Profile: Anna Olaes: Juggling career and family successfully

SHE starts her workday checking her activity-filled calendar in her computer, taking note of things that need to be prioritized within the day. Next, she opens her employer’s calendar and checks on his schedule.

Juggling her diversified chores as marketing officer/human resource department head and executive secretary of McDonald’s Saipan president/owner Joe Ayuyu is not an easy task, but prioritizing is the name of the game, and before Anna Olaes leaves her table to do a routine check on how things are going at the fastfood, she has her day mapped out before her.

She rotates between checking on the employees, browses through daily reports, checks if there are new products to introduce and places orders, prepares layout for promotional materials and contact publications, and a hundred and one other chores to do.

As executive secretary, Olaes reminds her employer if he has appointments, and if travels are scheduled. She sees to it that necessary arrangements are done from booking airline tickets to accommodations and every minute detail.

But this is one job she has been doing since she joined the McDonald’s family in 1997, and she will not dream of switching jobs.

“Throughout all these years, I have learned so much from McDonald’s family and from my employers,” she said.

When she started as administrative assistant for McDonald’s Saipan, Olaes said she was not glued to her office table, but asked the management to allow her to work at the fastfood counter.

There, she experienced being a cashier, a food handler and everything else so that she understood how the business was being run. It was only then when she completely understood all the paperwork that landed on her desk.

Shuttling between her office work and her personal life as a wife and mother requires a gargantuan effort to keep things flowing smoothly, but Olaes has the full support of her husband and children who understand her busy life.

Although Olaes has Saturdays and Sundays officially off from the office, she still brings home some work and has to go out to answer office duty when necessary.

She has a message to all other career women who are already successful in their various fields, and those who are still working their way to the top:

“Make every day at work a learning experience, and grab every opportunity that you have to move up and on in your career. Don’t be stagnant but continue to strive for more,” Olaes said.

(This article was first published HERE)