Comment by short_sells_poo
7 years ago
It's short sighted cost cutting. An assistant/admin position is easy to justify for the chopping block, it's removal reduces headcount and the increased load on the specialists is not seen directly on the balance sheet for a while.
It also reduces organizational liability, which produces the usual externality. <sarcasm> Why does the assistant have a need to know about patient X's medical issue? They shouldn't be able to see that data! Only the Dr. should see it! </sarcasm>
On the other hand most people who write the software don't have assistants and are also expected to do all their arrangements themselves. It is even culture in software development circles that one should be self sufficient. For instance that created terms like RTFM (ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM).
So for them it's quite likely hard to imagine that other people might have assistants to do things for them.
You can bet, though, that the C-execs and maybe one or two levels below them still have assistants and are not booking their own travel.