How to plan the roster for a new business opening

Written by Roster Flow. Published 27 August 2026.

The first roster for a new business is the hardest one you will write. Every later roster can start from last week, adjusted for what you learned. The first one starts from a guess about how busy you will be, a team you have only met at interviews and trading hours you have never run.

It is also the roster where mistakes are easiest to make and hardest to see. Nobody has worked under the award in this business before, casuals are unsure what to expect, and a busy opening can hide an unpaid training day or a shift below the minimum until the first pay run. This article covers the planning from the weeks before opening to the review a month in.

Find the award before you write a single shift

Most rostering rules come from the award: minimum shift lengths, breaks, penalty rates, the span of ordinary hours, the rules for part-time employees and the notice a roster change needs. business.gov.au notes that most employees are covered by an award, that each award includes classifications describing roles, and that you must meet your obligations to employees under the relevant award and the National Employment Standards.

1. Find the awardUse the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool. A cafe, a shop and a takeaway can each fall under a different award, and some businesses have staff under more than one.
2. Classify each roleMatch each job to a classification in the award, because the classification sets the minimum rate.
3. Read the hours and rostering clausesNote the minimum engagement for casuals, the part-time rules, the breaks, the span of hours and the notice needed to change a roster.
4. Look up current ratesTake them from the pay rates page for your award, such as the Restaurant Industry Award pay rates, and cost the roster with them.

Estimate staffing without sales history

With no takings to forecast from, build the first roster from the work the business has to do, then correct it quickly.

• Start from the stations. List the jobs that must be covered whenever you are open: the till, the coffee machine, the kitchen, the floor. That is your minimum crew.
• Add the likely peaks. Opening promotions, pre-orders, bookings and the times nearby businesses are busiest all hint at where the rush will be.
• Build a flexible layer. Put casuals on the likely peaks, so hours can grow or shrink without changing permanent employees’ rosters.
• Count the work outside trading hours. Prep, cleaning, deliveries and cashing up need rostered time too. Opening and closing duties shows how to put them on the roster.
• Check the cover. The staff coverage calculator compares the hours you have rostered with the hours you need.

Once you have a few weeks of takings, switch to forecasting staffing from weekly sales.

Choose the mix of full-time, part-time and casual

Many new businesses start with mostly casuals until they know their trade. Casuals do give flexibility, but they have their own rules, and a core of permanent staff gives the business people who know it well. Whatever the mix, get the part-time paperwork right from the start, because the award ties the roster to it.

Rostering part-time and casual employees together covers how the two fit on one roster.

Sort out the paperwork before the first shift

Several obligations start as soon as someone is your employee, which includes a training day before you open. The ones that touch the roster:

• Information statements. Employers must give every new employee the Fair Work Information Statement before, or as soon as possible after, they start, and every new casual employee the Casual Employment Information Statement at the same time.
• The award, available to staff. business.gov.au says that if your employee is covered by an award, you must make it easily available to them, as a digital version or a hard copy.
• Time and wages records. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s record-keeping page says employers have to keep time and wages records for 7 years.
• Pay slips. Pay slips have to be given to an employee within 1 working day of pay day.
• Super. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s tax and superannuation page says that from 1 July 2026 employers must pay their employees super contributions each payday, and that the ATO gives advice and information about tax and super.
• Work rights and insurance. business.gov.au says to check that each employee can work in Australia, and that you must have workers compensation insurance.

Pay for training, and be careful with trial shifts

Opening usually needs a training day or two before the doors open. Roster them as paid shifts. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s unpaid work page says that if an employee does training as part of their job, they have to be paid for those hours, because time spent in training is time worked.

Trial shifts during recruitment are narrower than many owners expect. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on unpaid trials says an unpaid work trial may be unlawful if it is not necessary to demonstrate the skills required for the job or continues longer than needed, which could range from an hour to one shift depending on the work, if it involves more than a demonstration of skills directly relevant to a vacant position, or if the person is not under direct supervision. Any period beyond what is reasonably required must be paid at the appropriate minimum rate. If you want to see someone work real shifts, the same page suggests employing them as a casual or for a probationary period and paying them for all hours worked.

Training new starters without blowing the wage budget shows how to plan and cost training shifts.

Build the opening fortnight

• Open with shorter hours if you can. A shorter trading day in the first week gives the team time to learn the systems before the full rush.
• Roster your most experienced person on every shift, even if that means the owner works longer in the first fortnight.
• Overlap shifts more than you will later, so problems at handover are caught.
• Keep every casual shift at or above the minimum engagement, and put the breaks on the roster.
• Publish the roster the way the award requires. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, the roster for full-time and part-time employees must show each employee’s name and start and finish times, posted in a conspicuous place that is easily accessible (clauses 15.3(b) and (c), and 15.5(b) and (c)). The General Retail award requires the roster to be available to all employees on a notice board or through accessible electronic means, showing each employee’s ordinary hours each week, the days they work and their start and finish times, with a copy kept for at least 12 months (clause 15.9).

Changing the roster once you know your trade

After two to four weeks you will know the real peaks, and the opening roster will need changing. Plan the change, then follow the award for anyone with a regular roster.

• Restaurant and Hospitality awards: a full-time or part-time employee’s roster can be changed by agreement or with 7 days’ notice (clauses 15.3(d) and 15.5(d)), and a part-time employee must not be rostered outside their agreed availability (clause 10.7(a)).
• General Retail Industry Award: a part-time employee’s regular pattern, other than their guaranteed hours, can be changed with 7 days’ written notice, or 48 hours in an emergency, but not from week to week (clause 10.10). For employees other than part-time employees, a permanent roster change needs at least 7 days’ written notice, extended to 14 days if the employee disagrees (clause 15.9(e)).
• All three: before changing an employee’s regular roster, consult them, give them information about the change and invite their views on how it affects them, including their family or caring responsibilities (clauses 33, 39 and 35).

A worked example: the first fortnight of a new cafe

A new cafe covered by the Restaurant Industry Award opens on a Monday. For the first fortnight it trades from 7:00 to 14:00, Monday to Saturday. The owner, who is not on the payroll, works every day and cooks on Mondays and Tuesdays. Four employees are engaged, with the part-time agreements signed and the information statements given before anyone starts.

On the Friday before opening, all four work a paid training day from 9:00 to 13:00. That is 4 hours each and 16 hours in all, above the 2 hour casual minimum in clause 11.3 and the 3 hour part-time minimum in clause 10.7(b), inside both part-time employees’ availability and short enough not to need a meal break.

Opening week has 78 paid hours: 30 + 24 + 12 + 12. Each part-time shift is 6 paid hours with a 30 minute unpaid meal break after the first hour and within the first 6 hours, as clause 16.2 requires for a shift of 5 hours or more, and each sits inside the availability agreed in writing. Alex has Saturday and Sunday off and Jordan has Sunday to Tuesday off, so both have at least the 2 days off each week in clause 10.7(c). The casual shifts are 4 hours, above the 2 hour minimum.

By the end of the second week the takings show the rush runs from 11:30 to 13:30, and the first hour is quiet. The owner plans to move Riley’s and Sam’s shifts to 11:00 to 14:00, which is 3 hours each, and Alex’s shift to 7:00 to 13:30, still inside Alex’s agreed availability. Because Alex’s regular roster is changing, the owner explains the proposal, invites Alex’s views on how it affects them and considers them (clause 33), then records Alex’s agreement or gives 7 days’ notice (clause 15.3(d)). The casual hours drop from 24 to 18 a week: 2 people × 3 days × 3 hours.

Review the roster after the first month

A month in, compare what you rostered with what was worked and what you took. Comparing rostered and actual labour costs shows how, and the roster to payroll checklist helps the first pay runs match the timesheets. Look at:

• Which hours were overstaffed or understaffed, day by day
• Whether breaks were taken when the roster said
• Whose availability has already changed
• Who is ready to open, close or run a shift without the owner

Roster Flow gives a new team one place to start from: 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 a new business’s first roster

• The award and each role’s classification are confirmed
• The minimum crew for each station is worked out, with casuals on the likely peaks
• Part-time agreements are in writing before the first shift
• Every new employee has the information statements, and the award is available
• Records, pay slips and super are set up before the first pay day
• Training days are rostered and paid
• Any unpaid trial is a short, supervised demonstration of skills and nothing more
• Every casual shift meets the minimum engagement and every break is on the roster
• The roster is published the way the award requires
• Changes after opening are consulted on and given the notice the award requires

Sources

• business.gov.au: guide to hiring employees
• Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award
• Fair Work Ombudsman: Fair Work Information Statement
• Fair Work Ombudsman: record-keeping
• Fair Work Ombudsman: pay slips
• Fair Work Ombudsman: tax and superannuation
• Fair Work Ombudsman: unpaid work
• Fair Work Ombudsman: unpaid trials
• Fair Work Commission: Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119]
• Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
• Fair Work Commission: General Retail Industry Award 2020 [MA000004]
• Fair Work Commission: Fast Food Industry Award 2020 [MA000003]

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