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The first thing to decide is whether your business needs one location or multiple. This affects everything — rosters, timesheets, employees, and settings are completely separate between locations.

You Need Multiple Locations If:

You operate multiple distinct sites (e.g. two different clinics, or separate stores) where each site has its own rosters, its own staff, and its own timesheets. Each location is effectively a separate RosterMate account.

You Only Need One Location If:

You have one site, or you want all your staff and schedules managed together in one place. If you have different teams or departments within the same business, use Areas to separate them — you don't need multiple locations for that.

How to Add a Location

Go to Settings → Locations Access and click Add New Location. Enter the location name and save. Once a second location exists, a selector will appear at the top of your screen to switch between them.

Switching Between Locations

Use the location dropdown at the top of the screen to switch between your locations. Everything you see — employees, rosters, timesheets — belongs to the currently selected location. Make sure you're on the correct location before adding employees or creating schedules.

For a full guide, see Locations.

Head to the Management page. This is where all your employee information lives. Before adding employees, make sure you're switched to the correct location using the selector at the top of the screen.

Adding an Employee

Click the Add Employee card at the top of the employee list. Enter the employee's first name, last name, email address, and phone number, then save. The system will automatically send them a setup email so they can register their account and set a password.

Setup Pending vs Active

After adding an employee, their status will show as Setup Pending until they complete registration. Once they register through the email link, their status becomes Active. You can spot employees who have signed up on the app because their card will display a red border — this is a quick visual indicator of who is registered and ready to use the system.

Assigning Positions and Areas

After creating an employee, select their card and use the detail panel on the right to assign them Positions (the roles they can work, e.g. Nurse, Supervisor) and Areas (the departments or zones they work in). These assignments are used when building rosters and filtering staff, so it's worth setting them up before you start scheduling.

For a full guide, see Management.

Roles control what each employee can see and do inside RosterMate. By default, every new employee is given the standard employee role with basic permissions. You can change this from the employee's card on the Management page.

Assigning a Role

Select an employee on the Management page, then click the Manage Role button in their detail panel. A modal will appear listing all available roles with descriptions of their permissions. Choose the appropriate role and save.

Creating Custom Roles

If the built-in roles don't suit your needs, you can create custom roles with specific permission combinations — for example a "Supervisor" role that can approve timesheets but not edit payroll. Head to the Roles page to set these up before assigning them to employees.

Who Should Get What Role

Most staff will use the default employee role. Only assign elevated roles (such as Manager or Admin) to people who genuinely need to manage schedules, approve timesheets, or access other sensitive areas of the system.

For a full guide, see Roles.

Before creating your first roster, we recommend building a template. A template is a reusable schedule pattern — think of it as a blank week that you design once and can then stamp onto any week of the year.

Why Use Templates First?

Most businesses run on a repeating schedule — the same shifts, same positions, same staffing levels week after week. Rather than rebuilding that schedule from scratch every week, you set it up once as a template and apply it to each new roster in seconds. It saves a significant amount of time and reduces errors.

Position View vs Employee View

Position View is best when coverage matters most — you define which positions need to be filled each day and then assign employees to those slots. Employee View is best when you schedule based on who's available — you create rows for each employee and assign them shifts directly. Choose the view that matches how your business thinks about scheduling.

Building Your Template

Go to the Templates page, click to create a new template, and lay out your standard working week. Add the shifts, positions, and employees that represent your typical schedule. Once saved, this template is ready to be applied to any roster week.

For a full guide, see Templates.

With your employees set up and a template ready, creating a roster is straightforward. Go to the Rosters page and select the week you want to schedule.

Applying a Template

When creating or editing a roster week, you can apply one of your saved templates to instantly populate the schedule. From there you can make any adjustments for that specific week — swapping employees, adding extra shifts, or removing staff who are on leave.

Publishing the Roster

Once you're happy with the schedule, publish it so that employees can see their shifts in the app. Employees receive a notification when a new roster is published and can view their upcoming shifts directly from their phone.

For a full guide, see Rosters.

A kiosk is how employees clock in and out, which feeds directly into your timesheets. RosterMate offers three kiosk options — choose the one that suits your workplace setup.

Option 1 — Tablet Kiosk

Set up a shared tablet (iPad or Android) in a fixed location such as a reception area or staffroom. Employees walk up to the tablet and tap their name or enter their PIN to clock in and out. This is the most common setup for workplaces with a central gathering point.

Option 2 — Mobile App Kiosk

Employees use the RosterMate app on their own phone to clock in and out. This works well for remote workers, mobile teams, or businesses where staff don't pass through a central point. GPS location can optionally be captured at clock-in.

Option 3 — Web Kiosk

Any web browser can act as a kiosk by navigating to your unique kiosk URL. This is useful if you already have a computer at reception or a front desk PC that you'd like to repurpose as a clock-in station.

Setting Up Your Kiosk

Go to the Kiosks page and follow the setup steps for your chosen option. You'll generate a unique PIN or link for your location and configure options like requiring a photo at clock-in or setting a proximity radius for mobile clocking.

For a full guide, see Kiosks.

Once employees start clocking in and out via a kiosk, their hours are automatically captured and appear on the Timesheets page. This is where you review, adjust, and approve hours before processing payroll.

Reviewing Clock Times

Each timesheet entry shows the employee's clock-in and clock-out time alongside their rostered shift. You can quickly spot discrepancies — for example if someone clocked in late or forgot to clock out — and manually correct times where needed.

Approving Timesheets

Once you're satisfied that the hours are correct, approve the timesheet entries for the pay period. Approved timesheets can then be exported for payroll processing.

For a full guide, see Timesheets.

Once your core setup is complete, RosterMate has a couple of extra features to help you communicate with staff and manage time off.

Messages

Use the built-in messaging feature to send announcements or updates directly to your team. Messages can be sent to all staff at a location or to specific employees. Employees receive notifications in the app, making it easy to keep everyone informed without relying on external tools.

Leave Management

Employees can submit leave requests through the app, and managers can review and approve or decline them from within RosterMate. Approved leave automatically marks the employee as unavailable on the roster for those dates, so you always have an accurate picture of who's available when building your schedule.

For a full guide, see Leave.