Message #4281

[msrobbie]

As the office manager for our company, I have access to everyone's passwords for everything (along with my Network Administrator).  Someone has to have access to everything in case of major catastrophe.  I also take home a back-up tape of our entire network server once a week.  Our Network Administrator gives me an updated tape each a week, I take it home, and I bring him back the old one.  That way, there is always a complete copy of recent server files away from the office in case of fire or theft.



Voice mail passwords!!  We have a server that runs our voice mail, and I can go in to that and change anyone's password at any time and retreive their messages.  This is necessary in case an employee is out for an extended period of time or is terminated.  We do require that all employees provide all passwords during their "exit interview", but it is probably safe to say that an employee being terminated might be just a tad upset and give the wrong password on purpose.



As far as admin meetings, I meet with my group once a month (or more if necessary), and we discuss situations in the office, new employees, departing employees, office facilities issues, and whatever I can tell them about changes that will affect the office.  I also have other non-admin employees come in occasionally to either talk with us about recent training they have attended, or to discuss ways that administration might work better with that person's department.



I also hold spur-of-the-moment "mini meetings", usually at the reception desk, for five minutes or less, to give them a heads-up on any breaking news.  



Our general manager holds monthly "All Hands Meetings" which are very beneficial to administration and all other departments . . . gives us all a chance to ask questions and see how the people in each department are handling our day to day trials and tribulations and successes.



Testing the waters and finding out what all the employees think about the company's operations is so important.  And admin personnel need to be kept up to date on all activities since we are, after all, the force that keeps the company running!