Despite AI, anything but obsolete

Job cuts in administration, AI replacing office employees – reports like these keep appearing in the media. AI applications in administration are increasing, but by no means spell the end for the profession of “office management clerk”. The vocational training prepares people for a wide range of tasks and at the same time allows them to specialize in many directions. That is why specialists can take on tasks in various company areas, as the analysis of 350 job advertisements for office administrators* has shown. To do so, they should be proficient in various software systems as well as reliable, team-oriented and independent. But the analysis shows: experience with AI applications is (not yet) part of it.

Amazon plans to cut jobs because the company is automating many tasks and processes with the help of AI. Lufthansa, too, has announced that it will cut up to 4,000 administrative employees by 2030, since the airline no longer needs as many staff here due to far-reaching digitalization and AI within the company. The figures are unsettling, but experts assume that many office jobs will not disappear but rather change. The fact is that certain routine tasks are already being automated today. A Deloitte study assumes that by 2035 around 35 percent of working time in classic office professions could be taken over by technology. For the DEKRA Labor Market Report, 350 job advertisements for office administrators were examined in full text in order to find out which tasks they are to take on at the new workplace and which competencies employers expect from job seekers.

Where will the office administrators work?

Almost all companies and public authorities need the support of office administrators. Accordingly, the sample contains job advertisements from almost all sectors. The largest share comes from employers in the staffing services sector; almost one in five of the open positions is to be filled here (19.7 %). Companies like to hire office administrators on a temporary basis, for example to bridge employees’ parental leave or periods of illness. The retail (7.4 %) and skilled trades (6.9 %) sectors follow by a wide margin.
In the job search, both those who want to work full-time and specialists seeking a part-time position will find something: for more than every second position, interested candidates can choose between the two working-time models (52.0 %). In not quite three out of ten cases, on the other hand, these are purely full-time positions (29.1 %).

* The correct title of the training occupation is “office management clerk” (Kaufmann/Kauffrau für Büromanagement). In 2014 it replaced the three training programs of office clerk (Bürokaufmann/Bürokauffrau), office communication clerk (Kaufmann/Kauffrau für Bürokommunikation) and office communication administrator (Fachangestellte/r für Bürokommunikation). For better readability, in this text we use terms such as “office administrators” or “office specialists”.