A staff meeting agenda should cover what affects everyone on the staff: schedule and coverage, policy or procedure changes with their start dates, problems staff have raised, required training, and time for questions. Open with a specific thank-you or two, give each item an owner and a time, and end by reading back who is doing what by when.
Best forOffices, clinics, shops and small businesses with 5 to 40 staff
FormatsGoogle Docs, Word, Notion, Markdown, printable
When to use this template
Your monthly staff meeting happens before opening and keeps running into the first appointments.
A procedure changed last month and half the staff say nobody told them.
Staff bring up the same broken phone or printer at every meeting and nothing happens.
Questions people ask
How often should you hold a staff meeting?
Most small businesses do well with one full staff meeting a month (owners and partners can use a separate business meeting agenda) and a short weekly huddle for the schedule. If staff keep hearing about changes after they happen, meet more often. If the meeting is mostly announcements, send those in writing and keep the meeting for questions and issues. Company-wide news from leadership fits better in an all hands meeting.
Do hourly employees have to be paid for staff meetings?
In the US, under federal rules, a meeting is unpaid only if all four of these hold: it is outside regular hours, attendance is truly voluntary, it isn't directly related to the job, and no productive work is done. A meeting you require is not voluntary, so a required staff meeting, even before opening or after close, counts as paid time for non-exempt employees, including those paid hourly. State and local laws can set higher standards than federal law, so check with whoever handles your payroll. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I get staff to actually bring up problems?
Collect topics ahead of time so quieter staff don't have to raise things in front of everyone. Then close the loop: when an issue gets an owner and a reply date, even if the answer is no, people raise the next one.