Surprisingly, 38% of U.S. workers still use punch cards, paper timesheets, or outdated time cards instead of a modern scheduling tool. These manual methods lead to missed shifts, payroll miscalculations, and inconsistent attendance tracking, hurting productivity and labor costs.
With an employee scheduling app, you can automate shift assignments, track time-off requests, and receive real-time notifications about employee absences.
This guide explores the 10 best employee scheduling apps for streamlining scheduling, tracking time off, and improving workforce management.
⏰ 60-Second Summary
Here’s a list of employee scheduling software that offers powerful auto-scheduling features and workflow management capabilities to help manage employee schedules:
- ClickUp: Best for customizable HR workflows and schedule templates
- Workday: Best for automating employee scheduling process
- Sage HR: Best for streamlining time off requests and approvals
- Homebase: Best for streamlining time-tracking processes
- Rippling: Best for integrating employee scheduling with compliance
- BambooHR: Best for optimizing HR processes and employee management
- Factorial HR: Best for managing shifts across multiple locations
- Connecteam: Best for managing time off requests and shift swaps
- Deputy: Best for facilitating seamless shift swaps and optimizing labor costs
- Gusto: Best for streamlining payroll and tax processes efficiently
Best HR Calendar Software for Efficient Workforce Management in 2025
- What Should You Look for in HR Calendar Software?
- The 10 Best HR Calendar Software to Explore
- 1. ClickUp (Best for customizable HR workflows and schedule templates)
- 2. Workday (Best for automating employee scheduling process)
- 3. Sage HR (Best for streamlining time off requests and approvals)
- 4. Homebase (Best for streamlining time-tracking processes)
- 5. Rippling (Best for integrating employee scheduling with compliance)
- 6. Bamboo HR (Best for optimizing HR processes and employee management)
- 7. Factorial HR (Best for managing shifts across multiple locations)
- 8. Connecteam (Best for managing time off requests and shift swaps)
- 9. Deputy (Best for facilitating seamless shift swaps and optimizing labor costs)
- 10. Gusto (Best for streamlining payroll and tax processes efficiently)
- Optimize HR Workflows with the Top HR Calendar App —ClickUp!
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in HR Calendar Software?
Choosing the best employee scheduling app isn’t just about basic scheduling—it’s about optimizing efficiency, reducing errors, and keeping your workforce happy.
So, what employee management features should you prioritize? Let’s have a look below:
- Simplified shift scheduling: Choose an auto-scheduling tool with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to help employees claim open shifts, adjust schedules, and manage changes seamlessly
- Automated time-off management: Use time tracking software to handle time-off requests with an approval system that ensures proper shift coverage
- Optimized workforce planning: Select an employee scheduling app with predictive scheduling to analyze historical data and plan for peak hours and staffing needs
- Enhanced team communication: Send automatic notifications, push notifications, and shift reminders to keep employees informed about upcoming shifts with the right scheduling tool
- Improved attendance tracking: Monitor employee attendance in real-time, track late arrivals, and generate reports for payroll accuracy with an employee scheduling app
- Easy shift swaps and open shifts: Let employees swap shifts, drop shifts, or claim open shifts based on their own availability for better flexibility using an employee management tool
💡 Pro Tip: Customizable templates make work quicker and easier. Explore the best 10 free work schedule templates that help small businesses stay on top of all projects and daily work and manage schedules seamlessly.
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best HR Calendar Software to Explore
Here are the 10 employee scheduling tools that streamline operations, reduce administrative headaches, and create employee schedules that work for both your business and your team:
1. ClickUp (Best for customizable HR workflows and schedule templates)
ClickUp is a really solid HR calendar tool that can totally transform how HR teams handle their scheduling needs. The platform has some great features built right in that are perfect for HR professionals juggling multiple responsibilities.
Tired of scattered resumes and missed follow-ups? ClickUp HR tool lets you track candidates, applications, and outreach in one place. You can create a ClickUp Kanban board to track candidates from “Applied” to “Interviewed” to “Hired.”
With ClickUp, create trackable onboarding checklists, training modules, and shared docs to get employees up to speed fast.
HR teams can visualize everything that matters – from interview schedules and onboarding timelines to company events and employee time-off requests – all in one place with ClickUp Calendar View. They can color-code different types of events, filter views by department or event type, and even drag and drop to reschedule things when plans change.
ClickUp’s Calendar is an AI scheduling tool designed to manage your workload intelligently. Imagine having an assistant that analyzes your backlog and prioritizes tasks, then automatically time-blocks them for optimal efficiency. ClickUp’s AI does just that. It intelligently determines the best times for you to tackle your most important work, ensuring your priorities are met.
The platform comes with ready-to-use templates that save tons of time. Use the ClickUp Calendar Planner Template to manage and track events, activities, and tasks.
- The ClickUp 30-60-90 Day Plan Template simplifies transitioning and onboarding for your employees. It helps you set goals, document progress notes, and identify behaviors, skills, and competencies
- The ClickUp Employee Schedule Template efficiently builds employee schedules, prioritizes tasks, and tracks time off requests
What’s especially helpful is how ClickUp connects scheduling with other HR functions. Need to track how long orientation sessions take? The built-in Time Tracking has you covered. Want to automatically notify team leads when someone requests vacation time? ClickUp Automations can handle that.
Teams love how they can add comments directly to calendar events, assign tasks to specific people, and mention colleagues to keep everyone in the loop. This means way less back-and-forth in emails about schedule changes or event details.
For HR departments that are constantly coordinating across teams and managing competing priorities, having all their scheduling tools in the same place as their other HR workflows is a huge time-saver. It’s basically like having a super-powered HR calendar that talks to all your other HR systems.
📮 ClickUp Insight: About 41% of professionals prefer instant messaging for team communication. Although it offers quick and efficient exchanges, messages are often spread across multiple channels, threads, or direct messages, making it harder to retrieve information later. With an integrated solution like ClickUp Chat, your chat threads are mapped to specific projects and tasks, keeping your conversations in context and readily available.
What if you had an instant assistant to answer all your HR questions about tasks, docs, and team members? That’s ClickUp Brain for you!
Need to know when an employee last had a performance review? Just ask ClickUp Brain, and it retrieves the information instantly—no searching required.
ClickUp best features
- Visualize workflows with Kanban boards, easily tracking candidate progress through the hiring stages
- Schedule interviews and onboarding with ClickUp Calendar, ensuring smooth coordination and timely follow-ups
- Communicate seamlessly with candidates and team members using ClickUp Chat, keeping all conversations in context
- Use ClickUp Brain to get instant answers, summarize meeting notes, and generate job descriptions quickly, saving valuable time
- Set reminders for important HR deadlines, like performance reviews or contract renewals, with ClickUp Reminders
ClickUp limitations
- The extensive feature set requires a learning curve
- The mobile app may lack some advanced features accessible on the desktop version
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $7/month per member
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (10,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)
Here’s what Dayana Mileva, Account Director of Pontica Solutions, has to say about ClickUp:
💡 Pro Tip: AI HR tools go beyond time and labor cost savings. Explore the 10 best AI tools for HR that help manage schedules, make employee onboarding and offboarding easy, and track the hiring cycle.
2. Workday (Best for automating employee scheduling process)
Workday offers an employee scheduling app designed to optimize workforce management. It also includes comprehensive Human Capital Management (HCM) software solutions, streamlines HR processes, and adapts to your business’s unique needs.
This scheduling software allows you to easily create employee schedules, manage time off requests, and monitor employee attendance.
Its automated scheduling feature lets you generate recurring shifts based on employee availability, reducing manual errors and enhancing scheduling efficiency.
Workday best features
- Use AI to create optimized shift schedules that align with business demands and employee availability preferences
- Manage all scheduling activities from a unified platform, simplifying the scheduling process
- Empower your team to manage their schedules, swap shifts, and submit time off requests independently
Workday limitations
- Some say that Workday’s user experience (UX) is poor, with clunky visibility
- It comes with a premium price tag, and the setup requires training for your HR team
Workday pricing
- Custom pricing
Workday ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (1570+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (1570+ reviews)
What are real-time users saying about Workday?
🔍 Did You Know? The “graveyard shift” isn’t just a spooky name! It refers to overnight work shifts, and some believe it originated from the historical practice of having someone watch over graveyards at night! 🌙
➡️ Read More: Free Attendance Sheet Templates
3. Sage HR (Best for streamlining time off requests and approvals)
Sage HR is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an intuitive employee scheduling app to streamline your workforce management.
This tool, designed for businesses of all sizes, offers features such as employee attendance tracking, performance monitoring, and expense tracking. Its drag-and-drop interface allows you to create employee schedules, manage recurring shifts, and handle time off requests.
If an employee needs to swap employee shifts, Sage HR’s shift swap feature simplifies the process, ensuring seamless schedule management and enhanced employee satisfaction.
Sage HR best features
- Easily add, edit, move, and copy shifts using an intuitive schedule planning interface
- Keep your team informed with automatic notifications about upcoming shifts and schedule changes
- Manage time off requests, approvals, and balances efficiently within the system
Sage HR limitations
- Performance tracking, shift scheduling, and recruitment are only available as paid add-ons
- In Sage HR Essentials, you only have three time off policies
Sage HR pricing
- Core HR + Leave Management: £5.28 per employee/month (and optional add-ons)
Sage HR ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (80+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (360+ reviews)
💡 Pro Tip: Feeling overwhelmed with resource allocation? You need to learn capacity planning strategies to maximize your resources and start with a solid layout!
- Understand project needs: Outline scope, priorities, and dependencies using ClickUp Docs or ClickUp Whiteboards 📝
- Estimate workload: Use historical data and team insights to calculate resource needs ⏳
- Check team capacity: ClickUp’s Workload View helps balance tasks and prevent burnout 📊
- Identify gaps: If your team lacks capacity, consider hiring contractors or freelancers 🙋♂️
- Monitor continuously: Track progress in real-time with the ClickUp Dashboard 🔄
Stay ahead of resource planning and optimize efficiency effortlessly!
4. Homebase (Best for streamlining time-tracking processes)
With Homebase, you can effortlessly create and share employee schedules, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
The platform offers a time clock feature that turns any device into a scheduling tool for tracking hours, breaks, and overtime, eliminating the need for paper timesheets.
Homebase allows you to build weekly schedule templates for your business, seamlessly handle time-off requests, and communicate updates instantly through its built-in messaging system. This streamlines the scheduling process for HR professionals and enhances team coordination.
Homebase best features
- Build and distribute employee schedules quickly, reducing administrative time
- Monitor employee working hours and breaks to ensure compliance and precise payroll
- Integrate with payroll systems smoothly and sync worked hours with payroll to streamline payments
Homebase limitations
- Some users find the scheduling rules difficult to navigate
- Homebase’s time tracking tools lack geo-fencing and GPS-based employee time clocks
Homebase pricing
- Free forever
- Essentials: $24.95/month per location
- Plus: $59.95/month per location
- All-in-one: $99.95/month per location
Homebase ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (120+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1080+ reviews)
What are real-time users saying about Homebase?
➡️ Read More: Free HR Templates & Forms to Improve HR Processes
5. Rippling (Best for integrating employee scheduling with compliance)
Try Rippling for seamless employee scheduling, compliance, and payroll integration capabilities. It is one of the best employee scheduling apps that automates the creation and management of employee schedules and ensures compliance with local labor laws.
Managers can assign shifts and adjust them in real time to meet operational needs, while employees can view their schedules, provide availability, and request changes.
If an employee requests time off, Rippling streamlines the approval process and automatically updates the schedule.
Rippling best features
- Easily allocate shifts and adjust schedules in real time to meet changing operational needs
- Empower your team to access their schedules, provide availability, and request changes seamlessly
- Streamline payroll by integrating scheduling data, ensuring accurate and timely compensation
Rippling limitations
- Rippling’s time and employee attendance tracking software lacks employee productivity and performance management features
- Some users report long wait times to resolve issues, and it can be difficult to reach a live representative
Rippling pricing
- Custom pricing
Rippling ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 (6600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (3500+ reviews)
📜 Fun Fact: Scheduling existed before spreadsheets! Believe it or not, before computers, businesses used physical boards, ledgers, and even paper slips to manage employee shifts! Talk about dedication! 😅
6. Bamboo HR (Best for optimizing HR processes and employee management)
Bamboo HR offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline your human resource planning processes. While it excels in areas like time tracking and employee management, it’s important to note that BambooHR does not provide built-in employee scheduling features.
By integrating Bamboo HR with a third-party scheduling tool, you can synchronize employee data, ensuring that your schedules are always up-to-date and accurate.
This integration allows you to handle time-off requests efficiently and maintain accurate employee attendance records, contributing to improved workforce management.
Bamboo HR best features
- Enable employees to clock in and out via mobile devices, complete with location tracking for accurate time records
- Set goals, conduct evaluations, and provide continuous feedback to encourage employee development
- Manage HR tasks on the go with a user-friendly mobile application
Bamboo HR limitations
- Some users have reported challenges with e-signature functionality, handling shift differentials, and certified payroll
- Users have expressed frustration with price increases and lack of flexibility for long-term customers
Bamboo HR pricing
- Custom pricing
Bamboo HR ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (2400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (3000+ reviews)
⚡ Bonus: Struggling to keep your team on the same page? Stay organized and boost productivity with the 10 best shared team calendar apps to streamline scheduling and collaboration! 📅🚀
What are real-time users saying about Bamboo HR?
7. Factorial HR (Best for managing shifts across multiple locations)
With Factorial HR’s intuitive interface, efficiently manage employee schedules, track attendance, and handle time-off requests.
The shift management feature allows you to assign shifts remotely, detect scheduling conflicts automatically, and replicate weekly shift templates, ensuring smooth operations.
If you need to coordinate shifts across multiple locations, this employee scheduling app enables you to view rotas split by roles and locations, making it easier to manage your workforce effectively.
Factorial HR best features
- Assign shifts remotely to individuals, teams, offices, or locations, ensuring flexibility and efficiency
- Prevent overlaps and ensure adequate coverage by identifying scheduling conflicts in real-time
- Manage shifts in tandem with employee absences, holidays, scheduled time off, payroll, and more
Factorial HR limitations
- The shift management software focuses on Spanish-speaking markets, which may be a barrier for non-Spanish users
- Factorial doesn’t have built-in payroll management, so users may need to integrate with external systems
Factorial HR pricing
- Custom pricing
Factorial HR ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (95+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (270+ reviews)
⚡ Bonus: Worried about future hiring gaps? Stay ahead of talent needs by learning how workforce forecasting helps plan future talent needs and make data-driven staffing decisions! 🚀
8. Connecteam (Best for managing time off requests and shift swaps)
An employee scheduling app like Connecteam can revolutionize how you manage your workforce.
Designed to streamline operations, Connecteam offers features that simplify creating and managing employee schedules. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to assign shifts, handle time off requests, and accommodate employee availability.
If an employee requests time off, you can quickly adjust the schedule and notify other team members so they can claim open shifts.
This efficiency reduces labor costs and enhances employee satisfaction by ensuring clear communication and balanced workloads.
Connecteam best features
- Quickly approve or deny employee time off requests to maintain optimal staffing levels
- Utilize in-app chat and updates to keep everyone informed and connected
- Track clock-ins and clock-outs to ensure punctuality and accountability
Connecteam limitations
- Some users experience difficulties with the built-in camera feature in Forms
- Features like GPS tracking and process automation are only available in the advanced plan
Connecteam pricing
- Free forever
- Basic: $35/month for first 30 users
- Advanced: $59/month for first 30 users
- Expert: $119/month for first 30 users
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Connecteam ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (2170+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (990+ reviews)
What are real-time users saying about Connecteam?
💡 Pro Tip: Looking to boost team morale? Here are 10 morale-boosting employee engagement activities to try right now:
- Create a welcoming onboarding program 🧑🤝🧑
- Provide training and development opportunities 📚
- Engage employees in two-way feedback sessions 🗣️
- Celebrate special dates together 🎉
- Plan outdoor team activity events 🏞️
- Organize employee talent shows 🎤
- Host arts and crafts workshops 🎨
- Share ideas in mini TED-style talks 🧠
- Grab lunch and learn something new 🍽️
- Keep fit with health and wellness activities 🤸♂️
- Implementing these activities can enhance employee satisfaction and productivity! 🚀
9. Deputy (Best for facilitating seamless shift swaps and optimizing labor costs)
With Deputy, you can effortlessly create employee schedules, considering staff availability preferences and labor laws. Its auto-scheduling feature generates optimal rosters, reducing manual planning time. Employees can also swap shifts through the app, promoting flexibility and autonomy.
The employee time clock function allows staff to clock in/out via mobile devices, ensuring accurate attendance records. Integration with payroll systems streamlines payroll processing, minimizing errors.
Deputy best features
- Design employee rosters with ease, considering availability and compliance requirements
- Utilize auto-scheduling to generate optimal shifts, saving time and reducing errors
- Allow employees to exchange shifts seamlessly through the app, enhancing flexibility
Deputy limitations
- Some users say that the app is buggy and slow and freezes when starting a shift
- It’s not ideal to manually input start and end times for leave instead of just entering the total hours for the day
Deputy pricing
- Free
- Premium: $6/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Deputy ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (700+ reviews)
⚡ Bonus: Scrambling through PTO requests and last-minute leave chaos? Get back in control by learning how to optimize your team’s leave management system and keep schedules running smoothly! 📅✅
10. Gusto (Best for streamlining payroll and tax processes efficiently)
Gusto is a comprehensive platform for HR professionals designed to simplify payroll processing, benefits administration, and employee management.
Using it, you can track employee hours and automate payroll calculations, ensuring timely and accurate payments while seamlessly handling tax filings.
This employee scheduling app offers employee self-service portals, enabling your team to access pay stubs, request time off, and manage personal information independently. Gusto also integrates with various accounting software, facilitating synchronized financial data and reducing manual entry.
Gusto best features
- Manage federal, state, and local tax submissions without hassle
- Empower your team to access and manage their personal and payroll information
- Sync payroll data with platforms like QuickBooks and Xero for streamlined bookkeeping
Gusto limitations
- It has fewer pre-built reports than some other solutions and lacks efficient spend management capabilities
- Gusto’s Cash Account has a daily card spending limit of $2,000 and an ATM withdrawal limit of $510 per day
Gusto pricing
- Simple: $40/mo plus $6/mo per person
- Plus: $60/mo plus $9/mo per person
- Premium: $135/mo plus $16.50/mo per person
Gusto ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (790+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4000+ reviews)
What are real-time users saying about Crunchbase?
Additional HR Calendar Apps
In addition to the different employee scheduling software mentioned above, here are a few more worth noting:
- Humanity: Best for employee scheduling and time clock functionality
- When I Work: Best for shift scheduling and employee communication
- 7shifts: Best for restaurant employee scheduling and tip management
- ScheduleAnywhere: Best for robust functionality for scheduling and customization
➡️ Read More: Free Time Off Request Templates
Summarize this article for me pleaseOptimize HR Workflows with the Top HR Calendar App —ClickUp!
Managing HR workflows, including employee scheduling, hiring, onboarding, and workforce tracking, can be overwhelming without the right tools. A streamlined process means fewer errors, better productivity, and happier employees.
The 10 HR calendar tools we covered offer great scheduling and tracking features, helping you stay organized. But if you need a complete HR solution that goes beyond scheduling, ClickUp is the answer!
With customizable dashboards, automated workflows, task tracking, and built-in chat, ClickUp centralizes your entire HR process so you can focus on people, not paperwork.
So why wait? Sign up for ClickUp today and take HR management to the next level!
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
