Receptionists vs. Administrative Assistants: What You Need to Know

40% of business leaders agree that unclear roles and responsibilities are one of the causes of operational inefficiency.

(McKinsey & Company)

Receptionists and administrative assistants have one thing in common: they play vital roles in maintaining the administrative functions of your business.

With that said, you may have come across a “receptionist vs. administrative assistant” debate with yourself. Their roles seem so similar – which one should you get?

Before you make a decision, you must know the similarities and differences between receptionists and administrative assistants to ensure not only that you hire for the right role but also that you clearly define the parameters of their work.

Similarities Between Receptionists And Administrative Assistants

Receptionists and administrative assistants can share similar functions. Many of their core responsibilities revolve around maintaining and optimizing the workflow of the departments in the company.

This involves administrative tasks that help streamline the productivity of the business. These include:

• Answering calls
• Responding to emails
• Scheduling appointments
• Communicating among departments
• Managing files/database of the company

Depending on the company, receptionists and administrative assistants can both also play an integral role in managing customer relationships, including providing customer service and answering customer inquiries.

Differences Between Receptionists And Administrative Assistants

On the other hand, receptionists and administrative assistants are different in fundamental and practical ways. These differences are what make the two roles distinct from each other.

Here are some of the main differences between receptionists and administrative assistants:

• Receptionists work at the front desk. Administrative assistants mainly work in the back office.
• Receptionists usually stay at the front desk to greet visitors. Administrative assistants may move throughout the office to perform their tasks.
• Receptionists can perform some administrative tasks when needed alongside their front desk work. Administrative assistants work primarily on administrative tasks.
• The workload of receptionists becomes heavy during days with a large volume of visitors. The workload of administrative assistants becomes heavy depending on how busy the back office gets.

Receptionists Or Administrative Assistants?

Receptionists and administrative assistants seem so similar that you may be hard-pressed to determine which will fit your needs. In some areas, receptionists perform better than administrative assistants and vice versa.

You can go around this with three possible solutions:

1. Hire both receptionists and administrative assistants. This can give you the best of both worlds, as they complement each other’s work. However, this can lead to additional hiring, training, and payroll costs.
2. Hire either a receptionist or an administrative assistant with additional responsibilities. This minimizes your need to hire additional manpower while covering the same ground. The drawback is that the extra workload might result in burnout for your receptionist or administrative assistant.
3. Hire either a receptionist or an administrative assistant, but delegate uncovered responsibilities to other staff. Similar to number two, you’ll hire a receptionist or administrative assistant, except you assign uncovered duties to other staff members. The downside is that you will tire out your other staff, which might cause a decline in their performance in their primary responsibilities. With organizations experiencing a burnout rate of 20-80% among staff, this is a risk you may not want to take.

The Best Of Both Worlds

If you want the best possible solution that covers both receptionist and administrative assistant roles efficiently and effectively, look no further than virtual receptionists.

Virtual receptionists are highly versatile and flexible. Besides carrying out the roles and responsibilities of both administrative assistants and receptionists, they can also do a lot more for your business, such as:

• Covering multiple locations simultaneously to ensure a consistent visitor experience
• Providing support to your teams across your locations
• Identifying and leveraging client opportunities to upsell services, increase profitability, and improve customer relationships
• Streamlining front desk operations with increased availability, allowing staff from other departments to operate seamlessly without interruption

Plus, hiring, training, and retaining virtual receptionists can be very cost-efficient in the long run. You need not look further than your current front desk team to achieve a virtual front desk that you can scale across multiple locations.

Also, because they work comfortably in their homes, they will be far less likely to experience burnout or file leave. This allows you to achieve an always-available front desk without exhausting your staff.

Determine What’s Best For Your Business

The ideal solution for your administrative operations boils down to what’s best not only for your business but also your staff. Striking the delicate balance between operational efficiency and staff satisfaction can enable your business to achieve greater heights for the long term,

Discover WelcomeWare, a video receptionist platform that enables your front desk staff to cover multiple locations remotely. Learn how WelcomeWare’s virtual receptionist kiosk solution allows you to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve your bottom line.