What is Staff? Definition, Duties and Types of Staff that You Need to Know

Staff is a group of people in an organization who helps the chairman or leader. Based on the type of authority,  staff  are divided into personal staff and expert staff. Staff and employees themselves are an important part of a company. Staff are included in strategic positions that are appropriate to a particular field of work. There are various types of staff who have their respective roles.

Please note, the terms employee and  staff actually have differences. Based on the Big Indonesian Dictionary or KBBI, staff is a group of people who work together to help the chairman in managing things. Meanwhile, employees are people who work in an institution (office, company, etc.) and receive a salary (wages).

However, some people don’t know for sure about staff and the differences between staff and employees. For those of you who don’t know about staff and the differences between them and employees, you can read the review below, Mudalovers.

Understanding Staff and Staff Duties

Staff can be said to be a form of organization, where authority is vertical and fully derived from the leadership which is passed on to the heads of departments. This leadership task will be assisted by staff who provide advice, assistance, suggestions and certain services. Therefore, it can be said that every task of this staff must be based on orders from the leadership.

However, the staff itself has several tasks that are generally carried out. The staff’s own duties or work include:

  1. Continuously follow developments in the situation and pay attention to the consequences or influences of a situation on the implementation of the main tasks.
  2. Collecting, estimating and processing materials that are directly related to his duties, he also makes estimates of the situation and provides timely suggestions or considerations to the leadership as material in determining policies or making decisions.
  3. From the leadership’s policy or decision, the staff is then tasked with conveying it to interested parties which will be implemented as per the regulations.

Of all the staff duties that have been explained, it can be said that basically the line of authority is in the hands of the leadership, while the staff only forwards or conveys the leadership’s policies.

  • Staff Authority

The staff’s own authority includes assisting their leaders in carrying out their inherent duties and functions. The following are the authorities that staff have.

  • Forecasting

The staff’s authority is to provide estimates of future conditions.

  • Planning

This authority can be interpreted as the result of chosen actions.

  • Organizing

As a task arrangement and providing convenience for manpower and materials. In this authority, coordination will usually be carried out. Coordination itself functions to create effective working relationships.

  • Controlling

Controlling  is all actions that are in accordance with policy. Usually,  controlling  can be in the form of suggestions, considerations, thoughts expressed in various forms.

  • Provide input for future plans

Provide input for future plans, such as creating work plans, implementation instructions, as well as staff evaluations regarding project completion.

  • Helping Leadership

In this case, helping leaders can take the form of providing facilities (including personnel, materials, financing and administration).

A staff member is basically an asset that must be developed by the leader, considering that a leader as the staff’s boss has various very difficult tasks. Therefore, leaders must also be able to manage the organization through various obstacles that exist in carrying out work. This means that leaders must also be able to empower other staff in order to achieve the goals that have been set.

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Differences between Staff, Employees and Wage Workers

Anyone who has worked in a company must have come across requirements, such as staff, workers and employees. Even if, a person does not work in a company, they have probably heard this term. These three terms are very similar and all refer to someone who is still working.

So, what is the difference between these three terms? The following are the differences between staff, employees and wage workers.

Staff

Staff is a group of people who work for an organization or business. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, staff is also a group of people who work for an organization or business. In this case, a worker is also a person who does certain work to earn money.

Employee

Employees refer to people who work for other people or for a company and will receive wages or salaries. However, worker is generally used to refer to workers who work in the construction sector, or to someone who does hard work. This is the opposite of employees who work in the business world.

Someone who works in the business world is also called an employee. An employee himself will always work under someone and usually within a company. An employee can be said to be someone who has a semi-permanent job and receives a monthly salary.

Wage Workers

Wage workers are generally hired based on the amount of work assigned. Wage workers can also be interpreted as workers which refers to those who are paid based on a contract.

Those who are already working and earning wages can become employees, staff or wage workers. However, quite a few people refer to these three things as staff. For example, cleaning staff, housekeeping staff, and so on.

Difference between Staff and Employees

Even though the three positions previously mentioned exist in the world of work, in general the things that are more commonly known by many people are staff and employees. For some people, they may not be able to differentiate between staff and employees. For those of you who don’t know the difference, you can see the discussion below.

Holiday Time

Certainly in every job, workers get and have privileges. For example, the amount of leave that staff and employees will get. Usually,  staff  receive more leave time or holidays, while the opposite is true for employees.

Understanding

The thing that underlies the difference between the two is in terms of their respective meanings. Office staff are generally employees who take care of various jobs behind the desk, such as financial staff or administrative staff.

Meanwhile, employees or non-staff are workers who do various physical jobs. However, from an understanding perspective, there is also an understanding that staff are members of institutions or institutions, while employees are private employees.

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Responsibility

If you look at their respective responsibilities, generally these two types of positions have different tasks. Even though both are official workers, usually each position has its own job.

For example,  financial staff  who have the task of managing the company’s income and expenses. Meanwhile, general employees have the task of handling various administration and other less specific work.

On the other hand, generally, staff also have a leader or leader who directs various specific tasks. Meanwhile, employees will receive orders directly from their superiors.

Worker Status

If you look at the status of workers, generally the two have different statuses. Usually, staff are permanent workers, while employees are usually contract workers.

Income Aspect

Furthermore, if you look at the income side, these two positions will not earn exactly the same money. All of this depends on the length of work, position, and responsibilities that are the obligations of each person.

Usually, staff at a company or institution will receive a higher salary compared to contract employees who may receive a smaller salary.

Receipt of Benefits

In terms of receiving benefits from a company or institution, it may be that staff and employees also do not receive the same benefits. As permanent workers, staff will usually receive more benefits, such as health benefits and annual leave.

This is different from contract employees who generally do not have health benefits. Apart from that, contract employees also only receive leave according to the agreed contract amount. For example, a contract work agreement is for 6 months, then he is only entitled to receive 6 working days of leave.

The type of company

Furthermore, if you look at the type of company, staff and employees are generally terms for different types of companies. Staff is a term for personnel in an institution or member of an institution. Especially in this case if you are a staff member of a government agency or a certain department.

This is different with employees whose nature is broader. A person can be an employee of a private company. On the other hand, employees will also work in certain types of businesses, for example in restaurants or shops.

So, it can be said that the difference between the two terms depends on which company a person will be employed in.

Employment Contract Time

If you look at the work contracts between staff and employees, generally they are not exactly the same. As previously explained, most staff have permanent status and work indefinitely. Meanwhile, employees are usually bound by contracts for a period of a few months or just a few years.

These are some of the differences between staff and employees in an institution or company. Through the information above, we will at least be able to provide a little idea of ​​the differences between the two.

That way, for those of you who have just entered the world of work, you can understand little by little about the employment status you receive. Starting from the responsibility side to compensation or remuneration, and so on.

After knowing the differences between staff and employees, you will know about these two things, so it will be easier for you to determine a position when applying for work later. Therefore, looking for information about this before entering the world of work is quite important. So that in the end workers can obtain the desired employment status and obtain maximum income and benefits.

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Types of Staff Authority

The type of staff authority itself is divided into two types, first expert staff and personal staff. A complete explanation is below.

Expert Staff (Specialist Staff)

Advisory Staff

The advisory staff’s job is to give instructions and not to get directions from superiors. This advisory staff must also learn problem solving, provide suggestions, and obtain information in decision making.

Functional Staff

A type of expert staff who functions as a relationship controller with certain functions. These functional staff generally have limited authority, such as providing instructions on how a particular activity can be carried out.

Control Staff

The authority of controlling staff includes implementing contracts directly or indirectly within the organizational structure. Managers also have the authority over controlling staff to exercise a veto over line managers’ actions.

Service Staff

This service staff is tasked with carrying out services or activities that are separate from line or division work.

Personal Staff

The second type of staff authority is personal staff. Personal staff itself is divided into two functions, namely supporting staff or better known as assistants and general staff or commonly called general staff.

The auxiliary staff itself has the aim of expanding the manager’s capacity to complete a lot of work. In addition, auxiliary staff can consist of several people who are given tasks and authority.

Meanwhile, general staff functions as advisors, servants, controllers, or functional staff. The general staff will act through superiors and the actions taken by the general staff are in accordance with the orders given by the leadership.