Evaluating Administrative Staffing Using KPIs

Effective administrative work, whether it’s by an administrative assistant or a higher level administrator who’s charged with running a business unit, is mandatory if the business is going to do well.

Administrative assistants are responsible for tasks like preparing and storing documents, organizing workspaces and scheduling meetings. More advanced duties, including bookkeeping and budget planning, can also be part of an administrative role. Higher-level administrators are often in charge of creating and maintaining systems for entire business units, like the IT or HR department.

In all cases the person in the administrative role needs to have the skills and the personality to stay organized, on task, and keep the workflow moving. The practical work that administrators do is fundamental to the sound operation of the rest of the company, whether it’s because the CEO has the back-up they need or because the staff gets paid on time and always has the correct office supplies available.

So how do you know if your administrative staffing is effective? One way is to use measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to evaluate the work of staff in administrative positions.

What are the best KPIs to assess administrative staffing job performance?

When it comes to creating KPIs to measure administrative staffing job performance, it’s important to measure effectiveness and quality, rather than quantity. An administrator can’t show they are doing a great job by meeting or exceeding sales goals. Instead, they need to demonstrate that the work they do meets the needs of management and the team and enables the business to run smoothly.

These are three top KPIs for administrative staff.

1. Organization

Remote work and flexible schedules are part of today’s work world, but that doesn’t mean that basic organizational skills aren’t necessary. In fact, with less structure around the work day it’s best to be more organized about the tasks that need to happen on any given day.

A few ways to measure organization are:

• There’s no need for reminders about deadlines, tasks or procedures
• Responses to requests are timely and efficient
• A system exists for dealing with information and task management, either digitally or on paper
• Schedules are respected and maintained unless there’s an unusual circumstance
• Attention to detail

If a member of the administrative staffing team can create systems that translate across jobs or even business units, that’s a huge benefit to the entire company and well worth noting.

2. Communication

A good administrator needs to be able to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing. Because of the nature of many administrative jobs, it’s also important that the person in the position be able to flex to the communication styles of both managers and coworkers.

Ways to measure a communication KPI include:

• Emails are clear and concise
• Meeting notes are organized and detailed enough to be useful
• Messages and conversations are timely and on topic
• Office challenges are addressed proactively and professionally, either through a conversation or in writing
• Written materials like reports and updates are grammatically correct with no spelling errors

One way an administrative staff member can really stand out is by proofreading and editing communications that have been drafted by other team members. The ability to spot a typo or grammatical error is invaluable.

3. Dependable

When it comes to administrative staffing the job descriptions aren’t often glamourous. But everyone from the executives to the sales team rely on administrators for support. Dependable people are not just reliable, but trustworthy, and trust is key to good relationships.

How is dependability a KPI? It’s observable and, as important, very noticeable when it’s absent. For instance:

• A dependable person will be on time, consistent, and meet deadlines
• Transparency is a given, as is ownership
• There is authenticity and sincerity in both communications and actions

KPIs, when applied to administrative staffing evaluations, give managers and employees alike the ability to measure how effective an administrator is at using their skills to meet the needs of the team. If an administrator is organized, can communicate clearly and professionally, and is dependable, “business as usual” can become business that’s unusually successful.

As one of the top recruiting agencies in Central Pennsylvania, TriStarr specializes in legal staff, accounting, IT, human resources and administrative staffing placements. Our services also include recruiting for administrative, professional and management roles and temporary staffing. Make a talent request on our website or call us at 717-560-2111 for more information.