How much to pay

dravnx

dravnx

Well-known member
My office manager is leaving and I need a new one. I have no idea how much to start a new employee.
Office manager does AP, AR, shipping, receiving, filing FAA paperwork, etc. it is part time about 20 hours/week.
Present office manager gets $35/hour and I feel that is on the high side but she has been with me for 16 years and pretty much runs my business.
 
M

motomania2007

TC/MSF/CMSP/ Instructor
I have always thought of employee's pay in these terms:
1) how vital is the employee
2) how difficult is it to find candidates with the needed skillset
3) how difficult is it to train the employee to do the work I need them to do
4) intangibles of how well we work together

I have hired many legal assistants over the years. A good one is worth a lot and is hard to find and relatively easy to train. The intangibles always take time and therefore I always hire them with a 90 day probationary period.
If I have doubts, I start them low on the pay scale. You can always give them raises and bonuses.
 
RS250 Chester

RS250 Chester

Well-known member
dravnx said:
My office manager is leaving and I need a new one. I have no idea how much to start a new employee.
Office manager does AP, AR, shipping, receiving, filing FAA paperwork, etc. it is part time about 20 hours/week.
Present office manager gets $35/hour and I feel that is on the high side but she has been with me for 16 years and pretty much runs my business.
Click to expand...

I would ask myself the following questions:

Why did person leave? For a higher paying job? If so, am I paying too low for the skillset in my market?

Can you afford to spend the time, money, energy to train someone new, especially paying a lower scale where that person may be a little "greener".
 
byke

byke

Well-known member
I love small outfit multi-position work and would happily take a part-time job like that out here for $25/hr. It's really about finding the right person more than all the proper wage metrics.
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
We had a really good cad guy quit two weeks ago. They weren't paying him much and its a bitch that he's gone. Dude was the only one on top of all the software now 3 guys have to fill the gaps. He will be hard to replace but had they given him a fair pay he'd still be there.
 
dravnx

dravnx

Well-known member
My office manager is leaving the state as she and her husband are looking for a lower cost of living.
It's very amicable and she will be here to train the new office manager. That means I'll be paying 2 office managers for a few weeks. I'm OK with that because I think in the long run, the training period will be much shorter.
 
JesasaurusRex

JesasaurusRex

Deleted User
Blankpage said:
We had a really good cad guy quit two weeks ago. They weren't paying him much and its a bitch that he's gone. Dude was the only one on top of all the software now 3 guys have to fill the gaps. He will be hard to replace but had they given him a fair pay he'd still be there.
Click to expand...
Funny how that works
 
Climber

Climber

Well-known member
Blankpage said:
We had a really good cad guy quit two weeks ago. They weren't paying him much and its a bitch that he's gone. Dude was the only one on top of all the software now 3 guys have to fill the gaps. He will be hard to replace but had they given him a fair pay he'd still be there.
Click to expand...
I learned a long time ago that managers will never (or very, very rarely) give somebody a raise unless they ask for it, demand it or are in the process of leaving. They rarely ever give you a raise because you're worth far more than you're getting paid but haven't asked for one. Also, if they feel like you won't leave if they don't give you a raise, many of them won't give you one. More money for their raises.
 
Pushrod

Pushrod

Well-known member
Oh, man.

Our plant HAD to fire the maintenance manager and his two guys because of legal exposures. I got pulled out of my delivery truck and stuck into the breech because my motorcycle (the owner knew I built it) was so nice.

It took a month but I got all the processing machinery back into function mode, got the paperwork squared away and got prepped for the coming audit.

Passed the audit with great numbers.

At review time I had to corner the owner to get a raise. Rinse, repeat every quarter.

Because of networking with vendors I heard of a better position and went for it. Got it too. When I submitted my resignation the owner got angry. Sensing an advantage I offered to stay for more than the new position offered. He bit. I stayed. He got over his anger but I then knew how to play him.

Now I play the game just for the sport.

Notice to front office guys: First you build the people, then the people build the business. There is no other way forward.
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
I got a $10K raise a few years ago when I gave two weeks notice of leaving.
Was the first time I ever asked for more money at any job. I usually just accept whatever offer I agreed to.
Looking back I wish I had left. Would be working in LA now and who wouldn't want to commute in LA traffic.
 
Brokenlink

Brokenlink

Banned
Climber said:
I learned a long time ago that managers will never (or very, very rarely) give somebody a raise unless they ask for it, demand it or are in the process of leaving. They rarely ever give you a raise because you're worth far more than you're getting paid but haven't asked for one. Also, if they feel like you won't leave if they don't give you a raise, many of them won't give you one. More money for their raises.
Click to expand...

I got a mid-year increase last year out of the blue.
 
D

dagle

Well-known member
personally, if i were you OP i'd try my darnedest to retain her simply because 16 years of trust is worth whatever she needs to stay. i've interacted with 3 office managers in the past 4 startups that did shady things (on the list of things: stolen money traced to a personal bank account, forged dr note to get time off, fudging receipts and the difference missing).

The value that a good OM/EA/AA can bring is worth six figures and full-time bennies IMO. If that's out of budget, I would try to look for someone in-network that is trustable and treat them well.
 
dravnx

dravnx

Well-known member
Reama, Thats what I'm thinking.
I wish I could retain her. It's a part time job and I can't give her enough to survive in Marin, at least that's what she's telling me. Her and her husband own a few properties and have been in their house for 31 years. I think there are other things going on that she's not telling me.
 
SFSV650

SFSV650

The Slowest Sprotbike™
My last office always paid about $19/hr + discounted parking for a receptionist / office manager / admin assistant / event planner / assistant bookkeeper / occasional nanny.

I think they had to replace that person 6 times in 4 years. YMMV, but it probably won't. :rofl
 
ThumperX

ThumperX

Well-known member
dravnx said:
Reama, Thats what I'm thinking.
I wish I could retain her. It's a part time job and I can't give her enough to survive in Marin, at least that's what she's telling me. Her and her husband own a few properties and have been in their house for 31 years. I think there are other things going on that she's not telling me.
Click to expand...

Every single bit of my office work I can do on my boat. Is there any way she can work remotely for you? Get a dedicated cell with your business number (we did) buy her a dedicated laptop and let her rip?
 
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