I keep my boss’s confidences. She is now planning redundancies. My colleagues, worried about their jobs, are begging me for information. I’m torn between keeping quiet and watching them worry, or letting on and ruining my reputation. What should I do?

Compare the perils of being a PA to swimming with piranhas and it’s a miracle that more of us aren’t jumping into bikinis. For once, being privy to the juiciest, jaw-dropping secret isn’t half as much fun as you thought it would be. This is when the day job turns into tricky business. On one hand you are keeper of the company’s secrets and on the other you’re one of the crowd. And it’s hard to gossip with your colleagues in the toilets when you know what the MD’s really up to with the account director.

Even in a pickle such as this, your conscience wants you to spill the beans, but you’ve been hired to do just the opposite.

Redundancy is terrible, devastating news and it’s a hot bet that as a PA you aren’t being paid nearly enough to deliver it.

Anyway, which part of your job description reads “mother hen and moral compass”? The fact is, this responsibility doesn’t sit on your shoulders. So forget committing career suicide by breaking your boss’s trust. Instead, tell her of your concerns, explaining that while you are utterly trustworthy you are in a difficult situation. If she’s got half a heart she’ll be feeling the burn too. As her eyes and ears, you could even suggest ways of allaying the workforce’s rampaging fears.

Then face your clamouring colleagues. Just don’t alienate yourself (no one likes a lapdog). Simply tell inquiring workmates that you don’t have the info they want, although you understand how badly they want it.

Offer support instead. Suggest that they talk to your boss, help to arrange a staff meeting or just confide that the situation is a nightmare for everyone. You’re still the pig in the middle, but at least you’ll be a step ahead of those piranhas.

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