Rostering software for pubs
Three small businesses in one building. The bar, the bistro and the gaming room each need their own cover, the same people move between them, and Friday night decides the week.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadia O.Duty manager | 10–6 | 10–6 | off | 4–12 | 4–12 | 4–12 |
| Lucas P.Bar | 11–7 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 4–12 | 4–1 | 4–1 |
| Kirra D.Bar | off | off | 5–11 | 5–12 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| Ana F.Bistro chef | 11–8 | 11–8 | 11–8 | 11–9 | 11–9 | 11–9 |
| Sam T.Gaming | 10–6 | 10–6 | 10–6 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–10 |
| Hana Y.Floor | off | off | off | 5–11 | 5–12 | 5–12 |
Thursday to Saturday carries the second bar and the extra floor staff. Wednesday the duty manager is off and the bar opens at eleven.
What makes a pub hard to roster
Four things that come up in every one of these weeks, and what happens here instead.
What changes once it is running
What pubs get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a pub
What it is used for in a pub
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- The bar, the bistro and the gaming room as three venues under one roof
- A duty manager who builds and publishes rosters and approves hours, without the billing
- A big trading day staffed against the estimate, before the extra people are committed to
- One person who works all three areas in a week, kept as one person with one timesheet
- Public holiday rates already on the day, at whatever you have set them to
- Late finishes and the clock outs that land the next morning, sorted first
Cup day, and a bar that needed twice the people
A suburban pub, three areas, one Tuesday in November that does a Saturday’s trade.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| Two weeks out | The day is staffed off last year’s guess. | Copy the roster from the week that matched it, then add to it rather than start blank. |
| Ten days out | Eleven shifts have been added across the bar and the bistro. | The estimate for the day includes the public holiday rate you set, before anybody is told. |
| Nine days out | Two of the eleven cannot work it after all. | Their availability says so as the shift is placed, so it is found now instead of on the day. |
| Cup day, 2pm | Gaming is quiet, the bar is three deep. | Somebody is moved from gaming to the bar as a new shift, so the areas still add up. |
| Wednesday 10am | Seven people finished after midnight and four of them never clocked out. | All four are first on the timesheet, with the rostered finish offered as the fix. |
A day that cost what the estimate said it would, staffed by people who could actually work it.
The jobs that stop being jobs
Where the hours in a week like this go. No stopwatch: the left column is what the work takes without it, and the right is what is left of the same task.
| The job | Usually | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Staffing a public holiday you only do once a year | Last year’s roster, if anybody kept it | Copy the week that matched, add to it, and price it before you commit |
| Keeping three areas from becoming three systems | A bar sheet, a bistro sheet and a gaming sheet | Three venues, one week, totals that add up across them |
| Moving somebody between areas mid shift | A decision at the taps that nothing records | A shift in the area they moved to, so the cost lands where the work did |
| Wednesday morning after a midnight close | Ringing four people to ask what time they left | Missed clock outs at the top, each fixed with a reason recorded |
What the record shows, and what stays yours
Roster Flow keeps the record. Meeting the obligation is still the workplace's job, and these are the parts of it nothing here decides for you.
- Which of the three areas each shift was worked in
- Shifts that finished after midnight, counted as worked rather than split
- The public holiday rate applied to the day in the estimate you approved
- Who published the roster and who approved the hours
- Every fix to a missing clock out, with the reason and the person
- Public holiday pay, penalties and overtime, which payroll works out
- RSA, RCG and gaming room requirements for whoever is on
- Break rules on a ten hour Cup day shift
- Whether a shift moved between areas changes what somebody is paid
What has to be kept, and for how long, is set out by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Nothing here interprets an award or certifies that a workplace complies with one.
Who is usually on the team
Often twenty to forty, mostly casual: bar staff, floor, kitchen, gaming attendants and duty managers.
What drives the wage cost
Late nights and weekends at the loadings you set, with gaming and the bistro usually the steadiest costs and Friday the one worth checking before you publish.
Questions people in pubs ask
Can we see one roster for the whole pub?
Yes. Look at a single area, or at everybody at once. The estimate totals whatever you are looking at.
How are shifts that finish after midnight counted?
As the hours worked. A 4pm to 1am shift is nine hours, and the timesheet compares it with what was rostered.
Can a duty manager approve timesheets?
Yes. Managers build rosters, approve hours and send them to payroll. Only the owner handles billing and the payroll connection.
Gaming has to have somebody on it the whole time. Will a gap show up?
A gap is visible in the week grid before the week starts, which is the point of seeing every area on one screen. It shows you the hole rather than refusing to publish, because the rule about who has to be on is yours and not something the software should pretend to know.
Forty casuals and a fortnightly pay run. How long does closing it take?
The hours arrive as they happen, so closing the fortnight is clearing what is flagged, a missing clock out from a 2am finish or a start outside the radius, then approving the rest together and sending them across.
Can I see the whole pub at once and still let area managers do their own week?
Yes. Managers run the roster and approvals for their venue, the owner sees every area and the totals across them, and billing and account settings stay with the owner.