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Office & Administration · Updated Aug 2026

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

Operate telephone business systems equipment or switchboards to relay incoming, outgoing, and interoffice calls. May supply information to callers and record messages.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
68/100
High

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
56/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence81/100
Task coverage81%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary.High
74
Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address.High
71
Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts.High
74
Page individuals to inform them of telephone calls, using paging or interoffice communication equipment.High
73
Record messages, suggesting rewording for clarity or conciseness.High
74
Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed.High
74
Stamp messages with time and date and file them appropriately.High
74
Contact security staff members when necessary, using radio-telephones.High
59
Answer simple questions about clients' businesses, using reference files.High
64
Perform various cash handling tasks, such as collecting payments, making bank deposits, or managing petty cash.High
73
Perform administrative tasks, such as accepting orders, scheduling appointments or meeting rooms, or sending and receiving faxes.Medium
74
Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules.Medium
73
Monitor alarm systems to ensure that secure conditions are maintained.High
39
Place orders, such as for equipment, supplies, or catering for meetings.Medium
72
Monitor emergency and code alarms, make emergency announcements, or route emergency calls to the appropriate location.High
38
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary.74
  2. Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts.74
  3. Record messages, suggesting rewording for clarity or conciseness.74
  4. Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed.74
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Monitor emergency and code alarms, make emergency announcements, or route emergency calls to the appropriate location.01
  2. Monitor alarm systems to ensure that secure conditions are maintained.02
  3. Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary.03
  4. Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address.04
  5. Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

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Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency83
Physical dependency26
Adoption pressure51
Labour-market resilience52
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence81/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →