Office worker vs office assistant

The differences between office workers and office assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an office worker and an office assistant. Additionally, an office worker has an average salary of $41,003, which is higher than the $31,517 average annual salary of an office assistant.

The top three skills for an office worker include data entry, administrative tasks and powerpoint. The most important skills for an office assistant are data entry, patients, and customer service.

Office worker vs office assistant overview

	Office Worker	Office Assistant
Yearly salary	$41,003	$31,517
Hourly rate	$19.71	$15.15
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	84,397	103,293
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does an office worker do?

An office worker is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of the business. Office workers assist in receiving calls to respond to the clients' inquiries and concerns, as well as welcoming visitors, verifying their appointments, and leading them to the appropriate personnel and department for their business needs. They also do data processing, sorting mail, and filing documents for easy retrieval and reference, especially during meetings and company activities.

What does an office assistant do?

Office assistants perform various tasks to ensure that the business runs organized and efficient. An office assistant must possess excellent communication and multi-tasking skills to handle essential duties such as scheduling meetings, monitoring office supplies, storing documents and necessary paperwork, handling customer inquiries and appointments, coordinating in company events, and accomplishing other clerical tasks and administrative support. Office assistants are also required to communicate any observation that would possibly make an impact on the company's performance.

Office worker vs office assistant salary

Office workers and office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Office Worker	Office Assistant
Average salary	$41,003	$31,517
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $71,000	Between $24,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	California	Vermont
Best paying company	Fred Hutch	Analysis Group
Best paying industry	Education	Government

Differences between office worker and office assistant education

There are a few differences between an office worker and an office assistant in terms of educational background:

	Office Worker	Office Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Office worker vs office assistant demographics

Here are the differences between office workers' and office assistants' demographics:

	Office Worker	Office Assistant
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 28.2% Female, 71.8%	Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 7.8% White, 60.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between office worker and office assistant duties and responsibilities

Office worker example responsibilities.

Manage daily office operations maintaining accurate records for payroll and other checks.
Train in installing windows, showers and glass into homes and commercial businesses.
Used QuickBooks to accurately compute and produce invoices to be mail to various customer companies.
Serve as office secretary, organizing files, answering phones, delivering payroll and deposits, organize incoming mail and invoices.
Assist patients with sensitive and detail orient documentation, schedule appointments and verify insurance benefits.
Operate 10-key calculators, typewriters, and copy machines to perform calculations and produce documents.

Office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage filing, photocopying, collating, and faxing public and seal case documents.
Manage CI s SharePoint pages and serve as CI s subject matter expert on SharePoint working groups.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Compile payroll records, detect and reconcile discrepancies, accurately report outcomes using QuickBooks.
Maintain office services by organizing office operations and procedures, preparing payroll, controlling correspondences, and designing filing systems.
File client paperwork upholding HIPAA standards.

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Office worker vs office assistant skills

Common office worker skills

Data Entry, 28%
Administrative Tasks, 22%
PowerPoint, 18%
Payroll, 16%
Customer Service, 4%
Telephone Calls, 2%

Common office assistant skills

Data Entry, 16%
Patients, 14%
Customer Service, 9%
Telephone Calls, 7%
Scheduling Appointments, 6%
Front Desk, 6%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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