Are smoko breaks paid?

Rest breaks are paid, so the two 10-minute smokos on an 8-and-a-half-hour day stay inside the paid hours. The 30-minute lunch is an unpaid meal break unless you agree otherwise. This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, talk to an employment law specialist or your advisor.

What about a 10-hour day?

A work period of 10 to 12 hours earns three paid rest breaks and one unpaid meal break. Change the end time in the CSV or the generator and the breaks follow. Anything over 12 hours is flagged rather than guessed.

What about public holidays?

The week you pick marks the national public holidays on the days they are observed, from 2024 to 2031. Anyone who works one is paid at least time and a half for the hours worked and, if it is an otherwise working day for them, earns an alternative holiday. Regional anniversary days are not marked; the public holiday planner lists them for 2026 and 2027.

Can I track actual hours against this?

In Clockie, yes. The crew clocks in on a shared tablet or their own phone, the roster lives next to the clock, the kiosk shows who is rostered today, and the Rostered vs Actual report compares planned hours with clock-ins. Rostering is included in every plan.

Free roster template

Trades and construction roster template

A five-day site week from 7:00 with an early foreman and a Saturday half day, for a crew of five. Breaks are worked out for every shift, hours are totalled per person, and public holidays are marked so a short week is obvious before it arrives.

Week starting

Weeks run Monday to Sunday. Pick any day and we use its Monday; public holidays follow the week.

Roles stand in for people. Download the CSV and rename them, or build your own week in the roster generator.

Trades and construction roster for Mon 12 Oct to Sun 18 Oct

Total paid hours: 207h

Person	Mon 12 Oct	Tue 13 Oct	Wed 14 Oct	Thu 15 Oct	Fri 16 Oct	Sat 17 Oct	Hours
Foreman	06:30-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	06:30-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	06:30-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	06:30-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	06:30-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break		42h 30m
Builder	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break		40h
Builder, second	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break		40h
Apprentice	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break		40h
Labourer	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break	07:00-15:302 rest breaks, 1 meal break		40h
Saturday half day						07:00-12:001 rest break, 1 meal break	4h 30m

Breaks are the Employment Relations Act 2000 minimums for each shift length; agree the timing with each employee. Public holidays are national ones. This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, talk to an employment law specialist or your advisor.

How this template is built

Why the week is shaped this way, so you can change it with confidence.

The foreman is on site first

A 6:30 start opens the site and sets up before the crew arrives at 7:00. The foreman’s 9-hour day earns two paid 10-minute rest breaks and one unpaid 30-minute meal break; the crew’s 8-and-a-half-hour day earns the same.

Smoko is a rest break

The two paid 10-minute rest breaks are morning and afternoon smoko; the 30-minute unpaid meal break is lunch. If your site takes a longer smoko by agreement, that agreed timing applies; the template shows the Act’s minimum.

Saturday is its own row

A 5-hour Saturday earns one rest break and one meal break. Put the name of whoever is on it in the CSV, or in the generator tick Saturday for that person and leave the row out.

Rain days and site moves

Print the week for the smoko room and rebuild it in the generator when the plan changes. Public holidays are marked on the week you pick, so a four-day week shows up before the quote does.

What every template includes

Three things a blank grid does not do for you.

Breaks by shift length

Every shift shows the minimum breaks Part 6D of the Employment Relations Act 2000 requires for its length: 2 to 4 hours, 1 paid 10-minute rest break; over 4 to 6 hours, 1 paid 10-minute rest break and 1 unpaid 30-minute meal break; over 6 to under 10 hours, 2 paid 10-minute rest breaks and 1 unpaid 30-minute meal break; 10 to 12 hours, 3 paid 10-minute rest breaks and 1 unpaid 30-minute meal break. Agree the timing with each employee; the Act sets default timings when nothing is agreed.

Source: Employment New Zealand: rest and breaks

Public holidays marked

The 11 national public holidays are marked on the days they are observed, including Mondayised dates, for any week from 2024 to 2031. Regional anniversary days are not marked because they depend on where you are; the public holiday planner lists them for 2026 and 2027.

Source: Employment New Zealand: public holidays and anniversary dates

Hours, not dollars

Each role gets a total of paid hours for the week: the rostered time minus unpaid meal breaks. There are no pay rates anywhere in the template, so it can go on the wall or to the team as it is. Download it as a CSV for Google Sheets or Excel, print it or save it as a PDF, or have it emailed to you with the CSV attached.

Break calculator and public holiday planner

Other roster templates

None of them fit? Build your own week in the roster generator, or see all the templates.

Template questions, answered

Are smoko breaks paid?: Rest breaks are paid, so the two 10-minute smokos on an 8-and-a-half-hour day stay inside the paid hours. The 30-minute lunch is an unpaid meal break unless you agree otherwise. This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, talk to an employment law specialist or your advisor.
What about a 10-hour day?: A work period of 10 to 12 hours earns three paid rest breaks and one unpaid meal break. Change the end time in the CSV or the generator and the breaks follow. Anything over 12 hours is flagged rather than guessed.
What about public holidays?: The week you pick marks the national public holidays on the days they are observed, from 2024 to 2031. Anyone who works one is paid at least time and a half for the hours worked and, if it is an otherwise working day for them, earns an alternative holiday. Regional anniversary days are not marked; the public holiday planner lists them for 2026 and 2027.
Can I track actual hours against this?: In Clockie, yes. The crew clocks in on a shared tablet or their own phone, the roster lives next to the clock, the kiosk shows who is rostered today, and the Rostered vs Actual report compares planned hours with clock-ins. Rostering is included in every plan.

Keep the template, drop the retyping

In Clockie a week like this is saved as a named template and applied to any week, or you copy last week and adjust. Publish it by email or text message, see who is rostered today on the kiosk, and compare rostered hours with clock-ins. Rostering is included in every plan.

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