For cafesFree cafe rostering, early-start penalties included
Shiftly is free rostering, timesheet and award pay software for Australian cafes. It applies the Hospitality Industry (General) Award or the Restaurant Industry Award to every shift, including the pre-7am loading, weekend penalties, 25% casual loading and junior rates, and from September 2026 fills last-minute gaps with on-demand staff in Sydney.
Early starts and weekend brunch
A 6am open means every hour before 7am on a weekday carries a $4.42 late-night loading under MA000009. Saturday pays casuals 150% and Sunday 175%, so the weekend brunch rush is also your most expensive roster of the week.
A casual, often junior, team
Cafes run on casuals at a 25% loading and on juniors paid a percentage of the adult rate by age. Each birthday and each classification change moves someone's rate, and a spreadsheet does not notice.
Short shifts and last-minute gaps
A two-hour casual minimum, a three-hour part-time minimum, and a barista who texts at 5:30am to say they are sick. The cafe roster changes more often than any other in hospitality.
Award pay
The 6am open, the Sunday brunch and the junior on the register, priced correctly
Set each person's award, classification, employment type and date of birth once. Shiftly then works out every shift as you roster it: the $4.42 loading on the hour before 7am, 150% for a casual on Saturday and 175% on Sunday, 250% on a public holiday, and the right junior percentage for each age. The cost sits on the shift card before you publish, and the same rules run again on the approved timesheet.
- Casual loading, weekend and public holiday penalties per shift
- Junior rates move automatically on each birthday
Rostering
A week's roster from a template, checked against the award
Copy last week or a saved brunch template, drag the extra barista onto Saturday, and publish to every phone in one click. Shiftly flags a casual shift under the two-hour minimum, a part-time shift under three hours and any double-booking as you go, so a quick roster is still an award-safe one.
Onboarding and availability
New casuals ready before their first shift
Cafe teams turn over quickly, and every new casual needs tax, super and bank details before payday. Shiftly's paperless onboarding collects them from the person's phone, and the Shiftly Me app lets uni students and working-holiday staff set the days they can work, so the roster only offers shifts to people who can take them.
On-demand cover
A barista out at 5:30am, and no one on the team can cover
Mark the shift open and Shiftly offers it to your own available staff first. From September 2026, Sydney cafes can post the same shift to Shiftly On-Demand, where independent shifters accept it directly. You pay for the hours worked plus Shiftly's fee, with no agency markup, and because shifters work for themselves there is no payroll to run for the cover. Shiftly moves the payment from your cafe to the worker.
- Launching in Sydney, September 2026, starting with hospitality
- Fill from your own team first, then the on-demand pool
“Shiftly has helped my business with tailored modifications to their app...They listen to the feedback from myself and others and act immediately to improve the user experience.”
Roster your cafe for free, starting this week
Import your staff from Deputy, Xero or a CSV, pick your award and publish your first roster before tomorrow's open.
FeaturesExplore more of Shiftly
Employee rostering
Easily plan shifts, publish rosters, sync timesheets and export in seconds, with no spreadsheets and no stress. Stay in control and keep payroll running smoothly with Shiftly.
Read More
Award interpretation
Our smart, automated system calculates wages, penalties, allowances, and overtime using configured award rules to support your payroll processes.
Read More
Paperless onboarding
Streamline your hiring process with our seamless digital onboarding system to automatically sync with Xero for payroll. Reduce the manual workload and onboard staff in minutes.
Read MoreRunning a pub or a restaurant instead?
Shiftly handles late-night loadings for pubs and bars and split shifts for restaurants too. See the hospitality overview, or book a demo and we'll walk through your venue.
Cafe rostering, answered
Most cafes are covered by either the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (MA000009) or the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119), depending on whether the cafe is part of a hotel or pub and on what it mainly serves. Shiftly supports both as configured awards; you choose the one your cafe uses when you set up each employee, and Shiftly applies its rates to every shift.