Best employee scheduling software for small business

Find Charlette On LinkedIn. Charlette Beasley is a writer and editor at Fit Small Business focusing on payroll. With more than a decade of accounting and finance experience, Charlette has worked side-by-side with HR and accounting leaders to establish and help implement payroll best practices, controls, and systems.

Her experience ranges among small, mid-sized, and large businesses in industries like banking and marketing to manufacturing and nonprofit. Jennifer has over 20 years of writing and content experience, working with small businesses and Fortune companies. For over a decade, Jennifer worked as an HR Generalist, providing expertise in accounting, payroll, and HR by implementing payroll and benefits best practices and creating onboarding and employee-relations documentation.

Sign up to receive more well-researched small business articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you. Fit Small Business content and reviews are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More. Published November 2, Homebase : Best overall for retail businesses and restaurants that need unlimited free employee shift scheduling SocialSchedules : Best for hospitality businesses that are strict with labor law compliance 7shifts : Best for larger restaurant operations managing complex employee work shifts Deputy : Best for multilocation companies that share employees across job sites Best Employee Scheduling Software Compared.

Overall Score: 4. What We Like Free employee scheduling and time clock Caters to an unlimited number of employees Responsive customer support.

What's Missing Free version supports only one location and administrator Has a bit of a learning curve Occasional integration issues and mobile app glitches reported by users. Pricing Basic plan: Free Covers businesses with one location and unlimited employees Includes: Tools for creating, managing, and publishing staff schedules online, with automated time sheets, PTO requests, shift swaps, job postings, applicant tracking, onboarding, reports, and time clock apps for computers.

What We Like User-friendly with a simple and visually appealing interface Robust compliance tools Its free tier includes access to restaurant-specific candidate search tools. Pricing Basic plan: Free for up to 10 employees who work in the same department and in one business location. Includes: Basic scheduling and labor law compliance tools, PTO requests, shift availability, digital timecards, in-app messaging, and a time clock kiosk through its iOS and Android apps for tablets.

Includes: All Premium features plus dedicated support, API access, custom reports, and up to three free recruiting credits. Pricing Comp plan: Free for one business location with up to 10 employees.

Includes: Basic scheduling and time tracking tools, PTO requests, staff availability, shift swaps, schedule notifications, basic reporting, team messaging, mobile apps for iOS and Android devices , and a simple online time clock. Gourmet plan: Custom-priced Includes: Robust scheduling, time tracking, compliance and reporting features, machine-learning auto-scheduler, access to training support, best-in-class enterprise system security, and a dedicated account manager.

Overall Score: 3. Includes access to an online schedule builder with auto-scheduling and shift swapping functionalities. Includes: time sheets, payroll integrations, and time clock apps for iOS and Android. Jennifer Hartman Jennifer has over 20 years of writing and content experience, working with small businesses and Fortune companies.

Sign up to receive more well-researched human resources articles and topics in your inbox, personalized for you. This email address is invalid. Only if you want to get insider advice and tips. Visit Homebase No, thanks. Was this article helpful? That makes a spreadsheet app a more common replacement but still not ideal as employee scheduling software for small business. Spreadsheet apps allow users to resize rows, columns, and even individual cells in a much simpler and more-straightforward manner.

This means employees can access the schedule at any time or in any place. For you, it means distribution is easier, as is receiving change requests and making alterations. Google Sheets is a step up from Google Docs in that it already has the columns, rows, and cells formatted and ready to go. This removes one big step from the scheduling chore and makes Sheets one of the first work schedule apps that many turn to. Google Sheets gives you the flexibility and ease of alteration that comes with a spreadsheet, along with the streamlined distribution and alteration that comes with cloud-based apps.

Spreadsheets, though, were created for database manipulation and accounting. Google Calendar combines the simplicity of a calendar view with the accessibility of a cloud-based work schedule app. For you, the manager, the calendar view means the process of scheduling will be simpler and more intuitive. For your employees, the calendar view makes the completed schedule easy to understand, reducing confusion over who works when.

It, like so many other calendar apps, was created to schedule activities for a single user. Calendar software like Microsoft Outlook can be an excellent replacement for pen and paper, word processors, spreadsheets, and their cloud-based counterparts. For one thing, Outlook was made to coordinate the activities of a single user. Because of that, it can be a bit difficult when you need to schedule more employees than you can count on one hand.

Remember: It was intended for one person who could only be in one place at a time. Employees and employers must see eye-to-eye when it comes to working schedules. With employee scheduling software, small businesses can easily manage the way how their work schedules look for their employees. Here are some of the best employee scheduling for small business. Buddy Punch 2. Calendly 3. Zoho People 4.