Top 11 Employee Scheduling Apps of 2022


That effort of constantly looking for opportunities to save money and keep operating expenses in check. This isn’t something new to business owners like you, yes? 


Good thing is, there is a way to deal with all that, and that is managing your employee scheduling necessities efficiently. This without even going over the board with costs and overly straining yourself. All thanks to the ever trusty employee scheduling software. 


With the use of these employee schedule apps, you can manage your workforce well. Proper and good employee management often equates to happier work culture and more productive staff—plus more income! 


In that, we’ve rounded up some powerful apps for scheduling employees for you to check. So that overall workforce management—rostering, managing labour costs, swapping of shifts, and shift scheduling—can be done without a hitch. 


If you’re ready, check out our top 12 employee scheduling apps of 2022. 



Key Features to Look For in a Cloud-Based Employee Scheduling Software


What makes an employee schedule app stellar? It should provide functionalities that are beyond average. How? You may ask. Then check out these key features.


  • Mobile adaptive 


Just like most apps nowadays, good employee scheduling software should be mobile-friendly. Employees should be able to request shift changes or shift swaps via their mobile devices, may it be Android or iOS, with ease. 


It’ll be easy for you to check, approve, and finalise employee requests and who will work on certain shifts. What’s more, you can schedule and approve shift changes directly from your smartphone or tablet too, especially when you’re outside the office.


  • Self-service 


The self-service feature of an employee scheduling app gives your employees the ability to manage their schedules by themselves. They can easily view schedules, clock in and out, grab available shifts, and swap shifts with other colleagues. 


This gives your employees the feeling of autonomy in managing their schedules, and likewise, saves you time from completing these minor tasks. 


  • Integration of third-party programs 


A good employee scheduling and management software like RosterElf should better streamline your payroll process by integrating with other platforms such as Xero, MYOB, and Sage. This stores all your employee information in one location. 


While other software charges you for integrations, some offer free for systems they collaborate with. Make use of these systems to reorganise and optimise business processes for payroll, HR management tasks, and workforce management. 


  •  Scheduling efficiency 


Certain cloud-based employee scheduling software solutions can track your regular scheduling process. It will then offer suggestions to help you bolster your shift assigning schemes. It has the capability to monitor trends such as common scheduling patterns and employee preferences. 


With this, it can recommend some scheduling changes as you designate shifts. The employee scheduling app also alerts you on regulations and fair work compliance to ensure there is equality and a reasonable work schedule for your workforce.


  • Payroll monitoring 


It’s best to have an employee scheduling app with a built-in payroll feature. It makes it plain-sailing to compute employees’ pay based on the number of hours they’ve worked. Having a payroll tracking feature can automatically calculate your employee’s gross pay the moment they clock out. 


  • Absence tracking 


Handling payroll processes is highly efficient if you can track your employees’ absences. What’s more, you can monitor when your employees call in sick and request a paid-time-off. 


This feature also lets you know when an employee requests for an LOA (leave of absence) to ensure there is shift coverage beforehand. Likewise, your employees can send request time-offs through this feature. 


  • Auto-scheduling 


You can streamline and automate the scheduling process using the auto-scheduling feature of your chosen employee management system. 


It recalls previous schedules, employee time-off references, and overtime requests, making sure your workforce gets sufficient coverage every week. Using this information, the software automatically keys in the number of hours into schedule for your assessment afterwards. 


  • Reporting and analysis 


Most, if not all, apps for scheduling employees can collect data and analyse the following: the number of times your employees take time off, how much do your employees work, and the income they earn during a certain period of time


Some features utilise these details to formulate insights on valuable data like financial reports and labour budgeting costs. You can also export these records into a comprehensive report using the software’s employee scheduling template. Doing so lets you share and present this data across the organisation. 


  • Schedule insight 


This feature allows you to view schedules in different formats—weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Check any schedule discrepancies to know where you should add extra shift coverage. Certain features let you filter this by locations, times, roles, and shifts.



These are the top employee scheduling apps to look out for this 2022.  

 

1. RosterElf 



RosterElf is perfectly designed for business owners made by business owners. With its seamless features and third-party system integration, without a doubt, it is one of the best employee scheduling software solutions there is. 


As it definitely is a challenge for business owners and managers alike to chase staff for available hours, make weekly rosters, and keep up on payroll, RosterElf is made to do all that with ease. You can save time creating a business budget to stick to, all while making more time for employee engagement and customer satisfaction. 


What’s more, you can even save 4% on labour, set financial business targets, view labour costs in real-time, and approve staff schedules by minimising time theft via electronic clock in and out. Using RosterElf’s cloud-based employee scheduling app allows your employees to keep their availability up to date. 


Your teams are always aware of new rostered shifts through clear-cut and easy-to-manage workforce management features. 


Core Features: 



Pros and Cons:



Pricing




2. mHelpDesk



This is analogous to Outlook and Google Calendar, yet it’s designed specifically for field service business owners. Some key features this employee scheduling app has are: automated assignment notifications, customer information, employee availability, and underbooked/overbooked management. 


mHelpDesk is also capable of integrating third-party systems like QuickBooks, Home Advisor, and Google Calendar. This employee scheduling app is ideal for growing or stable businesses in small to large-sized. 


Core Features: 


  • Multiple features

  • Appointment scheduling 

  • Employee availability reference

  • Automated features 

 

Pros and Cons: 


  • User-friendly 

  • Good customer service 

  • Streamlined invoicing and billing 

  • Certain integrations don’t function well 

  • Slow loading times 

  • Can’t delete old users 


Pricing: 


  • Price starts at $169/user per month 

  • With a 14-day free trial 

  • No free-for-life plan 



3. Skedulo




Skedulo is designed to streamline everyday workforce operations and boost productivity. It is a good employee scheduling software for a mobile organisation. With Skedulo, you can manage scheduling, oversee employees through a mobile app, and analyse recorded data for reporting. 


Core Features: 


  • Automated scheduling

  • Alerts and notifications

  • Employee database 


Pros and Cons: 


  • Appointment booking 

  • A bit high-priced (user is charged by feature, per month)

  • Only works best in the healthcare industry 


Pricing:


  • The scheduler feature alone costs $79/user per month 

  • No free trial 

  • No free-for-life plan 



4. TSheets



Intuit QuickBooks, previously known as TSheets, has uniform features with most cloud-based employee scheduling apps available in the market. You can easily schedule by job role or shift, send updates about roster changes, copy a previous employee schedule template—the list goes on. 


You can get notifications about missed shifts or overtime, thus reducing labour costs. TSheets also has a feature where you can instantly see who is available for high-priority jobs. This software is ideal for small to large businesses. 


Core Features: 



Pros and Cons:


  • Multiple features 

  • User-friendly 

  • Lack of customer support 

  • Many bugs as per user report 

  • It May get pricey for a large workforce 


Pricing: 


  • The premium plan is at $20/month and an additional $8/user per month

  • With a 30-day free trial 

  • No free-for-life plan 



5. Sling



Sling is another employee scheduling software that, similar to most scheduling apps, can manage time off, shift swapping, and employee availability. More so, mitigating absenteeism, as well as scheduling overtime and late arrivals, are also part of its features. 


You can also save employee scheduling templates so that creating new ones is easy as pie. Sling is ideal for businesses of all sizes with shift work. 


Core Features: 


  • Alerts and notifications on overtime 

  • Employee directory 

  • Payroll management 

  • Analytics and reporting 


Pros and Cons: 


  • User-friendly 

  • Filter fields to view specific shifts 

  • Not recommended for large organisations

  • Not that mobile-friendly 

  • Private messaging 


Pricing: 


  • The premium plan costs $2/month per user | Business plan costs $4/user per month 

  • With free trial 

  • With free-for-life plan 



6. HotSchedules



HotSchedules’ user interface is simple and straightforward which makes your employee scheduling process smoother. Your employees can pick up, release, or request to swap shifts from their mobile device—may it be Android or iOS. 


You have complete visibility over this matter and can approve or reject any changes with ease. You can even receive labour and sales data which makes it easier to generate an accurate roster. HotSchedules is ideal for various industries such as retail, hospitality, and restaurants. 


Core Features: 


  • Budget management and forecasting

  • Automated scheduling 

  • Employee database

  • Employee management 


Pros and Cons:


  • User-friendly 

  • Easy scheduling process

  • Inadequate support from customer service 

  • Not-so-good scheduling templates 

  • Software updates are frequent 


Pricing: 


  • You need to contact their sales representative to get a price quote  

  • No free trial 

  • No free-for-life plan 



7. Homebase 




You can drag and drop team schedules easily with Homebase’s employee scheduling software. Not just that, making changes directly from your mobile device, copying last week’s schedule, and scheduling automatically can be done effortlessly, too. 


Your employees can update their schedule availability or request shift swaps, which are then sent to you for approval. In addition, Homebase can tally overtime and hours and can subtract break times, as well. It also integrates sales data from third-party systems. This scheduling software is ideal for small businesses and industries. 


Core Features: 



Pros and Cons: 


  • User-friendly 

  • Easy to track employee work hours 

  • Less pricey 

  • Lacks important features 

  • User needs training prior to using it 

  • Setting availability can be a tad tricky 


Pricing: 


  • Plans are charged per location rather than per user

  • The basic plan costs $19.95/month for unlimited users per location 

  • With 14-day trial 

  • With a free-for-life plan (very limited features)



8. Jolt 





Jolt is another cloud-based employee scheduling software that is capable of schedule distribution, mobile access, shift swapping, reports update, and time-clock app. This software makes it easy for you to obtain team fair work compliance, workforce accountability, and increase overall employee performance. Jolt is great for businesses in the food and beverage industry. 


Core Features: 


  • Employee Scheduling 

  • Mobile and desktop access

  • Time clock management 


Pros and Cons: 


  • User-friendly 

  • Good customer service

  • Setting availability can be challenging 

  • PTO request is unserviceable

  • The app user interface isn’t on par with the desktop version 


Pricing: 


  • You need to contact their sales representative to get a price quote  

  • No free trial 

  • No free-for-life plan 



10. Time Doctor



Another great app for employee scheduling processes is Time Doctor. It is used by big and known companies as well as small start-up businesses. The software has robust scheduling and time tracking features that can boost your workforce’s productivity and optimise workflows for both employees and your managers. 


Core Features: 



Pros and Cons:


  • User-friendly

  • Does online and offline time tracking 

  • Can do manual and automated time tracking 

  • Out-of-date user interface

  • Customer support can be a challenge to reach

  • Idle time notifications can be bothersome


Pricing: 


  • The basic plan starts at $8/user per month

  • With a free 14-day trial 

  • With free-for-life plan 



11. Humanity 




Humanity is fairly popular with healthcare companies for staff forecasting needs. Just like the rest of the employee scheduling apps mentioned above, it is capable of automatically ensuring that you adhere to employee fair work compliance. 


Core Features: 



Pros and Cons: 


  • A plethora of features 

  • Solid set of features 

  • Re-organised user interface 

  • Its wide array of features can be overwhelming 


Pricing: 


  • The basic plan starts at $2/user per month

  • With 30-day free trial 

  • With free-for-life plan



What Are the Benefits of an Employee Scheduling App? 


Say, for example, having an app for scheduling employees may not utterly win you over, or you’re having second thoughts. Well then, these benefits will surely convince you. 


  • Making sure you have scheduled the right number of employees for every position and every shift. 

  • Preventing you from scheduling an employee under the same shift (double-scheduling) or scheduling an employee for a job they don't fit. 

  • Alerting you when you’ve scheduled your worker a shift that’s conflicting with their availability. 

  • Notifying you whenever an employee may enter an overtime pay in a week. 

  • Disseminating schedules to employees immediately once done creating the roster

  • Letting you make necessary amends to the work schedules, even after it’s already completed and finalised. 

  • Updating your workforce with ease when there are schedule changes or updates. 


These solid features can definitely change the way you handle your employee scheduling process in a complete 180 degree, positively of course. Take note, these apps don’t only manage schedules but handle other administrative tasks, too. 



Key Takeaway


An excellent employee scheduling software can do a wide variety of tasks that save you hours in planning and executing. And maintaining good and clear communication with your entire team is par for the course. 


Nonetheless, having an employee scheduling app in place mitigates the needless overlaps in terms of the scheduling process and, instead, improves productivity. Make sure to pick which one works best for your organisation for a more efficient schedule and workload management. 




RosterElf: Rostering Made Easy 


RosterElf’s cloud-based employee scheduling software truly is a game-changer.  


Say goodbye to roster conflicts and chase employees for their availability to work. Employees can easily update their availability to work and notify managers about it through a smartphone app. Staff set the times and days they can work and RosterElf does the rest. Our software then automatically suggests available employees fill shifts. 


We are truly the best rostering system in Australia. So, what are you waiting for? Time to take your employee scheduling game to the next level and boost your business’ performance. Call us now at 1300 353 000 and our team will be more than happy to assist you. 


To get a more clear view of how our app works, enjoy 30-day access to our tool for free!