Maintain office equipment in proper operating condition
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 8 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment (4.A.3.b.5) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 8 occupations that perform it.
- Fix minor problems, such as equipment jams, and notify repair personnel of major equipment problems.
- Perform administrative tasks, such as answering telephone calls, filing court documents, or maintaining office supplies or equipment.
- Maintain library equipment, such as photocopiers, scanners, and computers, and instruct patrons in proper use of such equipment.
- Clear jams in sorting equipment.
- Operate and resupply printers and computers, changing print wheels or fluid cartridges, adding paper, and loading blank tapes, cards, or disks into equipment.
- Clear jams in sortation equipment.
- Troubleshoot problems involving office equipment, such as computer hardware and software.
- Clean machines, perform minor repairs, and report major repair needs.
- Add ink, fill paste reservoirs, and change machine ribbons when necessary.
- Clean and file master copies or plates.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
8 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Billing and Posting Clerks
- Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
- Library Assistants, Clerical
- Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
- Office Clerks, General
- Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
- Word Processors and Typists
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain tools or equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.