Multi-Location Staff Scheduling: What Your Software Needs to Handle
30 October 2026 · The Rosterly team · 4 min read
Multi-location staff scheduling means rostering several sites from one place, so people who work at more than one site appear once, double-bookings across sites are caught, and each site keeps its own hours, skills, time zone and costs. Before choosing software, check how it prices extra locations, how it handles shared staff and whether managers can see who's working where right now.
Running one site is a roster problem. Running three is a coordination problem. The roster for each site might be fine on its own, but the same casual is booked at two places on Saturday, the second site has nobody who can close, and nobody can tell head office who's on today. This post covers what changes when you add locations and what your tools need to do about it.
What changes at two or more sites
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Shared staff. Some people work at several sites. If each site keeps its own roster, nobody sees the clash until both managers expect the same person.
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Different hours and demand. A CBD site is busy at lunch, a suburban one on weekends. Each needs its own base week.
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Skills by site. One site may need a keyholder and a barista at open; another needs a first-aider on every shift.
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Visibility. Area managers need a view across sites: who's working now, which shifts are open, where labour is running high.
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Cost by site. Labour cost needs to be checked per site, not just in total, or a good site hides a struggling one.
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Time zones and currencies. Groups spanning states or countries need each site in local time and, sometimes, local currency.
Separate rosters vs one workspace
Many groups start with a spreadsheet tab, or a separate app account, per site. It works until people move between sites. One workspace with every location fixes the core problems:
Separate rosters per site
One workspace, many locations
Shared staff
Separate rosters per site: Entered twice, clashes missed
One workspace, many locations: One person, clashes caught
Who's on now
Separate rosters per site: Ask each manager
One workspace, many locations: One view across sites
Cover between sites
Separate rosters per site: Phone around
One workspace, many locations: Offer to qualified staff anywhere
Billing
Separate rosters per site: Often per site
One workspace, many locations: Depends on the pricing model
Reporting
Separate rosters per site: Combine by hand
One workspace, many locations: Export once
How pricing changes with locations
This is where multi-site groups feel pricing models most:
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Per user. You pay for each person once, but plan tiers may change. When we checked on 17 October 2026, When I Work showed Essentials as its single-location price and Pro (US$5 per user per month) as its multi-location price.
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Per location. You pay for each site, often with an employee cap per site. 7shifts' Essentials was CA$39.99 per location per month billed annually, so three sites cost three times that.
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Per workspace. One price by total team size, however many sites. Rosterly is A$29, A$59 or A$119 a month for up to 10, 25 or 60 staff across every location.