How far in advance should you publish a staff roster?

A roster that arrives the night before the week starts forces everyone into last minute swaps and missed shifts. One published too far ahead goes stale before it is used. Here is what the awards say about lead times and notice, why two weeks suits most small businesses, and a publishing rhythm you can keep every fortnight.

Written by Roster Flow. Published 9 July 2026.

Short answer

Two weeks ahead is a sound default for most small businesses, and some awards require it. The Hair and Beauty award requires a written roster at least 14 days in advance, and the Aged Care and SCHADS awards require the roster to be posted two weeks before it starts. The Hospitality, Restaurant and General Retail awards set no lead time for publishing the roster itself, although the Hospitality and Restaurant awards ask for 2 weeks’ notice of rostered days off where practicable. Most of the awards checked here also set notice for changing a roster once it is out, commonly 7 days.

Your staff plan their lives around the roster. Parents book childcare, students fit shifts around classes, and people with second jobs have to tell another employer when they are free. A roster that comes out late pushes all of that into the last few days, and the result shows up on your side as swap requests, sick calls and shifts nobody turns up to.

Publishing earlier is not free either. The further out you go, the less you know about bookings, events and who will be away. The answer is to find the lead time your award requires, add enough for people to plan, and then keep to the same day every cycle. The general steps for building the roster itself are in the complete guide to staff rostering.

A woman with long fair hair pinning a sheet of paper to a cork noticeboard on a white brick wall — Photo: Pexels

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What the awards say

There is no one lead time that applies to every employer. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on rosters explains that awards and agreements can set extra rules about how and when employees are given rosters, and the rules differ a great deal between awards. Confirm yours with the Find my award tool, then check its rostering clause. The table shows what eleven awards say, from the award text published by the Fair Work Commission.

Publishing and changing rosters in eleven awards
Award	When the roster must be given	Changing a published roster	Clause
Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020	A written roster at least 14 days in advance, for full-time and part-time employees; it may be accessible electronically	Full-time: by mutual agreement, or 48 hours’ notice in an emergency. Part-time: 7 days’ written notice, or 48 hours in an emergency	15.2, 15.3
Aged Care Award 2010	Displayed at least two weeks before the first working period; not obligatory for casual or relieving staff	7 days’ notice, except where another employee is absent through illness or in an emergency	22.6
Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010	A fortnightly roster posted at least two weeks before the roster period; not obligatory for casual or relieving staff	7 days’ notice, with exceptions for agreed swaps, illness and emergencies	25.5
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020	Posted where full-time and part-time employees can easily see it; 2 weeks’ notice of rostered days off where practicable	By mutual agreement, or 7 days’ notice	15.5, 15.6
Restaurant Industry Award 2020	Posted where full-time and part-time employees can easily see it; 2 weeks’ notice of rostered days off where practicable	By mutual agreement, or 7 days’ notice	15.3, 15.4
Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020	Posted for full-time and part-time employees; 2 weeks’ notice of rostered days off where practicable	By mutual consent, or 7 days’ notice, subject to the consultation clause	16.1 to 16.3
General Retail Industry Award 2020	Available to all employees on a notice board or by accessible electronic means	Permanent changes for employees other than part-time: at least 7 days’ written notice, or 14 days if the employee disagrees	15.9
Children’s Services Award 2010	A legible roster posted where employees can readily see it	7 days’ notice, or overtime until 7 days have passed, unless waived or shortened by agreement or in an emergency outside the employer’s control	21.7
Fitness Industry Award 2020	Employees must be notified of their rostered hours	At least 7 days’ notice, except in an emergency	13.5
Cleaning Services Award 2020	Posted for full-time and part-time employees	By mutual agreement, or 7 days’ notice or shorter in an emergency, subject to the consultation clause	13.6
Security Services Industry Award 2020	Employees other than relieving officers and casuals work to a roster given in advance	7 days’ notice or a shorter agreed period, or overtime for time outside the notified hours	13.5, 13.6

Two patterns stand out. Where an award in the table sets a lead time, it is two weeks. And where it sets notice for changes, it is usually 7 days, often limited to full-time and part-time employees. Before changing anyone’s regular roster, the consultation clause in your award also applies: for example clause 39 of the Hospitality award, clause 33 of the Restaurant award and clause 35 of the General Retail award.

Why two weeks is a sound default

Even where your award sets no lead time, two weeks lines up with the rules around it. It gives the 2 weeks’ notice of rostered days off that the Hospitality, Restaurant and Clubs awards ask for where practicable. It leaves room to give 7 days’ notice of a change before the roster starts, so a problem spotted a few days after publishing can still be fixed without having to rely on everyone agreeing. And if you pay fortnightly, each roster can line up with a pay period.

It also suits the people on the roster. Two weeks is long enough to arrange childcare or tell a second employer, and short enough that most of the trade, the bookings and the leave for that fortnight are already known.

What should decide your lead time

Your award. Start from any lead time it sets, such as 14 days in the Hair and Beauty award, and never publish later than that.
How settled your trade is. A cafe with steady weekday trade can publish further ahead than a function venue waiting on bookings.
When leave and availability are known. The roster can only go out after the cut off for leave requests and availability for that period.
Your pay cycle. Rosters that match pay periods make checking timesheets against the roster simpler. The payroll cut off planner helps line the dates up.
Your team. Students with changing timetables and staff with second jobs benefit most from an early roster.
Public holidays. A fortnight with a public holiday needs its dates checked before publishing. The public holiday dates differ by state and territory.

Set a publishing rhythm

A lead time only helps if people know when to expect the roster. Fix a day for each step and repeat it every cycle. Here is a fortnightly rhythm for a roster that starts on Monday 16 November 2026.

Thursday 29 October: availability and leave closeAnyone who wants time off or has changed availability for the fortnight must have told you by the end of the day.
Friday 30 October: build and cost the draftBuild the roster from the trade you expect, place everyone inside their availability and check the hours and cost.
Monday 2 November: publishSend the roster to everyone at once and post it where the award requires, 14 days before the first shift.
Monday 16 November: the fortnight startsThe roster runs to Sunday 29 November. Availability for the next fortnight closed on Thursday 12 November, and that roster is published today for the fortnight starting Monday 30 November.

Every date moves on by 14 days each cycle, so staff only have to learn one pattern: availability by Thursday, roster on Monday, two weeks ahead. The fortnightly roster template lays out a fortnight on one page.

Publishing early without locking yourself in

The worry about publishing early is being stuck with a roster that no longer fits the trade. A few habits reduce it.

Roster the core, not every hour. Publish the shifts you are sure of, and show the uncertain ones, such as a possible function, as open shifts to be filled once the booking is confirmed.
Agree changes early. Many of the awards in the table allow a roster to be changed by agreement, so ask as soon as you know rather than waiting until there is no time left for notice.
Keep a list of people wanting extra hours. When the trade picks up, extra shifts go to people who have asked for them.
Say what changed. When you reissue the roster, list the changes at the top, so nobody has to compare two versions.

For shifts that open up after publishing, managing hospitality roster changes and sick calls sets out an order for filling them. A rotating roster makes early publishing easier still, because the pattern for the next cycle is already known.

A woman sitting on a dark sofa writing in a spiral notepad with a blue pencil beside a grey cushion — Photo: Pexels

After you publish: notice and contact

Once the roster is out, the notice rules in your award apply to changes. Where the award requires 7 days’ notice and you cannot give it, some awards spell out the cost: under the Children’s Services award, overtime is paid until 7 days have passed from the notice (clause 21.7), and under the Security Services award, time worked outside the previously notified hours is paid at the overtime rate (clause 13.5). A change to someone’s regular roster also needs consultation under your award.

Think about when you send changes as well as how much notice they carry. Employees have a right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact outside their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable, and for small business employers it has applied since 26 August 2025, as the Fair Work Ombudsman explains. Publishing on a set day during working hours, rather than in a late night message, avoids most of the problem.

Make sure people can see it

Publishing means the roster reaches people, not just that it exists. Several awards describe how. The General Retail award allows a notice board or accessible electronic means (clause 15.9), the SCHADS award allows rosters and changes to be communicated by any electronic means (clause 25.5), and the Hair and Beauty award allows the written roster to be accessible electronically (clauses 15.2 and 15.3). The Hospitality and Restaurant awards require the roster to be posted in a conspicuous place that is easily accessible (clauses 15.5 and 15.3). Where your award asks for a posted roster, post it and send it.

Roster Flow is built around that step: 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 publishing on time

The lead time and change notice in your award are written down
Availability and leave requests have a fixed cut off before each roster
The roster is published on the same day every cycle, at least two weeks ahead
Days off are shown at least 2 weeks ahead where your award asks for it
Uncertain shifts are shown as open shifts rather than guessed
Changes after publishing are agreed, or given the notice the award requires
Changes to anyone’s regular roster are consulted on first
The roster is posted where the award requires and sent to everyone

Questions

Is there a legal minimum for how far ahead a roster must be published?

There is no single lead time for every employer. Some awards set one, such as 14 days in the Hair and Beauty award and two weeks in the Aged Care and SCHADS awards, while others set notice for changes instead.

How much notice do I need to give to change a published roster?

It depends on the award. Under the Hospitality and Restaurant awards, a full-time or part-time employee’s roster can be changed by mutual agreement or with 7 days’ notice (clauses 15.5 and 15.3).

Do casual employees have to be given the roster in advance?

Not always. The Aged Care and SCHADS awards say it is not obligatory to display the rosters of casual or relieving staff, and the Hospitality and Restaurant roster clauses apply to full-time and part-time employees. Giving casuals the same notice still helps them plan.

Should I publish a weekly or a fortnightly roster?

Match your pay cycle and your award. The SCHADS award requires a fortnightly roster, and a fortnightly roster published two weeks ahead suits many small businesses that pay fortnightly.

Can I send the roster by app or message instead of posting it?

Some awards allow it, including the General Retail and SCHADS awards. The Hospitality and Restaurant awards require the roster to be posted where employees can easily see it, so do both.

What if my trade is too uncertain to roster two weeks out?

Publish the shifts you are sure of and show the rest as open shifts. Fill them as bookings firm up, giving people as much notice as you can.

Sources

Late finishes and transportFinish times staff can actually get home from.Fortnightly roster templateA fortnight on one page.Payroll cut off plannerLine up rosters, timesheets and pay day.Rotating rostersA repeating pattern you can publish early.

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