Employee rostering software

​Read our Scheduling & Rostering Support Guides​​​

Building staff rosters and managing schedules shouldn’t feel like a full-time job. Yet for many business owners, rostering is still done manually through spreadsheets, sticky notes, or endless text messages. These outdated scheduling methods not only take up valuable time but also lead to errors, conflicts, and compliance risks.

RosterElf’s Staff Rostering and Scheduling Tool takes the complexity out of workforce management. With an intuitive interface, mobile access, and built-in compliance checks, you can create efficient schedules in minutes while keeping labour costs and Fair Work rules under control.


Build Costed Rosters in Minutes

RosterElf makes rostering fast and accurate with drag-and-drop functionality. Managers can assign shifts, copy existing templates, and adjust schedules on the fly from either desktop or the mobile app. As you build, live labour cost estimates update in real time, so you always know whether your roster is within budget.

Instead of spending hours scheduling shifts, managers can create, publish, and share rosters in a fraction of the time—freeing them to focus on running the business.


Smarter Scheduling with AI Support

Good scheduling is about more than filling slots—it’s about matching the right staff to the right shifts. RosterElf’s AI-powered Perfect Match feature looks at employee skills, availability, and qualifications to recommend the best fit for each role.

Meanwhile, smart rostering warnings flag conflicts before they become problems. Overlapping shifts, leave bookings, overtime triggers, or maximum-hour breaches are highlighted in real time, helping managers keep schedules compliant and clash-free.


Mobile Rostering and Scheduling On the Go

Modern businesses need flexibility. With RosterElf’s iOS and Android apps, managers can adjust rosters and schedules anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re on-site, travelling, or away from the office, you have full rostering control in your pocket.

Employees also benefit—they can check their schedules, update availability, and request shift swaps directly through the app. Push notifications instantly alert staff to roster changes, eliminating frantic calls or last-minute confusion.


Visibility Across Sites

For businesses managing multiple locations, visibility is everything. RosterElf provides a live view of staffing levels across all sites, showing who is rostered, who is on leave, and where scheduling gaps may exist.

This real-time oversight keeps coverage tight and communication instant, reducing the risk of being understaffed and ensuring smoother day-to-day operations.


Payroll-Ready Scheduling

Every roster flows seamlessly into payroll. Approved timesheets are automatically generated from scheduled and actual hours worked, with award interpretation applied. This means overtime, penalties, and allowances are calculated correctly, and payroll integrates directly with systems like Xero and MYOB.

The result? Rostering and scheduling that connects straight through to accurate, compliant payroll—saving hours of admin every pay cycle.


The Outcome: Better Rostering, Happier Staff

By blending rostering and scheduling into one streamlined platform, RosterElf helps businesses save time, reduce errors, and improve compliance. Staff enjoy clarity around shifts, managers gain more control, and businesses cut down on unnecessary costs.

Bottom line: Whether you call it rostering or scheduling, RosterElf makes it faster, smarter, and easier than ever.

Ready to simplify your workforce planning? Start your free trial today and see how RosterElf transforms rostering and scheduling for your business.

​Read our Scheduling Mobile App Support Guides​​​

In small business, things change quickly. Staff availability shifts, customers call in last-minute bookings, or someone calls in sick just before a busy shift. Trying to manage rosters and schedules with spreadsheets or phone calls often leads to stress and wasted time. That’s why RosterElf’s mobile app for rostering and scheduling puts everything you need right in your pocket—giving managers complete flexibility and staff instant clarity.


Build and Publish Rosters Anywhere

With RosterElf’s iOS and Android apps, you can build, edit, and publish rosters 24/7. No matter where you are—on site, at home, or travelling—you can manage schedules with just a few taps. The drag-and-drop design makes creating shifts fast and intuitive, while live cost forecasting helps ensure your roster stays on budget.

Instead of being tied to a desk, managers can schedule shifts on the go, reducing downtime and keeping operations running smoothly.


Instant Notifications for Staff

The moment you hit “Save,” employees get push alerts with their updated roster. Last-minute scheduling changes no longer mean frantic phone calls or group text chains. Staff can see exactly when and where they’re working—right on their phone. This clarity reduces no-shows, keeps teams accountable, and improves communication across the whole business.


Last-Minute Scheduling Made Simple

Life happens. Employees call in sick, a busy night requires more cover, or an event suddenly boosts demand. RosterElf makes handling these situations easy. With the mobile app, you can adjust rosters in real time and notify staff instantly. Employees can also set their availability and request shift swaps directly in the app, taking the stress out of last-minute scheduling changes.


A Better Experience for Staff

The RosterElf app empowers employees too. They can view their schedules anytime, accept open shifts, or request leave—all from their phone. By giving staff more visibility and control, businesses build happier, more engaged teams. For managers, this means fewer phone calls, fewer conflicts, and rosters that better reflect real-world availability.


Why Mobile Rostering Matters

Today’s workplaces demand flexibility. Whether you’re managing a café, retail store, or multi-site operation, you need a rostering and scheduling tool that works wherever you are. RosterElf’s mobile app keeps everyone aligned, reduces admin headaches, and ensures your workforce is ready for whatever the day throws at you.

Bottom line: Rostering and scheduling don’t need to be stressful. With RosterElf’s mobile app, you can build rosters, adjust schedules, and keep staff informed instantly—all from your pocket.

Download the RosterElf app today on iOS or Android and see how simple scheduling can be.

​Read Our Support Guide on Daily vs Weekly vs Monthly Scheduling Views​​​

Rostering and scheduling are never one-size-fits-all. Some days you need a detailed breakdown of individual shifts, while at other times, you want a big-picture view of weekly or monthly staffing costs. Switching between calendars, spreadsheets, or apps makes this harder than it needs to be. That’s why RosterElf gives you flexible roster views—daily, weekly, and monthly—so you can manage staff schedules the way that suits your business best.


Daily Rostering View: The Granular Detail

When you need to drill down into specific shifts, the Daily View gives managers a precise snapshot of what’s happening today or tomorrow. It’s the perfect rostering tool for spotting overtime risks, filling last-minute schedule gaps, or making quick adjustments when staff availability changes.

The daily schedule makes it easy to see who’s on shift, what hours they’re covering, and whether labour costs are on track. With drag-and-drop rostering, you can fix conflicts or optimise coverage instantly—saving time and keeping the team aligned.


Weekly Rostering View: Balance and Coverage

Most managers build rosters one week at a time, and RosterElf’s Weekly View is designed with that in mind. It offers a balance of detail and visibility, allowing you to plan shifts, manage coverage across different days, and control costs.

The weekly schedule is especially useful for comparing staff hours across multiple shifts, ensuring you’re distributing work fairly, and avoiding compliance issues such as exceeding maximum hours. It’s rostering and scheduling at the scale where most small businesses operate—giving you confidence that each week is planned effectively.


Monthly Scheduling View: Big-Picture Planning

Looking ahead is just as important as managing today. The Monthly View in RosterElf allows managers to see upcoming public holidays, budget impacts, and long-term staffing trends. Instead of juggling multiple calendars, everything is visible in one central scheduling workspace.

This view is ideal for owners who want to plan seasonal rosters, forecast wage costs, or prepare for busy periods well in advance. You can identify cost-saving opportunities by spotting patterns in the monthly schedule and make tweaks that ripple across the entire roster instantly.


One Platform, Multiple Perspectives

What makes RosterElf powerful is that you don’t need separate systems for daily, weekly, or monthly scheduling. All three views live within the same drag-and-drop rostering tool, so managers can zoom in or out seamlessly. Need to see if you’re covered for tomorrow’s morning shift? Switch to Daily View. Want to check if your wage budget aligns with the next public holiday? Flip to Monthly View.

Every adjustment syncs across the system in real time, ensuring your rosters are always accurate, compliant, and cost-efficient.


Smarter Rostering, Stronger Business

By offering flexible daily, weekly, and monthly scheduling views, RosterElf makes staff management both precise and strategic. You can respond to immediate rostering challenges while keeping an eye on long-term staffing costs. Employees benefit from clear, updated schedules, while managers save hours of admin time each week.

Bottom line: Whether you’re scheduling a single shift or planning a month of rosters, RosterElf gives you the flexibility to do it all in one place.

Ready to simplify rostering? Start your free trial with RosterElf today and experience scheduling made flexible.

​Read Our Support Guides on How Employees Set Availability​​​

Employee availability is one of the biggest challenges in rostering and scheduling. Staff have different commitments, qualifications, and working limits—and when availability isn’t clear, managers end up with last-minute gaps, double bookings, or compliance issues. RosterElf’s Perfect Match AI solves this problem by scanning staff availability, roles, and skills to recommend the best-fit team member for every shift. The result? Smarter scheduling, compliant rosters, and less admin stress.


Employee Availability at Your Fingertips

RosterElf gives employees the ability to update their availability directly from their smartphone. They simply enter the days and hours they can work, and the system automatically updates in real time. This ensures that managers are always scheduling with the most up-to-date availability.

For staff, it’s easy and convenient—availability can be changed anytime from the mobile app. For managers, it means no more chasing texts or scribbled notes. Instead, when building a roster, you can see instantly who is available and qualified for each shift.

(support.rosterelf.com – Staff Availability Updates via Smartphone)


AI-Powered Shift Recommendations

Once staff availability is updated, RosterElf’s Perfect Match AI takes over. As you drag shifts onto the roster, the AI scans qualifications, roles, and live availability to recommend the best person for the job. This feature helps managers avoid manual guesswork and ensures shifts are covered by the most suitable employee every time.

Perfect Match AI not only saves time but also builds fairer schedules. Staff with the right skills get matched to appropriate shifts, and managers avoid over-relying on the same employees.


Built-In Smart Warnings

Even the best roster plan can run into problems—but with RosterElf, you’ll know about them before staff do. As you schedule shifts, smart warnings flag any conflicts in real time. This includes:

• Overlapping shifts
• Leave bookings
• Overtime triggers
• Maximum-hour breaches

By catching issues early, managers can fix errors before they ever reach an employee’s phone. This keeps your roster compliant with Fair Work regulations and avoids frustration for staff.

(support.rosterelf.com – View Staff Availability and Leave on Roster)


Zero Clashes, Compliant Rosters

With Perfect Match AI and smart warnings combined, managers can publish rosters with confidence. Employees see schedules that are accurate, fair, and up to date, while businesses reduce the risk of breaches or miscommunication.

No more last-minute reshuffling or frantic calls to cover a missed shift—just seamless scheduling that keeps your team aligned.


The Result: Smarter Scheduling Every Time

RosterElf’s approach to rostering blends staff-driven availability with AI-powered intelligence. Employees enjoy control and transparency, managers get the tools to make informed scheduling decisions, and businesses stay compliant while saving time.

Bottom line: With Perfect Match AI, RosterElf helps you handle staff unavailability with ease—delivering zero scheduling clashes, fully compliant rosters, and the right person in the right place every time.

Ready to simplify your scheduling? Start your free trial with RosterElf today.

​Read our Support Guides on Quick Editing of a Shift​​​

In busy workplaces, things rarely go exactly to plan. Staff get sick, availability changes, or sudden demand means you need extra coverage. For managers, this often means scrambling to edit the roster and adjust schedules at the last minute. With traditional spreadsheets or clunky systems, that process can take hours.

RosterElf makes it simple. With a drag-and-drop roster grid that feels as natural as rearranging app icons, you can edit rosters and schedules on the fly. Last-minute changes don’t have to be stressful—they can be done in seconds, keeping your business running smoothly.


Real-Time Roster Edits

RosterElf’s colour-coded roster grid gives you full visibility over every shift. Need to move a waiter to cover barista duties? Just grab the shift card and flick it to a new employee or day. The schedule updates instantly in real time, so both managers and staff stay on the same page.

Unlike traditional rostering tools that require endless clicks and confirmations, RosterElf is built for speed. Whether you’re editing tomorrow’s schedule or rebalancing the entire week, changes are simple, visual, and immediate.


Works on Desktop and Mobile

Flexibility matters. With RosterElf, you can edit rosters on both mouse and mobile devices. That means you can juggle last-minute scheduling swaps from your laptop at the office, or make quick changes from your phone while on the go.

No more digging into menus or searching through spreadsheets—every shift is visible, interactive, and ready to be reassigned. Managers save time, and staff benefit from schedules that stay accurate and up to date.


Smart Scheduling Checks

Every time you move a shift, RosterElf automatically runs conflict checks and cost recalculations. If an employee has overlapping shifts, hits maximum hours, or triggers overtime, you’ll see it flagged instantly. This ensures your roster stays compliant with Fair Work rules while keeping wage budgets under control.

For managers, this means you can schedule confidently—even when making rapid changes—knowing your rosters are accurate and compliant.


Keep Schedules Clear and Staff Informed

With push notifications and mobile updates, staff are alerted the moment a new roster is published or a schedule is adjusted. Employees see changes straight away, reducing confusion and eliminating the risk of no-shows. Last-minute swaps become painless because communication happens automatically.

For employees, this builds trust in the schedule. For managers, it means fewer calls and less follow-up.


The Result: Agile Rostering That Saves Time

Editing rosters and schedules doesn’t have to be a headache. With RosterElf, last-minute changes are quick, intuitive, and reliable. Managers can respond to unexpected changes without breaking stride, while employees stay informed and engaged.

Bottom line: RosterElf empowers businesses to edit rosters fast, update schedules instantly, and keep operations running smoothly—even when the unexpected happens.

Ready to simplify last-minute rostering? Start your free trial today and see how RosterElf turns complex scheduling changes into simple drag-and-drop updates.

Read our Support Guides on Roster Templates

In busy workplaces, your staffing pattern is rarely brand-new. Breakfast crews repeat, Friday nights always surge, and the warehouse day shift hardly changes. Rebuilding the same roster from scratch wastes hours and invites mistakes. That’s where Roster Templates earn their keep.


Save Time with Re-Usable Templates

With RosterElf, you can capture a whole week—sites, roles, shift times, breaks and notes—and save it as a template. Next time, apply it in seconds and start from a proven baseline instead of an empty grid. Managers spend less time clicking and more time running the floor.


Build Once, Then Layer What You Need

Most teams have multiple patterns: day vs night, weekday vs weekend, event days, school holidays. RosterElf lets you layer templates. Drop in your base week, then add the “Dinner Rush” or “Saturday Events” template on top. Tweak a few details and you’re done—no more copy-paste gymnastics.


Replace or Add—You’re in Control

Rolling forward a roster you love? Use Replace All Shifts for a clean slate. Adding extra coverage to an existing plan? Choose Add to Existing Shifts so your base stays intact. Either way, you’re steering the workload instead of rebuilding it.


Works on Desktop and Mobile

Templates are just as handy on the couch as they are in the back office. Apply, layer and adjust from desktop or mobile (iOS & Android) with the same clean, drag-and-drop experience. Last-minute changes don’t derail the day—you can sort them from your phone between tasks.


Smart Checks Keep You Compliant

Templates give you speed; RosterElf adds safety. When you apply a template, smart roster warnings run in the background—flagging overlaps, unavailable staff, approved leave, max-hours and break rules. You keep the time savings without risking a Fair Work headache.


Cost Visibility, Every Time

Because RosterElf tracks live labour budgets, you’ll see the cost impact of a template the moment it lands. Need to shave a few hours to hit target labour %? Adjust a shift and watch the numbers update in real time before you publish.


Naming Conventions That Scale

Make templates effortless to find with simple, consistent names like Site – Pattern – Crew (e.g., Café – Breakfast – Crew A). As your library grows, clear naming prevents misfires and helps new managers roster confidently from day one.


Consistency Your Team Can Trust

Templates standardise how you staff by role and time block, so customers get the same reliable service regardless of who builds the roster. Staff enjoy predictable patterns, and managers avoid the “reinvent the wheel” trap week after week.


The Result: Faster, Cleaner Rosters

Roster templates turn a blank canvas into a two-click workflow. Apply your best schedule, layer for what’s unique this week, glance at costs and warnings, then publish. What used to take hours now takes minutes—and your rosters stay consistent, compliant and on budget.

Ready to stop rebuilding rosters from scratch? Try RosterElf’s templates today and turn repeatable schedules into a repeatable advantage.

​Read our Support Guide on Copying Shifts​​​

For many managers, rostering and scheduling often feel repetitive. The same shifts are created week after week, with only minor tweaks. Manually re-entering these patterns takes hours and opens the door to costly errors.

RosterElf’s One-Click Shift Duplication solves this problem. With the Copy Shifts feature, you can instantly duplicate a single shift—or even copy all shifts from an entire day—across any date range. Roles, times, breaks, and notes are all preserved, giving you a ready-to-go schedule in seconds.

Copy Shifts Instantly

Instead of rebuilding shifts from scratch, managers can use the Copy Shifts tool to quickly roll proven patterns forward. Whether you’re duplicating a barista’s morning shift or replicating an entire Saturday roster, the feature saves hours of manual work.

This makes rostering far more efficient, particularly for industries with consistent schedules such as retail, hospitality, and healthcare.

(support.rosterelf.com – Copy All Shifts on a Day)


Copy an Entire Day’s Schedule

RosterElf goes beyond single-shift duplication. With one click, you can copy all shifts from a given day—complete with assigned roles, times, and breaks—into a new date range.

Need to roll out a Sunday schedule template for the next month? Just copy the entire day and paste it forward. The system automatically adjusts and keeps all details intact, saving managers hours of repetitive scheduling.


Fewer Errors, More Consistency

When rosters are rebuilt manually, mistakes often creep in—missed breaks, incorrect start times, or forgotten notes. By duplicating proven shifts, managers reduce the risk of errors and deliver consistent schedules that staff can rely on.

Employees benefit from predictable rosters, while managers gain confidence that every duplicated shift is accurate, compliant, and aligned with business needs.


Smarter Rostering with Flexibility

Although duplication makes rostering faster, flexibility is still built in. Once shifts or days are copied, managers can edit roles, adjust times, or add notes as needed. This ensures schedules remain accurate without sacrificing the time-saving power of duplication.

Copying shifts is also ideal for seasonal businesses. For example, during busy periods like school holidays, managers can duplicate established patterns and then make small adjustments to reflect higher demand


Integrated with Compliance and Cost Control

Like all RosterElf rostering tools, shift duplication works alongside live compliance checks and budgeting. If a duplicated shift creates an overtime risk or conflicts with availability, the system flags it instantly. This way, managers save time while still maintaining Fair Work compliance and cost control.


The Result: Rostering Without the Repetition

One-Click Shift Duplication is one of the simplest yet most powerful scheduling tools in RosterElf. It reduces admin, eliminates repetitive data entry, and ensures consistency across weeks and months. Staff enjoy reliable schedules, managers save hours of work, and businesses keep operations running smoothly.

Bottom line: With RosterElf, creating schedules doesn’t mean starting over every week. Copy shifts, duplicate entire days, and publish rosters in minutes—not hours.

Ready to streamline your rostering? Start your free trial with RosterElf today and see how duplication keeps your schedules consistent and hassle-free.

​Read Our Support Guide on Roster Warnings​​​

Building rosters isn’t just about filling shifts—it’s about making sure schedules are accurate, fair, and compliant with workplace laws. Mistakes like double-booking staff, scheduling employees who are unavailable, or exceeding maximum hours can cost businesses money, damage employee trust, and lead to Fair Work compliance issues.

That’s why RosterElf includes live compliance checks with roster warnings. As you build or adjust a schedule, the system automatically scans for conflicts, highlights potential breaches, and gives managers the chance to fix problems before publishing. The result? Clean, compliant rosters that protect your business and support your staff.


Instant Alerts as You Roster

With RosterElf, every adjustment you make to a roster or schedule is scanned in real time. The system instantly flags issues like:

• Overlapping shifts
• Scheduling unavailable staff
• Double rostering across multiple sites
• Overtime or maximum-hour breaches
• Daily or weekly compliance risks

Warnings appear clearly on the roster grid, colour-coded so managers can see at a glance what needs attention. Instead of discovering problems after a roster is published, managers can fix them immediately.

(support.rosterelf.com – Roster Warnings)


Compliance Built In

Staying compliant with Fair Work award conditions is a critical part of scheduling. RosterElf’s live checks help managers avoid breaches by flagging overtime triggers, missed breaks, and excessive hours before the roster is finalised.

By embedding compliance checks directly into the rostering process, RosterElf reduces the risk of costly mistakes, ensures staff entitlements are protected, and makes every published roster audit-ready.


Save Time and Reduce Errors

Traditional scheduling often requires managers to cross-check availability, awards, and hours manually—an error-prone and time-consuming process. RosterElf automates this with smart warnings that do the hard work for you.

Every move you make triggers an instant review. Whether you’re adding a new shift, swapping staff, or extending hours, the platform recalculates costs, checks rules, and highlights risks. Managers save hours of admin each week while reducing the chance of human error.


Flexible Across Devices

RosterElf’s colour-coded roster grid works seamlessly across desktop and mobile. Managers can flick shifts between staff or days just like moving app icons, with warnings updating in real time. This means you can edit rosters or schedules confidently, even when making last-minute changes from your phone.

Smarter Rostering, Safer Business

With live compliance checks, managers gain peace of mind that every schedule is not only efficient but also legally compliant. Staff benefit from fairer rosters, businesses avoid penalties, and scheduling becomes faster, cleaner, and more reliable.

Bottom line: Roster warnings transform rostering from guesswork into a proactive, compliant process. Managers can fix issues before they ever reach employees’ phones, keeping rosters accurate and compliant from the start.

Ready to simplify compliance? Start your free trial today and experience how RosterElf’s live compliance checks make rostering safer and smarter.

​Read Our Support Guides On Open Shifts and Shift Swaps​​​

No matter how well you plan a roster, unexpected changes are part of everyday business. Staff get sick, personal commitments come up, or demand surges suddenly. Without the right tools, managers spend hours calling around to fill gaps, leaving schedules full of holes and rosters in constant flux.

That’s where RosterElf’s Shift Swaps and Open Shifts feature steps in. It gives employees more control, reduces the manager’s admin load, and keeps rosters and schedules balanced—even when the unexpected happens.


Let Staff Claim Open Shifts

When a shift is unassigned or becomes vacant, managers can mark it as Open. RosterElf automatically blasts the vacancy to every qualified employee via the mobile app. Staff are ranked by availability and cost, and those who want the shift can claim it in seconds.

This simple feature transforms scheduling gaps into opportunities. Instead of managers scrambling to cover open shifts, staff fill them proactively, ensuring rosters stay complete and costs stay under control.

(support.rosterelf.com – Introduction to Shift Swaps & Open Shifts)


Easy, Fair Shift Swaps

Shift swaps are another common rostering headache. Traditionally, managers juggle texts, phone calls, and last-minute negotiations to approve changes. With RosterElf, employees request a swap directly through the app. The system checks availability, qualifications, and labour costs before sending the request to the manager for approval.

Once approved, the roster updates automatically, and both employees are notified instantly. This keeps schedules accurate, reduces errors, and ensures managers maintain full visibility without the stress of micro-managing every request.


Automatic Coverage Without Phone Tag

Instead of managers making dozens of calls or emails, RosterElf’s system does the heavy lifting. Open shifts are filled, swaps are processed, and schedules are updated automatically. Managers simply review and approve requests as needed.

The result is less time wasted on phone-tag and more time focused on running the business. Staff feel empowered with more flexibility, and managers enjoy consistent coverage and a cleaner roster.


Compliance and Cost Control

Fair Work compliance is built into every roster change. When staff request a swap or claim an open shift, the system runs checks to ensure maximum hours, breaks, and award conditions are not breached. This keeps schedules not only complete but compliant—reducing the risk of penalties.

At the same time, managers can keep an eye on costs, with every open shift and swap tracked against labour budgets. This means you don’t just fill schedules—you fill them fairly, legally, and within budget.


The Result: Flexible, Resilient Rostering

Shift Swaps and Open Shifts are more than convenience features—they’re tools that make your workforce more flexible and resilient. Staff get autonomy, managers save time, and businesses keep rosters running smoothly no matter what life throws at them.

Bottom line: With RosterElf, rosters complete themselves. Employees claim open shifts, swaps happen fairly, and managers stay in control without lifting the phone.

Ready to simplify scheduling? Start your free trial today and experience the smarter way to handle shift changes.

​Read Our Support Guide On Custom and Standard Unpaid Breaks​​​

Managing breaks is one of the most overlooked—but critical—aspects of rostering and scheduling. Under Fair Work rules, employees are entitled to specific rest and meal breaks depending on shift length, industry award, and hours worked. Missing these requirements can lead to compliance breaches, penalties, and unhappy staff.

Yet for busy managers, remembering exactly who is due a 30-minute break and when is often unrealistic. That’s why RosterElf’s Automated Meal and Rest Breaks feature takes care of it for you—making compliance simple and keeping every schedule aligned with Fair Work.


Break Compliance Without Guesswork

Instead of manually adding breaks into every roster, RosterElf allows you to pre-configure rules by shift length. For example, you can set a 30-minute unpaid meal break after five hours of work. The platform then automatically drops these breaks into every new or copied shift.

This eliminates the need for managers to track break times individually, reducing human error and ensuring every roster meets minimum Fair Work obligations.


Tailored to Each Business

Break requirements often vary by site or department. A café may need different rules than head office, or night shifts may require unique scheduling. RosterElf makes it easy to override defaults at the site or shift level, giving managers flexibility while still protecting compliance.

This means you can balance operational needs with legal requirements, adapting breaks to suit different work environments without sacrificing consistency.


Smart Conflict Flags

Even with automated breaks in place, mistakes can happen when adjusting schedules. That’s why RosterElf flags any potential conflicts before you hit Publish. If a break requirement isn’t met—or if overtime risks arise—the system highlights it instantly.

These proactive alerts give managers the opportunity to fix issues before staff ever see their roster, ensuring schedules are both compliant and fair.


Payroll Integration for Audit-Readiness

Once breaks are set, they don’t just stay on the roster—they flow directly into payroll. This ensures staff are paid correctly for hours worked and that unpaid breaks are accurately recorded.

By carrying break data straight through to payroll, RosterElf keeps your business audit-ready. If Fair Work or another regulator ever requests records, you’ll have clear, accurate documentation at your fingertips.


Save Time, Stay Compliant

For managers, automating breaks saves hours of admin each week. Instead of checking awards or juggling break entitlements manually, you can trust that every schedule is compliant out of the box. Staff get the rest they’re entitled to, payroll stays accurate, and your business reduces risk of non-compliance penalties.


The Bottom Line

Break compliance isn’t optional—it’s the law. But with RosterElf, rostering and scheduling meal and rest breaks doesn’t have to be complicated. Automated rules, site-level overrides, real-time conflict flags, and payroll integration ensure your business stays compliant with Fair Work while freeing managers to focus on running operations.

Ready to take the stress out of break compliance? Start your free trial with RosterElf today and see how automated breaks keep your rosters fair, compliant, and effortless.

Read Our Support Guide on Financial Summary and Roster Budgeting

For small businesses, labour costs are one of the largest and most unpredictable expenses. Without clear oversight, it’s easy for scheduling blowouts to erode profit margins—especially when penalty rates, overtime, and unexpected shift extensions creep in.

That’s why RosterElf’s Financial Summary and Budgeting Tool is built directly into the rostering process. It gives managers real-time visibility of wage costs, labour-to-sales percentages, and hourly rates, so every roster published is accurate, compliant, and cost-effective.


Live Budgeting While You Roster

With RosterElf, rostering and budgeting go hand in hand. As you build or adjust a schedule, the system recalculates costs instantly—including overtime, penalties, and loadings. This means managers can see the financial impact of scheduling decisions before shifts are published.

Need to add an extra waiter on Saturday night? You’ll see immediately how that affects labour percentage to sales. Extending a barista’s shift by two hours? The wage totals update in real time. This live budgeting function ensures that every roster is created with full cost awareness.

(support.rosterelf.com – Financial Summary & Roster Budgeting)


Drill Down by Site, Role, and Day

Managing labour costs isn’t just about the big picture—it’s about understanding where the details add up. RosterElf’s financial summary lets managers break down costs by site, role, or day. This means you can see exactly which teams or locations are running efficiently, and which might need rostering adjustments.

For businesses running across multiple venues, this level of visibility is crucial. You can compare staffing patterns between sites, check daily variations, and ensure labour spend aligns with revenue targets.


Forecast vs. Actuals for Complete Accuracy

Budgeting doesn’t end when a schedule is published. With RosterElf, you can compare rostered forecasts against actual timesheet data. This lets managers see where planned costs diverged from reality and make smarter scheduling decisions in the future.

If staff consistently clock in early or shifts run over, you’ll spot it quickly in the system. By comparing forecasts and actuals, you create a continuous improvement loop for rostering accuracy and cost control.


Audit-Ready, Clear, and Reliable

Every figure generated in RosterElf’s financial summary is audit-ready, giving business owners confidence that scheduling aligns with compliance and reporting standards. The system keeps a transparent record of all changes and calculations, so managers can easily justify staffing decisions.

This isn’t just a rostering tool—it’s a financial safeguard, ensuring your business goals and staffing align week after week.


The Result: Smarter Rostering, Healthier Margins

With RosterElf’s live budgeting tools, businesses can take the guesswork out of rostering and scheduling. Managers gain full visibility of labour costs before they hit payroll, employees benefit from consistent schedules, and business owners protect margins with data-driven decisions.

Bottom line: RosterElf helps you keep every roster on budget and every schedule aligned with your business goals.

Ready to control labour costs? Start your free trial with RosterElf today and experience financial clarity built directly into your rostering process.