Sarah Whitfield
Office Manager
Profile
Office Manager with nine years' experience in administration and operations, the last five running the office for a 60-person digital agency in Leeds. Owns everything from facilities, health and safety and supplier contracts to onboarding, IT equipment and team events, and has delivered an office move and a hybrid working set-up on time and on budget. Practical, approachable and commercially minded, with a record of cutting costs without cutting corners.
Experience
Run the office and day-to-day operations for a 60-person digital agency, reporting to the Operations Director and managing an office assistant and a receptionist.
- Managed the move to a new 7,500 sq ft office, coordinating fit-out, IT and furniture suppliers; the team moved over one weekend with no lost working days
- Renegotiated 8 supplier contracts, including cleaning, print and utilities, saving £21,000 a year
- Set up desk booking and hybrid working guidelines for a team in the office 3 days a week, reducing desks by 25% with no shortages on busy days
- Own onboarding and offboarding for around 20 starters a year, so laptops, access and inductions are ready on day one
- Act as health and safety lead, keeping risk assessments, fire drills and first aid cover up to date, with no reportable incidents
- Manage an office budget of £180,000 a year and report monthly against forecast
- Plan team socials and an annual away day for 70 people, delivered within budget
- Manage laptops, phones and software licences for 60 staff with the outsourced IT provider, keeping a full asset register
Administration for a property management company looking after 1,200 residential flats and houses.
- Handled tenant and contractor queries by phone and email, logging around 300 repair jobs a month
- Took over supplier invoicing in Xero, cutting late payments to contractors from around 20 a month to fewer than 5
- Introduced a digital filing system that replaced 40 filing cabinets of paper records
- Covered for the office manager during leave, including payroll inputs for 25 staff
- Arranged fire alarm tests and contractor access across 14 managed buildings
Skills
- Office and Facilities Management
- Supplier and Contract Management
- Budget Management
- Health and Safety Compliance
- Onboarding and Offboarding
- Office Moves and Fit-Outs
- Hybrid Working and Desk Booking
- Event Planning
- Xero
- Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
- IT Equipment and Asset Tracking
- Line Management
- Policy Writing
- Stakeholder Communication
- Negotiation
- Problem Solving
- Health and Safety Risk Assessments
- Software Licence Management
Education
Certifications
- IOSH Managing Safely
- Fire Marshal Training
- First Aid at Work (3-day)
- Mental Health First Aider (MHFA England)