Office managers: 3 regulatory points of attention for your company

The office manager is a Swiss Army knife in the company and occupies a delicate position.

He/she must have an eye on all the company's departments. Their main role is to facilitate the daily work of the teams. The office manager must also be aware of all the legal issues that affect the company in any way.

Office manager, here are 3 regulatory points that should not be overlooked. 

Data protection

The General Data Protection Regulation came into force in May 2019 and has placed a number of obligations on businesses in relation to data processing. Considered to be very restrictive, many companies did not take the necessary steps to comply or put them off until later. For some, compliance also entailed too great an investment.

But what is it exactly? What are the steps to take to follow this regulation?

In order to comply with the RGPD, the company must :

• Mapping the processing of all personal data, both those of BtoB and BtoC customers and of all the company's employees.
• Ensure that relevant, useful and, above all, essentialinformation is collected for the processing of cases.
• Maintain a register of processing activities and update it in real time. This obligation only applies to companies with more than 250 employees. In Article 30 of the Regulation, it is stated that this register must include
  • All persons, internal or external to the company, who are involved in data processing,
  • The use of data
  • The length of retention
  • The way they are secured.
• Inform all individuals, including employees, about the use of their personal data and their rights. This implies updating all the tools and media used for collection: forms, website, contracts, etc.

Failure to comply with the RGPD entails a significant risk of a fine for the company. And this fine can be relatively high depending on the shortcomings observed.

Safety obligation towards its employees

According to Article L. 4121-1 of the Labour Code, the employer is obliged to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of his employees.

In particular, the law requires an assessment of the health and safety risks incurred by employees. Consequently, the company is faced with several regulatory obligations. 

As a first step, and in accordance with Articles R4121-1 to R4121-4 of the Labour Code, it must produce a Single Occupational Risk Assessment Document (DUER). This document concerns all companies with one employee. It must also be updated, at least once a year, to incorporate regulatory changes and modifications that may affect employee exposure.

The DUER includes an inventory of the risks identified at each workplace in the company. It is the starting point for the action plan that the company must then put in place.

The aim of the action plan is not only to reduce the risk but to prevent it. According to Article L. 4121-1 of the Labour Code, "the employer is obliged to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of his employees".

To do this, the company can carry out 3 types of actions:

• Prevention through the assessment of occupational risks and hardship and the adaptation of workstations.
• Information and training through the presence of signs on dangerous sites, regular training of all employees on safety at work, etc.
• The organisation and the adapted means such as the removal of dangerous products if possible, the installation of adapted machines equipped with safety systems, etc.

The new obligations regarding the dematerialisation of administrative documents

With the end of paper invoices in 2026, the digitization of administrative documents is an issue that affects all companies. All the more so as it is still not well understood by managers and many employees.

For example, in your work as an office manager, you may send invoices to your accountant via a drive or by e-mail. You should be aware that this method is not legally compliant, regardless of the size of the company, as it does not guarantee the integrity of the information.

Today, there is still relative tolerance, particularly towards very small businesses. However, there's every chance that this will no longer be the case from 2026 onwards, and that controllers will be more careful about the conditions under which administrative documents are kept.

You should therefore be aware that for an electronic document to be valid in the eyes of the tax authorities, it is essential to guarantee three characteristics:

• The authenticity of the origin of the invoice. It must be possible to prove that the issuer of the invoice is the one indicated on the invoice.
• Legibility. The invoice must be generated and transmitted in a readable format.
• Integrity of the content. It must be ensured that the content is not altered either during the exchange or during the entire legal retention period.

To find out everything you need to know on the subject, please consult our guide to dematerialising invoices.

Fortunately, there are many tools available today to help you apply these different rules. With Freedz, you can be sure to comply with all these legal obligations while simplifying the management of supplier invoicing. This collaborative platform facilitates relations between customers and suppliers by offering, among other things, a dematerialisation service for invoices and automatic verification. It facilitates not only the processing but also the validation, payment and follow-up of invoices.

As an office manager, the diversity of your tasks is important and you are often the guarantor of good practice in the company. This is why constant regulatory monitoring is essential. It is also important to choose the right tools that will allow you to easily adapt to reforms and legal constraints linked to the change in size of your company and thus participate in its long-term growth.