10 of the Best Employee Scheduling Apps To achieve peak performance at your organization, it is essential that you create and maintain staff schedules. At the same time, using clunky staff scheduling apps or Excel manual scheduling...

To achieve peak performance at your organization, it is essential that you create and maintain staff schedules. At the same time, using clunky staff scheduling apps or Excel manual scheduling can take a lot of time, affecting your productivity. In fact, Matchr, a human resources software consultancy, estimates that managers spend up to eight hours each week coming up with next week's schedules. Moreover, optimizing schedules is even more difficult since so many employees work from home and other locations.

Suffice it to say by choosing the right software; you'll be able to make the process easier. How? Well, thanks to the right employee schedule app, you'll experience the following benefits:

• Ensure that everyone's working hours are clearly communicated.
• Comply with tax and labor laws by keeping records about work hours.
• Maintain an accurate record of employee hours worked.
• Make sure that overtime and redundancies do not increase labor costs.
• Allow employees to access their schedules remotely.
• Improve employee time management so that they can maintain a healthy work-life balance.

A variety of productivity software is available today that employers can use to create a work schedule. But, to narrow down your search, here are our handpicked favorites.

1. Calendar

The Calendar app allows you to schedule appointments, view your Calendar, and make appointments. Machine learning is enabled by the web portal and the mobile app, allowing the system to learn your contacts and your typical schedule over time. Using that information more often will help Calendar understand your schedule and those you interact with frequently.

As well as helping with scheduling, Calendar handles much of the work for you. As a result, you can enjoy real-time updates, automated reminders, and smart scheduling suggestions. It also integrates with other apps and tracks route, weather, and traffic information, so you never get behind.

While there is a free plan, it has its limitations. We recommend either the Standard ($6/month per user) or Pro ($8/month per user) plan.

2. Humanity

Humanity is a handy mobile app used by several healthcare companies like Kaiser Permanente. Aside from healthcare, Humanity's employee scheduling software is used by call centers, hospitality businesses, and restaurants.

Humanity is a top-rated app available for both iOS and Android that forecasts the staffing needs of your business. As part of the platform's flexible and rule-based programming, employees' scheduling needs are accommodated while creating an error-free schedule.

In addition, Humanity ensures compliance with the latest labor laws regarding overtime, breaks, and scheduling.

With a minimum fee of $100.00 per month, Humanity's plans range from $3.50 to $5.00 per user per month.

3. Deputy

By using Deputy, you can keep track of your schedule and the schedules of all individuals on your team. As a result, business owners can utilize it to manage their staff and lead more effectively. A complete scheduling solution allows employees to schedule shifts, publish schedules via email or SMS, and publish schedules at multiple locations. You can also compare wages with sales forecasts and get shift costs. New employees can easily be added to this scheduling system as well.

The tool also includes features for managing timesheets, communicating, and assigning tasks. Because it works with Android, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch, the cloud-based scheduling system allows you to oversee schedules from anywhere.

Deputy offers 100 shifts per month for free. After that, the app will cost $4.90 per user per month.

4. Sling

The Sling work schedule app was explicitly created for restaurants, retail, hotels, and healthcare facilities. The cloud-based distribution system comes with powerful scheduling features that simplify even the most complex schedules.

Your team will arrive on time, and no-shows will be reduced with the help of other powerful features. For example, employees can be reminded when to report to work by setting up and receiving push notifications from their managers. The powerful communication capabilities of Sling can be used to send messages, files, photos, videos, and links to a single person, a group of people, or all at once.

To simplify your managerial life, Sling also provides unique tools for time clocks and labor costs.

A monthly fee of $2 is charged for each user.

5. Connteam

Deskless teams can communicate with Connecteam via a communication hub. This work schedule planner might be of interest to those who work in retail, hospitality, security, or construction. With this app, you can plan shifts, assign tasks, and track hours from one easy-to-use interface.

Businesses with a deskless workforce or a mixed workforce can utilize this application to ensure efficient communication at work. An important benefit of Connecteam is the in-app chat feature and the shared knowledge base it provides for onboarding and training employees. Additionally, employee surveys can be created.

There is a free plan available for a maximum of 10 users. For up to 30 users, pricing starts at just $29/month.

6. Homebase

With Homebase, you can schedule employees in a cloud-based environment. In addition to automating schedules, this scheduling product facilitates the hiring process and helps with budget forecasting.

Homebase also offers native apps that work with both iOS and Android devices. These mobile employee scheduling capabilities make it easy for managers to create schedules and allow employees to access the schedule from anywhere. These apps also enable employees to punch in, punch out, and even request time off through their mobile devices.

GPS-based clocks are one of the unique features of Homebase. Using a GPS-based clock-in feature will allow you to track your employees' exact locations for each time punch if your employees work at multiple locations.

You can use Homebase for an unlimited number of employees at one location for free. There is a monthly fee of $19.95.

7. Shiftboard

For medium-sized to large companies with complex needs, this cloud-based solution is perfect. The Shiftboard system is highly customizable, so it's perfect for businesses in niche markets with specific requirements. Besides providing automated scheduling, this product also provides vital HR functions.

With Shiftboard, you can track applicants and onboard new employees. By utilizing this functionality, you can streamline the entire hiring process, from start to finish, and even assist with new employee training. With this feature, you can grow your team step-by-step. This helps screen applicants, track their applications, and ensure that they are trained properly.

Probably the most important feature of this system is the ability to schedule employees. Using Shiftboard, managers can build schedules much more quickly by automating the scheduling process. Based on historical data, the system forecasts scheduling needs, runs shift reports, and assigns jobs to the most qualified employees.

From $45 to $276, there are three pricing editions of Shiftboard.

8. When I Work

Another scheduling app for team leaders is When I Work. It works for a wide variety of businesses, including hospitality, customer service, retail, healthcare, nonprofits, and more. It is especially beneficial to business owners with hourly employees because it simplifies scheduling. Additionally, it can be used to schedule employee meetings and tasks.

Besides working with payroll platforms like Quickbooks and ADP, the scheduling app can also transfer schedules easily. Employees can also use the app to request shift swaps or time off from Android or iPhone. With mobile accessibility, an online scheduler, messaging, and customer support features, it's free for up to 75 users.

9. FindMyShift

Findmyshift helps managers schedule their employees through a web-based application. By using their drag-and-drop calendar interface, users can create a roster within minutes. Based on your requirements, you can add as many items as you like to as many cells as you want. Additionally, you can create and store shift patterns that repeat. Obviously, having this information will allow you to schedule more quickly.

The Findmyshift service allows managers to manage staff by finding the right employee at the right time for any given job. Allocating shifts can be done using Findmyshift's rota feature, which shows who's available and who's not. The rota feature can also make allocating time off easier, as it will notify you if the employee has any scheduled shifts during that time. In order to avoid conflicts between staff, you can also keep time-off requests private. For employers, the mobile app provides an excellent platform to search, filter, and manage their employees' availability.

There are many integrations with Findmyshift, including Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. It is also free for up to five employees.

10. Doodle

You can use Doodle as another scheduling app for keeping track of team members' shifts. Because it lacks many features, it may not be able to schedule shifts that are complex or involve multiple shifts. Nevertheless, for small businesses with a few employees, this might be a smooth transition from pen and paper (or spreadsheets) to more sophisticated scheduling apps.

With Doodle, you can easily provide your employees with the schedule and make updates and changes that everyone can see, thanks to its cloud-based interface. In essence, when you create a schedule, you're creating a master document everyone can access. The master is updated when changes are needed. Employees will always see the most current schedule link when viewing the schedule link.

Doodle does not provide suggestions, show overlapping shifts, or notify you when you double-book an employee or schedule them during vacation time. As such, you'll need a more robust app.

For individuals getting started with seamless scheduling, Doodle is free. It costs $8.95/per user per month/ paid annually for teams that need to increase productivity and collaboration.

Image Credit: Pavel Danilyuk; Pexels; Thank you!

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