Staffing Model

Current staffing structure, leadership capacity constraints, and delegation framework required to support capital raise and multi-venue expansion.

Current Structure

Full-time:

• Mat O’Keefe (CEO): Strategic direction, finance, shareholder relations, government correspondence
• Monique Anderson (Venue Manager): Operations, staff scheduling, incident management, setup/close

Contractor:

• Emily (38 hours/week, Head of Programming): Artist booking, event scheduling, promotion coordination

Casual:

• ~12 bartenders (variable hours)
• Tom (events and invoicing): Ticketing coordination, supplier invoicing, spreadsheet management

Total: ~20 people (including casuals)

Current Bottlenecks

CEO Knowledge Concentration

Mat is the decision point for:

• Financial approvals (invoices, payroll, grants)
• Shareholder relations (~207 shareholders, limited email consent)
• Government correspondence (ASIC, ATO, Liquor Licensing)
• Strategic planning (capital raise, expansion, licence recalibration)

Impact: 25,000 unread emails in CEO inbox; decisions delayed; no coverage during holidays; single point of failure on government/regulatory matters.

Manager Shift Unsustainability — CRITICAL WHS RISK

Monique works 16-hour shifts (venue setup through close), with no formal handover protocol. This is:

• A critical OHS compliance risk — WorkSafe benchmark is 12 hours maximum; at 16 hours cognitive impairment equals 0.05% BAC; the Onkar Group was fined $1.43M (September 2025) for fatigue failures with no system to limit hours
• Physically unsustainable long-term
• Preventing her development into strategic leadership role
• Creating friction during changeover periods
• Blocking delegation of financial/operational decisions to venue level

Root cause: 4-night trading pattern concentrates all weekly setup, service, and close into compressed schedule.

Required action: Cap at 12 hours or split into opening/closing roles. Minimum 10 hours between shifts. Document in written fatigue management policy. See Operational Safety for full WHS fatigue framework. Per Late Night Venue WHS Research.

Delegation Framework

Required Capability Transfers

To Monique (Venue Manager):

• Weekly financial decision-making (cost control, stock ordering, staff scheduling decisions)
• Incident reporting and response (currently logged but not escalated systematically)
• Supplier relationship management (some invoicing, payment scheduling)
• Event-level P&L review and commentary

To Emily (Head of Programming):

• Artist contract negotiation (currently Mat finalises all contracts)
• Promotion and customer acquisition strategy for programming
• Event outcome analysis (attendance, revenue, artist feedback, customer sentiment)

To Tom (Operations):

• Supplier invoice processing and approval workflow
• Ticketing reconciliation and customer management
• Basic financial reporting (weekly cash summary for Mat)

Enabler: Automation and Reporting

Delegation is contingent on reducing CEO email volume and providing visibility to lower-level staff. Automation Opportunities (Priority 1–2) are prerequisites:

1. Email triage system: Route enquiries to appropriate staff, eliminate CEO inbox chaos
2. Weekly P&L reports: Automatic financial summary so Monique can make operational decisions without CEO review
3. Deputy→Xero bridge: Eliminate manual payroll data entry, freeing time for strategic payroll decisions
4. Event P&L reporting: Automated calculation so Emily and Mat can focus on programming quality, not data extraction

Without these, delegation attempts will fail (staff lack information to decide).

Multi-Venue Organisational Structure

Strategic Plan envisions expansion to Fitzroy and Frankston. This requires:

Centralised:

• CEO (Mat)
• Head of Programming & Promotion (Emily expanded role)
• Bookkeeper (Shae — permanent pro bono, ~1hr/week via automation)

Venue-level:

• Venue Manager (Monique at Footscray; new hires for Fitzroy and Frankston)

This structure shares programming and finance expertise across three venues while keeping operations decentralised.

Hiring Priorities

1. Bookkeeper (RESOLVED): Shae (Director) has taken on permanent pro bono bookkeeper role as of April 2026. System designed for ~1hr/week via automation (bank rules, Amaka sync, automated reporting). No hire needed.
2. Deputy venue managers (post-capital raise): Expansion to Fitzroy and Frankston requires trained managers; pipeline development necessary.
3. Kitchen staff (post-equipment arrival): Food preparation requires different skill set; hiring may be challenging.

Leadership Development

Current strategy:

• Develop Monique as operational/financial leader at Footscray
• Expand Emily’s programming role to include contract/promotion strategy
• Bookkeeper function filled by Shae (pro bono); automate to keep at ~1hr/week, freeing capacity for strategic finance
• Use capital raise to fund expansion roles and reduce CEO bottleneck

Success depends on automation reducing email/reporting burden on CEO, freeing capacity for mentoring and strategic work.

Related Pages

• Succession Planning — long-term CEO transition, knowledge transfer
• Venue Operations — operational framework that staffing model supports
• Strategic Plan — multi-venue expansion organisational design
• Operational Safety — WHS fatigue management obligations and 16-hour shift risk
• Late Night Venue WHS Research — source: fatigue compliance research (April 2026)
• Automation Opportunities — prerequisite capability transfers