Rostering and timesheet glossary

Staff roster

The plan of who works when: each person’s shifts for a period, usually a week, with start and finish times, the role and the place.

For example: A cafe’s roster for the week of 1 March shows Priya on the coffee machine from 6:30 to 12:30 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Not the same as: A timesheet. The roster is the plan; the timesheet is what was worked.

Employee schedule

Another name for a roster, more common in software written for the United States. In Australia the everyday word is roster, and the two usually mean the same plan.

For example: A scheduling app’s “schedule” for next week is the same thing a manager in Brisbane would call next week’s roster.

Fixed roster

A roster where each person works the same shifts every week.

For example: A bookkeeper who works Monday to Wednesday, 9:00 to 15:00, every week.

Not the same as: A rotating roster, where the shifts change in a repeating cycle.

Rotating roster

A roster where people move through different shifts, such as days, nights and days off, in a sequence that repeats.

For example: Four teams take turns on two days, two nights and four days off, so every team covers every kind of shift across eight days.

Not the same as: A fixed roster, where the same person works the same shifts each week.

Roster pattern

The repeating sequence of shifts and days off that a rotating roster is built from.

For example: D D N N O O O O: two day shifts, two night shifts and four days off, then back to the start.

Shift

One continuous period somebody is rostered to work, with a start, a finish and usually a role and a place.

For example: Monday, 16:00 to 23:00, cook, at the Marlow Street kitchen.

Not the same as: A working day. A split shift puts two shifts, or two parts of one, into the same day.

Open shift

A shift that needs somebody but has nobody yet, offered to the people who could work it.

For example: Nobody is rostered on Saturday’s close, so it is offered to the three casuals who are available that evening.

Not the same as: A shift swap, where a shift that already has somebody moves to a colleague.

Shift swap

When a rostered person hands a shift to a colleague who agrees to work it, usually with a manager’s approval before the roster changes.

For example: Priya cannot work Saturday morning, Mei agrees to take it, and the manager approves the change.

Not the same as: Dropping a shift. A swap needs somebody to take it; a dropped shift becomes an open shift.

Split shift

A working day in two parts with an unpaid gap between them, such as lunch service and dinner service.

For example: A chef works 11:00 to 14:30, has the afternoon off, and comes back for 17:00 to 21:30.

Not the same as: A long shift with an unpaid meal break. Some awards set conditions on split shifts, so check the one that applies.

Broken shift

A term some awards use for work done in more than one period in a day, common in care work. It overlaps with split shift, and what it means depends on the award that uses it.

For example: A support worker helps a client from 7:00 to 9:00, then again from 16:00 to 19:00.

Not the same as: A split shift in everyday use. Whether a day counts as a broken shift is a question for the award.

Multi-venue rostering

Rostering people across more than one location, where each place needs its own cover and one person may work at two of them in a week.

For example: A barista works Monday at the harbour cafe and Thursday at the city one, and both rosters need to show it.

Staff availability

The times each person can work and the times they cannot, which a manager checks before putting them on the roster.

For example: Available Tuesday until 15:00, not on Fridays, and away on 14 March.

Not the same as: Leave. Availability is when somebody can be rostered; leave is time off from work they would otherwise do.

Leave request

An employee’s request for time off, with the dates and the kind of leave, for a manager to approve or decline.

For example: Five days of annual leave from 12 April, sent three weeks ahead, with the shifts it lands on listed for the manager.

Time and attendance

Recording when people actually start and finish, their breaks and their absences, and comparing it with the roster.

For example: A clock in at 8:52 against a rostered start of 9:00, and a clock out at 17:14 against 17:00.

Time clock

Whatever employees use to record their start and finish times: a terminal on the wall, a tablet by the door or an app on their own phone.

For example: Staff tap to clock in on their phone when they arrive at the venue.

Clock in and clock out

Recording the moment somebody starts work and the moment they finish, on a time clock, an app or a sign in sheet.

For example: Clock in at 6:58, start a break at 10:30, end it at 11:00, clock out at 15:02.

Timesheet

A record of the hours an employee worked in a period, with start and finish times and unpaid breaks, used to run payroll.

For example: Monday 9:00 to 17:00 with a 30 minute unpaid break is 7.5 hours on the timesheet.

Not the same as: A roster, which is the plan the timesheet is compared against.

Payroll-ready timesheet

A timesheet that has been checked and approved, with its differences from the roster settled, so the hours can go to payroll without another round of questions.

For example: A missed clock out corrected with a reason, a late start confirmed, and the week approved before the pay run.

Not the same as: A calculated pay run. Payroll-ready means the hours are settled, not that pay has been worked out.

Late start

Clocking in after the rostered start time. Many businesses allow a few minutes before a start counts as late.

For example: Rostered at 7:00 and clocked in at 7:12.

No-show

When somebody rostered on does not turn up and has not let anybody know.

For example: The 6:00 opener has not arrived or called by 6:20.

Not the same as: A sick call. Somebody who rings in before the shift has not failed to show.

Ordinary hours

The normal hours of work, paid at the ordinary rate. The National Employment Standards limit a full-time employee’s ordinary hours to 38 a week plus reasonable additional hours, and awards and agreements set how ordinary hours can be arranged.

For example: A full-time retail assistant rostered for 38 hours across five days.

Not the same as: Every hour worked. Hours outside the ordinary arrangement may be overtime, depending on the award.

Overtime

Work beyond ordinary hours, or outside the times ordinary hours can be worked, usually paid at a higher rate set by the award, agreement or contract.

For example: A full-time cook who works a sixth shift in a week, beyond their ordinary hours.

Not the same as: Simply more than 38 hours in a week. Awards can count daily limits and times of day as well.

Span of hours

The times of day, and days of the week, within which ordinary hours can be worked under an award or agreement.

For example: If an award’s span were 7:00 to 19:00 on weekdays, a shift starting at 6:00 would begin an hour outside it.

Not the same as: Trading hours. A shop can be open when ordinary hours cannot be worked.

Minimum engagement

The shortest period an employee has to be paid for each time they come in to work, set by the award or agreement, and often different for casual and part-time employees.

For example: If the minimum were three hours, somebody sent home after two would still be paid for three.

Rostered day off (RDO)

A day off built into a roster by working slightly longer days, so the extra time adds up to a day off in the cycle. Whether a business can arrange hours this way depends on the award or agreement.

For example: Working 8 hours a day for 19 days of a four-week cycle, which is 152 hours, with the 20th day off.

Not the same as: Leave. An RDO comes from how ordinary hours are arranged, not from a leave balance.

Penalty rate

A higher rate of pay for work at particular times, such as weekends, public holidays, late nights or early mornings, set by the award or agreement.

For example: A cafe owner looks up the Sunday rate in their award and enters it as a multiplier so the roster estimate includes it.

Not the same as: A loading such as casual loading, which is about the kind of employment rather than when the work is done.

Casual loading

An extra percentage paid to casual employees, set by the award or agreement, in place of entitlements such as paid annual and personal leave.

For example: A casual’s hourly rate is the base rate plus the loading their award sets.

Not the same as: A penalty rate, which depends on when the work is done.

Public holiday

A day declared a holiday nationally or by a state or territory. Employees generally keep the public holidays of the place they are based for work, can be asked to work one if the request is reasonable, and can refuse on reasonable grounds.

For example: Anzac Day 2027 is a Sunday: New South Wales adds Monday 26 April, and Queensland observes it on that Monday instead.

Not the same as: A paid day off for everybody. Pay for working one, or for not working it, depends on the award, agreement and the employee.

Award interpretation

Working out what an award means for pay: which rates, penalties, allowances and overtime apply to each hour worked. Roster Flow does not do this; it multiplies hours by the rates and multipliers a business enters.

For example: Deciding whether a Sunday evening shift for a level 2 casual attracts a penalty, an allowance or both.

Not the same as: Costing a roster, which only needs the rates somebody has already worked out.

Labour cost

What the people who work in a business cost: wages, plus what is paid on top of them, such as superannuation, payroll tax where it applies and workers compensation insurance.

For example: A week of $3,200 in wages costs more than $3,200 once superannuation is added.

Labour cost percentage

Labour cost divided by sales for the same period, written as a percentage.

For example: $3,200 of labour cost against $12,800 of sales is 25 percent.

Wage budget

The amount a business plans to spend on wages for a period, which a roster is checked against before it is published.

For example: A $3,000 budget for next week, against a roster that comes to $3,180 once Saturday is filled.