Introduction

The front office or reception is an area where visitors arrive and first encounter a staff at a place of business. Front office staff will deal with whatever question the visitor has, and put them in contact with a relevant person at the company. Broadly speaking, the front office includes roles that affect the revenues of the business. The term front office is in contrast to the term back office which refers to a company's operations, personnel, accounting, payroll and financial departments which do not interact directly with customers.

The front office receives information about the customers and will then pass this on to the relevant department within the company. The front office can also contact the marketing or sales department should the customers have questions. The company needs to give training to the front office manager as this position will come in contact with customers the most.

The most common work for the front office staff will be to get in touch with customers and help out internally in the office. Staff working at the front office can also deal with simple tasks, such as printing and typing tasks and sorting emails. Although front office staff might only need to perform tasks such as answering the phone, using the printer and fax machine, training is still needed on these tasks.

Front office is related to a service delivery system, where employees engage with customers. It uses the parameter of labor intensity to figure out the distinctive characteristics of a service.