Employee scheduling software is a tool used to automate the process of the creation and management of employee schedules.

Employee scheduling software simplifies the process of checking employee availability, monitoring current business needs, tracking resource deficits, and optimizing employee costs.

Employee scheduling software provides these 4 benefits. 

  1. Better work management
  2. Increased employee productivity
  3. Improved work operations
  4. Reduced work conflict

Geekflare team has compiled this list of the best employee scheduling software based on factors like effective resource scheduling, easy workforce management, flexible scheduling and 24/7 customer support.

  • Resource Guru – Best for Resource Scheduling
  • Soon – Best for Modern Workforce Management
  • TMetric – Best for Multiple App Integrations
  • BreatheHR – Best for Small Business HR Management
  • Shiftboard – Best for Complex Scheduling Needs
  • ScheduleAnywhere – Best for 24/7 Customer Support
  • ZoomShift – Best for Simple and Flexible Scheduling
  • When I Work – Best for Versatile Workforce Scheduling
  • Sling – Best for Retail and Hospitality Scheduling
  • Workforce – Best for Time Tracking and Compliance
  • Deputy – Best for Easy to Use Interface
  • QuickBooks Time – Best for Accounting & Payroll Integration
  • ClockShark – Best for Construction and Field Service
  • Planday – Best for Shift-based Businesses
  • Clockify – Best Free Scheduling
  • Zoho Shifts – Best for Seamless Team Coordination
  • Keka – Best for Bio-Metric Attendance
  • Show moreShow less

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Resource Guru

Resource Guru

Best for Resource Scheduling

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Extensive
  • Customer Support
    Email, Chat, Phone
$4.16/user/month
FREE Trial
Try Resource Guru

About Resource Guru

Resource Guru is a staff scheduling solution helping users get a bird’s-eye view of their team and assigned shifts. This resource scheduling platform allows you to track how many employees are overloaded with work and how many remain as untapped resources at work.

Resource Guru’s simple drag-and-drop functionality allows managers to schedule work for multiple employees, even when project demands constantly change. The best part is that while you set the schedule for every employee, you can see if they get overbooked. You can adjust their schedules for other projects and ensure they work to their full potential.

Users are provided with filters that help when adding employees from different departments  and a superfast tool that doesn’t exhibit any signs of lag irrespective of how much data is added to the platform.

Resource Guru Features

  • Key feature

    Creates a single team calendar to collaborate and schedule work for employees.

  • Key feature

    Provides a mobile app for easy resource management.

  • Key feature

    Tracks schedules for employees working globally with time zone support.

  • Key feature

    Protects high-demand resources with approval workflow.

  • Key feature

    Captures team availability in a single view via Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar integrations.

Resource Guru Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Flexible editing and resource allocation.

  • Advantage

    Provide color coding of clients and tasks.

  • Advantage

    Has an impressive dashboard to track required resources.

  • Disadvantage

    Does not track previous projects and tasks.

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks regional holiday calendar which is required to operate teams globally.

Resource Guru Pricing

Resource Guru provides 3 plans, which are billed on a per-user basis as below.

PlanMonthly Pricing/UserOfferings
Grasshopper$4.16Unlimited projects & clients, personalized dashboards, no reports provided.
Blackbelt$6.65Time tracking features, reports can be exported, limited activity log history.
Master$10All scheduling, planning, time tracking features with phone support & data import facility.
Soon

Soon

Best for Modern Workforce Management

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Live Chat, Email
€8/user/month
FREE Trial
Try Soon

About Soon

Soon is a shift scheduling tool that simplifies daily work scheduling operations, allowing you to get the best resources to complete designated tasks on time.

As a work schedule software, Soon enables you to manage your team’s schedule and ensure everyone’s on track with their tasks. It is a skill-based scheduling tool which is extremely flexible when setting events.

Soon enables its users to find the best talent suited for the tasks under a project. Based on past events, it recollects the resource data, helping managers in deciding which human resource is best suited to complete a task as per expectation. It even suggests availability, possible clashes in the resource’s schedules, and more.

Soon Features

  • Key feature

    Provides access to clear timeline views to understand your team’s schedule.

  • Key feature

    Maintains resources even when employees are on leave with advanced leave management.

  • Key feature

    Creates a team structure with roles, users, and groups.

  • Key feature

    Generates accurate timesheets with time and attendance tracking.

  • Key feature

    Helps teams manage their schedules with personalized schedule overview.

Soon Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Sends real-time notifications for shift updates.

  • Advantage

    Offers quick support with Olaf.

  • Advantage

    Allows users to create helpful templates from scratch.

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks features like shift-swapping.

  • Disadvantage

    Fails to assign a user to an event.

Soon Pricing

Soon provides three plans on a per user basis with the custom plan offering tailored offerings as can be seen below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Team€8/userAutomated shift scheduling, leave management, in-app support.
Business€16/userDedicated intraday scheduling view, advanced auto-scheduling, event mapping, priority support.
EnterpriseCustomTailored to specific situation.
TMetric

TMetric

Best for Multiple App Integrations

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Extensive
  • Customer Support
    Live Chat, Email
$5/month
FREE 30-Day Premium Trial
Try TMetric

About TMetric

TMetric combines multiple tools for effortless time tracking, employee and project management, and billing.

TMetric employee scheduling software is effective in covering both types of employees, working well-defined hours or irregularly. TMetric allows setting schedules for the whole company at once or selectively per employee. Besides, it has the flexibility to selectively pick holidays and assign additional workdays.

TMetric time tracking lets admins view the total time invested in every activity or project throughout any period. It also integrates with Google or Outlook calendar to track time spent on scheduled events.

TMetric Features

  • Key feature

    Schedules and tracks regular and sporadic working hours.

  • Key feature

    Records off-schedule holidays and workdays.

  • Key feature

    Tracks calendar events.

  • Key feature

    Manages PTO of the entire organization.

  • Key feature

    Gets summarized reports, including budgets, spending, billable time, etc.

TMetric Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Clear Interface for time tracking per employee per project.

  • Advantage

    Google and Outlook calendar integration.

  • Advantage

    Built-in billing and invoicing system.

  • Advantage

    API access for custom integrations.

  • Disadvantage

    Multiple features can be overwhelming to someone interested in simple employee scheduling.

  • Disadvantage

    The free tier is limited to 5 team members.

BreatheHR

BreatheHR

Best for Small Business HR Management

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Chat, Knowledge Base
£18/month
FREE Trial
Try BreatheHR

About BreatheHR

BreatheHR is the perfect employee scheduling solution for small businesses facing employee rotas and existing schedule issues. This tool does everything from recording and approving timesheets to ensuring smooth communication.

BreatheHR allows you to save time while creating rotas and assigning shifts to individual team members. It allows you to add roles and shift times in seconds, helping you focus on other pressing tasks. They even offer you the option to use the existing rota schedule as a template for other upcoming weeks to help you save time.

Moreover, BreatheHR allows you to see who can take up the task when setting shifts for team members. This PTO tracking software also captures the leave data for all the team members, giving you a clear picture of who will be available to work different shifts per the set deadlines.

BreatheHR Features

  • Key feature

    Provides shift alerts in case there is an overlap in existing shifts.

  • Key feature

    Links associated shifts in case an event takes place.

  • Key feature

    Provides a mobile app to track shifts anytime, anywhere.

  • Key feature

    Allows users to keep everyone on the same page with in-app notifications.

  • Key feature

    Creates a personal dashboard to accept, decline, or swap shifts for every member.

BreatheHR Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Offers excellent holiday and absence management.

  • Advantage

    Simplifies onboarding tasks set up for new joiners.

  • Advantage

    Actively sends reminders for appraisals and annual goals.

  • Disadvantage

    Recruitment module is basic in terms of functionality when compared to other tools.

  • Disadvantage

    Offers only monthly or yearly plans rather than per member basis.

Shiftboard

Shiftboard

Best for Complex Scheduling Needs

Geekflare rating score 4.0 out of 5
4.0
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Phone, Chat, Email
Custom Pricing
Demo Available
Try Shiftboard

About Shiftboard

Shiftboard allows users to schedule their workforce on an hourly basis. This employee scheduling software works well for businesses that wish to resolve existing challenges with complex scheduling.

Shiftboard is known for catering to the needs of different business sectors, such as manufacturing, warehousing, energy, healthcare, public safety, and more. They help you automate your schedules after understanding every plant’s and unit’s operations.

Shiftboard allows you to track production line changes, job rotations, and turnarounds through a single dashboard view. What’s more, Shiftboard allows you to auto-block violations of employment laws to ensure no employee feels they’ve been taken advantage of at work.

Shiftboard Features

  • Key feature

    Monitors and takes into account employee preferences for work schedules.

  • Key feature

    Ensures eligible employees get the option to decline, trade, volunteer, or even pick up new shifts on demand.

  • Key feature

    Provides mobile access to workers so they can track their shifts on the go.

  • Key feature

    Identifies resource gaps across all operating areas in a single dashboard view.

  • Key feature

    Sends automated emails, calls, and SMS to staff about schedule changes and new shifts.

Shiftboard Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Offers an easy view of hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly task view.

  • Advantage

    Modifies shift coverage along with labor cost optimization.

  • Advantage

    Perfect for enterprise-scale businesses.

  • Disadvantage

    Fails to remove user information fields during the customization process.

  • Disadvantage

    Prevents application access for certain users, but results in limiting their productivity.

ScheduleAnywhere

ScheduleAnywhere

Best for 24/7 Customer Support

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    None
  • Customer Support
    24/7 Phone, Chat, Email
Custom Pricing
Try ScheduleAnywhere

About ScheduleAnywhere

ScheduleAnywhere is the best solution for businesses that wish to resolve their complex and simple work scheduling needs. It offers 24/7 rotational scheduling to help users set schedules that result in successful work completion.

ScheduleAnywhere is powered by TCP’s AI-based forecasting functionality, Humanity, which automates the scheduling process for businesses. Users also get a spreadsheet-like interface for those familiar with a similar format.

In addition, ScheduleAnywhere offers a self-scheduling timer that lets users control the dates employees are allowed to schedule. This feature automatically sets future schedules and self-scheduling sessions based on the information available to the software.

ScheduleAnywhere Features

  • Key feature

    Allows users to save time and pay the right people with automated time and attendance solution.

  • Key feature

    Steers users away from scheduling errors to overcome compliance risks with AI-based forecasting.

  • Key feature

    Makes it easy to find the right replacements for your existing tasks with a substitute management system.

  • Key feature

    Tracks overtime and time-off under schedules for better resource allotment.

  • Key feature

    Gives access to 50+ third-party integrations that allow you to track payrolls as per attendance data.

ScheduleAnywhere Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Supports a mobile application.

  • Advantage

    Assists in leave management as per existing schedules.

  • Advantage

    Makes the leave request process easier for employees.

  • Disadvantage

    Compels users to log into the app frequently.

  • Disadvantage

    Offers a complex setup that results in a lengthy learning curve.

ZoomShift

ZoomShift

Best for Simple and Flexible Scheduling

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Chat, Email
$1/user/month
FREE Version Available
Try ZoomShift

About ZoomShift

ZoomShift is another employee scheduler software you must check out for your business. The software provider claims to help its users reduce time spent on time tracking and payroll-related tasks.

As one of the best apps for scheduling employee shifts, ZoomShift helps you move away from Google Sheets or Excel and automate every activity helping you manage resources more flexibly. Its mobile application makes it easier for users to submit their time-off requests no matter where they are. Moreover, the real-time notifications help employees know if their time-off requests were approved or declined.

With ZoomShift employees even have the option to inform team managers if they are arriving late to work. All they have to do is add a comment to the task they are assigned. Managers will receive a notification about this. This way, everyone will be on the same page.

ZoomShift Features

  • Key feature

    Ensures all shifts remain covered with shift-swapping.

  • Key feature

    Keeps everyone on the same page with time-off tracking.

  • Key feature

    Helps avoid human errors and over-head labor costs with automated shift planning.

  • Key feature

    Provides a chat feature to keep everyone in the loop when the shift changes.

  • Key feature

    Has a mobile application to track and monitor existing shifts.

ZoomShift Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Offers easily customizable templates.

  • Advantage

    Easily tracks PTO balances for the team.

  • Advantage

    Reduces labor cost with schedule maker.

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks text and color features that keep users better engaged.

  • Disadvantage

    Creates a schedule for employees on leave.

ZoomShift Pricing

ZoomShift’s pricing plan is based on per user billing with levels of offerings as below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
EssentialsFREEAutomatic reminders, notes, unlimited positions.
Starter$2/userScheduling templates, timesheets, payroll reports, PTO tracking, and unlimited positions.
Premium$4/userOvertime warnings, personalized onboarding, priority support.
When I Work

When I Work

Best for Versatile Workforce Scheduling

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Tickets, Live Chat
$1.50/user/month
FREE Trial
Try When I Work

About When I Work

When I Work is an employee scheduling solution for small businesses seeking affordable features. If you run a restaurant, call center, health care facility, or salon, this tool will help you create schedules that can be tracked and managed hassle-free.

When I Work helps you reduce the chaos and control labor costs through smart resource allocation. It starts by helping you onboard new employees to your workplace. Besides this team management feature, you get approved time-off requests, review shift trades, and fill empty shifts in seconds.

When I Work even offers team accountability features like shift confirmation, clock-in, and chat in case team members are late. This helps their users stay on the same page and ensures that the right reasons for delays are identified and worked upon in the future.

When I Work Features

  • Key feature

    Allows communication and collaborate with team members in 1-on-1 conversions to notify them of upcoming delays.

  • Key feature

    Manages team availability via mobile application, no matter where you are.

  • Key feature

    Uses auto-scheduling to build an entire work schedule in seconds.

  • Key feature

    Provides notifications from employees about shift-swapping or drops.

  • Key feature

    Shares existing schedules with the entire team to notify them of their working hours.

When I Work Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Allows simple schedule tracking for everyone in one place.

  • Advantage

    Moderates time off requests via mobile app.

  • Advantage

    Simplifies team management via 1-on-1 collaboration.

  • Disadvantage

    Fails to add breaks in the existing work schedules.

  • Disadvantage

    Offers complex user interface.

When I Work Pricing

When I Work has three plans that are billed per user and gradually advance in their offerings.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Essentials$1.50/userStandard scheduling, forecasting tools, employee engagement, shift coverage.
Pro$3/userAdvanced scheduling
Premium$5/userAdvanced scheduling with scalability & customization, custom integrations and SSO capability.
Sling

Sling

Best for Retail and Hospitality Scheduling

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integration
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Chat, Email
$1.7/user/month
FREE Version Available
Try Sling

About Sling

Sling is known for helping users build and streamline employee scheduling programs in seconds. From managing time offs to shifting trade requests, it does it all.

Sling enables users to streamline internal communication and build a collaborative environment that results in shift data transparency. It allows you to send personal and group messages to inform employees of the upcoming changes in their shifts and how they need to be executed.

Unlike many team scheduling apps, Sling simplifies the payroll process. It helps you monitor the active working hours and calculate labor costs accordingly. This way, you don’t have to maintain multiple Excel sheets, as it stores and calculates the labor costs daily, weekly, and monthly.

Sling Features

  • Key feature

    Tracks employee hours from multiple devices and export timesheets for a seamless payroll process.

  • Key feature

    Uses news feeds and messages to enhance internal communication and collaboration.

  • Key feature

    Helps employees align their to-dos with task management.

  • Key feature

    Predicts and optimize labor costs during scheduling to stick to your budgets with reports.

  • Key feature

    Identifies ways to cap paid time off based on the leave types you support.

Sling Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Offers features across all devices.

  • Advantage

    Sends real-time notifications for shift changes.

  • Advantage

    Offers easy access to live rotas.

  • Disadvantage

    Freezes or keeps loading during regular use.

  • Disadvantage

    Sends notifications for group chats to users who are not a part of the group.

Sling Pricing

Sling’s pricing consists of a free plan with additional offerings in its two paid plans, as below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
FreeFREEShift scheduling, time-off requests, available shifts, private messaging.
Premium$1.7/userMobile time tracking, labor cost management, overtime tracking.
Business$3.40/userKiosk time tracking, no-shows, sick call-out, PTO management.
Deputy

Deputy

Best for Easy to Use Interface

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    24/7 Email
$4.5/user/month
FREE Plan Available
Try Deputy

About Deputy

As a staff scheduling software, Deputy is another option your business can explore. This software is popularly known for its easy-to-use interface that helps users set up the solution without technical support.

Users are allowed to control labor costs using the real-time data in Deputy to ensure budgets are not exceeded. It even supports data on every employee’s schedule that helps track empty slots in their schedules. This ability allows hiring of the right number of employees, reducing hiring costs.

You can also automate the scheduling process with Deputy’s AI capabilities. This also reduces wage costs as you can access accurate labor demand data. Its scheduling data helps you fill empty shifts with employees who are best suited for the task.

Deputy Features

  • Key feature

    Automates complex payroll calculations with time tracking and timesheets.

  • Key feature

    Integrates the software with your existing Payroll or HR systems to streamline employee data.

  • Key feature

    Manages leave balances and staff availability with leave management.

  • Key feature

    Captures current labor needs with AI functionality.

  • Key feature

    Tracks employee hours via tablet, phone, or desktop application.

Deputy Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Optimizes schedules with AI.

  • Advantage

    Simplifies meal and rest break compliance.

  • Advantage

    Offers complete control over rotas.

  • Disadvantage

    Users face constant glitches that stop them from clocking active hours.

  • Disadvantage

    Fails to set daily tasks associated with a certain position.

Deputy Pricing

Deputy’s pricing has varied plan versions on the basis of number of users and facilities offered.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
StarterFREE100 shifts and timesheets provided, PTO & leave management, time clock.
Premium$6/userUnlimited shifts and timesheets, auto-scheduling, payroll & POS integration, reporting, etc.
Scheduling$4.5/userOpen API, dashboard, demand planning, meal & rest break planning.
EnterpriseCustomSSO, advanced planning, reporting & analytics, custom roles, implementations, and enterprise agreements.
QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time

Best for Accounting & Payroll Integration

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Chat, Phone

About QuickBooks

QuickBooks Time is a time-tracking tool that helps you manage multiple timesheets and approve leaves instantly. While it is a time-tracking tool, users rave about its accounting and payroll functionalities.

One of the biggest highlights of QuickBooks Time is its payroll feature. It offers a payroll product that can be integrated with this time tracking tool. Post integration, users can sync timesheet data with the payroll product to make the invoicing process more efficient.

But here’s what makes this tool better than others: It comes with GPS technology. That means you can track where your team works and how many productive hours they spend completing tasks.

QuickBooks Features

  • Key feature

    Allows users to discover upcoming role opportunities and better plans for payroll with in-depth reports.

  • Key feature

    Provides a mobile app to approve or reject time off from anywhere.

  • Key feature

    Collaborates via pictures or real-time updates using the activity feed.

  • Key feature

    Schedules recurring alerts to update employees about upcoming shift changes, overtime, or deadlines.

  • Key feature

    Tracks team productivity and existing project statuses to allocate resources to the teams.

QuickBooks Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Perfect to track employee productivity based on hours spent.

  • Advantage

    Integrates with QuickBooks and streamlines accounting and payroll work.

  • Advantage

    Offers time entries that help users review timesheets easily.

  • Disadvantage

    Pay per user is more expensive than a package deal.

  • Disadvantage

    Frequent cellphone app updates can be annoying for users and hampers experience.

QuickBooks Pricing

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Premium$10Workforce app, schedule creation, customized reports, managing time off, time kiosk, etc.
Elite$20Mileage tracking, geofencing, project tracking, unlimited customer support, etc.
ClockShark

ClockShark

Best for Construction and Field Service

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Phone, Email
$40/month
FREE Trial
Try ClockShark

About ClockShark

ClockShark is a holistic employee scheduling application that offers a job manager, work calendar, and time clock. It is the perfect fit for businesses who wish to streamline their existing timesheets and track employee productivity hassle-free.

With ClockShark’s drag-and-drop feature, this work scheduling app helps you create shifts in seconds. Users just need to drag the employee name and drop the name tag into the existing schedule. This action will automatically generate a real-time notification for employees.

ClockShark’s editor allows you to change the details of any shift simply by dragging it around the calendar. In the same view, you can also track the planned schedules for the coming weeks and months.

ClockShark Features

  • Key feature

    Notifies employees about upcoming schedules and changes with real-time updates via email and mobile.

  • Key feature

    Helps employees clock in and clock out to record their attendance for the set schedules.

  • Key feature

    Adds job descriptions to the schedule to help employees get an overview of the job.

  • Key feature

    Maintains a smooth workflow by adding customer contact details, files, or previous conversation history to the schedules.

  • Key feature

    Monitors and executes job-related time and expenses during a project lifecycle.

ClockShark Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Offers a smooth experience to its users with its interface.

  • Advantage

    Offers training tools for a less intimidating experience.

  • Advantage

    Perfect for employees working off-site to capture their clock-in and clock-out details.

  • Disadvantage

    Sends non-stop email alerts for shift changes.

  • Disadvantage

    Forces users to add new timesheets every time employees forget to update or switch a time-consuming task.

ClockShark Pricing

ClockShark has a pricing plan with a base fee and a per-user cost, as given below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Starter$40 base fee + $8/userTime & attendance tracking, GPS tracking, manager roles, and approvals.
Plus$60 base fee + $10/userMulti-department/office controls, advanced job costing controls.
Planday

Planday

Best for Shift-based Businesses

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Phone, Chat
$2.99/user/month
FREE Trial
Try Planday

About Planday

Planday, is a scheduling software for businesses that want to improve their work management. This tool makes it easier for users to schedule employees based on current account staff vacation.

Planday allows you to collaborate faster with team members via messages or SMS. You can either send these to individuals or in group chats. In case of schedule changes, team members can be updated immediately, and everyone will stay in the loop.

Along with easy communication and collaboration features, Planday offers in-depth reporting and insights on staffing costs. Based on shift patterns, the tool helps you calculate employee payrolls and release payments on time.

Planday Features

  • Key feature

    Tracks employee absence, availability, and vacations using the calendar view.

  • Key feature

    Approves or disapprove of employees swapping their shifts with other team members.

  • Key feature

    Keeps employees engaged with your business activities via the events widget.

  • Key feature

    Tracks employee productive hours via location-specific time-tracking.

  • Key feature

    Uses schedule reports to track the total number of hours employees spend on each job.

Planday Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Builds labor-compliant schedules for employees.

  • Advantage

    Offers quick access to help chat for easy support.

  • Advantage

    Registers all the leaves, vacations, and shift changes fast.

  • Disadvantage

    Freezes when users manage all the shifts in the view.

  • Disadvantage

    Takes time to load once the service provider releases a new update.

Planday Pricing

Planday has a pricing plan with a base fee and a per-user cost, as given below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Starter$2.99/userEasy punch clock, simple scheduling, and working time rules.
Plus$4.49/userPayroll reporting, integrations and API, contracts and payslips.
ProCustomSSO, customize permissions, auto-schedule, smart planning metrics.
Clockify

Clockify

Best Free Scheduling

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Moderate
  • Customer Support
    Email, Chat, Phone
$3.99/user/month
FREE Plan Available
Try Clockify

About Clockify

Clockify is a free scheduling software that helps you manage employee shifts instantly. This time-tracking software helps you monitor productive hours across all projects hassle-free.

Clockify lets you track productivity, billable hours, and attendance via its timesheets. You ae allowed to track the amount of time employees spend using certain apps to identify how they spend their productive hours in a day.

Clockify offers in-depth reports that help you track individual and group activities. This performance management software helps you monitor who is working on which task. This results in managing the payroll system and ensuring timely payment release.

Clockify Features

  • Key feature

    Tracks budget estimates and the resources required according to the ongoing project.

  • Key feature

    Submits and approve timesheets for individual employees.

  • Key feature

    Creates invoices using billable hours to release payments on time.

  • Key feature

    Allows users to record project expenses as and when a task takes place.

  • Key feature

    Functions across different platforms to manage employee schedules anytime, anywhere.

Clockify Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Prevents late timesheet updates via notifications.

  • Advantage

    Fixes inaccurate data during audits.

  • Advantage

    Provides API documentation to integrate tools faster without technical difficulties.

  • Disadvantage

    Makes task search difficult as it lacks a searchable task menu.

  • Disadvantage

    Fails to upload the number of hours spent on a project when importing data from CSV files.

Clockify Pricing

Clockify’s pricing plans feature 4 plans based on its offerings, as are mentioned below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Basic$3.99/userAdministration
Standard$5.49/userTimesheet and billing.
Pro$7.99/userProfit and productivity.
Enterprise$11.99/userControl and security.
Zoho Shifts

Zoho Shifts

Best for Seamless Team Coordination

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    No
  • Integrations
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Email
$1/user/month
FREE Trial
Try Zoho Shifts

About Zoho Shifts

Zoho Shifts is another shift scheduling solution your business can explore. It helps you create conflict-free schedules that both employees and managers can be onboard with hassle-free.

Using Zoho Shifts, you are able to create and assign shifts based on existing employee schedules and job sites. It is possible to filter shifts based on daily or weekly calendar views to create a schedule for employees.

Zoho Shifts enables you to manage all time requests in one place. It offers a mobile app for approving or rejecting vacation requests based on the existing workload. Once the schedule is updated, all employees receive notifications about their upcoming shifts.

Zoho Shifts Features

  • Key feature

    Supports remote check-ins and check-outs with GPS tagging and GEO-fencing.

  • Key feature

    Tracks attendance hours plus perform routine checkups using the mobile app.

  • Key feature

    Helps employees connect anytime with the messaging feature.

  • Key feature

    Uses reports to track employee activity and productivity.

  • Key feature

    Connects Zoho Shifts with any payroll software to streamline payments.

Zoho Shifts Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Allows users to create shift templates.

  • Advantage

    Maximizes productivity via collaboration on schedules.

  • Advantage

    Manages and tracks all time-off requests on the go.

  • Disadvantage

    Frequent glitches hamper time tracking and result in inaccurate reports.

  • Disadvantage

    Timers cannot be used on the mobile version.

Zoho Shifts Pricing

Zoho Shifts pricing consists of two plans as below.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Basic$1/userEmployee scheduling, unlimited locations, schedule templates, break planning, etc.
Standard$2/userMobile clock, timesheet management, payroll exports, custom overtime rules, etc.
Keka

Keka

Best for Bio-Metric Attendance

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Auto-scheduling
    Yes
  • Integrations
    Limited
  • Customer Support
    Email, Live Chat, Phone
$9/user/month
FREE Trial
Try Keka

About Keka

From tracking employee overtime to payroll disbursement, Keka it does it all with an interface that is simple and user-friendly.

Keka claims to offer a simple yet intuitive dashboard view that helps users track time and helps managers avoid micromanagement at all costs. That’s not all. Keka users can also create flexible attendance policies for remote working employees. These policies make it easier for managers to track leaves automatically.

Keka helps users automate shift rotation. You can rotate shifts for every employee and add them to multiple schedules. The best part is that managers can carry out shift swapping 24/7. It is an employee onboarding software that offers users employee scheduling and shifting functionalities. Apart from this, it is an interview scheduling software too.

Keka Features

  • Key feature

    Integrates with biometric devices to make shift scheduling simpler.

  • Key feature

    Adds shift allowances to encourage employees to take up urgent tasks at work.

  • Key feature

    Allows employees to swap their shifts with other team members.

  • Key feature

    Helps employees pick shifts and time-offs that they are comfortable with.

  • Key feature

    Tracks all leaves and working hours using in-depth reports.

Keka Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Reduces dependency on admin for billing and revenue.

  • Advantage

    Uses predictive analysis for revenue forecasting.

  • Advantage

    Simplifies shift approvals among all stakeholders.

  • Disadvantage

    Poor features like work from home make fail to track employee productivity.

  • Disadvantage

    Offers bad customer support.

Keka Pricing

Keka has three pricing plans with upgrades on the offerings based on the plan level.

PlanPricing (monthly)Offerings
Foundation$9/userDocument storage & generation, dashboards & analytics, overtime automation, etc.
Strength$16/userGPS/selfie attendance, SSO, OTP-based login, custom reports & notifications, etc.
Growth$22/userCyclic performance reviews, employee pulse surveys, smart goal setting, OKRs, etc.

Best Employee Scheduling Software Comparison

The comparison table below summarizes pricing, product rating, the possibility of importing data, and the scheduling style of the best employee scheduling software.

Employee Scheduling Software
Pricing (monthly)
Data Import
Scheduling Style
Explore
Resource Guru

Resource Guru

$4.16
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
Soon

Soon

€8
4.5
/5
Automatic
TMetric

TMetric

$5
4.5
/5
Rota
BreatheHR

BreatheHR

£18
4.2
/5
Rota
Shiftboard

Shiftboard

On request
4.0
/5
Automatic
ScheduleAnywhere

ScheduleAnywhere

On request
4.5
/5
Automatic
ZoomShift

ZoomShift

$2
4.5
/5
CSV only
Drag & drop
When I Work

When I Work

$1.50
4.5
/5
via template
Automatic
Sling

Sling

$1.7
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
Workforce

Workforce

On request
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
Deputy

Deputy

$4.5
4.5
/5
Automatic
QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time

$10
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
ClockShark

ClockShark

$40
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
Planday

Planday

$2.99
4.2
/5
Drag & drop
Clockify

Clockify

$3.99
4.8
/5
via Excel
Drag & drop
Zoho Shifts

Zoho Shifts

$1
4.8
/5
Drag & drop
Keka

Keka

$9
4.5
/5
Automatic

What is Employee Scheduling?

Employee Scheduling is a process that helps businesses track and monitor labor needs and assign available resources to existing tasks. With employee management software, this process becomes simpler as companies can manage their existing resource needs and set the right employee schedules in minutes.

Benefits of Workforce Scheduling Software

The 5 benefits of workforce scheduling software are mentioned below. 

  1. Improves Employee Productivity: With the ability to set schedules, managers can easily help employees focus on priority tasks and ensure they are completed within the set deadlines. Moreover, this software allows you to create flexible schedules that employees can keep up with and get rest when needed, improving employee experiences. Such people management tools keep employees motivated and improve their productivity even further.
  2. Controls Labor Costs: Scheduling solutions help users identify possible areas to reduce labor costs for upcoming tasks. This tool helps you identify employees best suited for different tasks and judge their ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Once you know which employees perform well, you can assign them the same type of tasks in multiple projects, therefore avoiding the need to hire new resources for other projects due to efficient management of employee work schedules. 
  3. Reduces Scheduling Conflicts for Better Output: Shift scheduling software also offers a calendar view that helps you track the schedules of all the employees. This view helps you understand possible conflicts if their shifts are scheduled for a particular day and time. By reducing conflict, you can ensure that all the projects are run simultaneously, without compromise on employee performance.
  4. Lowers Employee Churn Rate: Scheduling solutions allow you to set schedules and share them with employees to see if they are comfortable. This assures the employees that they can ask the managers to update the schedules and work hassle-free if they have any conflicts or clashes with employee breaks. Such efforts help you boost employee satisfaction and encourage them to stay with your business longer.
  5. Ensures Compliance With Labor Laws: Workforce management software helps you comply with labor laws regardless of which country your employees are working from. This helps your business avoid penalties and ensures that no employees are harmed.

How to Choose the Right Employee Scheduling Software for Businesses?

8 crucial criteria help you choose the right employee scheduling software for your business. These include:

  1. Business Size & Complexity: Your first task is to understand the size of your business and its operation complexities. Also, understand how many employees you have onboard who will use the tool daily. Based on this number, look for a tool that matches this requirement and helps you onboard all the employees hassle-free.
  2. Industry: Not all scheduling tools are perfect for all industries. Some may be good for the medical industry, whereas some would be a great match for manufacturing. You need to contact the service provider to see what features benefit your business. This way, you will know if the tool serves your industry.
  3. Current Pain Points: Have issues with employee time-tracking? Or is the lack of an eagle-eye view of all the schedules set for the coming weeks or months your biggest challenge? Regardless of your pain point, the software must resolve it and help you create a seamless scheduling process.
  4. Scheduling Functionality: The whole point of scheduling software is to ensure you set the right shifts for all employees without raising conflicts in team schedules. If the tool under review is known for doing this, don’t hesitate to onboard it. Look for additional benefits as some do have additional offerings like interview scheduling software and employee self-service..
  5. Integration Capabilities: If the tool offers limited integrations and claims to do it all, think again before you take it up. No doubt, tools offer you the option to set up payroll systems, create timesheets, send in-app messages, or track all the right metrics. But that doesn’t mean, you shouldn’t have the option to integrate your existing communication or payroll systems with the scheduling software.
  6. Ease of Use: Make sure that the tool you choose is easy to use as it needs to complement your business operations. That’s quite a challenge for existing scheduling software users. Many have spent hours or days comprehending every action and feature in scheduling software. But that doesn’t mean you must also be a part of this list. Look for a solution with a proven record of a small learning curve.
  7. Pricing & Scalability: If you are a small business and don’t want to spend much on software, look for a free or affordable solution that doesn’t burn a hole even when you plan to scale your business. Your business will eventually grow and your need for more features will too. So search for a solution that matches your budget and grows with your business in the future.
  8. Security: Finally, search for a solution that helps you keep all your data secure. It should be GDPR-compliant. This way, you can ensure that no employee or customer data gets shared with people outside your company.

Employee Shift Scheduling Software Trends in 2024

Before investing in work scheduling software, let’s explore 4 employee shift scheduling software trends that one can expect in 2024.

  1. Automation and AI-Driven Scheduling: With the rise of AI in every sector, businesses will expect their scheduling software to have AI-powered features. This helps them automate repetitive tasks and reduce the time spent scheduling tasks for individual employees. Users will also look for AI-specific features like meeting management, task management, in-app virtual assistant, and project management.
  2. Mobile Accessibility and Real-Time Updates: Another growing trend among users will be the need for mobile apps to track schedules anytime and anywhere and get real-time updates. Managers, especially, will find the mobile app more useful as they can track shifts and employee productivity anywhere. 
  3. Advanced Features for Specific Industries: As discussed in the criteria section, it is important to ask vendors if they offer industry-specific features to their users. This is another growing trend that software providers should not ignore. For example, integration with biometrics tools can help businesses track clock-in and clock-out for employees who must complete their shifts on various sites or for those who work remotely.
  4. Geofencing and GPS Tracking: Geofencing and GPS tracking are fairly new features; not all scheduling solutions offer them. However, demand for these features will rise in the coming months. These features will benefit businesses who plan to onboard remote employees or those who need to provide on-site services to clients. You can track employee locations and see how many productive hours were spent completing a task.

How to Integrate Employee Scheduling Software into Your Business

Once you are done exploring the trends, narrowing down the options, and using the criteria listed above, you are surely to land on one solution that:

  • Matches your needs
  • Reduces workload challenges
  • Simplifies scheduling

And once you have the software, your next step is to integrate it into your work process. You need to consider these 4 challenges before implementation.

  1. How many days do you take to import data from existing scheduling spreadsheets or existing software?
  2. How much time do you spend adding employees and their work data to the system?
  3. How can your company introduce the software for daily use?
  4. How can you onboard employees faster and help them learn about the use of the software?

When you resolve these challenges, you can start using software and ensure a smooth ride when scheduling employee shifts. Given our list of solutions, you will surely land one that benefits your business, reduces your daily scheduling challenges, and matches the criteria.

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