Bar & nightclub rostering & staff scheduling software
Schedule venue staff around the nights that matter, control wage costs and support your compliance efforts — without enterprise complexity or manual spreadsheets.
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Event-driven bar staff scheduling
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RSA and certification tracking built in
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Integrates with Xero and MYOB
See how RosterElf simplifies bar and nightclub shift scheduling
Designed for the realities of bar work
Late trade, event nights and an almost entirely casual team — a bar roster is rebuilt more often than it is repeated.
Late-night and early-morning finishes
Event nights that double the team
Almost entirely casual workforce
RSA required across every trading hour
Last-minute swaps and no-shows
Crowd controller certification tracking
Bar staff scheduling that adapts to event demand
A Wednesday and a Saturday are different businesses. Bar staff scheduling has to move with the door, not with the week.
Template the nights that repeat, staff up the ones that do not
Event-driven scheduling with a casual pool behind it
Save the patterns that work — a standard Friday, a live-music Saturday, a public-holiday eve — and scale the casual pool against what is actually booked.
- Templates for standard trade, event nights and public holidays
- Offer open shifts to your casual pool and take the first qualified acceptance
- See live wage cost against the night’s expected take
- RSA and crowd-controller certifications checked before publishing
Time and attendance for late-night venues
A shift that starts Saturday and finishes Sunday crosses a penalty boundary, and the timesheet has to know.
Hours that cross midnight, counted correctly
Clock-ins that survive a 3am close
Staff clock in on their own phone or a shared tablet, and worked hours are compared against the roster before they become timesheets.
- Clock in and out on mobile or a shared tablet behind the bar
- Photo verification and GPS to reduce time theft
- Overnight shifts split correctly across the penalty boundary
- Worked hours convert straight into payroll-ready timesheets
What the rules for rosters in Australia actually say
Four rules cover most of what a venue manager needs, and none of them is in the award’s table of contents under that name.
The rules a venue roster runs into most
Minimum break between shifts
- What it says
- 10 hours (12 after a roster change)
- Where it bites
- A 3am close followed by a midday open
Minimum engagement
- What it says
- 2 hours for a casual
- Where it bites
- A quiet Tuesday you tried to cover with one short shift
Roster change notice
- What it says
- 7 days' notice to change a regular roster, or agreement
- Where it bites
- Moving someone off a Saturday at short notice
Record keeping
- What it says
- 7 years, including hours actually worked
- Where it bites
- An audit asking for last year's Friday nights
A summary, not advice. Check the detail against Fair Work and the hospitality award pay guide.
The seven-year one is why timesheets matter
Fair Work record-keeping covers hours actually worked, not hours rostered. A roster on its own is not a record — the approved timesheet is.
Bar award compliance, made simpler
Penalty rates, overtime and break rules vary by day, time, employment type and shift length — and one week’s roster touches most of them.
Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009) — pay rates by period
| Period | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours (Mon–Fri) | 100% | 125% |
| Evening (Mon–Fri 7pm–midnight) | +$2.95/hr | +$2.95/hr |
| Night (Mon–Fri midnight–7am) | +$4.42/hr | +$4.42/hr |
| Saturday (all day) | 125% | 150% |
| Sunday (all day) | 150% | 175% |
| Public holiday | 225% | 250% |
Casual rates are set by the award directly, not by adding a loading to the permanent rate — which is why Sunday casual is 175% rather than 150% plus 25%. Rates change each 1 July; the full breakdown by classification, junior age and allowance is in the hospitality award pay guide. Always verify against Fair Work.
Payroll-ready workforce data
Approved hours should reach the pay run without being re-keyed, penalty rates and all.
From the roster to the pay run without a spreadsheet in between
Award interpretation already applied
RosterElf connects bar scheduling and time tracking to payroll, so approved hours flow cleanly to Xero or MYOB with late-night loadings already applied.
- Fewer payroll errors from manual data entry
- Less time reconciling timesheets each fortnight
- Clear records for audits and compliance checks
- Faster pay runs, even through a busy period
Australian venues using RosterElf report significant time savings on schedule creation. Based on customer feedback and ROI calculator data.
More than bar scheduling software
Scheduling is one job of several. RosterElf puts communication, HR and time tracking in the same place, so a bar team has one app rather than four.
Why bars and nightclubs choose RosterElf
Venues including The Embassy by Devlin’s run their rosters on RosterElf. It is built for Australian workplaces, with Fair Work compliance, modern awards and local payroll integrations as the starting point rather than an add-on.
Save hours on scheduling
Less time building and re-fixing the roster every week.
Control labour costs
See live wage cost as you schedule — no guesswork until payday.
Australian award compliance
Hospitality Award rates and penalties built in.
All employment types
Works for casual, part-time and full-time staff.
Easy to adopt
Intuitive for managers and staff, with minimal training.
Single or multi-site
Scales from one venue to a group of sites.
“Our managers wrapped their head around it in about 45 minutes.”
Teresa Klenk · Founder, The Embassy by Devlin's
Subiaco venue trained managers in 45 minutes
Read the The Embassy by Devlin's storyTrusted by bars and nightclubs across Australia
Hear from hospitality businesses that simplified their scheduling with RosterElf
Andrew Nathan
November 13, 2025
"We are extremely happy with Roster Elf, it's a great improvement on the previous system we were using. Sean and all the staff have been fantastic, really know their stuff and make using RosterElf a pleasure."
Monica Van De Laak
October 16, 2025
"Sean was an amazing help, very patient and thorough."
Mary C.
October 13, 2025
"I can see my roster, enter availability, put leave in advance and clock on and off easily."
Calculate your bar scheduling savings
See how much time and money your business could save with RosterElf rostering software.
Your current rostering
Based on 70% time reduction with automated rostering
Your potential savings
No credit card required
Common roles in bars & nightclubs
Download free job description templates for your bars & nightclubs team
Relevant awards for bars & nightclubs
Stay compliant with Australian Modern Award pay rates
Explore similar industries
See how RosterElf helps other businesses like yours
Bar scheduling and rostering resources
Free scheduling tools, templates and guides for Australian bar operators
Try bar staff scheduling free
Build your first bar roster in minutes. No credit card required.
Real support from people who understand your business
At RosterElf, support isn't a ticket system — it's part of the product. Our Australian-based team helps you set up correctly, understand award rules, and stay compliant as your business changes. No scripts. No offshore handoffs. Just real help when you need it.
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Guided setup and onboarding
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Award and payroll questions answered
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Ongoing help as your team grows
Bar staff scheduling FAQ
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The best bar staff scheduling software handles event-driven demand, tracks RSA across every trading hour, applies late-night penalties automatically and exports to payroll without re-keying. RosterElf does all four, applies the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, and integrates with Xero and MYOB.
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The four that catch venues most often: a 10-hour minimum break between shifts (12 after a roster change), a 2-hour minimum engagement for casuals, 7 days’ notice to change a regular roster without agreement, and 7 years of record keeping covering hours actually worked. See the table above, and check the detail against Fair Work.
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Template the nights that repeat and scale the casual pool for the ones that do not. Save a standard Friday, a live-music Saturday and a public-holiday eve as patterns, then offer the extra shifts to your casual pool and take the first qualified acceptance — RSA checked before the roster publishes.