Struggling with your staff schedule?
Juggling shifts with spreadsheets often leads to coverage gaps and frustrating no-shows, hurting both your team’s morale and your bottom line.
The constant back-and-forth is exhausting. Worst of all, it actively drives up labor costs while productivity plummets for your entire team.
These manual errors are more damaging than you think. According to Celayix, they can cause 174% more employee turnover. That’s a staggering and preventable expense.
But the right software can fix this. It helps you build optimized, error-free schedules that your employees can actually stick to.
In this guide, I’m going to review the best employee scheduling software. I’ll show you the top tools to automate scheduling and eliminate costly manual mistakes.
You’ll discover how these platforms can help you cut labor costs, reduce no-shows, and keep your entire team happy and productive.
Let’s dive in.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecteam → | Growing companies | |
| 2 | Deputy → | Ops managers & coordinators | |
| 3 | When I Work → | Businesses of any size | |
| 4 | 7shifts → | Restaurants of all sizes | |
| 5 | Sling TV → | Not for workforce management |
1. Connecteam
Struggling with complex scheduling and skyrocketing labor costs?
Connecteam offers efficient staff scheduling and smart time tracking with automated timesheets. This directly addresses your need for streamlined operations.
With Connecteam, you can automate scheduling and prevent mistakes, ensuring you have the right people assigned when and where they’re needed, hassle-free.
Here’s how to simplify your daily work.
Connecteam helps you manage daily operations from scheduling all the way down to payroll, all within one app.
You can auto-record precise work hours, simplify timesheet approvals, and get payroll right every time with reliable data. This means cutting costs by optimizing labor expenses and avoiding payroll errors.
Additionally, the platform simplifies HR processes, enhances employee engagement, and fosters a thriving company culture through features like training and onboarding, surveys, and a recognition and rewards system. This helps reduce turnover and boost productivity.
Ultimately, you gain full oversight of your team.
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Key features:
- Employee scheduling automates planning and distribution, preventing errors and ensuring the right staff are always assigned, cutting labor costs.
- Time tracking offers precise work hour recording and simplified timesheet approvals, providing accurate data for payroll and reducing mistakes.
- Internal communication keeps your workforce connected with instant messaging, company updates, and a searchable directory, improving engagement.
Learn more about Connecteam features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Connecteam is the best employee scheduling software for growing companies, offering efficient scheduling, time tracking, and robust communication tools. It streamlines operations and HR, helping you cut costs, boost productivity, and maintain compliance, as seen with over 60,000 trusted companies.
2. Deputy
Are you tired of scheduling headaches and compliance worries?
Deputy simplifies employee scheduling, timesheets, and HR into one powerful platform. This means you can create schedules in minutes and swap shifts effortlessly.
You’ll quickly see how this helps you put the right people in the right places, saving over $200,000 annually on labor costs. This helps your team and your bottom line.
Here’s how to simplify your operations.
Deputy allows you to create smart schedules quickly, making your team happier and boosting your profits. This means you can manage local, state, and federal labor laws within one platform, helping your business avoid costly payroll mistakes and compliance errors.
You can also post jobs, hire, and onboard new employees effortlessly, keeping all HR documents organized in one place. Additionally, Deputy links with your existing software and offers Shift Pulse+ to track employee engagement, helping you optimize workforce management. The result is better labor law compliance and significant time and cost savings.
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Key features:
- Smart Scheduling: Create schedules in minutes, easily swap shifts, and keep labor costs under budget, ensuring your team is always optimally staffed.
- Timesheet & Compliance: Record accurate timesheets with ease, manage labor laws, and avoid costly payroll mistakes and compliance errors in one integrated platform.
- HR Management: Hire and onboard new employees effortlessly, manage HR documents, and track employee engagement with tools like Shift Pulse+.
Learn more about Deputy features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Deputy is an ideal solution for Ops Managers and Scheduling Coordinators, simplifying complex tasks into a single platform. With proven savings like over $200,000 annually for Juice Press, it stands out as a best employee scheduling software for balancing automation with customization, reducing no-shows, and ensuring compliance.
3. When I Work
Struggling with complex employee scheduling and soaring labor costs?
When I Work offers robust employee scheduling, time clock, and team messaging features. It simplifies operations and reduces chaos.
This means you can build schedules in minutes and share them instantly, making shift management much easier for your team. The result is a more efficient and accountable workforce.
Here’s how When I Work streamlines your operations.
You can create your entire work schedule with one-click auto-scheduling, ensuring the right people are in the right place. This includes confidently covering shifts by receiving confirmations and being notified of swaps or drops.
Additionally, your team can manage their availability, submit time-off requests, and collaborate on shift trades directly through the mobile app. This puts the back office in your front pocket, empowering employees and saving managers valuable time. Plus, with integrations for payroll and other tools, you can control labor costs, reduce overtime with alerts, and streamline payroll processing.
The result is less stress, lower costs, and happier employees.
Speaking of mobile solutions, if you’re also exploring ways to drive customer engagement, my article on best mobile marketing platform can provide valuable insights.
Key features:
- Employee Scheduling: Build entire work schedules in minutes with auto-scheduling, instantly notifying your team of their shifts and managing changes.
- Time Tracking: Control labor costs and reduce overtime through schedule enforcement, integrate with payroll, and generate useful labor reports.
- Team Communication: Communicate effectively through 1:1 and group chats, instantly notifying your team of changes without sharing personal phone numbers.
Learn more about When I Work features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: When I Work is a highly intuitive and efficient solution designed to reduce chaos, cut costs, and lower turnover. Its combination of mobile accessibility, labor forecasting, and robust communication tools makes it an ideal best employee scheduling software for businesses of any size aiming for improved productivity and employee satisfaction.
4. 7shifts
Struggling with complex scheduling and unpredictable labor costs?
7shifts is an all-in-one platform specifically designed for restaurants to assign shifts and track time efficiently. This means you can simplify employee scheduling and streamline team communication for your restaurant.
You’ll find that 7shifts offers optimal labor tracking and real-time reporting. This helps you hit labor targets and proactively manage compliance, saving valuable time and reducing stress.
Take back control of your operations.
7shifts simplifies everything from employee scheduling to payroll and tip management, making manual tasks a lot faster by automating calculations and pulling in data. For example, their time clocking feature decreases labor costs with integrated, mobile tracking, and their payroll functionality ensures your staff is paid easily and on time. Additionally, 7shifts helps you track tasks with digital checklists and keeps staff engaged to reduce turnover by up to 13%. This centralized communication keeps your team connected and informed. The mobile app also empowers employees to manage their own schedules, track hours, request time off, and communicate instantly with managers and coworkers.
While we’re discussing scheduling solutions, my guide on best patient scheduling software offers an in-depth look for healthcare needs.
Key features:
- Scheduling and Time Clocking: Quickly create schedules with team availability built-in and decrease labor costs with integrated, mobile time tracking for accurate timesheets.
- Payroll and Tip Management: Pay your staff easily and on time, while saving hours and increasing accuracy with automated tip pooling and payouts.
- Team Engagement & Compliance: Boost team retention by keeping a pulse on engagement and proactively manage labor compliance with features that save you time and money.
Learn more about 7shifts features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: 7shifts is built specifically for restaurants of all sizes, from independents to franchises, helping operations managers improve efficiency and save time. It’s trusted by over 55,000 restaurants, enabling users to save an average of 14 hours a month on scheduling and $1049 a month in overtime, making it the best employee scheduling software for restaurant-specific needs.
5. Sling TV
Are you tired of scheduling headaches and no-shows?
Sling TV isn’t employee scheduling software; it’s a live TV streaming service. This means it doesn’t offer features like labor cost optimization, shift swapping, or real-time alerts for your team.
Therefore, you won’t find solutions here to simplify conflict resolution or provide mobile-first interfaces for your field teams. It’s designed for entertainment, not workforce management.
This isn’t your solution for scheduling.
Sling TV is a streaming service primarily focused on delivering live sports, news, and entertainment channels. You can catch live cricket or Arabic series, or enjoy endless entertainment with various programming options.
This service allows you to add premium channels to your lineup, giving you more choices for viewing content. It’s built for consuming media, not managing employee shifts or optimizing your labor costs.
Additionally, Sling TV highlights deals and offers, making it accessible for entertainment purposes. You can stream top news stories and breaking news, along with a wide array of entertainment programming, all on demand.
So, it’s about watching, not working.
While this article focuses on employee scheduling software, optimizing customer interactions with cloud IVR solutions is crucial for many businesses.
Key features:
- Live sports streaming: Catch live sports events, including specific content like cricket, ensuring you don’t miss key games.
- Diverse entertainment programming: Access a wide range of entertainment options and the ability to add various premium channels to your viewing lineup.
- Comprehensive news coverage: Stay informed with top news stories and breaking news from various channels, all delivered live.
Learn more about Sling TV features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Sling TV is a live TV streaming service offering entertainment, news, and sports. It lacks the features for employee scheduling like labor cost optimization or shift management, making it unsuitable as the best employee scheduling software for operations managers and scheduling coordinators.
6. Buddy Punch
Is managing schedules and payroll causing you headaches?
Buddy Punch offers a simplified, all-in-one solution for employee scheduling, time tracking, and payroll.
This means you can streamline your operations, reducing time spent on manual tasks and focusing on what matters most for your business. I find it helps to take the pain out of payroll.
Now, let’s explore the solution.
Buddy Punch makes total workforce management efficient by simplifying tasks like reviewing and analyzing employee time. You can easily create schedules with a drag-and-drop builder, copy entire schedules, and instantly notify your team of upcoming shifts or changes.
Additionally, this software helps you monitor remote employees with tools like GPS tracking and geofencing, ensuring timekeeping accuracy. It integrates with popular payroll software such as QuickBooks and Paychex, or you can use their built-in payroll system. You also get detailed reports on hours, overtime, and locations, helping you gain oversight without constant worry.
Plus, your employees can punch in and out using various methods like smartphones, computers, or QR codes. Push notifications keep your team informed about shifts or forgotten punches, further reducing no-shows and ensuring everyone knows exactly when and where to work.
Ultimately, this saves you valuable time and money.
Key features:
- Comprehensive time tracking includes GPS and photo on punch, ensuring accountability and accurate records for both remote and on-site employees.
- Intuitive employee scheduling with a drag-and-drop builder, making it simple to create, copy, and distribute schedules while sending notifications to your team.
- Integrated payroll capabilities automate accruals, manage PTO requests, and generate detailed reports to simplify calculations and reduce manual errors.
Learn more about Buddy Punch features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Buddy Punch stands out as the best employee scheduling software for growing companies, offering an all-in-one platform for time tracking, scheduling, and payroll. With its intuitive interface and robust features like GPS tracking and payroll integrations, it effectively addresses the need for labor cost optimization and improved employee satisfaction for over 10,000 organizations.
Conclusion
Manual scheduling is a profit killer.
Choosing the right tool feels overwhelming when you’re busy. You risk picking a platform that either costs too much or doesn’t solve your core scheduling problems.
Think about the time you’re losing. Celayix reports that software saves 140 hours annually per manager. That’s nearly a full month of productive time you could reclaim each year.
Here is what I recommend.
From all the tools I’ve tested, Connecteam is the best all-around solution. It directly tackles high labor costs while simplifying your daily operations.
Its combination of automated scheduling and precise time tracking is a game-changer for any growing company. It’s the best employee scheduling software for gaining full oversight and boosting productivity.
While streamlining your operations, considering best employee engagement software can further elevate your team’s performance.
I strongly recommend you start a free trial of Connecteam. See for yourself how much time and money you can actually save.
Your operations will run much smoother.
