How to write shift instructions staff actually read

Written by Roster Flow. Published 15 September 2026.

A note on the fridge asking for a proper clean tonight. A three page opening procedure nobody has read since it was printed. A message in the group chat at 22:00 about tomorrow’s delivery, buried under forty replies about something else. Each one is an instruction, and each one is easy to miss or misread.

Clear instructions save the owner from repeating themselves, and give staff, especially new and casual staff, a fair chance of getting it right the first time. This article covers written instructions for a shift: task lists, station cards and one-off jobs. For what to say out loud at the start of service, see how to run a five-minute pre-shift briefing, and for what one crew passes to the next, see shift handover notes.

Decide what needs to be written down

Not every instruction belongs on paper. Write down the things that are easy to forget, costly to get wrong, or done by different people on different days.

Keep opening and closing lists separate from everything else. Opening and closing duties covers building those lists and putting the time they take on the roster.

Write one action per line

The biggest single improvement is to write instructions as a list of actions, one per line, in the order they are done. Each line starts with a verb and makes it obvious when the job is finished.

• Start with a verb. Check, wipe, count, switch off, sign.
• Use numbers. Times, quantities and the name of the thing, rather than words like enough, soon or later.
• Say what done looks like. Bins emptied and lids back on is clearer than do the bins.
• Keep the order right. If the dishwasher has to finish before the floor is mopped, the list should say so.
• Keep each list to one page. If it runs longer, split it by station or by part of the shift.
• Mark only the critical lines. The alarm, the gas, the safe. If everything is in bold, nothing is.

Write for the newest person on the team

Instructions are for the person who has done the shift twice, not the one who has done it two hundred times. Test each line by asking whether a casual on their second shift would know exactly what to do.

• Use the names people actually call things, and the same name every time
• Leave out shorthand only the owner or the head chef uses
• Add a photo of how the station should look when it is set up or closed, where a picture is quicker than words
• Keep sentences short and plain, which helps everyone, including staff who speak English as a second language

Written instructions support training; they do not replace it. Safe Work Australia’s duties of a PCBU page explains that a business’s primary duty of care requires it to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the provision of any instruction, training, information and supervision. For anything with a safety risk, such as a slicer, a fryer or cleaning chemicals, show people in person before relying on a card, and check with your state or territory work health and safety regulator about what applies to your business. A skills matrix records who has been shown what.

Attach instructions to the shift, not the group chat

An instruction is only useful if the right person sees it at the right time. A message sent to everyone the night before reaches the people who are not on tomorrow and can easily miss the one who is.

• Standing instructions live where the work happens. A card at the station, a checklist by the door, a list inside the cool room.
• One-off jobs go with the shift. Write them against the shift on the roster or on that day’s task list, so whoever works the shift sees them, even after a swap.
• Break times belong on the roster too. Nobody should have to guess when to go. Under the Fast Food Industry Award, the timing and duration of rest and meal breaks for part-time employees must be included in the roster (clause 14.2). Planning breaks on busy shifts covers other awards.
• Roster changes are a separate message. Communicating roster changes covers how to tell the people affected.
• Group chats are for conversation. Group chats vs rostering apps explains why instructions get lost in a thread.

Make sure instructions are read

1. Point to them at the start of the shiftMention the one-off jobs and where they are written. The pre-shift briefing is the natural moment.
2. Build the time into the shiftReading a list and signing it is part of the work, so allow for it in the rostered shift rather than expecting it before the start time.
3. Ask for a sign-offA name and a time on the checklist once the list is done shows what was finished and by whom.
4. Check the result, not the tickLook at the station at the end of a shift now and then. A signed list and a dirty grill means the instruction needs rewriting, or the person needs showing again.
5. Ask what was unclearThe person doing the job knows which line is confusing. Ask them, and fix it that week.

A worked example: a cafe’s Saturday order

This is an example, not a real business. A cafe has a catering order for a local sports club: 40 sandwiches, 6 of them gluten free, collected at 11:30 on Saturday. On Thursday night the owner posts in the staff group chat: big order for the club on Saturday, needs to be ready early, do not forget the gluten free ones, and give the coffee machine a proper clean at close.

On Saturday, Sam, a casual who was not on Thursday and does not read the thread, opens with Kai, the barista. Nobody is sure what early means, how many of each kind to make or what a proper clean involves. The owner rewrites the message as instructions attached to Saturday’s shifts on the roster, and mentions them at the start of the shift.

Every line has a time, one job, one name and a finish anyone can check, and 34 + 6 = 40 matches the order. The group chat message is replaced by a short note pointing to the roster. After the Saturday, Kai mentions that nothing said where the finished box should wait, so the next version of the list adds a line: box on the counter beside the register from 11:15.

Keep instructions current

• Date every list and card, so anyone can see how old it is.
• Review standing lists every few months, and whenever equipment, suppliers or the menu change.
• Take down the old version when a new one goes up. Two versions are worse than none.
• Keep one master copy, so an update happens in one place and gets printed from there.
• Walk new starters through the lists in their first week. A new employee’s first roster covers the rest of that week.
• Let the person in charge fix an unclear line on the day, and tell you afterwards. When the supervisor is away covers what a stand-in can decide.

Roster Flow keeps the week the instructions sit in organised: availability and leave from staff phones, the roster published to everybody at once, clock ins that become timesheets, and approved hours sent to Xero, MYOB or a CSV file.

A checklist for shift instructions

• Only the things that are easy to forget, costly to get wrong or shared between people are written down
• Each instruction is one action per line, starting with a verb, in the order it is done
• Every line says what done looks like, with times and quantities where they matter
• Lists fit on one page and only the critical lines are marked
• Standing instructions sit where the work happens; one-off jobs sit with the shift
• Safety tasks are shown in person, with the written steps as a reminder
• Lists are signed, checked against the result and dated
• Old versions come down when new ones go up

Sources

• Safe Work Australia: duties of a PCBU
• Safe Work Australia: WHS regulators contact information
• Fair Work Commission: Fast Food Industry Award 2020 [MA000003]

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