A security roster has two jobs. It has to cover every post the contract promises, and it has to do it only with guards who are licensed for the work, rested enough to do it, and actually expecting the shift. Most gaps on the night trace back to one of those three failing during the week. This guide walks through a routine that catches them early.
1. Start from the contract, not from the people
Before anyone’s name goes on a shift, write down what each site needs: the posts, the hours each post is staffed, and what a guard on that post must hold. A shopping centre might need two static guards from 6 am to 10 pm and a crowd controller on Friday nights. A construction site might need one guard overnight with a white card. A licensed venue will usually need crowd controllers with RSA.
Record those requirements against the site itself, not in someone’s head. In TDS Workforce Management each site carries its required licences, and the roster then refuses anyone who doesn’t hold them. When the requirement lives with the site, a new supervisor can roster it correctly on their first day.
2. Know who can legally work where
A licence that exists isn’t the same as a licence that covers the job. Classes differ (unarmed guarding, crowd control, armed guarding, monitoring), licences are issued state by state in Australia, and they expire. Before a guard is rostered, someone should have seen the licence, checked it against the regulator’s public register where there is one, and recorded the number, class and expiry.
Our state-by-state guide to Australian security licences lists who issues them. For teams in Saudi Arabia, the documents to check are different but the principle is the same: verified, in date, on file.
3. Build the pattern, then copy it
Most security contracts repeat. Build one good week for each site, then repeat it rather than rebuilding it. Shifts that never change can be set to repeat weekly or fortnightly; a week with exceptions can be copied forward and adjusted. Either way, the copies should arrive as drafts so you can fix the odd day before anyone sees it.
- Keep overnight shifts as single shifts that run past midnight, not two halves, so hours and rest are counted properly.
- Leave shifts you can’t fill yet as unassigned, so the gap is visible rather than forgotten.
- Put the post’s instructions and duties on the shift, so the guard sees them on their phone.
4. Respect rest and hours
Fatigue is a safety problem before it’s a rostering one. A guard finishing at 6 am shouldn’t start again at 2 pm. Your award or enterprise agreement may set a minimum break between shifts and limits on hours; treat those as the floor, not the target. In TDS Workforce Management you set the minimum rest (eight hours unless you set your own), the most hours in a week and the most days in a row. The shift form, the roster and the suggestions all warn when a guard would break them, and both shifts are flagged.
5. Publish early and get answers
A roster nobody has seen isn’t a roster yet. Publish the week several days ahead and ask every guard to accept or decline each shift. An accepted shift is a commitment; a declined shift is a gap you now know about; an unanswered shift is a risk.
Chase the unanswered ones first, especially anything starting in the next 48 hours. When a guard declines, the shift should go straight back to whoever covers it, with the reason. In TDS Workforce Management the manager gets a push and an email, and the shift stays red until someone takes it. Offer it as an open shift and every guard in your team who is free, licensed for the site and off leave can claim it from their phone; you approve the claim. A guard who can't make a shift can also offer it to a teammate, who accepts before you approve.
6. Plan for the no-show
Even a good roster has a no-show some nights. What matters is how fast you know. With geofenced clock-ins, a guard has to be at the post to clock in, and if nobody has clocked in shortly after the start, the guard and their manager both get an alert. That turns a complaint from the client the next morning into a phone call ten minutes after the start.
- Keep a short list of guards who are licensed for each site and happy to be called in.
- Use suggested staff to see who is free, licensed and rested for that site right now.
- Record the no-show, so patterns show up in the attendance figures rather than in memory.
7. Close the loop with the client
Clients judge a security company by whether the post was covered. Give them the evidence without being asked: the roster for their sites when it’s published, and each morning a summary of the day before, with clock-in and clock-out times and whether each guard was on time. A duty checklist, a photo and a signature at clock-out answer the question before it’s asked.
A weekly checklist
- Check each site’s posts, hours and required licences against the contract.
- Copy or repeat last week’s pattern as drafts.
- Fill gaps with guards who are licensed, available and rested.
- Fix rest warnings and overlaps, then publish.
- Chase unanswered shifts, starting with the next 48 hours.
- Check licences expiring in the next month and ask for renewals.
- Review last week’s late arrivals and no-shows by site and guard.
If you’d like to see this routine in software built for it, read how TDS Workforce Management works for security companies, or ask for a demo with your own sites.