Office Administration Employees

Education and Training: Bachelor’s or associate’s degree in business administration or office management
Average Salary: $45,790 per year
Job Outlook: Good

Office administration employees are responsible for ensuring smooth day-to-day operations in an office. Office administration employees perform various administration and management tasks to ensure the efficient functioning of the staff. Typical tasks performed by office administration employees include: allocating work assignments, monitoring tasks performed by employees on a daily basis, conducting performance assessments, replenishing office supplies, and training employees. They are also responsible for framing office policies and procedures and maintaining office records. Office administration employees are often required to manage important official communication in the form of emails, presentations, and office memos.
Office administration employees need to ensure that the equipment, machinery, and tools used in office are in good working condition. They allocate work assignments to resources based on each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. They are also required to resolve day-to-day office issues such as disruption in allocated work assignments due to unannounced leaves taken by employees.
Office administration employees might also be assigned certain finance management tasks such as managing the office budget, invoicing, and managing financial records.

Education and Training Requirements

Office administration employees need to complete a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in business administration or office management. A number of organizations impart on-the-job training, lasting several months, to office administration employees. Some additional courses that they can pursue for brighter career prospects include bookkeeping, records management, computer applications, business correspondence, and business law.

Getting the Job

In addition to the educational requirements, office administration employees need to be extremely resourceful, highly organized, and sincere. They need to interact and work closely with the organizational staff and therefore they need to have excellent interpersonal skills and should be good team players. They should be able to guide, direct, and motivate their subordinates. They need to set performance parameters and evaluate their subordinates’ performance against the specified parameters.
Office administration employees should be good decision-makers and should be able to carefully analyze the pros and cons of each option before selecting the most suitable option. They need to use computers for performing a number of their day-to-day tasks and therefore computer proficiency is a must for this position.

Job Prospects, Employment Outlook and Career Development

The job prospects for office administration employees are good and the employment opportunities are expected to grow by 11% for 2008-2018. The growth in economy and rapid advancement in technology will fuel the demand for office administration employees.
Since there is a growing pool of highly qualified candidates, the competition for the position of an office administration employee will be quite keen. Office administration employees who exhibit strong leadership skills and are people-oriented are more likely to get higher roles and responsibilities.

Working Conditions and Environment

Office administration employees work in different types of office settings, based on the industry and the size of the organization with which they are employed. In most cases, they work from well managed and organized offices. Office administration employees are generally expected to work 40 hours per week but there might be situations wherein they are expected to put in some extra hours. They might often need to work in high-pressure and stressful situations.

Salary and Benefits

As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual median salaries for office administration employees was $45,790 in May 2008. This figure might vary depending on the industry, size of the organization, experience of the employee, and the nature of duties performed.

Where to Go for More Information

Association of Executive and Administrative Professionals (AEAP)
900 S Washington St., Ste. G-13
Falls Church, VA 22046
(703) 237-8616
http://www.theaeap.com

International Association of Administrative Professionals
10502 NW Ambassador Dr.
Kansas City, MO 64153
(816) 891-6600
http://www.iaap-hq.org