Office worker vs office specialist

The differences between office workers and office specialists 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 specialist. Additionally, an office worker has an average salary of $41,003, which is higher than the $33,477 average annual salary of an office specialist.

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

Office worker vs office specialist overview

	Office Worker	Office Specialist
Yearly salary	$41,003	$33,477
Hourly rate	$19.71	$16.09
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	84,397	98,760
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
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 specialist do?

An office specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the organization's daily operations. Office specialists must be highly organizational, as well as having excellent time-management skills to handle work units. They have duties including data entry procedures, greeting visitors, responding to customers' inquiries through phone calls and e-mails, and filing and sorting documents. Office specialists are responsible for creating meeting reports, scheduling appointments, evaluating financial statements, coordinating with other staff for event planning, and assisting the senior management with complex functions.

Office worker vs office specialist salary

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

	Office Worker	Office Specialist
Average salary	$41,003	$33,477
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $71,000	Between $25,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	California	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Fred Hutch	Brookhaven National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Education	Finance

Differences between office worker and office specialist education

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

	Office Worker	Office Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Office worker vs office specialist demographics

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

	Office Worker	Office Specialist
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 28.2% Female, 71.8%	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%
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, 8.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 8.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between office worker and office specialist 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 specialist example responsibilities.

Provide support for enrolling patients into health coverage programs and manage sensitive patient information to ensure accuracy and confidentiality.
Manage and maintain patients' medical records by utilizing computer applications management database processing system to ensure county compliance.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Provide assistance to office staff including preparing and proofreading memos and grants, transcribing meeting minutes for staff and answering phones.
Perform multiple bookkeeping duties including departmental payroll, print financial reports and other financial material as needed.
Communicate HIPAA compliance to staff, field and outside agencies.

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Office worker vs office specialist skills

Common office worker skills

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

Common office specialist skills

Customer Service, 18%
Data Entry, 10%
Patients, 9%
Office Equipment, 6%
Phone Calls, 6%
Word Processing, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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