What to think about with Start-Ups as an Office Manager
This is a blog I’ve had on my to do list for a long, long time. I was inspired to write it after a coffee meeting with a networking company who work with Private Equity start-ups, in which we talked about the office management role and how much there is to think about and consider when setting up a business and therefore, typically an office and all that comes with it for the first time…
Start-ups are companies or ventures that are focused on a single product or service that the founders want to bring to market. These companies typically don't have a fully developed business model and, more crucially, lack adequate capital to move onto the next phase of business. There’s lots of fun facts about them right here if you want to know more.
The office manager, aka… the multi-hatted, multi-tasking, jack of all, master of some (as we call it), is someone who within a business typically has so many different responsibilities: from health, safety and wellbeing to onboarding joiners, sorting out contracts if you’re also representing HR, off-boarding leavers, managing facilities, procurement and different types of contracts with these, business continuity planning, technology and upgrades, subscriptions, asset management, property and lease management, insurance, postage, printing, reception, meeting room management, DSE Assessments, contractors and works, project management, office moves and fit outs, AV equipment, keys and door access… (out of breath? Me too!) And I’ve probably missed tens of other duties.
So, when you are joining a start-up, what do you need to consider and ensure is covered? It’s important from the off to ascertain what you are responsible for in your role, and more crucially so when working with a start-up business. You are very often the first hire that the founder(s) make to help them operationally set the stage for the business to grow and evolve. There will always be a variance to these duties depending on the size, scale, sector and volume of business and also the premises they reside in e.g. from serviced offices, to leased or owned, that will likely change the landscape of your role somewhat.
Things you should be doing? Let’s go to Health and Safety for this one first: As soon as you hit five or more employees you must have written procedures for health and safety such as a general workplace risk assessment and health and safety policy, taking into account the risks of your business from day to day working in the office, and / or at home, to travel and driving. Ensure you check out your legal requirements and get these down. If you’re in a serviced office it is generally not the case that health, safety and wellbeing is fully covered by them. They are often just looking at the facilities items and life safety systems, not policies, training and DSE assessments, so don’t miss these off your to do list as you continue to grow!
Ensure you plan to grow; put simple, yet effective processes in place now so that when the volume naturally increases with the growth of your business, you are ready for it. I’ve talked about trackers before, but it is so key! Think contract trackers for all suppliers and service providers with expiry dates, contract terms, costs, contacts and so on; think joiner, leaver and health and safety trackers for onboarding ease; think induction process or framework and simple-to-confirm evidence for your records, think super-slick filing systems and structures that are future proof. Add an archive folder and policy when it feels relevant so things circa 3+ years old can move to there, depending on what the subject matter is (for finance, you’ll likely want longer). How are you going to manage a budget, even if it doesn’t feel like there is one now, this is a huge risk to start-ups and the mismanagement of money; help them and yourself by considering and researching what is relevant and right. According to the latest data, up to 90% of startups fail. Across almost all industries, the average failure rate for year one is 10%. However, in years two through five, a staggering 70% of new businesses will fail.
When we think about business continuity planning, it doesn’t need to be onerous – what can you put in place that again is simple yet effective in enabling the continuation of your business activities should something out of your control occur. It does happen! Just listen to a few of the latest episodes of The Office Manager Diaries podcast and you’ll soon hear a stories about leaks, floods and power outages.
Education around what the role is… this is another key element. It’s necessary to try to help people understand what you do and where your boundaries are, if you are happy to try and implement these, so you set the prescient now. Think dishwasher filling and clear sink, paper jams in the printer and toner changes! The saying ‘making a rod for your own back’ doesn’t come from nothing, if you start doing it, it will be a hard habit to break later down the line.
HR policies and procedures are also really crucial as you should have something comprehensive, but again not bed-time reading material, so that people coming into the business know what to expect from your personnel support and benefits or other procedures such as holidays, bonuses, compensation and pay dates, notice periods, maternity, paternity and adoption leave, equality, diversity, inclusion, reasonable access and privacy policies too. Including a candidate privacy policy for when you are hiring.
If you’re the founder or director of a start-up business, think about what stage you need to be having the office management role, a dedicated person – I’ve added some guidelines below to help. Typically a COO or the director themselves will be doing a lot of this until someone comes on board and it will be prudent to consider what other work these roles could and should be doing vs. getting someone in, even if that is part time.
For example, at 1-5 you’ll likely be focussed on the physical set up, equipment, licences and subscriptions; getting good employee contracts in place and providers externally to support the running of your business. You may have policies in place at this point for HR like handbooks, electronic usage and data protection, a hiring strategy and plan for growth, décor and maintenance if you lease the office, plus facilities support for the maintenance of these items for example, fire extinguishers, fire risk assessment, smoke and fire alarm testing, emergency light flick and annual drain down tests and so on. Insurance is key too, employee liability insurance, public liability insurance if members of the public come to your office/workplace and perhaps directors and officers, professional indemnity and contents insurance. Make sure the employee liability insurance is displayed in your office! Don’t forget cyber if this seems suitable, relevant and within budget to protect your business from these risks. There will also be the accounting side of the role, paying people (payroll), paying suppliers (accounts payable) and receiving the money into the business (accounts receivable) and all the functions and systems that go with that which will likely fall to you. Getting a low-cost but effective tool now may save you time later down the line.
At 5-15 you’ll need to get your health and safety policies and risk assessments written down (as mentioned earlier, that’s certainly a legal bit here in the UK) and ensure that you have written policies and procedures for other working elements within your business where e.g. risk is higher or you need people to be mutually agreeing to and adhering with certain practices (think travel and expense policies, lone working, holidays or overtime). You may be thinking about maternity and paternity policies and leave, employee benefits and culture more so now and starting to plan events (more over than the Thursday beers at the pub on the corner that you’d likely see in <5!) This is probably the point you should have someone coming in as a hire, if you’ve not got them already to manage and oversee these tasks, even if part time.
Above 15, you should really have most, if not all of these in place and then will need to start getting a little more proactive and manage tasks and requests or requirements at your fingertips like trackers, procurement and tender documents, contract stores to hold your agreed contracts in, regular stock checks for pantry and stationery items, and orders/deliveries for these.
From there, it will really depend on how the company evolves and what you want to or can do – you may outsource some of the elements of your role externally, or hire a dedicated person, for example accounts or HR internally to take that off your plate so you can focus on the more traditional office management and facilities elements.
Whether you’re the first hire or the 15th, if you are going into a start-up as an office manager, you will no doubt have your work cut out and be even more multi-hatted than the average. Having a solid professional network of likeminded professionals can really help and boost your confidence in getting things in place smoothly, plus you can tap into a world of templates and suppliers to support you further with our Office Management Portal.
Working with a start-up is an exciting prospect to be able to have an impact, influence and shape the business as someone so much at the core of it and definitely needs considered planning and adapting as the business shifts, evolves and grows.