Administrative functional support vs administrative staff

The differences between administrative functional supports and administrative staff can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an administrative functional support, becoming an administrative staff takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an administrative staff has an average salary of $77,101, which is higher than the $54,677 average annual salary of an administrative functional support.

The top three skills for an administrative functional support include generate reports, human resources and functional unit processes. The most important skills for an administrative staff are telephone calls, word processing, and travel arrangements.

Administrative functional support vs administrative staff overview

	Administrative Functional Support	Administrative Staff
Yearly salary	$54,677	$77,101
Hourly rate	$26.29	$37.07
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	103,296	119,030
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	47	50
Years of experience	6	2

What does an administrative functional support do?

Administrative functional supports generally work on clerical activities like preparing documents and reports, scheduling meetings, analyzing data for budgetary expenditures, etc. These professionals keep their organization's confidential information, act as middlemen between internal and external contacts, and organize special events or programs. They assist in the production, designing, and development of company publications. Also, they are in charge of cascading routine and general information about process updates and standard procedures to the staff. There are four levels of work on this job, each requiring a different degree of experience and education.

What does an administrative staff do?

As the administrative staff, they primarily provide administrative and secretarial support for the department. Typically, they do report-writing, filing and scheduling, and payroll. They plan department weekly meetings, schedule conference calls, and work on solving administrative related concerns and issues. They do a complex task that involves multi-tasking from the preparation of department reports, analyzing data, and finding solutions. It is a requirement to be an experienced, collaborator, and trained cross-functional communicator. Moreover, other duties will include scheduling company-initiated activities, meetings, and events.

Administrative functional support vs administrative staff salary

Administrative functional supports and administrative staff have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Administrative Functional Support	Administrative Staff
Average salary	$54,677	$77,101
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $84,000	Between $58,000 And $101,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	NVIDIA
Best paying industry	-	Professional

Differences between administrative functional support and administrative staff education

There are a few differences between an administrative functional support and an administrative staff in terms of educational background:

	Administrative Functional Support	Administrative Staff
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	University of Pennsylvania

Administrative functional support vs administrative staff demographics

Here are the differences between administrative functional supports' and administrative staff' demographics:

	Administrative Functional Support	Administrative Staff
Average age	47	50
Gender ratio	Male, 30.0% Female, 70.0%	Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between administrative functional support and administrative staff duties and responsibilities

Administrative functional support example responsibilities.

Assist SVP with managing transition to effectively disband correspondent department and close office.
Register new patients and update existing patient's demographics by collecting patient detail patient's information including personal and financial information.
Process subpoenas and unemployment claims.

Administrative staff example responsibilities.

Support medical doctors, manage sensitive and confidential records pertaining to high risk patients with emphasis on accuracy.
Prepare PowerPoint presentations for management distribution.
Maintain payroll information by collect, calculate and enter data.
Prepare briefing slides and presentation material using PowerPoint and Visio.
Maintain accounting statements, databases, and other financial information such as payroll coding and budget preparation
Provide cloud base customer relationship management with Salesforce for optimization in coordination of the workforce development program and other community orient events

Administrative functional support vs administrative staff skills

Common administrative functional support skills

Generate Reports, 16%
Human Resources, 13%
Functional Unit Processes, 9%
Word Processing, 7%
SharePoint, 6%
Business, 5%

Common administrative staff skills

Telephone Calls, 19%
Word Processing, 16%
Travel Arrangements, 7%
Payroll, 6%
Personnel Actions, 6%
Financial Reports, 5%

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Administrative Functional Support
Administrative Functional Support vs Administrative Staff

Updated January 8, 2025

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