategic, sustainable, and far more effective. Otherwise, you will just frustrate your EAs.

For example, Gold-Reason6338 provides this perspective on Reddit:

“Also related: At one of my old jobs, I had a partner I supported, who told the other partner that I didn’t respond to him within 2 minutes. I was literally in the bathroom, came back so quickly, and yet got dinged on my performance review for this. I left that company a few months later, because seriously, nothing is THAT urgent.”

This highlights the pressure EAs can feel, especially in high-pressure environments, and why it is crucial to define reasonable boundaries and expectations up front.

Download ProAssisting’s free ebook on “The 29-Hour Work Day” and discover how executives can empower their EAs to support them effectively, helping you achieve more within your working hours, while also reclaiming up to 15 hours weekly.

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When to Set SLAs to Ensure EA Responsiveness

Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) are standard instruments used by principals to outline expectations for their assistants. It is an excellent tool for executives to encourage their EAs to be proactive. 

Below are the circumstances under which you should consider signing an SLA stipulating response times with your EA:

  • Recurring Mistakes: If your EA is constantly making mistakes like double booking or scheduling conflicts and missing meetings, an SLA would help reinforce your expectations.
  • Backlogs: Emails going unanswered for days or tasks remaining pending for weeks may prompt setting an SLA that will impact the forthcoming executive assistant performance reviews.
  • Frequent Misunderstandings: These could result from shallow responses that require multiple clarification requests or from delayed responses. Set an SLA that outlines communication protocols, including what the EA should do if they still need clarification after 2 or 3 follow-ups.
  • Transition to a Remote Arrangement: When working with a remote executive assistant in a different time zone, setting an SLA outlines the ground rules for availability windows, check-in rhythms, and protocols for urgent tasks.

ProAssisting typically includes SLAs in the contracts it signs with clients before they hire ProAssistants. This helps set expectations for both parties and encourages executives to build strong partnerships with their EAs towards responsiveness.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are answers to some common questions about EA response time during business hours.

How Quickly Should an EA Acknowledge a Task or Request?

As you and your EA establish a working relationship, it is crucial that the EA acknowledge tasks and requests promptly. This allows the EA to demonstrate reliability and eventually establish rapport with the executive.

Is It Normal for EAs to Miss Calls or Emails During Meetings?

It is reasonable for your EA to miss a few calls or emails here and there, especially if they are attending back-to-back meetings or managing high-priority tasks. What matters is how they respond to missing calls and emails. Ideally, they should follow up immediately they are free and provide context if necessary.

Do All Executive Assistants Work on Real-Time Tasks?

Not necessarily. Depending on the urgency of the task forwarded to an EA, they may work on it immediately or push it down the priority list so that they can focus on more pressing matters. 

Can a Fractional Executive Assistant Be Just as Responsive?

Yes and no. If you have a proper agreement with your EA on working hours, priorities, and communication protocols, then you can expect high efficiency. However, you also have to understand that there will be some limitations to the service since you are sharing the EA with other executives.

Conclusion

Though speedy responses are impressive, they are not the only factor to consider when gauging a reasonable response time. Your EA’s responses should also be clear, prioritized, and contain context to avoid repetition. 

At ProAssisting, all fractional executive assistants have at least 5 years of experience supporting C-suites at globally recognized brands such as Oracle and J.Crew, so they understand the nuances of reasonable responsiveness. The ProAssistants also retain 75% of their clients’ retainer fees, which helps keep them motivated and proactive.

Schedule a free consultation to learn how ProAssistants can effectively support you.