Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service vs First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service carries the higher exposed share at 51.2% against 45.8%, a gap of 5.4 points. The difference is driven by friction: the work is similarly producible in both, and what differs is what stands in the way of letting a machine finish it. Release v2026.Q3.
| Occupation | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Capability | Friction | Median pay | Rank | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service | 51.2% | 17.6% | 31.2% | 0.69 | 0.30 | $38,630 | 103 | exposed |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 45.8% | 25.0% | 29.2% | 0.71 | 0.38 | $69,500 | 156 | exposed |
What stands in the way, in each
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service: the dominant friction is that the work happens to physical things in physical places. Capability sits at 0.69 of 1 and friction at 0.30 of 1.
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers: the dominant friction is that it runs on knowledge of the organisation that a model cannot hold. Capability sits at 0.71 of 1 and friction at 0.38 of 1.
Capability asks whether a generally available system can produce the work product at all. Friction asks what stops it finishing the job: physical work, being present, being accountable, unseen context, or the cost of checking the output. The rubric is here.
Read each in full
Exposure is not displacement. A higher score does not rank two jobs by how safe they are, and nothing here models adoption, employment or pay.