Office management

What office management covers in practice

The scope of office management is broad and often underestimated. Here are the 7 pillars of the profession:

1. Reception and Security. Welcoming visitors, managing badges and access, monitoring entry/exit, fire protocols, liaison with the security guard or security company. In a multi-tenant building, managing flows becomes a major challenge, especially when several companies share the same reception.

2. Maintenance and Upkeep. Managing routine interventions (plumbing, electricity, air conditioning, locksmithing), monitoring preventive maintenance contracts (lifts, fire extinguishers, ventilation), coordinating repair works.

3. Cleaning and Hygiene. Selecting and monitoring the cleaning contractor, quality control, managing sanitary consumables, specific hygiene protocols (post-Covid, shared spaces).

4. Supplier Management. Coffee, water, office supplies, printing consumables, furniture, plants, vending machines. Each supplier means a contract, orders, invoices, and follow-ups. An office manager typically manages 10 to 20 different service providers.

5. Daily Logistics. Incoming and outgoing mail, receiving and distributing parcels, parking management, taxi/ride booking, organising deliveries (furniture, IT equipment).

6. Internal Events. Organising team meetings, seminars, farewell drinks, after-work events, catering orders, room set-up. In many SMEs, the office manager is also the de facto chief happiness officer.

7. Budget Management. Tracking spending by category (cleaning, maintenance, supplies, energy), contract negotiation, invoice control, reporting to the CFO.

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Key skills of a good office manager

Operational versatility. Managing a water leak in the morning, negotiating a cleaning contract at noon, organising an after-work event in the evening, the daily routine is unpredictable. The office manager must juggle the micro (changing a light tube) and the macro (renegotiating an annual contract).

Administrative rigour. Each supplier has a contract, each intervention has a cost, each invoice must be validated. Without processes, budget overruns happen quickly, and oversights (preventive maintenance, fire extinguisher renewal) can have regulatory consequences.

People skills. The office manager is the point of contact between employees, management, service providers and sometimes the landlord. Knowing how to manage expectations, prioritise requests and communicate on timelines is essential.

Tool proficiency. Ticketing (to centralise requests), spreadsheet or budget tracking software, room booking tool, visitor management platform.

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Office management challenges in 2025-2026

Hybrid work complicates everything. When attendance varies from 40% on Fridays to 85% on Tuesdays, sizing cleaning, catering, air conditioning and reception becomes a headache. Ordering 80 lunches on Tuesday and 30 on Friday requires fine-grained planning that many companies have yet to put in place.

The multiplication of space types. Flex office, modular meeting rooms, phone booths, collaboration zones, breakout areas. The more diverse the space, the more complex the management. Each type of space has its own cleaning, maintenance and equipment needs.

Budget pressure. Finance departments ask to "do more with less". The office manager must maintain (or even improve) service quality while reducing costs. Service pooling and contract renegotiation become permanent reflexes.

Multi-company cohabitation. In shared buildings and especially in operated spaces, office management must handle the expectations of several companies with different cultures and needs. Standardisation of services and transparency on house rules are essential.

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In-house or outsourced office management?

The in-house office manager is suitable when the company exceeds 30-40 people and has specific needs (strong company culture, frequent events, enhanced security). The cost: €35,000 to €50,000 gross/year for a junior profile, €45,000 to €65,000 for an experienced profile in Paris.

The multi-service provider (facilities management) is an option for companies that want to outsource all or part of their general services: cleaning, maintenance, reception, mail.

The space operator goes even further: it integrates office management into the operated office package. The Guest does not need to hire an office manager, the Host does not need to dedicate time to an office manager for a team that is not theirs. Everything is managed by the operator via a dedicated Workplace Manager. This is the Sora model: each operated space benefits from a single point of contact who handles daily requests via a ticketing system, coordinates service providers and ensures the smooth running of the space.

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Essential tools

For ticketing: a centralised tool where employees submit their requests (breakdown, cleaning, supplies) and track progress. The Sora App allows you to centralise all your requests and their follow-up.

For room booking: Joan, Robin, Condeco, or simply Google Calendar / Outlook with automatic release rules (mandatory check-in).

For budget tracking: a spreadsheet structured by spending category (cleaning, maintenance, supplies, energy, events) with monthly monitoring. Variances are detected by comparing month by month and year by year.

For visitor management: Proxyclick, Envoy, or a simple digital register. Mandatory for fire safety (knowing who is in the building at all times).