Front office supervisors are professionals who manage the staff and operations of the areas of companies that cater to the public. These individuals can work in various industries, including healthcare and hospitality. A person who seeks to become a front office supervisor usually must have a high school diploma or the equivalent certification, although completing some college training is helpful. He or she needs to be able to lead and hire others as well as complete office duties and make sure that customers are happy.
A chief duty of a front office supervisor is to supervise all other office personnel. This type of individual makes sure that employees are completing their allotted job tasks, which might include checking customers in and out of rooms at a hotel establishment or receiving payments from patients for completed medical services in a doctor’s office. He or she answers staff questions when necessary and corrects them if they complete a particular company procedure in the wrong manner.
Hiring responsibilities also fall under the role of a leader in this career area. A front office supervisor has to recruit new employees and then interview them to see if their combination of education and past experience is a match for his or her company. He or she then needs to decide which job candidates to choose and train them on his or her organization’s policies and protocols.
An individual in this field not only must be good at leading employees, but also be willing to help out when necessary in addition to overseeing financial tasks. For this reason, he or she needs to understand how the organization operates. If working in healthcare, a front office supervisor has to be comfortable with completing tasks such as filing medical insurance claims and confirming patients for upcoming appointments. A professional who works at a hotel should be able to assign open rooms to guests. In addition, he or she typically is responsible for the money that comes into the organization and thus must complete closing cashier reports and make sure that all payments are processed accurately and in a timely manner.
Confirming strong customer service at his or her business additionally is a valuable task in this industry. The front office supervisor ultimately assumes responsibility for making sure that guests at his or her establishment are satisfied with the service that they receive from the personnel there. He or she does this by watching how front office staff members treat customers in person and via telephone, and responding to guest complaints immediately.
