EOS says that everyone in the company must have a number, but our administrative and customer support staff say their work cannot be measured numerically. How do we find meaningful weekly metrics for support and back-office roles?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an employee says their role cannot be measured, it usually means they are confusing their daily tasks with the outcome of their seat. Every seat on your Accountability Chart exists to create value, eliminate waste, or protect time. If a role has no measurable outcome, that role should not exist.

For support and administrative staff, meaningful numbers focus on three operational categories: volume throughput, response speed, and process accuracy.

- Administrative and executive assistants: Track executive schedule friction or preparation metrics. Examples include calendar preparation audits completed by Friday at noon, expense reports processed within forty-eight hours of submission, or zero double-booked meetings.
- Customer support representatives: Avoid tracking total phone calls, which often incentivizes rushing clients off the phone. Instead, track first-contact resolution percentage, average ticket response time under two hours, or open unresolved tickets older than five business days.
- Office managers: Track supply cost variance against budget, vendor invoice sign-offs completed within seventy-two hours, or facilities inspection audits passed.

Giving front-line support staff a clear number is not micromanagement; it is empowerment. When support professionals know their weekly number, they no longer have to guess whether they did a good job. They look at their scorecard, see that their deliverables met standard, and know they contributed to the team.