Staffing a one-night function in Sydney: casuals, agency or marketplace, priced for a 60-guest event
A 60-guest Saturday function needs five on bar and floor. The three you don't already have cost $840 as your own casuals, $975 through a marketplace and $1,079 through an agency at a 22% margin. Here is the line-by-line maths, and what each figure leaves out.
A 60-guest Saturday function in Sydney needs five people on bar and floor, and you probably have two of them already. The other three cost about $840 as your own casuals, $975 through an on-demand marketplace, and $1,079 through an agency charging a 22% margin. That's the same three people for the same six hours, and a $239 spread between the cheapest and dearest way to get them.
The pages that rank for event staffing in Sydney are agency sales pages and SEEK listings. None of them puts the three options side by side with the award maths showing. This post does, using Hospitality Award (MA000009) casual rates from 1 July 2026, then covers what each number leaves out.
Quick answer: for one night, your own casuals are cheapest if they're free that night. A marketplace costs about 16% more per head, and an agency at a 22% margin about 29% more. Most venues end up mixing them: core crew in-house, the gap filled from outside. Figures are wages and on-costs only, ex GST. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.
The crew a 60-guest function needs
Take a stand-up canapé function for 60, beer and wine on a tab, 6pm to 11pm on a Saturday. Using the ratios in our 100-guest function guide, that's one floor staff member per 30 to 40 guests and one bartender per 50 to 75, plus someone running the room. A tab bar gets everyone in the first 20 minutes, so give it two bartenders, not one.
| Role | Heads | Who fills it | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Function lead, Level 3 | 1 | Your own staff | 5:30pm to 11:30pm |
| Bartender, Level 2 | 1 | Your own staff | 5:30pm to 11:30pm |
| Second bartender, Level 2 | 1 | The gap | 5:30pm to 11:30pm |
| Floor, Level 2 | 2 | The gap | 5:30pm to 11:30pm |
The lead and the first bartender should always be yours: they know the POS, the tab rules and where the spare kegs live. The three gap heads do work any experienced casual picks up in a 10-minute briefing, so they're the ones worth pricing three ways.
Three ways to fill the gap, priced per head
Every figure below is a six-hour Saturday shift. A casual Level 2 earns $40.62 an hour on a Saturday under MA000009 (150% of the $27.08 base, loading included), and super is 12% on top. Workers comp uses the NSW rate for pubs, taverns and bars, 2.55% of wages plus super.
| Per head, 6-hour Saturday | Own casual | Marketplace at $45/hr | Agency at 22% margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | $40.62 | $45.00 | $59.94 charge-out |
| Pay for 6 hours | $243.72 | $270.00 | Included |
| Super at 12% | $29.25 | $32.40 | Included |
| Workers comp, 2.55% | $6.96 | Your own policy | Included |
| Platform or agency fee | None | $21.60 (8%) + $1.00 processing | $64.86 margin |
| Cost per head, ex GST | $279.93 | $325.00 | $359.64 |
| Three gap heads | $839.79 | $975.00 | $1,078.92 |
How the agency number is built
Australian labour hire margins usually sit at 15% to 25% of the worker's loaded cost, not the award rate. An agency is usually over the NSW payroll tax threshold, so its loaded Saturday hour is $40.62 plus super, workers comp and 5.45% payroll tax: $49.13. Add a 22% margin and the charge-out is $59.94 an hour. If you want to take a real quote apart the same way, our post on what an agency charges for a casual hour has the five-step method.
Why the marketplace rate is $45, not $40.62
On a marketplace you set the rate, and workers compare it with every other shift that night. Casual event ads on SEEK in Sydney this month mostly sit between about $31 and $49 an hour. At $45, a worker paying an 8% fee plus GST keeps $41.04 an hour, just above what your own Saturday casual earns. Post at the bare award figure and the shift may sit unfilled while better-paid ones go first.
The agency's $64.86 per head isn't waste. It's what you pay for someone else to find, vet and replace the worker.
What the whole night costs
Add the core crew back in. Your function lead costs $289.16 for the shift (Level 3 casual at $41.96 an hour on a Saturday, plus super and workers comp) and your own bartender $279.93, so $569.09 before the gap is filled.
| How the gap is filled | Five-person crew | Per guest (60) |
|---|---|---|
| All own casuals | $1,408.88 | $23.48 |
| Core in-house, gap via marketplace | $1,544.09 | $25.73 |
| Core in-house, gap via agency | $1,648.01 | $27.47 |
The difference between the cheapest and dearest option is $4 a guest. Spread across a function package, that's real money but rarely the deciding line. What usually decides it is whether you can get three reliable people at all.
What each number leaves out
- Own casuals are only cheapest if they're already on the books. Hiring someone new for one night means a TFN declaration, super choice form, induction and a payroll setup. Our first-shift paperwork checklist shows how much that is for one shift.
- Payroll tax. If your venue's wages pass $1.2 million a year, NSW charges 5.45% on wages plus super, which adds $14.88 to each in-house head.
- GST. An agency invoice carries 10% GST, and the marketplace adds GST on its fee. A GST-registered venue usually claims both back as GST credits.
- Minimum bookings and cancellation terms. Ask any agency for its minimum hours and its cancellation window before you confirm. A function that drops from 60 to 40 guests the day before can still bill you the full crew.
- Insurance. For anyone who isn't your employee, check your public liability and workers compensation cover with your insurer before the night.
- The no-show. One empty spot at a full function costs more than any of these margins. The real cost of a no-show runs through the maths.
How to staff it, a week out
- Lock the core crew first: the lead and one bartender who knows your POS and tab.
- Ask your own casuals for the gap shifts. Anyone who says yes is your cheapest head.
- Post whatever's left at a rate that competes (around $45 an hour on a Saturday), at least five days out.
- Keep the agency number for the day-before dropout, when speed is worth the margin.
- Brief newcomers like a first shift: glass wash, last drinks call, how the tab closes.
Fill the function from the roster
Shiftly is the roster that fills itself: free rostering and award-aware timesheets, with an on-demand staffing network built into the same roster. Build the function crew on the roster, and the award interpretation helps you estimate each in-house shift at the right level and penalty rate before you quote the client. Shiftly On-Demand is available along the east coast of Australia. Post the gap as open shifts, and nearby hospitality workers see the venue, hours and pay before they accept. You pay the rate you set, plus super, the 8% service fee and a $1 processing fee per shift. Get started with Shiftly.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to hire bar staff for an event in Sydney?
For a six-hour Saturday shift, a Level 2 casual bartender on your own books costs about $280 with super and workers comp. Through an on-demand marketplace at $45 an hour it's about $325 ex GST, and through an agency charging a 22% margin about $360 ex GST.
What markup do agencies charge for event staff?
Published Australian figures put labour hire margins at 15% to 25% of the worker's loaded cost, which includes wages, super, workers comp and payroll tax. On a Saturday hour that loaded cost is about $49, so a 22% margin adds roughly $10.81 an hour per person.
Do casual event staff get paid for set-up and pack-down?
Yes. Set-up and pack-down are time worked, paid at the rate for that hour, and the Hospitality Award requires a casual to be engaged and paid for at least 2 consecutive hours each time they attend work.
Is a Friday function cheaper to staff than a Saturday one?
Usually. A Level 2 casual earns $33.85 an hour Monday to Friday against $40.62 on Saturday, though hours from 7pm to midnight on a weeknight add $2.95 each. A six-hour Friday evening shift still costs about $26 less per head than the Saturday.
Co-founder of Shiftly. Milan works with hospitality businesses across Australia to make rostering, timesheets and award-based pay radically simpler.
