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Executive support capacity benchmarks for leadership teams

A cited framework for sizing executive assistant and leadership operations capacity before calendars, inboxes, and board cycles start to break.

4 min readHireExecutiveTeam research

Key takeaway Capacity planning should start with workflow load and risk, then translate that load into a clear executive support role.

Executive support capacity benchmarks for leadership teams research illustration

Why capacity planning is a workflow question

The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes secretaries and administrative assistants as workers who schedule appointments, prepare documents, organize files, and support staff. Executive teams should treat those activities as operating infrastructure, because each one protects leadership time and creates a record of decisions. [1]

For senior leaders, the practical question is not whether an assistant is busy. The question is whether meeting preparation, follow through, travel, inbox routing, and document control are stable enough for executives to make decisions without rebuilding context every week. [2]

Signals that the team is under supported

Under support usually appears as repeated rescheduling, late pre reads, decisions that live only in chat threads, and executives spending prime hours on access coordination. These are not small annoyances. They are signs that the team lacks a shared administrative operating system. [3]

Wage and employment data for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants gives hiring teams a labor market anchor, but local demand, confidentiality, tool ownership, and the number of leaders supported should shape the final model. [4]

How to use the benchmark

Start by counting recurring meetings, active executives, weekly external stakeholders, travel events, and board or investor deadlines. Then decide which workflows need direct ownership and which can stay with functional teams. [2]

A solo founder may need a fractional executive assistant first. A larger leadership team may need a coordinator, an executive assistant, and a chief of staff support layer so that decisions, agenda design, and follow up do not compete for the same person. [1][4]

Sources

  1. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  2. Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants, O*NET OnLine.
  3. Dear Manager, You Are Holding Too Many Meetings, Harvard Business Review.
  4. Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
  5. Business Formation Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau.
  6. Nonfarm Business Sector: Labor Productivity, Federal Reserve Economic Data.
  7. Productivity Statistics, OECD Data Explorer.
  8. World Development Indicators, World Bank DataBank.
  9. ILOSTAT Labour Statistics, International Labour Organization.
  10. 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, Microsoft and LinkedIn.
  11. The economic potential of generative AI, McKinsey Global Institute.
  12. Creating helpful, reliable, people first content, Google Search Central.
  13. Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Google Search Central.

Apply the research

Use the finding to frame one question for your own team: which support work is currently invisible, and who should own the next step? A scoped consultation can turn that question into a practical role.

Turn the finding into a support scope.

Bring the workflow that feels hardest to see. We will help define the role, the evidence it should maintain, and the decisions that stay with leadership.

Talk through the role
On this page
  1. Why capacity planning is a workflow question
  2. Signals that the team is under supported
  3. How to use the benchmark
  4. Sources
  5. Apply the research