To hire hospitality staff in Australia, confirm which award covers your venue, cost the roster using the correct penalty rates rather than the base rate alone, decide between casual and permanent engagement, and advertise where shift workers actually look. Most hospitality underpayments come from public holiday and evening loadings, not base pay.
Employers who hire hospitality staff in Australia are running one of the most operationally complex awards in the system. The Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020, usually called the HIGA, combines split shifts, evening and night loadings, weekend and public holiday penalties, casual loading and a long list of allowances.
This guide covers what the award actually costs you, how to structure engagement, and where to find candidates in 2026. Please treat it as general information rather than legal advice, and confirm your specific position with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Step one: confirm which award applies
This sounds obvious and it is where a surprising number of venues go wrong.
The Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020, code MA000009, covers most employees in pubs, restaurants, cafes, hotels and catering, across front of house, kitchen, bar and gaming roles in both licensed and unlicensed venues.
However, some operations fall elsewhere. Stand alone restaurants may be covered by the Restaurant Industry Award instead, and fast food operations sit under a different award again. Rates are similar but not identical, so check the coverage clause on the Fair Work Ombudsman website for your venue type before you build a roster.
Step two: cost the roster, not the base rate
Hospitality is a penalty rate business. Costing a role on the base hourly rate will understate your wage bill significantly, because most hospitality hours fall outside ordinary daytime weekday work.
Penalty structure under the HIGA
| When the work happens | Full time and part time | Casual |
| Ordinary hours | 100 per cent of base | 125 per cent, including the 25 per cent casual loading |
| Saturday | 125 per cent | 150 per cent |
| Sunday | 150 per cent | 175 per cent |
| Public holiday | 225 per cent | 250 per cent |
| Evening, 7pm to midnight Monday to Friday | Flat additional amount per hour, not a percentage | Same flat additional amount |
| Night, midnight to 7am Monday to Friday | Higher flat additional amount per hour | Same higher flat additional amount |
Two points cause most of the trouble. Casual penalty percentages already absorb the 25 per cent loading, so you do not add it again. And evening and night loadings are flat dollar amounts per hour rather than multipliers, which payroll systems configured for percentages frequently miss.
The public holiday rate deserves particular attention. At 250 per cent for casuals, it is considerably higher than many venue owners expect, and public holidays in hospitality are rarely optional trading days. Paying a public holiday shift at Sunday rates is an immediate underpayment.
Pull the current rates from the source. HIGA minimum rates rise from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year following the Fair Work Commission annual wage review, and published summaries of the 2026 increase vary. Take your base rates directly from the MA000009 pay guide on the Fair Work Ombudsman website rather than from any secondary source, including this one.
Step three: choose the engagement type deliberately
Hospitality runs heavily on casual employment, and the definition changed in ways that matter.
Under the current Fair Work definition, a casual employee accepts a job knowing there is no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work on an agreed pattern. The assessment now examines the practical reality of the relationship rather than what the contract says.
Consequently, a venue that rosters the same person for identical shifts every week for a year is exposed, regardless of the contract heading. Additionally, eligible casuals can give written notice under the employee choice pathway that they wish to convert to permanent employment, and you must respond in writing within 21 days on limited grounds.
Our guide to hiring casual staff in Australia covers the definition, the loading and the conversion process in detail.
Casual or permanent, in practice
- Casual suits genuinely variable trade, seasonal peaks, event work and coverage for absences.
- Part time suits a predictable core roster. It costs less per hour than casual and gives you a committed pattern, which usually improves retention.
- Full time suits chefs, venue managers and supervisors where continuity matters more than flexibility.
A common and expensive mistake is running an entire venue on casuals for flexibility you never actually use. If a roster has not changed in six months, part time employment is generally cheaper and more stable.
Step four: know the market you are hiring into
Conditions have shifted noticeably in favour of employers, and this should change how much you spend on advertising.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded 329,500 job vacancies in May 2026, down 2.1 per cent over the quarter and 30.3 per cent below the May 2022 peak. Accommodation and food services fell 16.1 per cent over the same quarter, one of the sharper industry declines.
Fewer competing hospitality vacancies generally means better applicant flow through free channels than venues experienced during the 2022 shortage. Therefore, reaching immediately for a paid advertisement is harder to justify in metropolitan hospitality now than it was two years ago.
Step five: advertise where shift workers actually look
Hospitality candidates behave differently from professional candidates. They search often, apply quickly and compare several openings at once, frequently on a phone between shifts.
| Channel | Cost | Why it suits hospitality | Limitation |
| Indeed free posts | Nil, up to three per calendar month | Fast to publish and heavily browsed by shift workers | Visibility falls away within about a day |
| Seek | Variable, priced by role and location | Deepest candidate pool, strongest regionally | Fixed cost is hard to justify for a casual role in a metro area |
| Jora | Free | Useful aggregation reach at no cost | Supplementary rather than primary |
| Shopfront and local networks | Nil | Still genuinely effective in hospitality | Small pool that narrows with use |
| Hospitality specific groups | Usually free | Candidates already understand the hours and the work | Variable quality and no screening |
| Free tier plus paid promotion | Works for venue managers and executive chefs | Weak for floor, bar and kitchen roles |
For a fuller channel comparison, see the best job posting sites in Australia. If you are weighing whether a paid listing is justified at all, read the best job board for small business in Australia.
What actually reduces hospitality turnover
Recruitment in hospitality is expensive mainly because it repeats. Three things move the needle more than pay alone.
- Publish rosters further ahead. Unpredictable hours drive more resignations than the hourly rate does. Two weeks of visibility is a genuine competitive advantage in this sector.
- Pay penalties correctly and visibly. Staff talk to each other. A venue known for getting public holiday rates right recruits more easily than one known for disputes.
- Train for the next role. A bar attendant who can see a path to supervisor stays through a slow winter. One who cannot will leave for fifty cents an hour.
CloudColleague, which publishes this guide, lets venues post ongoing roles and short term shifts from a single account, which suits hospitality where both needs arrive in the same week. To be direct about the limits: we do not match Seek’s candidate depth, particularly regionally, and we do not interpret award rates for you. Roster costing and award compliance remain your responsibility on any platform.
A checklist before you advertise
- Correct award confirmed against the coverage clause for your venue type
- Base rates taken from the current Fair Work pay guide, not a secondary summary
- Roster costed with weekend, public holiday, evening and night loadings applied
- Engagement type chosen deliberately, casual, part time or full time
- Casual Employment Information Statement ready to issue alongside the Fair Work Information Statement
- Minimum engagement periods checked in the award
- Advertisement states the pay range, the actual hours and the location
Frequently asked questions
Most pub, cafe, restaurant, hotel and catering employees are covered by the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020, MA000009. Stand alone restaurants may fall under the Restaurant Industry Award and fast food operations under a different award again. Check the coverage clause for your venue type.
Under the HIGA, public holiday work is paid at 225 per cent of base for full time and part time employees, and 250 per cent for casuals, with the casual loading already absorbed into that figure. Paying a public holiday at Sunday rates is an immediate underpayment.
No. Casual penalty percentages under the award already include the 25 per cent loading, which is why casual weekend percentages are higher than full time and part time percentages. Adding it again overpays, and applying the permanent rate to a casual underpays.
Part time is generally cheaper per hour because there is no casual loading. Casual buys flexibility, so it only pays off if your trade genuinely varies. A roster that has not changed in six months is a sign part time employment would suit better.
Start with free channels. Indeed’s three free posts per calendar month, Jora, local networks and your shopfront cover most metropolitan casual roles. Escalate to a paid Seek advertisement for regional venues or for chefs and managers.
