The best employee scheduling software provides a simple way to manage the process of employee scheduling.
When used effectively, these programs not only can save you and your team hours, but they also help ensure that employees are rostered on at the correct times, maximizing productivity and income.
Creating and managing employee schedules can now be less of a logistical nightmare, with options to simplify or even automate the process available for everyone from small to large businesses.
In this guide, we look at the best employee scheduling software solutions available. Each has its own pros, cons, and target users, so be sure to read carefully before settling on the best option for your needs.
We've also featured the best time management software.
The best employee scheduling software of 2023 in full:
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Shiftboard is one of the world’s most popular employee scheduling programs and caters to thousands of medium to large businesses globally. It includes a range of tools to modernize scheduling and provide attendance tracking and performance analytics.
On top of this, Shiftboard comes with a range of onboarding tools designed to streamline the integration process for new employees. A selection of hiring features are also available to aid candidate data collection and simplify the overall employment process.
Basic, Professional, and Enterprise subscription options are available, with the capacity to cater to extremely large teams with tens of thousands of people.
Resource Guru offers user-friendly employee scheduling tools aimed at any organization, from small businesses to the world’s largest companies. One of our favorite features of the program is its tidy calendar layout, which is designed to show who is working, when, and on what.
On top of this, the program comes with a useful leave management system. This allows you to easily keep track of employee time off and ensure that everyone gets the leave that they’re entitled to. Users also have access to a range of analytics and reporting tools.
Resource Guru offers the basic Grasshopper plan that includes all features except analytics reports. The Blackbelt plan adds reports, and the Master plan has even more advanced features.
Snap Schedule is an extremely powerful spreadsheet-based employee scheduling program. It has advanced features, but it is a little expensive. The user interface is also slightly cluttered and unintuitive.
That said, one of the best things about Snap Schedule is its ability to integrate with Microsoft Excel data. When you begin using it for the first time, you will be able to import employee data directly from an Excel spreadsheet.
On top of this, Snap Schedule is extremely customizable. In fact, users have almost full customizability when creating new schedules. However, pricing is arguably more directed at enterprises rather than small businesses.
Humanity is one of the most powerful employee scheduling programs available. It’s affordable and scalable and comes with a great selection of advanced tools designed to streamline the scheduling process.
For example, Humanity uses an intuitive scheduling interface that includes tools for overtime monitoring, clock-in and clock-out tracking, and time-off requests. Users also have access to a range of data-driven forecasting tools designed to help plan future staffing schedules.
A Starter plan includes employee scheduling and basic reporting tools. Upgrading to a Classic or Enterprise plan adds increasingly advanced tools.
Paycor Scheduling is a relatively new program designed to streamline all aspects of employee scheduling. It comes with both mobile and desktop apps, has a simple shift reminder tool, and allows you to save schedule templates for future use.
On top of this, the more expensive Paycor Scheduling Pro includes the ability to create advanced scheduling rules, group chat tools, and a suite of budget-planning features.
One of the main downsides of the Paycor Scheduling program is that it’s only available with a Paycor HCM subscription rather than as a standalone product.
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Which employee scheduling software is best for you?
When deciding which employee scheduling software to download and use, first consider what your actual needs are, as sometimes free platforms may only provide basic options, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, free and budget software options can sometimes prove limited when it comes to the variety of tools available, while higher-end software can really cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may need.
How we tested the best employee scheduling software
To test for the best employee scheduling software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each employee scheduling software platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.
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