Why EA development is one of the easiest year-end cases to make

If you’re holding a development budget and there’s money still uncommitted as the year comes to an end, I would make the case for investing it in the EAs and PAs supporting your executives. Development budgets are under pressure and we’re all expected to justify every pound invested, which is exactly why I think this is one of the easier cases to make, because it can be put in place within days and you should start to see the difference in your executives’ diaries within weeks.

I spent fifteen years as a senior Executive Assistant in FTSE 100 chief executive offices and then managed a global team of 60 EAs, so I have seen this conversation from both sides. What follows is the case I would make today and (if you’re an EA or PA reading this) you are very welcome to borrow it.

Why it is such an easy case to make

Leadership development is often expensive and slow to show results, so it’s understandable that budget holders hesitate over it. Investing in an EA works quite differently. A full day for one EA costs a fraction of a single executive coaching engagement, and because EAs have so much influence over how an executive’s time is spent and how prepared they are for the decisions in front of them, you shouldn’t have to wait long to see the difference. If you’re asked how you’ll measure it, I would look at how much time is coming back to the executive and whether the decisions reaching them are better briefed.

There’s a retention argument too. A great EA is one of the hardest people in an organisation to replace, and when they leave, the disruption lands directly on the executive with no team around them to absorb it. I also think we underestimate what it means to someone when their organisation chooses to invest in them, particularly in a profession where development can so easily be overlooked, and the signal that sends is worth far more than the cost of the day.

What to spend it on

In my experience, three options cover most situations.

1. For one person, look at a single training day.

A place on a specialist training day is the simplest option. Ours are the EA & PA Strategy Training Day, which focuses on operating as a strategic partner to your executive, and the Future Ready EA & PA Training Day, which focuses on using AI well in the role. Both are CPD accredited, which I know can help when you’re making the case to the business, and both run in person in small groups, so people leave with a structured plan for their own role.

2. For a team, bring the training in-house.

An in-house team training day at your own premises, built around your executives and the real work your EAs do for them, is where I think a year-end budget goes furthest. The cost per head falls and (more importantly) everyone develops together, rather than one person coming back with new ideas to a team that hasn’t been part of the conversation.

3. For something longer term, think about the whole year.

A training retainer, agreed and invoiced now and delivered monthly across 2027, turns a one-off spend into a proper development programme, which can work particularly well for EA Managers who want development to continue well beyond a single day.

Spending this year’s budget on next year’s training

The question I would expect is how this works if the money has to be spent this year but the training would happen next year, and the answer is to ask your provider to invoice in 2026 for delivery in 2027, which we are very happy to do. If you haven’t yet decided on dates or programmes, we also offer a training credit, where you choose an amount from £150 to £1,500, the invoice is dated 2026 and the balance sits on account to use against any eavolve programme in 2027. Credits can be topped up from next year’s budget, they are valid for twelve months and they transfer within the organisation if the named person moves on. Everything is set out on our year-end training budget page.

How to judge whether it is worth the money

A generic course with EA or PA added to the brochure is unlikely to change very much once people are back at their desks, so before signing anything, I would want to ask any provider three questions:

• Who is actually teaching, and have they done the job themselves?
• Will people be working on their own inboxes, diaries and briefings, or on case studies written for someone else?
• What happens on the Monday after the course, and who checks?

A good provider should have a clear answer to all three. We’ve compared what the main UK providers charge in how much EA training costs in the UK, and having looked at it closely, I would say those three questions tell you far more about value than the price does.

What your EAs would tell you if you asked them

It’s well worth asking! I suspect many would tell you that they’ve been given an AI licence with very little training to go with it, that far more is expected of them than it was two years ago, and that they would value development which reflects the role they actually do. We are asking the profession exactly these questions in a national survey this winter, because I believe EA and PA professionals are capable of far more than they are often being developed for, and they deserve the same level of investment, recognition and development as any other profession.

What to do this week

My recommendation would be to find out what’s uncommitted and when your budget closes, and then decide whether what you need is one place, a team day or a retainer. From there, ask us for a quote or book a Discovery Call and we will send a 2026 invoice for 2027 delivery. To be certain of the invoice date, please commit by Tuesday 15 December.

I wouldn’t try to solve everything at once! Even one place on one day is a meaningful start, and I would love to talk it through with you.

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