The article deals with the problem of managerial work’s regulation that can not be normalized by conventional methods by analogy of workers. These issues are particularly relevant with planning of production costs, services and pricing, as the rationale for management costs the most complex element in the process of calculation of costs. To calculate the optimal number of employees of administrative and managerial staff and a cost of paying for their work requires a completely different criterion than the standard time or performance standards used for production workers. The article considers the features of employees of this category of personnel, summarized and formulated the universal requirements for the competences required for managers at various levels of management in accordance with the regulations at the federal level and the conditions of doing business in certain activities. A comparative analysis of the complexity criteria of labor management personnel held by the example of an industrial enterprise (production and sale of its own products) and higher education (educational and scientific activities), by three levels: senior management, heads of specialized units, coordinating and supervising the activities of the entire organization, or serving its structural units and heads of separate units carrying out the main activity. The article exposes the differences and common indicators. On the basis of uniform criteria the authors developed universal levels and a degree of difficulty for the comparative assessment of work complexity of this category of workers. The results can be used to improve the planning of administrative expenses for personnel costs.