Employee scheduling software is essential for businesses. It allows for scheduling shifts and managing and generating automatic timesheets.
Before, businesses used to maintain it manually but now they can automate staff scheduling with an app or platform.
In this article, I’ll list the best employee scheduling software that reduces labor costs, automates tasks, and optimizes work efficiency.
Before getting into it, let’s talk about employee scheduling.
What is Employee Scheduling and How does it help you?
Employee scheduling is a process that allots employee shifts and tracks assigned work.
It helps businesses to improve productivity, minimise error conflicts, reduce labour costs, track work hours, and give flexibility to employees.
When you schedule shifts you can track how accurately an employee works everyday.
With the employee scheduling system staff stick to corporate in their scheduling, which saves from schedule conflicts.
1. Connecteam
Connecteam is #1 best workforce management software you can use it to manage and schedule employees.
The software lets create staff shifts, communicate with other staffs, and automatically generate timesheets. Its scheduling feature lets you easily assign shifts and notify employees of their schedules.
Connecteam also allows you to communicate directly with your employees regarding each shift.
Connecteam employee scheduling feature lets you do things like assign a single shift or multiple shifts at once, approve and deny employee time off request, set overtime limit, add note to each shift, and notify changes directly to their mobile phone.
With Connecteam mobile app, employees can clock in or out, request leaves, set and change their availability, swap shifts with other employees, and more.
It’s #1 best employee scheduling app for businesses.
Core Features:
- Staff scheduling
- Time clocking
- Communication
- Staff onboarding
- Task management
- Forms & checklists
- Recognition & Rewards
- Documents
- Time off
- Mobile app
Price:
Connecteam operations plan starts from $29 per month and goes high up to $99 per month. You can try this plan for free up to 10 users.
2. Buddy Punch
Buddy Punch is an all-in-one employee scheduling and time-tracking software.
It helps you to streamline employees’ shift schedules. You can use its dragon drop scheduler maker to create, publish, and upload shits.
Buddy Punch is not just a scheduling tool, you can use it to track employee time, monitor attendance, track paid time off, and run payroll.
Its employee safe service portal lets employees see their schedules, notify on shift changes, request, or unpaid time off, and set their availability. Employees and admins can also shift trades and covers.
Employees can punch in or out using mobile app, kiosk, and desktop.
You can also use Buddy Punch to monitor your remote employees with the tools such as geo-fencing and IP address locking
The platform also able to monitor overtime, control who is punching in, and no the location of employee signing.
You can also track time and run payroll with Buddy Punch. No third-party tool required.
Core Features:
- Time tracking
- Scheduling
- Payroll
- Attendance tracking
- PTO tracking
- GPS tracking
- Geofencing
- Self-service portal
- Track time off
- Shift trade
- Integration
- App app
Price:
You can try Buddy Punch 14-day free trial. It has three paid plans Starter costs $4.49 per month, Pro $5.95 per month, and Enterprise $10.99 per month.
3. Homebase
Homebase was founded in San Francisco, California in 2013. It was designed for small and mid-size business owners.
The Homebase scheduling app is easy to use and set up employees schedule in just few clicks.
Using the Homebase app, employees can swap shifts, request time off, and see worked hours.
You can get started with the free version which includes passive scheduling options, while paid version comes with more advanced features.
Its mobile application has self-service portal that allows employees to log in through their mobile phone and clock in, record attendance, and record late attendance.
Homebase has a centralized as good to create and set up staff schedules, communicate with team, and track billable hours.
Homebase offers everything you required to schedule and manage employees.
Core Features:
- Staff scheduling
- Time tracking
- Timesheets
- Communication
- Engagement
- Payroll and hiring
- Compliance
- PTO
- Self-service portal
- Integrations
- Mobile app
Price:
Homebase Essentials plan starts from $24.95 per month. You can try its basic plan for free which includes basic scheduling and tracking.
4. Shift Agent
Swift Agent is one of the best apps for employee scheduling. Using it you can create, edit, and publish your daily and weekly staff timetable in just a few clicks.
Its team messaging and notes tool lets you steam Linux communication and keep staff updated with last-minute changes.
Employees can also select shifts they had before, swap their shifts with others, and request leaves.
When an employee requests time off from a mobile device. He/she receives an sms update when the manager makes a decision.
Shift Agent is really a good app to staff work scheduling, but it has a deep learning curve.
The interface is very complicated. You need to put lots of effort into understanding everything before you get family with this software. It has a kind of old interface too.
Core Features:
- Scheduling
- Track availability
- Smart scheduling
- Distribution hours
- Day off
- Labor efficiency
- Shift swap
- Smart notes
- Communication
- Mobile app
Price:
The Basic plan is forever free. The paid plan starts from $27 per month.
5. When I Work
When I Work is it cloud-based employee scheduling and time-tracking software. It helps to manage the workforce for small and large businesses.
You can use its drag-and-drop tool to create and manage schedules.
With When I Work, employees can view the schedules, request shift swaps, and communicate directly with managers.
The software of a board then scheduling feature, gets you time tracking, run payroll, create timesheets, team massaging, and time off management.
Employees get instant notification when shifts added, so they can pick up a favorable shift or decline an unfavorable one.
Some of the notable features of when I work are auto-scheduling, assign tasks, schedule templates, and schedule shifts to different addresses.
You can integrate payroll software like Gusto, Run, ADP, or Square to process payments. It also helps to monitor who is working on the swift regularly and notify when someone does overtime.
When I work is really a good app to schedule your workforce.
Core Features:
- Employees Scheduling
- Time Tracking
- Track leaves, time off, and PTO
- Budget calculation
- Team management
- Team communication
- Labor and forecasting
- Payroll integrations
- Overtime
- Mobile app
Price:
When I Work pricing starts from $1.50 per user per month. Try free trial today.
6. 7Shifts
7Shifts is an app for restaurant staff scheduling. You can use it to quickly schedule staff shifts, and make changes in the last minute, and notify to team.
It comes with readymade templates which you can use to quickly draft schedules, assign shifts and update shits to employees on their mobile application. Employees can also swap shifts with each other.
Additionally, it has the time clocking option to track staff billable hours. Employees can punch in the work through their mobile or QR code.
7Shifts also has an inbuilt trip management option, it make it easier to calculate and distribute tips to all employees.
It has an Integrated centralized communication feature that allows you to eliminate calls, texts, and emails.
It allows us to keep transparency in the work by communicating in real-time with each other in a group chat. 7Shifts also stores important documents of staff, supports labor law compliance, and helps to manage log books.
Core Features:
- Shift scheduling
- Time tracking
- Overtime
- Shift swap
- Punch in and out
- Task management
- Manage log book
- Store document
- Communication tool
- Tips management
- Integrations
Price:
7Shifts plan costs you $35 per month and goes high up to $80 per month. You can try any paid plan before committing to any paid plan.
7. Deputy
Deputy is a leading employee scheduling software that allows the scheduling of the right staff to the different locations and jobs.
You can send employee work schedules right on the mobile and desktop.
If someone requests sick leave it automatically assigns that shift to the best available employee without making any calls, or texts.
Its AI auto-scheduling lets you reduce necessary wage costs by labor demand forecasting with just one click.
You can share shift availability with team members through the Deputy mobile app so employees pick their favorite job, and swap shifts.
Apart from scheduling, it has time tracking and time clocks in the future as well. It allows to track employee time, calculate timesheets, automate payroll, and see real-time attendance.
With Deputy, you can manage various things including shift scheduling, time tracking, leave management, time clocking, payroll, HR activities, and more.
Core Features:
- Employees scheduling
- Time tracking
- Time clocking
- Labour forecasting
- Compliance
- Time off Management
- HR & New Onboarding
- Document management
- Integration
- Mobile app
Price:
Deputy scheduling plans charge $4.50 per user per month. However, you can try it for free. No credit card required.
Conclusion
Employee scheduling software helps to schedule employee shifts, create timesheets, manage PTO, and overtime.
It reduces the chances of unnecessary employee conflicts on the calculation of overtime, time off, and PTO. Employer and employee both can see the live reports.
You should definitely implement, and employee scheduling software in your business to manage your employees hassle-free.
Highly suggest you to go with Connecteam or Buddy Punch to schedule staff.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions.