Area supervisor vs associate/team lead

The differences between area supervisors and associate/team leads can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an area supervisor and an associate/team lead. Additionally, an associate/team lead has an average salary of $54,721, which is higher than the $40,965 average annual salary of an area supervisor.

The top three skills for an area supervisor include ladders, cleanliness and sales floor. The most important skills for an associate/team lead are excellent interpersonal, product knowledge, and quality standards.

Area supervisor vs associate/team lead overview

	Area Supervisor	Associate/Team Lead
Yearly salary	$40,965	$54,721
Hourly rate	$19.69	$26.31
Growth rate	6%	-
Number of jobs	106,356	247,018
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	6	6

What does an area supervisor do?

An area supervisor opens and closes the store, maintains a comfortable and friendly shop environment, and supervises associates. Area supervisors are responsible for keeping track of daily operations in the business. They are in charge of the maintenance, production, and other work performed in certain areas. Their responsibilities include the recruitment and training of staff, solving customer issues, updating records, and completing other tasks assigned by directors. It is also their responsibility to schedule the work hours of employees.

What does an associate/team lead do?

An associate/team lead oversees the performance of team members while ensuring that clients get to receive optimal services. Their responsibilities typically include establishing guidelines and objectives, managing schedules, generating leads, performing market research and analysis, and developing strategies to optimize the daily operations. They may communicate with clients and assist them by identifying their needs, answering inquiries, and resolving issues and concerns. Moreover, as an associate/team lead, it is essential to guide and encourage staff to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.

Area supervisor vs associate/team lead salary

Area supervisors and associate/team leads have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Area Supervisor	Associate/Team Lead
Average salary	$40,965	$54,721
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $61,000	Between $28,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	Lancaster, PA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Alaska	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Tesla	Citi
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	-

Differences between area supervisor and associate/team lead education

There are a few differences between an area supervisor and an associate/team lead in terms of educational background:

	Area Supervisor	Associate/Team Lead
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi

Area supervisor vs associate/team lead demographics

Here are the differences between area supervisors' and associate/team leads' demographics:

	Area Supervisor	Associate/Team Lead
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 58.4% Female, 41.6%	Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 6.5% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 7.0% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between area supervisor and associate/team lead duties and responsibilities

Area supervisor example responsibilities.

Promote from associate to manage several departments including jewelry, housewares, automotive and electronics.
Demonstrate resourcefulness and imagination when managing professional responsibilities.
Schedule and lead safety meetings par OSHA regulations.
Train new and current employees run reports and stats for upper management.
Handle work flow, assign tasks, train new associates, run administrative machines.
Review laboratory documents and test paperwork to ensure the information is accurate and GMP compliant.

Associate/team lead example responsibilities.

Accomplish requirements, allocating resources, scheduling and coordinating staff and assure accuracy of payroll.
Ensure all sales transactions, refunds and POS system function smoothly and take corrective action when necessary.
Process sales transactions, POS, credit applications, discounts, trade-in allowances, warranties and delivery dates.
Provide leadership and mentoring of team members to increase productivity while ensuring accuracy.
Handle inbound/outbound escalate customer complaints, including executive escalations from various levels of leadership.
Aggregate, analyze and organize information from QC reports into a department-wide WIKI to facilitate information sharing and best practice utilization.

Area supervisor vs associate/team lead skills

Common area supervisor skills

Ladders, 17%
Cleanliness, 16%
Sales Floor, 15%
Front End, 13%
Loss Prevention, 10%
Bank Deposits, 9%

Common associate/team lead skills

Excellent Interpersonal, 18%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Quality Standards, 9%
Leadership, 7%
Math, 6%
Customer Satisfaction, 6%

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Area Supervisor
Area Supervisor vs Associate/Team Lead

Updated January 8, 2025

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