An inbox needs rules as well as attention
Before assigning inbox management, define categories such as urgent, awaiting approval, routine reply and reference. Give examples of messages the assistant can answer and messages they should route to you. A useful handover identifies the decision required and any deadline, rather than simply forwarding a large number of unread messages back to the business owner.
Scheduling around real constraints
Calendar work can include appointment requests, confirmations and changes within your agreed rules. Explain working hours, time zones, meeting lengths, buffers and who can approve an exception. Staff should understand what to do when availability is unclear. This is particularly important when the assistant, your team and the person requesting the meeting work in different time zones.
Documents and outstanding tasks
Provide current templates, naming conventions and approval steps for document preparation. Agree where drafts belong and how outstanding work is recorded. A clear end-of-day note might identify completed tasks, items awaiting your decision and the next priority. If the main workload is high-volume data processing rather than coordination, back-office staffing may be a closer fit. Tell us which tasks repeat so we can discuss the scope.