Pub and club rostering guide

Written by Roster Flow. Published 1 July 2026.

Most venues roster the bar, the bistro and the rest of the building as if they were one team. They are not. Each area has its own peaks, its own skills and its own close, and a roster that treats them as one ends up with three people behind the bar at 15:00 and one in the bistro at 18:30. The general steps for any business are in the complete guide to staff rostering. This guide covers what is particular to pubs, hotels and clubs.

Which award covers your venue

Pubs and clubs usually sit under different awards, and the differences matter for the roster. The Hospitality Industry (General) Award covers the hospitality industry, which clause 4.2 says includes hotels, taverns and wine bars, along with restaurants and function areas operating in connection with those premises. Clause 4.4 excludes clubs registered or recognised under state or territory legislation.

Those clubs are covered by the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award, which applies to work in or in connection with clubs (clause 4.1). Clause 4.3 defines a club as one registered and licensed under the relevant laws that operates on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of members and the community. If a club’s bistro is run by a separate business, its staff are that business’s employees and may be covered by a different award. Confirm which award applies with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool. The rules in this guide are from both awards as consolidated to 1 July 2026, and an enterprise agreement may set different terms.

What makes a pub or club roster different

• Several areas, one venue. Bar, bistro kitchen, bistro floor or counter, gaming room, functions and sometimes a bottle shop, each with different skills.
• A long day with two or three peaks. Lunch, the after-work trade and dinner, with sport, trivia or a band changing the night.
• Late closes and early starts. The person who closes the bar at midnight may be the person you want to open the next day, and the award may not allow it.
• Liquor and gaming laws. State and territory laws and your licence conditions sit alongside the award. This guide covers the award; check the rest with your liquor regulator.

Roster each area, then join them up

Build each area’s roster from its own trade, then check where they meet: the kitchen pass, the duty manager’s handover and the close. The table shows what usually sets the hours in each area.

Staggered starts keep a venue roster lean. Bring one bartender in to open, add a second for the after-work trade and a third for the evening, and send the first home once the second is settled. The pub and club roster template lays out bar, bistro, gaming and a function side by side.

Build the week in order

1. Mark the tradeList trading hours for each area and the events that change the week: functions, sport on the screens, trivia, bands and public holidays.
2. Place the fixed shiftsPut in duty managers and full-time chefs first, then part-time employees on their guaranteed hours and inside their written availability.
3. Cover the peaksAdd casuals to the busiest hours in each area, checking availability before you place anyone.
4. Check the rulesCheck minimum shifts, breaks, split shifts and the time between shifts against your award, using the table below.
5. Check the costTotal the hours and estimate the wage cost, with late night, weekend and public holiday hours counted separately.
6. Publish and post itSend the roster to everyone and post it where the team can see it, with the date it was published.

Roster rules in the two awards

The rules below are from the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 and the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020. Clause numbers are given so you can check the wording.

Both awards also require consultation before you change someone’s regular roster or ordinary hours: clause 39 of the Hospitality Award and clause 33 of the Clubs Award. Explain the change and when it starts, invite the employee’s views, including the effect on family or caring responsibilities, and consider what they say. These consultation clauses do not apply to an employee whose working hours are irregular, sporadic or unpredictable.

Breaks on long pub and club shifts

Under the Hospitality Award’s break table (clause 16.2), a shift of more than 6 hours includes an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, taken after the first 2 hours and within the first 6. An employee on a shift of more than 5 and up to 6 hours can ask in writing for an unpaid meal break of up to 30 minutes (clause 16.4). Shifts of more than 8 hours add a paid 20 minute rest break, and more than 10 hours two of them. If the meal break is not allowed, clauses 16.5 and 16.6 add 50% of the ordinary hourly rate from 6 hours after starting until the break is given or the shift ends. Clause 16.7 adds a paid 20 minute rest break when someone works more than 5 continuous hours after their meal break.

Under the Clubs Award (clause 17.1), anyone working more than 5 hours in a day, casuals included, gets an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes between 1.5 and 5 hours after starting. If it is not given, clause 17.2 pays 150% of the ordinary hourly rate from the end of 5 hours until it is. Clause 17.3 adds a paid 20 minute break for more than 5 hours worked after the meal break. A club employing fewer than 10 people under the award can give a paid 20 minute crib break instead (clause 17.4), and an employee working entirely between 11pm and 8am, or rostered alone, gets a paid break of at least 20 minutes (clause 17.5).

Put the breaks on the roster, not just in the award file, and record them as they are taken. Recording unpaid breaks covers how, and the unpaid break calculator takes breaks off a shift.

Late closes, early starts and penalty rates

Late trading is where a venue’s wage bill grows fastest. Under the Hospitality Award (clause 29.2), ordinary hours worked from 7pm to midnight and from midnight to 7am, Monday to Friday, attract an additional amount per hour on top of the ordinary rate, and Saturday, Sunday and public holiday hours are paid at higher percentages. The Clubs Award has its own late and early work penalty for the same Monday to Friday periods (clause 24.4), which also applies to casuals (clause 11.2). The amounts change each July, so use the Hospitality Award pay rates and Clubs Award pay rates pages.

The close also shapes the next morning. Under the Hospitality Award, a full-time or part-time employee who finishes at 1:00 cannot start their ordinary hours before 11:00 the same day, because of the 10 hour break in clause 15.5(e). Check the gap before you give your closer the opening shift.

Juniors behind the bar

Both awards allow junior employees to work in a bar or other place where liquor is sold only where the law permits (Hospitality Award clause 13.4, Clubs Award clause 13.1). A junior working as a liquor service employee is paid the adult rate for the classification (Hospitality Award clause 13.5, Clubs Award clause 13.1). Whether a person under 18 can serve or be in the bar at all is a question for your state or territory liquor law, not the award, so check it before a junior goes on a bar roster.

A worked example: Friday at a suburban hotel

A hotel under the Hospitality Award trades from 11:00 to midnight on Friday, with a bar close and clean until 00:30. The bistro serves lunch from 12:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 17:30 to 21:00. Nobody on a shift of more than 5 and up to 6 hours has asked for a meal break.

That is 7.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 3.00 + 3.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 6.00 + 5.50 + 4.00 = 54.50 paid hours. Every casual shift is at least 2 hours and every part-time shift at least 3. The chef’s split shift spreads from 10:00 to 21:30, which is 11.5 hours and inside the 12 hour limit, and the 2.5 hour gap between the two parts sets which split shift allowance applies under clause 26.14. Both duty managers have their meal break after 2 hours and within 6. The night manager finishes at 01:00, so their earliest ordinary start on Saturday is 11:00. And every hour after 19:00 costs more than an hour at lunch, which is why the evening bar is built in stages rather than with everyone from 16:00.

Keep an eye on wage cost

Watch wage cost for each area and each part of the day, not just the week. A full bar team on a quiet Tuesday night costs as much in hours as on a busy Friday, and more per hour than the lunch trade. The roster cost calculator estimates the week before you publish, the labour cost percentage calculator shows wages as a share of sales, and the weekend and public holiday hours calculator separates the hours that cost the most.

Changes, swaps and sick calls

Venue rosters change every week. Approve a swap only when the person taking the shift has the skills for that area and is available. Cover a gap from people already on or near the shift, and check that the cover does not break the 10 hour gap under the Hospitality Award or push a part-time employee outside their written availability. For full-time and part-time employees under either award, a change needs agreement or 7 days’ notice.

Roster Flow covers the parts of this that repeat every week: 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. See how it works for pubs and clubs.

A checklist for every pub and club roster

• The right award is confirmed for the venue, and for any separately run bistro
• Each area is rostered from its own trade, then joined up at handovers
• Casual shifts meet the minimum, and part-time shifts are at least 3 hours and inside written availability
• Meal breaks are on the roster for every shift that needs one
• Split shifts stay within a 12 hour spread under the Hospitality Award, with the allowance paid
• Closers are not rostered to open without the break the award requires
• Late night, weekend and public holiday hours are costed separately
• Juniors are only on a bar roster where your liquor law allows it
• The roster is posted where everyone can see it, with the date it was published

Sources

• Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
• Fair Work Commission: Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 [MA000058]
• Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award
• Fair Work Ombudsman: breaks

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