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The differences between supervisors and team leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a supervisor, becoming a team leader takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a team leader has an average salary of $68,817, which is higher than the $53,902 average annual salary of a supervisor.
The top three skills for a supervisor include customer service, safety procedures and sales floor. The most important skills for a team leader are customer service, ladders, and patients.
| Supervisor | Team Leader | |
| Yearly salary | $53,902 | $68,817 |
| Hourly rate | $25.91 | $33.09 |
| Growth rate | - | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 224,920 | 197,336 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 46 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
Supervisors are responsible for overseeing the daily functions of employees in a specific team, department, or even a work shift. They create work schedules, organize work processes and workflows, train new hires, provide necessary reports related to the team function and the employees, monitor and evaluate employee performance, and ensure that goals of the specific team or department are met. When needed, supervisors also provide guidance to employees in terms of their career or even personal challenges. They also help in fostering harmonious work relationships by resolving interpersonal conflicts at work. To be successful in their role, they must have leadership skills, time management skills, decision-making capabilities, analytical skills, and problem-solving skills.
Team leaders are responsible for managing a team for a specific project or work component. They primarily guide the team members and ensure that they are still working towards the set goals. Team leaders create strategies to reach goals, cascade the goals and strategies to team members, assign tasks, conduct periodic check-ups on the roadmap towards the goals, foster an engaging work environment, motivate and coach team members, monitor team performance, evaluate the strategies and come up with mitigating plans as needed. They are also responsible for reporting the team's progress to higher management.
Supervisors and team leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Supervisor | Team Leader | |
| Average salary | $53,902 | $68,817 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $92,000 | Between $37,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Reed Smith | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | - |
There are a few differences between a supervisor and a team leader in terms of educational background:
| Supervisor | Team Leader | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi |
Here are the differences between supervisors' and team leaders' demographics:
| Supervisor | Team Leader | |
| Average age | 46 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.8% Female, 44.2% | Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 4.6% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 7.2% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 9% |