Key holder vs associate/team lead

The differences between key holders 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 a key holder and an associate/team lead. Additionally, an associate/team lead has an average salary of $54,721, which is higher than the $31,779 average annual salary of a key holder.

The top three skills for a key holder include sales floor, product knowledge and visual standards. The most important skills for an associate/team lead are excellent interpersonal, product knowledge, and quality standards.

Key holder vs associate/team lead overview

	Key Holder	Associate/Team Lead
Yearly salary	$31,779	$54,721
Hourly rate	$15.28	$26.31
Growth rate	-6%	-
Number of jobs	431,956	247,018
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	6	6

What does a key holder do?

A keyholder is responsible for ensuring the store's daily security before and after the operation. Keyholders' duties include assisting with administrative tasks, handling customers' inquiries, managing and escalating customers' complaints, monitoring the alarm system, keeping track of the deliveries, supporting staff training, cooperating in company's events, and recommending operational strategies to meet business goals and objectives. A keyholder must have excellent customer service and time-management skills, as well as the ability to multi-task, especially during high customer volume.

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.

Key holder vs associate/team lead salary

Key holders and associate/team leads have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Key Holder	Associate/Team Lead
Average salary	$31,779	$54,721
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $39,000	Between $28,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Wisconsin	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Connecticut Children's Medical Center	Citi
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	-

Differences between key holder and associate/team lead education

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

	Key Holder	Associate/Team Lead
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi

Key holder vs associate/team lead demographics

Here are the differences between key holders' and associate/team leads' demographics:

	Key Holder	Associate/Team Lead
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 28.1% Female, 71.9%	Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.6% White, 61.4% 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 key holder and associate/team lead duties and responsibilities

Key holder example responsibilities.

Achieve and exceed store and company sales and KPI goals.
Manage monetary transactions and POS operations.
Used upselling techniques daily when selling gaming systems and accessories.
Maintain operational duties in the manager's absence including scheduling and review of KPI reports.
Used social networking, such as Facebook, to keep customers update on new arrivals and merchandise.
Maintain a cleanly environment for customers, employees, and other animals, especially after any pet messes.

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.

Key holder vs associate/team lead skills

Common key holder skills

Sales Floor, 18%
Product Knowledge, 11%
Visual Standards, 9%
Bank Deposits, 7%
Loss Prevention, 7%
Store Management, 6%

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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Key Holder
Key Holder vs Associate/Team Lead

Updated January 8, 2025

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