Administrative and customer support salary benchmarks and trends

Name: Salary negotiations
Creator: Robert Half

2027 Salary Guide

Get customized salary insights

Job seekers: Explore opportunities and grow your career.

Administrative and customer support compensation is evolving as responsibilities for these roles expand. Employers need professionals who can keep operations organized, adapt to new technology, and communicate effectively with customers, internal teams and leadership. Pay should reflect the skills and judgment required to do that work well.

Titles, responsibilities, software expertise, communication demands and customer-facing expectations can all affect compensation in this field. Employers who align pay with the full scope of the role—and balance experience against training time—will be better positioned to compete for top talent.

Hiring managers: Meet with us to get customized salary insights and guidance so you can build offers candidates say yes to.

Salary Calculator

View salaries by job category

The salaries below default to national averages. Select a job category and city to find figures for a specific market. Starting compensation can vary significantly based on a candidate’s skills, experience and certifications, as well as other factors including industry; company size, complexity or revenue; and demand for the role. To reflect this variability, we report our compensation data in 3 levels: low, mid and high.

Human Resources

Logistics & Purchasing

Management Support

Office Support

Sales

Student jobs

Job Title

Low

Mid

High

HR Assistant

2811

3196

3503

Recruiter - Talent Acquisition Specialist

3036

3527

4021

HR Officer

3606

4021

4312

HR Generalist

3976

4497

5113

HR Business Partner

4804

5431

6042

Low

The candidate is new to the role or has limited experience and is still developing core skills.

Mid

The candidate has moderate experience in the role or one similar, meets most requirements, and may hold transferable skills or relevant certifications.

High

The candidate has extensive experience in the role, demonstrates advanced skills, and often brings specialized certifications or industry experience.

Administrative and customer support compensation trends

Data at a glance

55%

of administrative and customer support leaders are making more competitive offers, especially for business-critical roles with limited talent pools.

35%

are offering salaries above their planned range, citing the need to secure candidates with specialized skills as a top reason.

60%

are offering higher pay for relevant AI skills, with nearly one-third (31%) offering more for AI-related expertise than for other tech skills.

Specialized skills commanding premiums

Professionals with the following skills may command higher pay:

Financial analysis

Budgeting and forecasting

Excel (Advanced)

Big data

ESG reporting

AI skills

National accounting standards

Financial modeling

Salary negotiations

Specialized finance and accounting professionals have greater leverage in salary negotiations as employers increasingly reward hard-to-find expertise with targeted pay premiums instead of broad salary increases.

72%

of managers are willing to negotiate base pay.

58%

say candidates frequently negotiate higher salaries based on specialized skills.

34%

of professionals struggle with knowing their market worth.

Rewards that prompt career moves

Administrative and customer support professionals often compare opportunities based on how well the full compensation package supports their daily work experience, financial objectives and career goals, particularly when base pay is similar across roles. Top benefits and perks that influence a job change:

Financial incentives

Bonuses, profit-sharing programs, stock options

Work‑life balance and flexibility

Paid time off, hybrid or remote work options, flexible hours

Explore more total rewards insights

Roles, industries, certifications on the rise

Roles requiring specialized skills in areas such as technology, communication, customer interaction and operational judgment are expected to have salary growth above the projected +1.9% average for administrative and customer support positions.

+3.9% Executive Assistant

+3.8% Senior Administrative Assistant

+3.1% Senior Customer Service Representative

+2.5% Office Manager

Employers in these industries need skilled professionals to advance customer experience, operational coordination, complex scheduling and high-volume service needs.

Professional services

Healthcare

Financial services

Real estate

Manufacturing

Certifications can justify higher pay when they validate the ability to manage high-volume inquiries, use data to improve response strategies, and enhance team proficiency in productivity tools, scheduling systems and workflow coordination.

Certified Administrative Professional (CAP)

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

Certified Customer Service Professional (CCSP)

Google Workspace Certification

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Smarter hiring. Better jobs. Personalized guidance.

Get salary insights you can act on

Build a more competitive talent strategy with a personalized consultation from Robert Half. Get customized salary insights

Need to hire?

Connect with in-demand professionals fast to expand your core team or staff a critical project. Hire talent

Looking for a new role?

We can help you find a position that aligns with your goals, skills and lifestyle. Find a job

Questions? Contact us at 1.877.563.0648

More to explore

Hiring advice Get the tips and resources you need to improve your recruitment efforts and land the talent your business needs to succeed.

AI in recruitment From AI-generated CVs to skills-based hiring, discover what AI means for recruitment in Belgium and how to stay ahead. Expert insights from Robert Half.

Career Development Get up-to-date information on employment trends in your industry, including salaries, skills and changes to the labour market.

Towards the C-Suite 2035 Discover in our whitepaper how Europe’s top executives and private equity investors are preparing for the next decade – and what it takes to build C-Suite leadership fit for 2035.

Research & Insights Get exclusive research and resources you can use to make better hires, hone your management skills and advance your career.

Salaries and trends by profession

Get 2027 starting salaries and salary insights in our other professional fields.

Finance and accounting

Technology

Marketing and creative

Legal

Non-clinical healthcare

Human resources

The salary benchmarks in the Salary Guide From Robert Half are the result of a rigorous, multistep process designed to reflect projected market trends for 2027. They are based on actual compensation for professionals Robert Half has matched with employers across the country and third-party job posting data from Textkernel that we use to independently validate the salary levels. Learn more about our methodology.

Non-salary data is based on online surveys developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Respondents include hiring managers and workers at small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across the United States.