How to run a five-minute pre-shift briefing

Written by Roster Flow. Published 7 September 2026.

Many shifts start the same way. People arrive a few minutes apart, glance at the roster and ask whoever is nearest what is on today. Somebody hears about the table of 14 when it walks in. Somebody else learns the fish is off from a customer. A five-minute briefing before service fixes most of that, and it takes less time than sorting out the mix-ups later.

A briefing is not the same as a handover. The handover passes on what happened on the last shift, as shift handover notes explains. The briefing turns that, and today’s plan, into instructions for the people about to work.

What a pre-shift briefing is for

Keep the purpose narrow. A briefing is about the next few hours: who is where, what is different and what matters most today. It is not a training session, a performance talk or a staff meeting, which all need more time and their own place on the roster.

• Everyone knows their section and role, so nobody stands around waiting to be told.
• Changes reach everyone at once, including items that are off and bookings that came in late. A change to someone’s own shift still goes to them directly, as how to communicate roster changes explains.
• One safety point is said out loud, while people are listening.
• Questions come up before customers arrive, not in the middle of service.

The five things to cover

If an item has nothing new, skip it. A briefing that fills five minutes because the list says so is soon ignored, and a two-minute briefing on a quiet Tuesday is fine. Breaks planned before the shift make the second item quick, as how to plan break times on a busy shift explains.

Who runs it, and how to prepare

The person in charge of the shift runs the briefing, whoever that is on the day. When the usual supervisor is away, name the person who briefs on the roster so the habit does not quietly stop. How to roster when your only supervisor is away covers choosing the person in charge.

• Prepare for a few minutes beforehand: the bookings, the handover note, the roster and the list of what is off.
• Stand where everyone can hear, away from the coffee machine and the dishwasher.
• Bring the kitchen in for the specials and anything that is off, so floor staff hear it from the people cooking.
• Write the key points down in the handover note, so late arrivals and the next shift see them.
• Keep the same order every time, so people know what is coming and notice when something is missing.

Put the briefing on the roster, as paid time

A briefing only works if people are there for it, so put it inside the rostered shift. If service starts at 17:00 and the briefing is at 16:50, roster the shift from 16:50, not 17:00. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on unpaid work says that if an employee does training as part of their job they have to be paid for those hours, and that compulsory meetings can count as time worked and need to be paid. Treat a briefing staff are expected to attend as part of their paid shift.

• Show the real start time. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, the roster for full-time and part-time employees must show each employee’s name and the times they start and finish work (clauses 15.3(b) and 15.5(b)).
• Do not call anyone in just for a briefing. A casual must be engaged and paid for at least 2 consecutive hours each time they are required to attend work under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards (clause 11.3), 3 consecutive hours under the Fast Food Industry Award (clause 11.3) and 3 hours under the General Retail Industry Award, apart from a narrow exception for some school students (clauses 11.2 and 11.3). Confirm your award with Find my award.
• Brief in two groups if the kitchen and the floor start at different times, rather than asking one group to come in early unpaid.
• Count it in the wage budget. Ten minutes for eight people is 80 minutes of paid time. The roster cost calculator shows what that adds to the week.

Make the safety point count

The briefing is a natural place to talk about health and safety. Safe Work Australia’s consultation page says a person conducting a business or undertaking must consult workers on work health and safety matters. It says that for smaller workplaces with few workers, consultation might be as simple as regularly talking to workers about health and safety, and that it can happen through usual communications like team meetings and toolbox talks.

Pick one point, make it specific to today and ask for questions, because the people doing the work often know about the problem first:

• "The floor by the cool room is wet until the drain is fixed, so use the side door."
• "The special has tree nuts. Any allergy question goes to the kitchen before you answer."
• "The deck will be over 35°C this afternoon. The deck section swaps at 15:00, and there is water at the pass."
• "Two kegs arrive at 17:30. Use the trolley, and two people on the stairs."

Common ways briefings go wrong

• It turns into a lecture. Keep feedback for one person to a private conversation.
• It starts late and eats into service. Start at the rostered time, even if someone is running late.
• It repeats the roster. Say only what the roster does not already show.
• Only the floor hears it. If the kitchen is not there, the specials and allergens are only half briefed.
• New starters are left out. Introduce anyone new by name and say who is looking after them. How to onboard a new employee onto the roster covers their first week.
• Nothing is written down, so the late shift never hears it. Put the key points in the handover note.
• It only happens on busy nights. A short briefing on every shift keeps the habit going, so it is there when a busy night needs it.

A worked example: a Friday dinner briefing

A restaurant covered by the Restaurant Industry Award opens for dinner at 17:00. Eight people start before the doors open: a supervisor, three floor staff, a bartender, two cooks and a dishwasher. The supervisor starts at 16:40 to prepare, and the other seven start at 16:50. The briefing runs from 16:52 to 16:57.

Five items of 60 seconds make 300 seconds, or 5 minutes, and finishing at 16:57 leaves 3 minutes to get to sections before the doors open. The supervisor writes the snapper, the special’s allergen and who is running food for the big table in the handover note. The two staff who start at 18:00 get a one-minute version at the pass: the numbers, their section and the allergen in the special.

The time is on the roster and paid. Seven people starting at 16:50 instead of 17:00 adds 70 minutes of paid time, and the supervisor’s 20 minutes of preparation adds 20 more, so the briefing costs 90 minutes of paid time across the shift. The roster shows those start times, as clause 15.3(b) requires for full-time and part-time employees, and nobody is called in just for the briefing.

Roster Flow helps with the part before the briefing: 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 pre-shift briefing checklist

• The briefing inside the rostered shift, with the real start time on the roster
• A named person to run it on every shift
• A few minutes of preparation: bookings, the handover note, what is off
• The numbers, who is where, what is different, one safety point and one focus
• Items with nothing new skipped
• Kitchen and floor both briefed
• Questions asked for before customers arrive
• Key points written in the handover note
• New starters introduced by name
• Nobody called in just for the briefing

Sources

• Fair Work Ombudsman: unpaid work
• Safe Work Australia: consultation
• Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award
• 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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