Office managers
Office managers plan, organise and co-ordinate the activities and resources of offices within commercial, industrial and other non-governmental organisations and public agencies. (National and local government office managers are classified to unit group 3561: Public services associate professionals.)
- Employees (UK)
- 195k
- Median annual pay
- £35,000
- Exposure score ?
- 0.8/10 Minimal 9.2/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.2/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.8/10
- Wage exposure
- £546m £6.28bn
Higher exposure than 45% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
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Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
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Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
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Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
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Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers" (43-1011.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 28 tasks, unaided
Interpret and communicate work procedures and company policies to staff.
Compute figures such as balances, totals, or commissions.
What still needs a person
26 of 28 tasks
Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
Review records or reports pertaining to activities such as production, payroll, or shipping to verify details, monitor work activities, or evaluate performance.
Discuss job performance problems with employees to identify causes and issues and to work on resolving problems.
Prepare and issue work schedules, deadlines, and duty assignments for office or administrative staff.
Recruit, interview, and select employees.
Develop work schedules according to budgets and workloads.
Evaluate employees' job performance and conformance to regulations and recommend appropriate personnel action.
Train or instruct employees in job duties or company policies or arrange for training to be provided.
Research, compile, and prepare reports, manuals, correspondence, or other information required by management or governmental agencies.
Implement corporate or departmental policies, procedures, and service standards in conjunction with management.
Analyze financial activities of establishments or departments and provide input into budget planning and preparation processes.
Coordinate activities with other supervisory personnel or with other work units or departments.
Participate in the work of subordinates to facilitate productivity or to overcome difficult aspects of work.
Make recommendations to management concerning such issues as staffing decisions or procedural changes.
Develop or update procedures, policies, or standards.
Maintain records pertaining to inventory, personnel, orders, supplies, or machine maintenance.
Consult with managers or other personnel to resolve problems in areas such as equipment performance, output quality, or work schedules.
Design, implement, or evaluate staff training and development programs, customer service initiatives, or performance measurement criteria.
Keep informed of provisions of labor-management agreements and their effects on departmental operations.
Coordinate or perform activities associated with shipping, receiving, distribution, or transportation.
Monitor inventory levels and requisition or purchase supplies as needed.
Plan for or coordinate office services, such as equipment or supply acquisition or organization, disposal of assets, relocation, parking, maintenance, or security services.
Arrange for necessary maintenance or repair work.
Plan layouts of stockrooms, warehouses, or other storage areas, considering turnover, size, weight, or related factors pertaining to items stored.
Tasks via O*NET "First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers" (43-1011.00).
What AI can already do
26 of 28 tasks, with tools
Supervise the work of office, administrative, or customer service employees to ensure adherence to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures, correcting errors or problems.
Resolve customer complaints or answer customers' questions regarding policies and procedures.
Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes.
Review records or reports pertaining to activities such as production, payroll, or shipping to verify details, monitor work activities, or evaluate performance.
Prepare and issue work schedules, deadlines, and duty assignments for office or administrative staff.
Recruit, interview, and select employees.
Interpret and communicate work procedures and company policies to staff.
Develop work schedules according to budgets and workloads.
Evaluate employees' job performance and conformance to regulations and recommend appropriate personnel action.
Train or instruct employees in job duties or company policies or arrange for training to be provided.
Research, compile, and prepare reports, manuals, correspondence, or other information required by management or governmental agencies.
Implement corporate or departmental policies, procedures, and service standards in conjunction with management.
Compute figures such as balances, totals, or commissions.
Analyze financial activities of establishments or departments and provide input into budget planning and preparation processes.
Coordinate activities with other supervisory personnel or with other work units or departments.
Make recommendations to management concerning such issues as staffing decisions or procedural changes.
Develop or update procedures, policies, or standards.
Maintain records pertaining to inventory, personnel, orders, supplies, or machine maintenance.
Consult with managers or other personnel to resolve problems in areas such as equipment performance, output quality, or work schedules.
Design, implement, or evaluate staff training and development programs, customer service initiatives, or performance measurement criteria.
Keep informed of provisions of labor-management agreements and their effects on departmental operations.
Coordinate or perform activities associated with shipping, receiving, distribution, or transportation.
Monitor inventory levels and requisition or purchase supplies as needed.
Plan for or coordinate office services, such as equipment or supply acquisition or organization, disposal of assets, relocation, parking, maintenance, or security services.
Arrange for necessary maintenance or repair work.
Plan layouts of stockrooms, warehouses, or other storage areas, considering turnover, size, weight, or related factors pertaining to items stored.
What still needs a person
2 of 28 tasks
Discuss job performance problems with employees to identify causes and issues and to work on resolving problems.
Participate in the work of subordinates to facilitate productivity or to overcome difficult aspects of work.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Administrative and secretarial occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons