CLERICAL - Roles of Clerical Staff

By Jay Mills, eHow Contributor


Clerical staff, also known as administrative or support staff, are critical components to achieving the mission of an organization. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest number of job openings every year reside among the clerical profession. With the ever-growing technology boom, clerical staff are assuming more roles that were once held for professional and managerial staff. While faxing, copying and scanning are still a part of clerk's duties, the overall job responsibilities have expanded in recent years.

Working With Computers

• Today's clerical staff is tackling more complicated projects such as spreadsheet creation, company database maintenance, digital graphics creation and advanced PowerPoint presentations. Advanced computer software skills are becoming a must for clerical staff.

  
  

Organizational Efficiency

• Clerical staff also assume the role of providing organizational clarity for the company. This can be seen in many forms and may go unnoticed unless things fall apart along the way. Secretaries and administrative assistants are responsible for planning meetings and coordinating with the included parties schedules. They organize electronic files and important paperwork. Many times they are given the responsibility of managing important company projects as well as corresponding with the necessary parties through email, telephone or mail.

  
  

  Administrative Duties

  • An administrative assistant is also expected to know how to operate office machinery such as the copy machine, fax, scanner, video conferencing equipment and multiline phone system. Her daily work load can be very task-oriented and change significantly from day to day. Whatever pressing need at the moment might dominate her day and time, all the while pushing back other important projects. Some days could even include a full day of data entry at the computer to get the right information into the company database.

    
    

  New Staff Orientation

  • In certain environments, the new staff orientation responsibilities fall to the clerical staff. They dispense the necessary new hire paperwork and explain benefits, taxes, vacation time and insurance. They may also set up the new employee into the payroll system and provide training information. In larger settings, they might even operate a new hire class, which is more like a teacher and student setting.

    
    

  Executive Assistance

  • Assisting any company executives is an important role that some clerical staff do on a daily basis. They are expected to efficiently set up video or teleconferences, make travel arrangements and accommodations, screen phone calls, write reports, prepare agendas and even conduct research.