Greeter Job Description Templates for Retail, Restaurants, and Clinics
6 free templates for the businesses that staff their own front door: retail, restaurant, medical office, events, dealership, and funeral home. Download as DOCX.
The first greeter job description I ever read in the wild was four lines long and three of them were adjectives. Friendly. Reliable. Customer-focused. The store owner could not understand why the posting pulled ninety applicants and no good ones, and the answer was sitting right there: nothing in it described the actual job, so nobody could self-select into or out of it.
Greeter is a deceptively hard posting to write. The title covers at least six different jobs across retail, restaurants, clinics, events, showrooms, and funeral homes, and they share a doorway and almost nothing else. Copy a generic template across settings and you inherit duties that do not apply and skip the ones that do.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for small employers who write their own postings between two other jobs. The six below are the settings where greeters actually get hired, each with the pay benchmark, the hour rules, and the boundary language the generic versions leave out. More are in our hiring templates library.
TL;DR
A greeter welcomes visitors at the entrance and routes them to the right place. The role is always non-exempt and hourly. There is no separate greeter occupation in federal wage data, so benchmark against the nearest classifications, which run a national median of $15.00 to $18.28 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What a Greeter Actually Does
A greeter welcomes people at the entrance of a business and routes them to the right place before they have to ask. That is the whole job in one sentence, and everything else is setting. The value is not politeness, it is the interruptions that never reach your other staff.
The confusion in most postings comes from treating greeter as a title rather than a function. A restaurant greeter controls table turns. A clinic greeter protects the check-in desk from arrival traffic. A dealership greeter captures a walk-in before it walks back out. Those are different jobs wearing the same word.
Retail floor
Traffic, wayfinding, first impression
The greeter absorbs the questions that would otherwise interrupt a cashier or a stocker. The trap is quietly turning the role into loss prevention, which changes the risk profile and, in some states, the licensing question.
Restaurant door
Waitlist, pacing, phone
Here the greeter controls table turns and kitchen pacing, so the job is operational, not decorative. Tip pool eligibility is the live legal question and it depends on whether you take a tip credit.
Clinic or office lobby
Check-in support, privacy
A greeter separates arrival traffic from the check-in desk so registration keeps moving. Everything said in a lobby is overheard, so privacy training and station layout are part of the job description.
Events and venues
On-call, badge check-in
Staffed by the date rather than the week, which makes scheduling and classification the hard parts. On-call greeters you dispatch, dress, and direct are employees, whatever the roster is called.
Greeter, Receptionist, Host, or Usher: Pick the Right Posting
These four titles overlap in candidates and diverge in duties. A greeter works standing traffic at an entrance and hands people off. A receptionist owns a desk, a phone system, and administrative work, so use the receptionist templates when the desk is the job. A restaurant host owns the seating chart and the reservation book, which our hostess templates cover in full. An usher works ticketed events and seats an audience. Pick the posting that matches the work, because candidates search by the title they have held before.
What Belongs in the Posting
A greeter job description does four jobs at once: it sells the shift, it filters unqualified applicants, it protects you legally, and it closes the candidate. Most postings only attempt the first, which is why they produce volume and no fit. Here is the full inventory.
The parts candidates read first
The hourly rate, stated as a number or a real range
Shift pattern and the weekend or evening expectation
Where the greeter stands and what surrounds them
Who they report to and who they hand off to
The parts that filter applicants
Minimum age, if you set one
Availability windows written as days and times
Systems the greeter will use: waitlist, kiosk, CRM
Language requirements, marked required or preferred
The parts that protect you
Non-exempt status stated on the posting
Essential functions separated from marginal tasks
An explicit line on what the role does not do
Equal opportunity and accommodation statement
The parts that win the hire
Guaranteed hours, not just a range
Break structure and where breaks are taken
The path from greeter to the next role
A named person and a real way to apply
The most common omission is the station itself. A candidate wants to know whether they are standing at an automatic door in February or sitting in a heated lobby, and almost no posting says. State it, because it is the detail that determines whether the person you hire is still there in eight weeks. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure in more depth.
6 Greeter Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, physical and environmental demands, a compliance note specific to that setting, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Greeter Job Description Templates
Retail, restaurant, medical office, event, dealership, and funeral home. All in one download.
Retail Store Greeter
Door, carts, wayfinding
The classic storefront role, with an explicit section stating that this is not a security post and the greeter stops nobody.
Restaurant Greeter
Waitlist and pacing
For the door of a dining room, with seating rotation, phone and to-go duties, and a plain-language tip pool note.
Medical Office Greeter
Lobby and check-in support
For a practice or clinic, covering kiosk assistance, wait-time communication, and the privacy rules a lobby role runs into daily.
Event / Conference Greeter
On-call by the date
For registration desks and venue doors, with call-in structure, setup duties, and the contractor warning stated up front.
Dealership Greeter
Showroom and service drive
For walk-in capture and routing, with the visit log, the up system, and a note on how incentives change the overtime rate.
Funeral Home Greeter
Per-service, evenings
For visitations and services, covering register book duties, discretion, and why a per-service rate still needs hours recorded.
Template 1: Retail Store Greeter
The classic storefront role, with cart and entrance duties, traffic logging, and an explicit section stating that this is not a security post. If your floor role is mostly selling rather than greeting, the sales associate templates are the better fit.
Retail Store Greeter Job Description
RETAIL STORE GREETER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Location: [Store name and address]
Reports to: [Store Manager / Shift Lead]
Employment type: [Part-time / Full-time], [average hours per week]
[Company Name] runs [number] store(s) in [City, State] selling [category]. The
front door is the first thing a customer meets, and we staff it deliberately.
This is a customer-facing hourly role on the sales floor, not a security post.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Store Greeter welcomes every customer entering the store, answers first
questions, points people to the right department or team member, keeps the
entrance area clean and stocked, and hands off returns and service requests to
the right desk.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Greet every customer entering the store within [number] seconds of arrival
•Answer wayfinding questions and walk customers to the department when needed
•Explain current promotions, loyalty signup, and store layout
•Hand off returns, repairs, and service requests to the correct desk
•Keep carts, baskets, bags, and entrance displays stocked and tidy
•Manage the entrance queue during peak hours and [holiday] traffic
•Log door counts or traffic data in [system] if requested
•Report safety hazards, spills, and blocked exits immediately
•Follow all company policies on customer conduct and incident reporting
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[High school diploma or equivalent / no formal education requirement: pick one]
•Comfort speaking with strangers all shift and staying friendly under pressure
•Availability on [weekends, evenings, holidays] as scheduled
•Ability to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without a
reasonable accommodation
•[Minimum age: state yours and check your state youth employment rules]
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS (write these honestly)
•Remain at the entrance station for the majority of a [length] shift, with
scheduled breaks
•Move throughout the entrance and adjacent departments
•Occasionally lift or move up to [number] pounds (carts, baskets, signage)
•Work near an entrance exposed to outside temperatures in [season]
WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT
This is not a loss prevention or security position. The Greeter does not stop,
detain, search, question, or pursue any customer, and does not check receipts
in a way that blocks a customer from leaving. Suspected theft is reported to
[loss prevention / the manager on duty] and nothing further.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations so qualified individuals can perform the essential functions of
this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [shift differential], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ or apply in person at [address].
Template 2: Restaurant Greeter / Door Host
For the door of a dining room: waitlist, seating rotation, kitchen pacing, phone, and to-go handoffs, with a plain-language note on tip pool eligibility.
For a practice or clinic lobby, covering kiosk assistance, wait-time communication, mobility support, and the privacy rules a lobby role runs into every single day.
Medical Office Patient Greeter Job Description
MEDICAL OFFICE PATIENT GREETER JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Practice Manager / Front Office Lead]
[Practice Name] is a [specialty] practice in [City, State] serving about
[number] patients per day across [number] providers. Patients arrive anxious,
early, late, or lost, and the greeter is the person who steadies the lobby.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Patient Greeter welcomes patients and visitors on arrival, directs them to
check-in, helps with the self-service kiosk or tablet, keeps the waiting room
orderly, and communicates wait times so the front desk can keep working.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Greet each patient and visitor on arrival and confirm the reason for the visit
•Direct patients to check-in, the kiosk, or the correct suite or department
•Assist patients who need help with the tablet, forms, or an interpreter request
•Communicate provider delays and updated wait times to the waiting room
•Escort or wheelchair-assist patients where trained and permitted
•Keep the lobby, forms, sanitizer stations, and signage stocked and clean
•Alert clinical staff immediately to any patient in visible distress
•Follow all patient privacy rules in the lobby, on the phone, and at the desk
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•High school diploma or equivalent
•Warm, unhurried manner with older adults, children, and anxious patients
•Willingness to complete privacy training before the first shift
•[Bilingual in [language] preferred / required: pick one]
•Ability to perform the essential functions, with or without a reasonable
accommodation
•Must clear a background check and any screening required by [state / payer]
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS
•Move between the lobby, the check-in desk, and clinical suites through the day
•Assist with wheelchairs and mobility devices where trained
•Position may be seated or standing; state which and set up the station to match
PRIVACY AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A greeter in a clinical setting hears and sees protected health information,
so privacy training belongs in onboarding, not in month three. Keep the greeter
station positioned so screens and paperwork are not visible from the waiting
area, and script the greeting so it never requires a patient to state a
diagnosis out loud in a public lobby. Confirm the vaccination, screening, and
background requirements that apply to non-clinical staff in your setting. This
is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations so qualified individuals can perform the essential functions of
this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 4: Event / Conference Greeter
For registration desks and venue doors, with the call-in structure, setup and teardown duties, and the contractor misclassification warning stated up front. For seated-audience venues, the usher templates cover ticketing and seating duties in more detail.
[City, State]. We keep a roster of greeters we call for specific dates. Shifts
are posted [number] weeks ahead and confirmed by [method].
POSITION SUMMARY
The Event Greeter welcomes attendees at the entrance, handles or supports
check-in, distributes badges and materials, answers wayfinding questions, and
keeps traffic moving through the doors during arrival peaks.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Staff the assigned entrance, registration table, or session door
•Check attendees in using [registration system] and issue badges or wristbands
•Distribute programs, lanyards, and [materials]
•Answer questions about rooms, schedule, restrooms, parking, and accessibility
•Direct attendee flow during arrival and session turnover
•Escalate ticketing disputes, access issues, and incidents to [lead]
•Assist with setup and teardown of the entrance and registration area
•Follow all venue safety, emergency, and evacuation procedures
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Reliable arrival at a stated call time, which is the whole job
•Clear communication with a crowd and comfort repeating the same answer
•Availability for [early mornings / late evenings / weekends]
•[Dress code: state it exactly, including who supplies what]
•Ability to perform the essential functions, with or without a reasonable
accommodation
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS
•Shifts of up to [number] hours, mostly on your feet, with scheduled breaks
•Occasional lifting of up to [number] pounds during setup and teardown
•Indoor and outdoor entrances depending on the venue and season
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
On-call event greeters are employees, not independent contractors, when you set
the call time, the location, the uniform, and the method of the work. This is
one of the most common and most expensive misclassification mistakes in event
staffing. Pay for required training, mandatory pre-shift meetings, and travel
between venues in a single shift where that time counts as hours worked, and
track hours for every worker so overtime past forty in a workweek is paid.
Check your state and local rules on reporting time pay and call-in minimums.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations so qualified individuals can perform the essential functions of
this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [minimum hours per call], [travel policy]
To apply, email __ with your availability.
Template 5: Dealership / Showroom Greeter
For walk-in capture and routing on a showroom floor and service drive, with the visit log, the up system, and a note on how incentive pay changes the overtime rate.
Dealership / Showroom Greeter Job Description
DEALERSHIP / SHOWROOM GREETER JOB DESCRIPTION
Dealership: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Sales Manager / General Manager]
Employment type: Full-time, [schedule including weekends]
Compensation: $_ per hour [plus [spiff / bonus] structure]
ABOUT [DEALERSHIP NAME]
[Dealership Name] sells [brands] in [City, State] with a showroom, a service
drive, and [number] sales consultants. Walk-in traffic that goes unacknowledged
for two minutes leaves, so the greeter position pays for itself or it does not
exist.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Showroom Greeter welcomes every walk-in and service customer, captures
basic visit information, routes the customer to the right consultant or
advisor, and logs the visit so nothing is lost between the door and the CRM.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Greet every walk-in and service drive customer on arrival
•Ask the two or three qualifying questions on the [script] and record answers
•Route customers to the correct sales consultant using the [up system]
•Log every visit in [CRM] with contact details and the reason for the visit
•Offer refreshments and manage the waiting area during service peaks
•Confirm appointment arrivals and notify the assigned consultant or advisor
•Keep the showroom entrance, displays, and literature presentable
•Follow up on [missed appointments / unattended customers] as directed
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•High school diploma or equivalent
•Professional appearance and a comfortable manner with strangers
•Basic computer skills and willingness to learn [CRM] in the first week
•Availability on [Saturdays and evenings]
•[Valid driver's license required / not required: pick one, and mean it]
•Ability to perform the essential functions, with or without a reasonable
accommodation
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS
•Move between the showroom floor, the entrance, and the service drive
•Work partly outdoors on the service drive in [season] conditions
•Stand or walk for the majority of a [length] shift, with scheduled breaks
PAY STRUCTURE NOTE
If you pay any bonus, spiff, or commission on top of the hourly rate, that
money is generally part of the regular rate of pay, which means overtime has to
be recalculated on the higher rate rather than on the base hourly figure alone.
Discretionary gifts are treated differently from promised incentives. Write the
structure down before the first paycheck rather than after the first dispute.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Dealership Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations so qualified individuals can perform the essential functions of
this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour plus [incentive structure], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 6: Funeral Home Greeter / Visitation Attendant
For visitations and services, covering register book duties, discretion, and why a per-service rate still requires recorded hours. If the same person also staffs a permanent desk, pair it with the front desk templates.
Funeral Home Greeter / Visitation Attendant Job Description
FUNERAL HOME GREETER / VISITATION ATTENDANT JOB DESCRIPTION
Compensation: $_ per hour [or per service: see note]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Funeral Home Name] serves families in [City, State]. Greeters work individual
visitations and services, usually [evenings and weekends], and are called for
specific dates rather than a fixed weekly schedule. Discretion matters more
than experience.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Greeter welcomes families and guests at the door, directs them to the
correct chapel or room, manages the register book and memorial materials, and
supports the funeral director quietly through the service.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Open the building and greet families and guests as they arrive
•Direct guests to the correct chapel, viewing room, restrooms, and parking
•Manage the register book, memorial folders, and acknowledgment cards
•Assist elderly guests and those with mobility needs to seating
•Support the funeral director during the service as directed
•Assist with [procession lineup / flower handling / reception setup]
•Reset the room between services and secure the building afterward
•Maintain absolute confidentiality about families, services, and arrangements
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Composure and warmth around grieving families
•Discretion; nothing seen or heard leaves the building
•Availability [evenings, weekends, short notice]
•[Dress code: state it exactly, including who supplies what]
•[Valid driver's license required / not required]
•Ability to perform the essential functions, with or without a reasonable
accommodation
PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS
•Stand and walk for most of a service, with limited seated time
•Occasional lifting of up to [number] pounds (flowers, chairs, equipment)
•Indoor and outdoor work at the entrance and graveside in all weather
PAY AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Paying "per service" instead of per hour does not remove the obligation to
track hours and pay at least the applicable minimum wage for every hour worked,
plus overtime past forty hours in a workweek. If you use a per-service rate,
still record actual start and end times so you can prove the effective hourly
rate clears the floor. Greeters called for specific services are employees, not
contractors, when the funeral home sets the time, the place, the dress, and the
method. Confirm state funeral board rules on what unlicensed staff may and may
not do. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Funeral Home Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations so qualified individuals can perform the essential functions of
this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [minimum hours per call]
To apply, email __ with your availability.
Pay, Overtime, and Tips
Every greeter role is non-exempt: hourly, owed at least the applicable minimum wage for all hours worked, and owed overtime at one and a half times the regular rate past forty hours in a workweek. No white-collar exemption fits the duties, and no part-time or seasonal status changes that.
Two details catch small employers. The first is the regular rate. If you pay a spiff, a shift bonus, or any promised incentive on top of the base hourly figure, that money generally folds into the regular rate before overtime is calculated, so overtime is owed on the higher number. If you are unsure which side of the line a role sits on, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests.
The second is tips. In a restaurant, whether a greeter can share the pool turns on whether you take a tip credit. The Department of Labor's guidance on tipped employees under the FLSA limits a tip-credit pool to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, an illustrative list that names servers, bellhops, counter staff who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders, and does not name greeters or hosts. Pay the full cash minimum wage with no tip credit and a mandatory pool may include employees who are not customarily tipped, but managers and supervisors are excluded either way.
Every greeter role is non-exempt
There is no exemption that fits a greeter. The role is not executive, it does not exercise independent judgment on matters of significance, it is not professional or outside sales, and the pay is hourly. That means minimum wage for every hour worked and overtime past forty hours in a workweek, with no exceptions for part-time status, seasonal work, or a title upgrade to lobby ambassador. The practical consequence is that you have to track time honestly. Greeters are exposed to off-the-clock problems more than most hourly roles because they are stationed at the door: they open it before the store opens, they hold it after close, and they get pulled into a customer question while clocked out. Set the clock-in point before the greeting starts, not after. This is general information, not legal advice.
Standing is the accommodation question
Greeter postings almost always say the employee must stand for the entire shift, and that sentence carries more legal weight than the person writing it realizes. Under federal disability law you owe a reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual who can perform the essential functions of the job, and a stool at the door is the textbook low-cost accommodation. The honest test is whether continuous standing is genuinely essential to the outcome you need, which is a warm, visible, prompt greeting, or whether it is a habit inherited from an old posting. Write the physical demands as what the job actually requires: remain at the entrance station, move through the entrance area, greet arriving customers. Then handle seating as an accommodation request rather than a disqualification. This is general information, not legal advice.
A greeter is not a security guard
The most expensive drift in this role is the slow slide from greeting into loss prevention. Once a greeter checks receipts in a way that blocks the exit, questions a customer, follows someone into the parking lot, or touches a bag, you have created detention and false imprisonment exposure, and in many states you may have created an unlicensed security function. Small employers make this change informally, by asking the greeter to keep an eye on the door, and then discover the consequence in an incident report. Decide which job you are hiring for. If you want a security presence, hire and license one and write that posting. If you want a greeter, put a paragraph in the job description saying the greeter observes and reports and does nothing else, and train to that line. This is general information, not legal advice.
Teen hires bring hour rules with them
Greeter is one of the most common first jobs in the country, so youth employment rules apply more often here than in almost any other posting you write. Federal law bars non-agricultural employment below age fourteen, and fourteen and fifteen year olds may work only outside school hours, no earlier than 7 a.m. and no later than 7 p.m., with the evening limit extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. Their hours cap at three on a school day and eighteen in a school week, and eight on a non-school day and forty in a non-school week. Sixteen and seventeen year olds have no federal hour limits but cannot work in hazardous occupations. State rules are often stricter and many states require a work permit or age certificate. Check both, and build the schedule around them rather than fixing it after an inspection. This is general information, not legal advice.
Youth employment is the other rule set that shows up constantly in this role. Federal child labor provisions for nonagricultural occupations bar employment below age fourteen, and cap fourteen and fifteen year olds at three hours on a school day, eighteen hours in a school week, eight hours on a non-school day, and forty hours in a non-school week, worked only outside school hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., with the evening limit moving to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. Many states go further and require a permit before the first shift.
Standing, Stools, and Essential Functions
Write the physical demands as what the job requires, not as a blanket rule that the employee must stand for the entire shift. That single sentence is the most common legal weak point in a greeter posting, because it converts a habit into a stated job requirement you may then have to defend.
Federal disability law obliges you to consider a reasonable accommodation for a qualified individual who can perform the essential functions of the position. The EEOC enforcement guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship treats modifying equipment or the work environment as a standard form of accommodation, and a stool at an entrance station is about as low-cost as accommodations get.
Instead of writing this
Write this
Must stand for the entire shift
Remain at the entrance station for the majority of the shift, with scheduled breaks
Must be physically fit
Move throughout the entrance and adjacent departments during the shift
Must lift heavy items
Occasionally lift or move up to [number] pounds, such as carts, baskets, and signage
Must have excellent communication
Greet every arriving customer and answer wayfinding questions clearly
Must be available anytime
Available [days] between [times], including [holidays]
Other duties as assigned
List the marginal tasks you actually expect, then keep the catch-all short
The rewrite on the right is not softer, it is more enforceable. A demand described as an outcome can be tested against a candidate and against an accommodation request. A demand described as a body state cannot, and it invites a dispute you did not need to have.
The Line Between Greeter and Guard
Say in writing that the greeter observes and reports and does nothing else. The drift from greeting into loss prevention is the single biggest risk in this role, and it almost never happens by decision. It happens by a manager asking someone to keep an eye on the door.
Once a greeter checks receipts in a way that blocks an exit, questions a customer, touches a bag, or follows someone outside, you have created detention exposure, and in a number of states you may have created an unlicensed security function. The person doing it is typically an hourly employee earning near your entry rate, with no training in any of it.
Put the Boundary in the Job Description, Not Just the Training
Every one of our retail-facing templates includes a section headed what this role is not, stating that the greeter does not stop, detain, search, question, or pursue any customer and does not check receipts in a way that blocks a customer from leaving. Keep it in the posted job description, not only in a training deck, because the job description is the document you will be asked to produce if an incident turns into a claim. If you genuinely want a security presence at the door, hire and license one and write that posting instead.
The same discipline applies to screening. A greeter usually needs no more than a standard pre-employment check, but the moment you add cash handling, key holding, or any security duty, the check you run and the notices you owe change. Our guide to running a background check covers the process and the notice requirements.
What to Pay a Greeter
There is no greeter occupation in federal wage data, so you benchmark against the nearest classifications rather than looking up a single number. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a separate greeter code, and the roles that surround it span about three dollars an hour at the median.
No Greeter Occupation Exists: Benchmark to the Neighbors
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), national median hourly wages were $15.00 for hosts and hostesses in restaurants, lounges, and coffee shops, $15.82 for ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers, $17.03 for retail salespersons, $18.27 for receptionists and information clerks, and $18.28 for security guards. There is no separate classification for greeters (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Nearest BLS classification
Median hourly
Median annual
When it is your benchmark
Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, coffee shop
$15.00
$31,200
Restaurant door and waitlist roles
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers
$15.82
$32,910
Event, venue, and lobby greeters
Retail salespersons
$17.03
$35,410
Store greeters who also sell or assist
Receptionists and information clerks
$18.27
$38,010
Greeters who also own a desk and phone
Security guards
$18.28
$38,020
Only if you are actually hiring security
The spread inside each classification matters more than the median. For ushers and lobby attendants the same survey puts the 10th percentile at $23,560 a year and the 90th at $42,470, and for restaurant hosts the range runs from $22,340 to $43,990. Two greeter jobs in the same city can differ by double, and the difference is usually hours, weekend load, and whether the role carries any selling or cash duty.
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Your real floor is not the national median at all. It is the applicable state or local minimum wage, which in many jurisdictions now sits above every median in the table above, so start there and work up. Publish the rate or a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and remember that for an hourly front-door role, guaranteed hours are often a stronger draw than an extra fifty cents.
Hiring Greeters Without an HR Department
Small business greeter hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting is too generic to filter anyone, the role quietly absorbs duties it was never scoped for, and the paperwork repeats every time the position turns over. Each one has a fix.
The posting attracts fifty applicants and none of them are the right one
A greeter posting that says friendly, reliable, customer-focused describes every hourly job in America, so it pulls volume and no signal. The fix is specificity in four places: the exact hourly rate, the exact days and hours you need covered, the exact station the person occupies, and the exact thing the job is not. Naming the pay filters out everyone whose floor is above yours before they take an interview slot. Naming the schedule filters out the candidate who can only work Tuesdays. Naming the station tells a candidate whether they are standing at a cold door in February or sitting in a warm lobby, which is the question they actually care about and rarely ask. Fifteen applicants who read all four and applied anyway beat fifty who read none of them.
The role quietly turns into three other roles by month two
Greeter is the easiest job in a small business to overload, because the person is visible, unbooked, and standing near everything. Within a few weeks they are covering the register, taking phone calls, checking receipts, restocking, and watching the door for theft. Some of that is fine and some of it changes the job you posted, the training you owe, and the risk you carry. Write the boundary into the job description at hiring time, review it after thirty days, and update the description when the work genuinely changes rather than letting the drift stay undocumented. A job description that no longer matches the work is worse than none at all, because it is the document you will be asked to produce when something goes wrong.
Hourly turnover means you are onboarding the same role four times a year
Front-door roles turn over fast, and every turn costs the same paperwork: offer letter, tax and eligibility forms, handbook acknowledgment, uniform and access, harassment and safety training, and for teen hires a work permit and a schedule that respects hour limits. Doing that by hand four times a year is where small employers lose their evenings. FirstHR was built for that pattern. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence every time, e-signature handles the offer and the acknowledgments, document management keeps permits and certifications on file with renewal dates, and training modules deliver the safety and conduct orientation before the first shift instead of during it. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the offer is accepted, the work shifts to a repeatable onboarding checklist that runs the same way for the fourth greeter as it did for the first. For a front-door role that means the boundary training and the safety orientation happen before the first shift, not after the first incident. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR, so the sourcing side will sit next to the onboarding side in one place.
Key Takeaways
Greeter covers at least six distinct jobs across retail, restaurants, clinics, events, showrooms, and funeral homes, and a generic posting fits none of them well.
The role is always non-exempt: minimum wage for every hour worked, overtime past forty hours in a workweek, and any promised incentive folded into the regular rate first.
No BLS occupation matches greeter, so benchmark to the nearest classifications, which run national medians of $15.00 to $18.28 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025), then set your floor at the applicable state or local minimum wage.
Write physical demands as outcomes rather than as a blanket standing requirement, and treat a request to sit as an accommodation conversation instead of a disqualification.
State in the job description that the greeter observes and reports and does not stop, detain, search, or question anyone, because that document is what gets produced after an incident.
Youth hour rules apply more often here than in almost any other posting, and many states add a work permit requirement on top of the federal limits.
Front-door roles turn over faster than anything else on a small team, and every turn repeats the same paperwork. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence every time, with e-signature for the offer and the acknowledgments, document storage for permits and certifications with renewal dates attached, and training modules that deliver conduct and safety orientation before the first shift. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a greeter do?
A greeter welcomes people at the entrance of a business and routes them to the right place. The specific duties depend entirely on the setting. A retail greeter answers wayfinding questions, explains promotions, and keeps carts and the entrance area stocked. A restaurant greeter runs the waitlist, seats guests, paces the dining room with the kitchen, and answers the phone. A medical office greeter supports check-in, helps patients with kiosks and forms, and communicates wait times to the lobby. An event greeter checks attendees in, issues badges, and manages traffic flow at the doors. What every version shares is that the greeter is the first employee a visitor meets and the person who prevents someone from standing in a doorway unsure where to go.
What should a greeter job description include?
A greeter job description should include eight things: the setting and what surrounds the station, the hourly rate as a number or a real range, the exact days and hours you need covered, the duties written as concrete actions rather than adjectives, the systems the greeter will use, the physical and environmental demands written honestly, an explicit statement that the role is non-exempt, and a section naming what the job does not include. That last section is the one most postings skip and the one that saves you the most trouble, because it is where you state that the greeter observes and reports rather than stopping, detaining, or questioning anyone. Add the equal opportunity and accommodation statement, name a person to apply to, and give a real way to apply.
How much does a greeter get paid?
There is no separate greeter occupation in federal wage data, so you benchmark against the nearest classifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the national median hourly wage was $15.00 for hosts and hostesses in restaurants, lounges, and coffee shops, $15.82 for ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers, $17.03 for retail salespersons, $18.27 for receptionists and information clerks, and $18.28 for security guards. Most greeter roles sit between the usher and retail salesperson figures. Your real floor is the applicable state or local minimum wage, which in many jurisdictions is above every one of those medians, so start there, then set the rate against what comparable hourly roles in your own area pay.
Is a greeter exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
Non-exempt, in every version of the role. No white-collar exemption fits a greeter: the job is not executive or administrative in the regulatory sense, it does not require advanced knowledge, and it is not outside sales. That means the greeter is owed at least the applicable minimum wage for every hour worked and overtime at one and a half times the regular rate past forty hours in a workweek, regardless of part-time status, seasonal scheduling, or a fancier job title. Two practical points follow. First, track time from the moment work starts, which for a door role is often before the business officially opens. Second, if you pay any bonus or incentive on top of the hourly rate, that money generally has to be folded into the regular rate before overtime is calculated.
Can a restaurant greeter be included in the tip pool?
It depends on whether the restaurant takes a tip credit. If you take a tip credit toward the minimum wage, a mandatory tip pool is limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, and the Department of Labor's illustrative list of those employees covers servers, bellhops, counter staff who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders, without naming greeters or hosts. If you pay the full cash minimum wage and take no tip credit, a mandatory pool may include employees who are not customarily tipped, but it may never include managers or supervisors, and tips always remain the property of employees. Decide which model you run before you write a pay line in the posting, and check state law, because several states restrict tip credits or tip pooling further than federal law does.
Can a greeter job description require standing for the entire shift?
You can state the physical demands, but write them as what the job actually requires rather than as a blanket standing rule. Under federal disability law you owe a reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual who can perform the essential functions of the position, and providing a stool at a greeter station is a textbook low-cost accommodation. Ask whether continuous standing is genuinely essential to the outcome you need, which is a prompt, visible, warm greeting, or whether it is a habit copied from an old posting. Describe the demands concretely: remain at the entrance station for the majority of the shift with scheduled breaks, move through the entrance area, occasionally lift up to a stated weight. Then treat a seating request as an accommodation conversation, not a disqualification.
Can I hire a teenager as a greeter?
Yes, and greeter is one of the most common first jobs, but the hour rules travel with the hire. Federal law bars non-agricultural employment below age fourteen. Fourteen and fifteen year olds may work only outside school hours, no earlier than 7 a.m. and no later than 7 p.m., with the evening limit extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day, capped at three hours on a school day and eighteen in a school week, and eight hours on a non-school day and forty in a non-school week. Sixteen and seventeen year olds face no federal hour limits but may not work in occupations declared hazardous. State rules are frequently stricter and many states require a work permit or age certificate on file before the first shift, so check both and build the schedule around them.
