Christmas will be here before we know it. For hospitality businesses, it’s the busiest and most profitable time of the year. This year, it’s also one of the most complicated to staff and pay correctly. Now is the time to get rosters, payroll and super sorted, before the rush starts.
The public holidays land right in peak trading
Christmas Day falls on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday. That means New South Wales and Queensland get an additional public holiday on Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day follows on Friday 1 January. That’s four public holidays in eight days, exactly when you need your full team on the floor.
Every one of those days affects your rosters, penalty rates, casual availability and wage costs. If rostering, timesheets and payroll don’t line up, small errors can turn into back-payments, unhappy staff and compliance problems in the new year.
The first peak season under Payday Super
It’s also the first busy season since Payday Super started. Super now has to reach each employee’s fund within seven business days of payday. A business that pays weekly has gone from four super deadlines a year to 52.
Over a period with high casual numbers, extra shifts and public holiday rates, your payroll and super processes need to keep up every pay run, not just at the end of the quarter.
Where hospitality businesses are most exposed
Most of this work lands on the owner or venue managers, on top of running the business at its busiest. With more than one venue, it gets harder again. These are the areas we suggest checking now:
- Holiday rostering and penalty rates. Do your rosters flow correctly into timesheets and payroll?
- Payday Super. Can your payroll and super processes meet the new deadlines in a busy, high-casual period?
- Salaried chefs, managers and supervisors. Do salaries set before the 1 July award increase still cover the hours being worked, and are annual reconciliations in place?
- Award coverage and classifications. Are front of house, kitchen, bar and management staff classified correctly?
- Seasonal and casual staff. Do you have a plan to recruit and keep good people through the peak, and for the January to February slowdown?
- Consistency across venues. Are contracts, position descriptions, policies and pay practices aligned?
- Key person risk. Does one manager hold most of the operational knowledge?
Award compliance across penalty rates, split shifts, overtime and casual loadings leaves little room for error, and intentional underpayment is now a criminal offence. Sorting out gaps before the rush is much easier than fixing them afterwards.
How Prosperity People Solutions can help
Prosperity People Solutions launched in September 2026 as Prosperity’s specialist people division. We support hospitality businesses with:
- HR consulting. Ongoing or as-needed support with award compliance, policies and employee relations, without employing a dedicated HR manager.
- Recruitment. Chefs, cooks, venue and duty managers, front of house, bar and support staff.
- Outsourced talent acquisition. An in-house recruitment function for businesses hiring several roles a year, for a monthly fee rather than a fee per placement.
- Workforce strategy. Structure, succession and staffing plans for businesses that are growing, opening new venues or moving from owner-operated to group ownership.
Because People Solutions is part of Prosperity, we work alongside your adviser. Decisions about wages, rosters and hiring can be weighed against your financial position, not made in isolation.
Book a complimentary HR Operations Health Check
The health check is a 30-minute online conversation. Afterwards you’ll get a short summary of what’s working, where the risks may be and what to focus on first. There’s no cost or obligation.
To book, call Dom on 0403 975 525, email droberts@prosperity.com.au or book online by clicking here.