Office managers are below average when it comes to happiness.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, office managers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 21% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy office managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Fundraiser | 2.9 | $61k |
| Property manager | 2.9 | $46k |
| Real estate appraiser | 2.9 | $55k |
| Lodging manager | 2.9 | $47k |
| Operations research analyst | 2.9 | $65k |
| Office manager | 2.9 | $36k |
| Merchandiser | 2.9 | $26k |
| Purchasing manager | 2.9 | $70k |
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $69k |
| Energy broker | 2.8 | $55k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are office managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do office managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as office managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are office manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are office managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are office managers happy with their salary?
Office managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Office managers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked office managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
5570 office managers
10% of office managers rated their compensation 5 stars
23% of office managers rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of office managers rated their compensation 3 stars
23% of office managers rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of office managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do office managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, office managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.4/5. The majority of office managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked office managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.4 out of 5 stars
5576 office managers
8% of office managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
13% of office managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of office managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of office managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
29% of office managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as office managers?
Office managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of office managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked office managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
6003 office managers
29% of office managers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of office managers rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of office managers rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of office managers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of office managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an office manager’s work environment?
As a whole, office managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of office managers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an office manager.
We asked office managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
5992 office managers
21% of office managers rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of office managers rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of office managers rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of office managers rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of office managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are office managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former office managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Office managers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked office managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
5996 office managers
11% of office managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
19% of office managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of office managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
26% of office managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
18% of office managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars