What does a supervisor do?

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.
Supervisor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real supervisor resumes:
- Lead continuous process improvement and six sigma teams to meet ISO 9001 and QS 9000 standards.
- Manage and implement merchandising strategy for POS marketing and display inventory.
- Lead comprehensive training for each new volunteer or court-mandate worker regarding OSHA regulations and warehouse procedure.
- Organize care with 6 CNAs.
- Coordinate lifeguard duty schedule for all pools.
- Maintain cleanliness throughout kitchen, coolers, and freezer areas.
- Supervise 5 CNAs to ensure the timely and accurate completion of tasks.
- Assist night personnel in breaking down, to place items on to the proper aisle pallets.
- Create an entirely new marketing strategy complete with press kits, stickers, merchandise, apparel, and takeaways.
- Conduct in-service seminars, maintain staff scheduling and perform CPR, ventilator care, arterial puncture and treat pulmonary disease patients.
- Repair, sort, and move pallets, ensure inventory and stock are readily available, ship and receive trucks and pallets
- Implement ISO procedures for manufacturing area.
- Maintain current CPR certification and provide intervention for clients as needed
- Skil at operating computerize cash registers, scanners and affiliate POS system
- Ensure that OSHA safety regulations and chemical handling/storage procedures are follow.
Supervisor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Supervisors are proficient in Customer Service, Safety Procedures, and Sales Floor.
We break down the percentage of Supervisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 11%
Provided an exceptional in-store customer service experience through proactively engaging with and working to make the customer satisfied in every interaction.
- Safety Procedures, 9%
Coordinated closely with prescribed safety procedures and federal laws regulating waste disposal methods and quality control regarding products awaiting dispositions.
- Sales Floor, 9%
Managed key-holder responsibilities: store opening/closing reconciling cash, daily operations, point-of- sale procedures; day-to-day merchandising of sales floor.
- POS, 9%
Managed and implemented merchandising strategy for POS marketing and display inventory.
- Direct Supervision, 9%
Job entailed direct supervision of employees: assigning daily operations, processing, troubleshooting quality problems and completing required documentation.
- Payroll, 5%
Prepared bi-weekly pay files and submitted to corporate, completed payroll reconciliation and required reporting.
Most supervisors use their skills in "customer service," "safety procedures," and "sales floor" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential supervisor responsibilities here:
The three companies that hire the most supervisors are:
- Bath & Body Works470 supervisors jobs
- UPS224 supervisors jobs
- Barnes & Noble212 supervisors jobs
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Supervisor vs. Field operations supervisor
Field operations supervisors are professionals who supervise staff members to ensure that an organization is running smoothly and effectively to produce increased sales and profits. These supervisors are required to develop operational policies and procedures to increase business growth while implementing best practices to improve operational efficiency. They must participate in creating an annual budget so that they can manage expenses within the assigned budget. Field operations supervisors must also prepare effective training programs and conduct performance evaluations of the office staff.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between supervisors and field operations supervisor. For instance, supervisor responsibilities require skills such as "sales floor," "pos," "payroll," and "store operations." Whereas a field operations supervisor is skilled in "customer satisfaction," "eeo," "osha," and "tcp ip." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Field operations supervisors really shine in the utilities industry with an average salary of $69,024. Comparatively, supervisors tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $60,088.The education levels that field operations supervisors earn slightly differ from supervisors. In particular, field operations supervisors are 1.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a supervisor. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Supervisor vs. Shift production supervisor
A shift production supervisor is in charge of overseeing business operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities revolve around devising strategies to reach production standards and production targets, supervising and assessing staff performance, delegating tasks, managing schedules, and prioritizing customer satisfaction. They may also produce progress reports and presentations, address and resolve any issues or concerns, and train new workforce members. Furthermore, as a supervisor, it is essential to lead and encourage team members, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, supervisor responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "sales floor," "pos," and "direct supervision." Meanwhile, a shift production supervisor has duties that require skills in areas such as "continuous improvement," "lean manufacturing," "osha," and "lean six sigma." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, shift production supervisors earn a lower salary than supervisors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, shift production supervisors earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $37,043. Whereas supervisors have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $60,088.shift production supervisors earn similar levels of education than supervisors in general. They're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Supervisor vs. Customer service supervisor
A customer service supervisor is responsible for directing the staff in providing the best services to the customers. Customer service supervisors' duties include evaluating the performance of the service staff, implementing strategic procedures to improve operations, developing promotional offers and products to increase the business' revenues, keeping documents of operation records, and assisting with customer's inquiries and complaints. A customer service supervisor must have exceptional leadership and decision-making skills to lead the service staff with daily operations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, supervisors are more likely to have skills like "safety procedures," "direct supervision," "store operations," and "cpr." But a customer service supervisor is more likely to have skills like "strong customer service," "customer care," "customer support," and "front end."
Customer service supervisors make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $38,952. On the other hand, supervisors are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $60,088.customer service supervisors typically earn similar educational levels compared to supervisors. Specifically, they're 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Supervisor vs. Team leader/supervisor
A team leader or supervisor is an individual who leads and supervises a workgroup's functionality through instructions and guidance in an organization. Team leaders provide support to staff members by way of coaching and skills development. They are responsible for preventing and resolving conflicts among staff members by setting ground rules and assigning tasks properly. They also organize team meetings and report the progress of a project to the management. Since they lead a workforce, team leaders must possess excellent verbal communication skills and have a great work ethic.
Types of supervisor
Updated January 8, 2025











