How to Effectively Manage Your Office

Office operations teams play a business-critical role in the modern office. While the members of this team can include everyone from the Office Manager to the Director of Employee Experience, each is charged with implementing their company’s values in the workspace, ensuring the office functions seamlessly, and creating a great experience for employees.

The responsibilities of those in office management can vary significantly, and each company will have different needs based on their industry, physical space, and team dynamics. However, office management roles generally have four primary goals:

- Keep the office clean, presentable, and running smoothly

- Enable employee productivity

- Create a welcoming environment for employees and guests

- Build a strong, cohesive culture

As offices are developed to serve as a home-away-from-home for their employees, the daily operations of the space become more complex—and so does the office manager’s job. Balancing a disparate set of responsibilities, including managing the office space, working with vendors, and providing employee assistance, is a key component of the role.

Space management

For effective office management, office professionals need to know every inch of their office. Companies rely on office managers to establish a regular cadence for cleaning, maintenance, and supply restocking, and expect them to be the first to notice and respond when something goes wrong. To create a well-functioning workspace, office managers should:

- Create a daily routine for office operational tasks

- Establish a regular schedule for office cleaning and maintenance

- Use a task management system to keep track of their to do list

Working with vendors

Vendors are an office manager’s allies when it comes to creating a great office experience for their team. Building a trusted network of reliable vendors will help an office manager excel in their role. To keep vendor relationships productive, office managers should:

- Organize vendor contacts in a single document

- Communicate needs, goals, and expectations before work begins

- Document any issues and alert them as soon as possible

Employee assistance

Supporting employee productivity and creating a great workplace experience is an important area of focus for office managers. The office manager serves as a critical source of information about the office for both employees and executives. To ensure both groups feel connected to the office manager and able to have a say in the state of the office, they should establish regular communication about office operations with executives.

Office operations professionals often handle a variety of tasks that support employee productivity which may include:

- Administrative and meeting support

- Onboarding new employees

- Planning employee events and team bonding activities

No matter the task, workplace teams are responsible for bringing a company’s goals to life.

“In an operations role you have to be clear about the vision for your workplace and take ownership of it. It's the same if you're working on a renovation project or deciding where to stock office supplies, you are helping to build something everyday. You need to be passionate and know that you have the power to make an impact no matter how small.”

- Shaina Traunfeld, Fox Networks Group

Given the crucial role that office managers play at their companies we developed The Complete Guide to Office Management to support individuals in office operations in understanding the breadth of their job in day-to-day task management, project management and team support.

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