When Should a Company Hire an Office Manager?

Overseeing an office’s administration requires a lot of effort, and it can be a struggle without a dedicated role in place. In some workplaces, multiple staff members may be in charge of various tasks related to high level operations, or they may rely on different software tools to handle these matters.

An office manager can help consolidate these duties and improve workplace organization, but there are several factors to consider when deciding if it’s time to hire one for your company.

1. Your staff is burdened by divided office tasks

Hiring an office manager is a viable option if assigning administrative duties to different team members has resulted in delays or miscommunication. For instance, do you find that your employees often get sidetracked from their core duties? Or is there a general uncertainty of who’s responsible for certain tasks such as equipment purchases? These are good signs that it may be time to hire an office manager.

By centralizing office-related tasks under one role, an office manager can help clarify your administrative process and provide a single point of contact for questions or concerns.

2. Your company is planning to hire new personnel

Company growth creates new demands on your resources. Consider what kind of challenges your organization may face during this growth. Are you planning for a department expansion or looking to create new positions to cover overlooked tasks? If so, it might be the time to include an office manager in the mix.

Several new hires can mean more financial documents, additional furniture or equipment and potential office layout updates to coordinate.

An office manager has the soft skills to oversee changes in personnel and to optimize current administrative processes, so your team will have an easier time adapting to new workloads and workplace dynamics.

3. Your workplace faces various admin problems

Is your workplace struggling with different administrative problems such as late payments, disorganized meetings or low morale?

While you might be inclined to assign existing employees to work on these issues separately or implement specialized tools to deal with each matter, it can be more effective to hire a dedicated professional with comprehensive experience.

It takes time to train multiple employees to perform extra tasks and use new software tools. If your team is too busy to take on new responsibilities, this would be the optimal time to bring in a qualified office manager—they can track finances, prepare meeting agendas ahead of time and arrange workplace events so that your organization can run smoothly.

4. Your team alerts you to office-related issues

How you choose to manage an office will have a serious impact on your team’s productivity and mood—you may not necessarily be aware of every problem in your workplace so check with your employees to identify any office-related pain points. Be sure to speak with different departments, as multiple testimonials can help shed light on a potentially growing problem such as mismanaged inventory or schedule conflicts over meeting rooms.

If you find that many of your employees have expressed concern over administrative-related issues, their feedback can signal that an office manager is necessary to help streamline your workplace.

While smart delegation, new tools and efficient policies can help clean up workplace processes, an office manager can be especially beneficial in situations where your team needs a dedicated administrator with both technical and soft skills. By considering these factors, you’ll be able to recognize the right time to add an office manager to your workplace.

Photos: Bench Accounting, Mary Whitney, Breather, Oli Dale, Startup Stock Photos