Operations - Staffing and Rostering

Summary of staffing structure, rostering practices, and payroll infrastructure as of March 2026.

Staffing Headcount

• Permanent (full-time): Mat O’Keefe (CEO), Monique Anderson (Venue Manager) — 2 FTE
• Contractor: Emily — 38 hours per week (Head of Programming & Promotion)
• Casual: ~12 casual bartenders + Tom (events and invoice work)
• Total: Approximately 20 people

Historical context: January 2023 had 6 full-time staff; by February 2023–2024, 4 FTE were made redundant due to revenue decline. Current lean structure reflects post-COVID cost pressures.

Rostering System

Platform: Deputy (staff familiar and comfortable with the system)

Current state (as of 28 March 2026):

• 28 team members in system (including 4 System Administrators)
• Only 1 of 28 staff has pay rates configured in Deputy (Fernando Cardoso)
• 14 pending timesheets for week of 23–29 March; 1 approved
• Multiple inactive Xero employees (marked Inactive Casuals in Nov 2024) still active in Deputy

Pain points:

• Clock in/out via Deputy app on cash registers
• Shifts not always closed same day — CEO and VM reconstruct from memory on Tuesdays for payroll
• Name mismatches between Deputy and Xero complicate cross-referencing
• Missing shifts: Moni Anderson had 3 absent shifts (20.5 hours) in week of 23–29 March

Payroll Processing

Platform: Xero (produces ABA file for Westpac upload)

Current workflow:

• Deputy timesheets manually transferred to Xero for payroll
• Tom may have built a spreadsheet bridge; status and maintenance plan unclear
• Pay rates: Casual staff covered under Hospitality Award; full-timers on individual contracts
• Superannuation paid through Xero

Critical issue: Since only Fernando Cardoso has pay rates in Deputy, no automated labour cost calculation is possible. This makes Deputy’s payroll module useless; current payroll is entirely manual or spreadsheet-based.

Deputy Audit Findings

Weekly summary (week of 23–29 March 2026):

• 15 team members active
• 24.69 hours logged
• $0.00 total pay calculated (due to missing pay rates)
• 14 pending timesheets, 1 approved

Staff cross-reference issues:

• 28 in Deputy vs 26 in Xero payroll
• 2 not on Xero payroll: Shae (contractor), Tom Nguyen (contractor/volunteer?)
• Several employees showing different names (nicknames, shortened names) across systems

Key Recommendations

1. Configure pay rates for all 27 active employees in Deputy (2-hour effort)
2. Clean up inactive employees — remove or archive those marked Inactive Casuals in Xero (30 minutes)
3. Investigate Moni Anderson’s absences (15 minutes)
4. Evaluate Deputy→Xero native integration ($5/user/month = ~$140/month vs current manual process)
5. Standardise names between Deputy and Xero for reliable cross-referencing (1 hour)

Related Pages

• Staffing Model — roles, responsibilities, and pain points
• Deputy — roster and time tracking system overview
• Xero — accounting and payroll platform