Be an Office Manager
An office manager is responsible for overseeing a company's daily operations, ultimately ensuring that the business runs smoothly and without incident. It's a multifaceted job that requires excellent organizational skills and the ability to deal with different personalities rationally and calmly. Following these steps will give you advice on how to be an office manager.
Steps
- Handle office staffing. An office manager needs to run an office that is properly staffed, which will mean firing employees who are not performing their jobs up to the office standard and hiring new employees to take their place.
- Develop relationships with your local newspapers' classified personnel so that you can place job ads when necessary.
- Learn how to use online job search sources to place classifieds for openings.
- Hone your interviewing skills in order to choose the best candidates to fill positions within the company.
- Manage inventory. To be an office manager, make sure that your staff has the supplies it needs to do its job every day. Keep checks on the inventory, order new supplies when needed and look for the best deals you can get with office supply stores.
- Maintain payroll. Hourly employees and salaried employees need to be paid, and the office manager will keep track of hours, time off, sick days and vacations. You will need to work with either the in house accounting department or an outside payroll company to be sure that everyone gets paid the right amount on time.
- Oversee building issues. Rent or mortgages and utility bills have to be paid on time and routine maintenance on appliances and equipment need to be scheduled. Repairs might be needed from time to time, and office managers are responsible for contacting technicians to make sure things are fixed in a timely manner.
- Communicate with employees in the event of a dispute. You will be the contact person when employees experience problems with their supervisors, responsibilities or other employees. Office managers need to listen and come up with satisfactory solutions for everyone involved.
- Remain firm and fair in your dealings with employee conflicts and manage staff with objectivity.
- Set an example for employees in matters from office conduct to wardrobe. As the office manager, you need to be professional in all manners of communication and appearance and expect the same from the employees.
- Cultivate a positive office environment. Conflicts impede employee productivity. By fostering a pleasant work atmosphere, employees will enjoy coming to work every day and put all of their effort into doing their jobs.
- Manage staff effectively by asking for their opinions and suggestions, making them feel important and valued.
- Praise employees for every project completed above standards, and pass along praise that you hear from upper management.
Related Articles
- Build Teamwork in the Office
- Process Payroll
- Control Inventory
- Be a Better Trainer for Your Employees
