Salary for office manager/secretary

Haven't had a chance to get on here lately. I've been buried in phone calls and paperwork. I have had a part time girl in the office for the last few years but I had to let her go last winter. This spring I brought in a replacement who I have been training. I started her at $14 an hour. She is picking up my system well and I can see that she is a good addition to the company. Just wondering what a fair salary would be. Thanks for any input.

$21 sounds like a pretty fair salary. You might be able to get away with lower but I am guessing that you are getting at least that value out of her and it is not always what you can get away with but what is reasonable. I think you are on the bullseye. Nice job.

Chuck www.masterswa.com

$52 minn

Chuck, Thanks for the offer to commute, if it was only 650 miles it might be worth it. :laugh:

Patty and all, Thanks for the input. I can see that the hardest part is going to be trying to let go of some of the stuff that I just do as a matter of course. I will need to take the time to teach her things that I need to let someone else do. She is doing the filing and payroll now. I need to get her typing up estimates and other things. I know once I get her learning more things it will get easier for me.

I followed your advice...no hijacking.

Patty cakes where ya been ? (Dont hijack this thread.....start a new one)

I am so pleasantly surprised by all your responses,truly. Especially to you GKRFG for even asking. How important that is. I ran a small company myself from filing, payroll, estimating, audits, sales etc. @ 12$ plus benefits which equaled 2$....7 years ago. I think your upgrade is on the money. You sound confident in this lady, go with it, speaking from personal experience the more my boss gave me to do step by step, I loved it and ran with it and HE appreciated it. We all need a right hand man. I wish you luck. PC

Been pretty slow around here since the end of June. Going on 6 weeks now. You want me to come catch up all your repair work? Sell some roofs? I can sell and/or perform repairs but I'm not set up for replacing roofs. It's only 700 miles. :blink:

Thanks for the replies guys. I met this lady back in 2000 when she hired me to put the roof on her house. They were doing a major addition and she was doing all of the GC work herself. Very smart girl. Her kids are in high school and her husband has the insurance so there would be no benefits. I have decided on $21 and we'll se how things go. It sure would be nice to be able to get to the point where she can take some of this load off my hands.

Never been so far behind. Almost 1000 calls/leads this year already. Just 5 years ago I didn't get that many calls in a whole year. I have created a monster and am working on changing some employees roles. I shouldn't complain, but hate to waste the talent. :laugh:

My accountant has told me time and time again, that my bookkeeper/office mgr. is overpaid.

I find it hard to put a value on someone you trust completely, which I do.

Size of the operation makes a big difference, but all I say is this: If you want to grow, your time has to be free to make it grow, don't hamper yourself by not paying her, in money and benefits, what it will take to keep her if she is completely trustworthy and completely competent to the job.

That might not help much, since I didn't give you a dollar value, but I don't discuss employee salaries online. You can email me if you want more detail.

I'm with Chuck. In my area, you'd have people lining up for miles for $14/hr, but most would piss you off instantly or quietly behind your back.

I think $14/hr would be good with perks, especially if she could work from home on occasion. Depends on if she is a dedicated mother, but that could be a very big draw. Bad part of salary is how slow you might get this winter, but I'm sure you've considered that.

$14/hr also leaves room for increases, maybe at the one year mark.

Way back when when I had a full office staff the wages were bit higher, but at that time our gross income was over 12 mil per year I always looked at it as I would rather give the employees salary and benefits rather than give it to Uncle Sam lol When we closed up I found out that we had overpaid the IRS 20 grand, lol Ever try to get your money back lol After all the heat I caused them I got the proper and personal audit lol What a joke, I wonder if that dingaling Lerner had something to do with because of my party affiliation lol Never got a penny back lol just a few arguments with the local IRS manager and they used the B/S power and called the security to have me removed what a day I loved it lol B)

Benefits may be more important then more money. Work hours is one. My office can be a virtual office if need be. This may be a benefit that someone with a child can work from home.

Around here they would be pulling each others hair out to see who gets that $14 an hour. But if you think you have a really good one, I would pay "more than the average going rate in your area" in an effort to keep her around as long as possible. During the slower times you'll think its not worth it but during the really busy times you'll know without a doubt that it is. Just remember it all averages out over time.

I once made the mistake of placing an ad for a secretary in the metro news paper along with my cell phone number. It was the very first time I had ever advertised for a secretary. I learned really fast why all the other ads said "send resume to blank address" :laugh: