Managers, I know your struggle. ?
Managing a global team that works remotely is no easy feat, nor is managing a work-from-office team with cross-functional responsibilities.
But you know what? Shift management software has come to my rescue every single time. I have explored various such tools and used them for a significant part of my journey. ?
And I’m here to help you select the best employee scheduling software based on your specific requirements. Let’s get started!
10 Best Shift Management Software in 2024
- What Should You Look for in Shift Management Software?
- The 10 Best Shift Management Software to Use in 2024
- 1. ClickUp: Best for shift planning and HR management
- 2. WhenToWork: Best for employee scheduling
- 3. TimeClock 365: Best for time-tracking
- 4. Zoho People: Best for employee management
- 5. Gusto: Best payroll software
- 6. Shiftboard: Best for hourly workforce management
- 7. Sling: Best for optimizing labor costs
- 8. Workfeed: Best auto scheduling app
- 9. Planday: Best for shift-based businesses
- 10. Homebase: Best for small business operations
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in Shift Management Software?
To be honest, I have made my share of mistakes while looking for the best shift management software early in my career as a manager. To ensure you don’t make the same mistakes, look at the following critical aspects before opting for your desired software:
- Ease of use: You want to simplify your life with shift scheduling, so this is my number one criterion before choosing employee scheduling software. The software has to be user-friendly with an intuitive interface that minimizes the learning curve for all team members. Additionally, if you have on-the-go management, your scheduling software has to be compatible with mobile phones
- Scheduling: Auto-scheduling is another feature that will save you time. You should opt for an employee scheduling app that can automatically schedule shifts based on predefined rules, employee availability, and preferences
- Time tracking: A time tracking tool is necessary if your project involves hourly rates. Your preferred shift scheduling software must have integrated time clock functionalities so that team members can clock in and out timings quickly. Automatic overtime alerts while tracking and calculating overtime hours would be a great add-on
- Compliance: Choosing a tool that ensures compliance with labor laws and company policies will save you a lot of time from unnecessary legal troubles
- Communication: Ensure your preferred tool has automated notifications for changes, upcoming shifts, and other updates. It should also have built-in messaging features for seamless communication between employees and managers
- Integration: Seamless integration with payroll systems and compatibility with existing HR systems for data synchronization and management is a good-to-have feature to minimize integrating efforts
- Cost: Last but not least, check the pricing and get reasonable, transparent, customized pricing based on your team size with no hidden charges
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best Shift Management Software to Use
As someone who has tried and tested multiple shift management and employee scheduling software over the years, I would like to introduce you to the top 10 shift scheduling software to ease your team collaboration and planning processes.
1. ClickUp: Best for shift planning and HR management
ClickUp can be your one-stop shop for shift management. It tackles the most pressing problem associated with shift management: eliminating visual clutter from your resource scheduling calendar.
The tool’s pre-built templates let you visualize staff schedules, assign tasks to specific shifts, and track time off requests easily—all in one place. This keeps everyone on the same page and helps ensure smooth operations.
The built-in time tracking feature allows employees to easily log their hours, simplifying payroll and timekeeping. You can also set up notifications and reminders to keep everyone informed about upcoming shifts or schedule changes.
ClickUp also fosters collaboration with commenting and mentioning features, like Chat View, making it easy to communicate about shift changes or other important information. Additionally, ClickUp integrates with various other tools, allowing you to sync your shift schedules with calendars and other management systems for a truly unified experience.
Work schedule templates truly bring the best of ClickUp together to make shift management easier for you. For example, with the ClickUp Shift Schedule Template, you can:
- Organize shifts and tasks via an engaging visual interface
- Use the drag-and-drop feature to make any changes to the shift schedules
- Customize statutes and fields with the template depending on your needs
ClickUp is also a robust all-in-one HR management platform that offers multiple features tailored to enhance hiring, onboarding, talent development, and employee management requirements. The best part? You can customize your HR system based on your needs through features like Custom Statuses and Custom Views.
If you’re short on time, use ready-made HR templates and customize them according to your preferences. ClickUp has a library of HR templates for onboarding, performance review, hiring, team requests, employee handbooks, company processes, and more.
ClickUp templates to level up your shift scheduling operations
Time management: Enhance your team’s productivity with time management templates like the ClickUp Employee Schedule Template. You can use this template to visually plan your employees’ weekly shifts calculate hours, and labor costs. The template also lets you prioritize tasks and track employees’ time-off requests.
Team requests: Share requests, feedback, and ideas in one place with ClickUp Team Requests Template. You can save time by providing a clear structure for requesting resources and services. This helps your team communicate more effectively and reduces project delays.
ClickUp best features
- Calendar View: This allows you to schedule and visualize shifts easily. You can drag and drop tasks to different dates and times, making it simple to adjust schedules as needed
- Recurring Tasks: Set up recurring tasks for regular shifts, ensuring that they are automatically created without manual input each time
- Time tracking: Use the time tracking feature to monitor the hours worked by each team member. This is useful for payroll and ensuring that shifts are covered adequately
- Custom fields: Add custom fields to tasks to include specific shift details such as location, role, and any special instructions
- ClickUp Automations: Automate routine tasks such as notifying team members of their upcoming shifts or reminding them to clock in/out
- ClickUp Dashboards: Create dashboards to get an overview of shift coverage, track attendance, and monitor key metrics related to shift management
- Task dependencies: Use task dependencies to ensure that shifts are covered in the correct order and that no critical tasks are missed
- Mobile App: The ClickUp mobile app allows team members to check their schedules, clock in/out, and receive notifications on the go
ClickUp limitations
- The large variety of templates can feel overwhelming initially, as it takes some time to understand their use cases
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever Plan: Best for personal use
- Unlimited: Best for small teams; $7/month per user
- Business: Best for mid-sized teams; $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $5/month per Workspace user
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
2. WhenToWork: Best for employee scheduling
WhenToWork is one of the easiest tools for scheduling your team’s time. It smoothens your task allocation process through one-click scheduling. Your employees get a transparent view of their schedules, allowing them to apply for time off requests and quickly trade shifts.
WhenToWork is great for building team accountability because it sends automatic emails when I create time shifts. This helps my employees stay up to date.
WhenToWork best features
- Autofill time schedules with its drag-and-drop interface
- Track who has confirmed or viewed their latest schedule
- Export weekly shift information, including the employee name, position, shift timings, and paid hours per shift
- Monitor shifts for multiple locations and departments in one place
WhenToWork limitations
- It’s mobile app is not user-friendly
- It does not offer seamless integration with payroll programs
WhenToWork pricing (Up to 10 employees)
- Free: 30-day trial
- 1 month: $40
- 3 months: $105
- 6 months: $172
- 1 year: $288
WhenToWork ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (90+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
Not quite happy with WhenToWork? Check out WhenToWork alternatives!
3. TimeClock 365: Best for time-tracking
TimeClock 365 is a cloud-based employee management system, primarily for Microsoft Teams. It allows your employees to clock in and out directly within the Microsoft Teams environment, facilitating seamless time management without switching between different applications.
You can track employees vacation time, sick leaves, and remote days to plan your shifts accordingly. If you have an in-office team, you can use the door access feature to track when employees join and end their shifts.
TimeClock 365 best features
- Manage your employees’ attendance, Timesheets, PTO, door access, approvals, expenses, and more, making them more accountable for their time and responsibilities
- Get detailed reports on what tasks employees work on during their shifts using TimeClock 365’s Google Chrome extension
- Track live location of employees and get real-time updates of when they are clocking in and out of their shifts
TimeClock 365 limitations
- Customer support services can be a pain to deal with if required
- Some users find it challenging to download accurate monthly reports if the settings haven’t been defined appropriately
TimeClock 365 pricing
- Free: 7-day trial
- Essential: $3 per user per month (minimum amount of 5 licenses)
- Standard: $5 per user per month (minimum amount of 5 licenses)
- Pro: $11 per user per month (minimum amount of 5 licenses)
- Premium: $13 per user per month (minimum amount of 5 licenses)
TimeClock 365 ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (12 reviews)
- Capterra: 4/5 (28 reviews)
Pro tip: Tackle your timesheet management struggles with hot tips from our PMO’s office!
4. Zoho People: Best for employee management
Zoho People is robust employee management software that solves problems ranging from recruitment and onboarding to attendance management and employee performance.
You can easily use it as a work schedule app to plan employee shifts, track their time, and adhere to compliance for salaried employees and hourly contractors based on their shift timings.
It provides a complete view of workforce availability across different locations and sites. Moreover, your employees can easily swap and volunteer for shifts using the Zoho app.
Zoho People best features
- Plan shifts easily using the drag-and-drop feature and copy previous shift schedules to save time
- Track employees remote check-in from job sites with GPS-tagging and geo-fencing
- Get updates on daily attendance and working hours on Zoho People’s app
- Communicate with your team members efficiently with the integrated messenger and announcement channel
Zoho People limitations
- Revoking wrong requests might be a hassle
- Customer service might take extra time to resolve the most minor query
Zoho People pricing
- Free: 30-day free trial
- Essential HR: $0.83 per employee per month, billed annually
- Professional: $1.66 per employee per month, billed annually
- Premium: $2.5 per employee per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $4.16 per employee per month, billed annually
Zoho People ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
5. Gusto: Best payroll software
Gusto is a comprehensive HR management software. However, it does not have an in-built employee scheduling system.
You can integrate employee shift scheduling software like Workforce and 7Shifts in Gusto and sync them with its efficient payroll management solution. This helps you manage your labor requirements and prevent employee overtime and understaffing.
Gusto’s time tracking and labor cost estimation capabilities also come handy when calculating the hours worked per shift. This data automatically syncs with Gusto, streamlining payroll processing.
Gusto best features
- Automate and enforce shift management rules and policies
- Enable employees to trade shifts and request time off in real-time
- Easily integrate Gusto with other employee scheduling apps, such as Workforce, 7Shifts, Upserve, and Workyard
- Easily log and verify employee work hours and sync it with the payroll to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Gusto limitations
- The time tracking feature could be more detailed
- There are limited options to customize reports
Gusto pricing
- Simple: $40 per month plus $6 per month per person
- Plus: $60 per month plus $9 per month per person
- Premium: Custom pricing
Gusto ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (2,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4./56 (3,500+ reviews)
6. Shiftboard: Best for hourly workforce management
Shiftboard is an visual employee scheduling software that can help you build a fair, transparent, and flexible schedule for all workers. You can automate shift schedule publishing, employee availability tracking, and shift change communication activities.
It uses advanced algorithms to optimize schedules based on factors like employee availability, skills, compliance requirements, and labor costs, ensuring efficient and fair workforce management.
Shiftboard best features
- Get essential insights to identify gaps and provide optimum shift coverage
- Allow employees to swap shifts among each other using the built-in Tradeboard
- Manage last-minute shift drops or surges in workforce demand in real time
Shiftboard limitations
- You might find it challenging to navigate the employee scheduling software
- The schedule overview doesn’t provide much insight into the team’s schedule
Shiftboard pricing
Shiftboard has two plans, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus, with custom pricing.
Shiftboard ratings and reviews:
- G2: NA
- Capterra: NA
7. Sling: Best for optimizing labor costs
Consider Sling if you intend to control labor costs while employing and scheduling shifts. It has some impressive tools like labor cost calculators and overtime calculators to manage employee costs. You also get alerts when your schedule exceeds your labor budget so that you schedule just the right amount of labor.
Its integrated communication tool stood out for me. It allows managers and employees to coordinate, chat, and share updates directly within the scheduling platform, reducing the need for separate messaging apps.
Sling best features
- Coordinate effectively with your team with an integrated communication tool
- Control labor costs using the cost calculator as you assign work to your employees
- Track sales revenue against your labor costs while viewing historical and projected sales revenue
Sling limitations
- It has limited customization options
Sling pricing
- Free with limited features
- Premium: $1.70 per user per month
- Business: $3.40 per user per month
Sling ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (88 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (150 reviews)
8. Workfeed: Best auto scheduling app
Using Workfeed’s auto-assign feature, you can save ample time assigning tasks to your team members. Use their AI to assign your team to open shifts based on availability, hours, skills, and regulations.
You can also glance at each team member’s weekly working hours using the Workfeed scheduling app to see how many hours each person must work. The tool has a real-time shift-swapping capability, allowing employees to easily swap, drop, or pick up shifts directly within the app, which enhances workplace flexibility and reduces scheduling conflicts.
Workfeed best features
- Assign tasks to teammates according to their job roles, availability, working hours, and regulations in just one click using the auto-scheduling feature
- Track each teammate’s weekly schedule fulfillment
- Save schedules as templates to re-use them
- Leave notes for specific shift to keep your employees up to date
Workfeed limitations
- Some users might not like the messaging feature given it’s complexity to end a chat
Workfeed pricing
- 14-day free trial
- Basic: $2 per user per month
- Pro: $3 per user per month
- Pro +: $5 per user per month
Workfeed ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 (28 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (8 reviews)
9. Planday: Best for shift-based businesses
Planday can be used for staff management, time tracking, and scheduling across industries and business sizes. The tools let you quickly check ROTA and save time by removing unnecessary tasks and improving schedule access.
You can use the tool to create unassigned shifts and allow employees to volunteer for specific slots, based on their preferences. This allows for more flexibility in how shifts are assigned and gives more autonomy to your people.
Its labor cost forecasting feature will give you real-time insights into labor costs versus revenue. You can optimize staffing levels and make data-driven decisions to improve profitability.
Planday best features
- Assign specific skills to employees and let them claim the tasks that they are best at
- Customize Planday according to your company policies and ensure compliance while assigning tasks or approving leaves
- Protect employee data by sharing limited access with employees
- Manage employees’ accrued vacation, training, or sick days in one place
Planday limitations
- It may seem too complicated in the beginning
Planday pricing
- 30-day free trial
- Starter: $2.99 per user per month
- Plus: $4.99 per user per month (minimum 10 users)
- Pro: Custom pricing
Planday ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (86 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (55 reviews)
10. Homebase: Best for small business operations
Homebase is an employee scheduling app that keeps your team on track and updates them with upcoming tasks. It is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses with hourly employees, such as restaurants or retail stores.
HomeBase also lets you easily track your team’s availability and time off requests, swap shifts, and avoid conflicts while having optimum resources. You can also add notes or reminders to convey essential pointers for a task.
What I like the most about Homebase is that it sends notifications whenever an employee is late for their shift or working overtime. This helps me manage labor costs accordingly.
Homebase best features
- Update schedules and instantly notify your team in text, email, and the Homebase app with personalized briefs if required
- Send automatic text reminders to your team about upcoming shifts
- Track, optimize, and adjust schedules in line with sales forecasts or labor targets
- Post about open shifts so that available employees can cover
Homebase limitations
- A calendar view to have a glance at the entire company is missing
- The app does not support smooth Integration with other payroll and scheduling apps
Homebase pricing
- Free: For one location for up to 20 employees
- Essentials: $20 per location per month (unlimited employees)
- Plus: $48 per location per month (unlimited employees)
- All-in-one: $80 per location per month (unlimited employees)
Homebase ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,000+ reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseEnsure Best Employee Scheduling With ClickUp
That wraps up my experience with employee scheduling apps. With so many recommendations and their specific use cases, you can now pick a tool that will help you manage your shift schedules better.
The objective of using a scheduling tool is to make your life easier. The more automation, templates, and customization features, the better for you. ClickUp can help you with all of this and more to make sure that you maintain ample coverage, and avoid any budget overruns or schedule conflicts.
Sign up on ClickUp for free to streamline your employee scheduling needs!
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