What’s the Best Staff Rostering Software? Top 11 Picks

ByEric Czerwonka Last Updated

Creating a staff roster helps you make sure the right employees are working the right hours at the right location. But if you’re using manual processes to create an effective roster, you’re going to run into a lot of headaches. You’ll need to pull up everyone’s availability, department staffing requirements, pre-approved PTO days, and project lists just to write a schedule.

Using staff rostering software helps streamline the process. With the best staff rostering software, you can:

  • See all relevant information on one screen: You can easily see employee availability and approved time off on the same screen. That way, you don’t need to go through different tabs, sheets, and documents to create an employee roster.
  • Create customizable shifts: This can include shifts of different lengths, recurring shifts, and shifts with varying numbers of employees.
  • Integrate department, location, and position: To ensure all your locations are staffed with a full team, you need to track department codes, work locations, and employees’ positions.
  • Alert employees to their schedules: The best roster in the world won’t solve anything if your staff can’t see it. They need the ability to view and be alerted to their hours to avoid confusion and missed shifts.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the 11 best staff rostering software, exploring the most unique features of each and explaining how those features can help your business.

1. Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch’s cloud-based scheduling tool uses an intuitive drag-and-drop calendar interface. Pull up the calendar, compare it to the built-in employee availability display, and assign shifts accordingly. You can also save schedules as templates to reuse and modify as needed. Once you’re done, send out work schedules to all your employees.

Employees, meanwhile, have a self-service portal to update their availability, check their assigned hours, and trade shifts with other workers.

Employee availability

Before you can make a schedule, you need to know who’s available to be scheduled. In Buddy Punch, employee availability is right there on the screen, preventing you from double-booking anyone.

Employee availability calendar.

Employees are able to set and update their availability within their self-service portal.

Drag-and-drop scheduling

To make a schedule, drag a shift from the left of the screen and drop it onto the calendar.

Drag and drop editor.

Once it’s there, you can keep it as-is, or you can customize it.

Customizing shifts

Once you’ve dropped a shift onto the calendar, you can color-code it and further customize it to meet your needs. Editable fields include the employee covering it, the date and duration, breaks, whether or not it repeats, the location, the department code, and a section for any notes.

Customizing shifts.

Schedules can also be edited after they’ve been created in case anything changes or you realize you’ve made a mistake.

Schedule notifications

Once you’ve finished the schedule, you can send it out to all your workers.

Share schedules with employees.

In addition to receiving an email or push notification, employees can view their hours within their self-service portal on Buddy Punch.

Shift trading

Sometimes life happens and employees can’t make their assigned shifts. When that happens, Buddy Punch lets them find a fellow worker to cover for them.

Trade request function.

Once two employees are willing to make a trade, an admin is alerted, allowing them to approve or deny the request. This ensures everyone is on the same page about shift swaps.

Integrated time tracking features

Making a schedule is one thing, but sticking to the schedule is another. In addition to being a rostering tool, Buddy Punch offers time tracking features. You can monitor in real-time how closely employees are sticking to their assigned hours, holding them accountable and letting you know if you need to make any adjustments.

Clocking in and out

Buddy Punch is compatible with Windows and Apple products, as well as with mobile devices like your smartphones and tablets (both iOS and Android). This means you can set up a kiosk for employees to punch in from, or you can have them log in from their own devices via the mobile app.

Clocking in and out with Buddy Punch.

Logged hours are compiled into timesheets stored on the cloud. Administrators can easily view and export these timesheets for record-keeping purposes.

Photos on punch

Sometimes workers will attempt to clock in absent workers (for instance, if someone is running late). This is often referred to as buddy punching. To prevent this type of time theft, Buddy Punch offers photos on punch.

Facial recognition software.

When this tool is enabled, employees must take pictures of themselves via their device’s webcam when they log in. This picture is then compared to the one on file. If they successfully complete this facial verification, their shift begins.

Geofencing

Even if you’ve assigned the correct number of employees for a shift, it doesn’t matter if they don’t show up for it. To keep this from happening, one software solution Buddy Punch offers is geofencing.

Geofencing setup.

To set up geofences, input the GPS coordinates of work sites and select a radius around it. When employees clock in via Buddy Punch, they must be within the set radius of their workplace. Otherwise Buddy Punch will notice their current position is too far away and tell them to try again when they’re closer.

Overtime alerts

Sometimes employees work longer than they’re supposed to, inadvertently logging overtime. To prevent this, Buddy Punch allows you to set overtime alerts.

Overtime alerts.

These alerts will go to the employee (so they know to clock out) and to managers (so they can adjust the rostering plan as needed to compensate).

PTO tracking

As important as work-life balance is, trying to accommodate leave requests when you’re making schedules is bad enough; tracking how quickly employees are accruing PTO is worse. Make the rostering process easier by letting Buddy Punch do it for you.

Upcoming request for PTO.

You can set up different rates for workers to accrue PTO based on their position and department. Once you’ve set it up, Buddy Punch will automatically calculate PTO based on hours worked. When workers are ready to cash in PTO, they can submit time off requests through Buddy Punch, ensuring you’re aware of any changes that need to be made to the schedule.

Automatic breaks

Employees are entitled to breaks, but the number and length varies depending on shift length and job responsibilities. Keeping track of this by hand can lead to costly errors and lowered morale. Luckily, Buddy Punch can do it for you.

Automatic break applied for employee.

Within Buddy Punch, you can specify rules for different types of breaks; for instance, if someone has worked enough hours to need a lunch break, Buddy Punch will automatically switch from tracking hours worked to an unpaid break. In addition to making staff scheduling easier to manage, this reduces human error from employees clocking in and out.

Payroll

If creating employee rosters by hand is a headache, then doing payroll via spreadsheets is a migraine. In addition to making the correct calculations based on employees’ time, overtime, and paid time off, you have to send out pay stubs, file appropriate taxes, and keep proper records.

Payroll systems make this process faster, easier, and more accurate, which is exactly why Buddy Punch offers payroll functionality.

graphical user interface

Buddy Punch is capable of handling payroll from beginning to end, or it can integrate with other popular software options.

How it works

Because Buddy Punch tracks employees’ time, including overtime and PTO, the data can be directly imported into the payroll menu. The software automatically calculates wages based on hours worked and adds in any bonuses.

Auto payroll in Buddy Punch.

Once it’s been calculated, all you have to do is approve it and pay stubs will be sent out.

Taxes

Buddy Punch automatically files necessary U.S. tax paperwork at the local, state, and federal level.

Employees can also access W2s or 1099 forms via their self-service portal.

Payroll integrations

Buddy Punch allows users to easily export timesheets into compatible payroll software by integrating with 20 of the most popular payroll providers, including ADP, QuickBooks, Xero, and more.

This is more efficient and accurate than attempting to do it by hand.

Customers reviews

Buddy Punch has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating based on over 1,000 reviews on leading software review site Capterra.

Here’s what the reviewers have to say:

Many of my employees are students with ever-changing schedules. Buddy Punch is easy to use and change schedules weekly or even daily as things come up.

Great scheduler! The product is extremely user friendly. It is very easy to clock in/out and to schedule staff from a scheduler perspective. 

The ease of this software helps me post schedules quickly. I have three businesses and staff that float between all. The color coding system helps me see what employee or department needs attention. 

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2. When I Work

When I Work allows users to easily create schedules, track time, and message team members on the same platform. In addition to rostering solutions like shift trading and schedule sharing, it also offers labor forecasting to improve budgeting. 

Where this app really shines is allowing your team to communicate. It facilitates group chats, one-on-one, and whole-team messaging, all while preserving privacy by keeping your phone numbers hidden. This even extends to file and doc sharing. 

Finally, the messaging system includes read receipts, meaning you’ll always know who’s received the necessary information and who still needs to be brought up to speed.

Key features

When I Work has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 1,126 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“I find that When I Work is a seamless way to schedule shifts. There are a lot of great features to assist with scheduling numerous part-time workers. I also like that I can sync my shifts with my digital calendar.”

3. Connecteam

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In addition to a time clock, Connecteam includes employee scheduling, task management, and real-time reporting features to help you roster staff. It also provides ways for people to connect within and between departments. Finally, its HR and Skills Hub includes ways to manage documentation, time off, rewards, and training. 

Of our top picks, this one has the most extensive options specifically designed for human resources departments. It facilitates the onboarding process by allowing you to share training, important documents, and updates, ensuring employees can hit the ground running when they arrive for their first shift.

 It also lets you track employee documentation, including aspects like whether their certifications are getting ready to expire. It even lets you make custom rewards that are automatically delivered to employees who hit important milestones.

Key features

Connecteam has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 343 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Connecteam helps me validate the work that each employee does without having to be next to that person. We can communicate as a more united team in the work chat and be able to keep an improved order of the tasks that are pending to be done. This software helps me maintain a perfect order and a production with better results.”

4. 7shifts

Designed for restaurants, 7shifts is more than just a rostering system: it addresses industry-specific pain points like tip pooling and payouts. The resources section of their site also offers multiple ways for people to educate themselves on the industry, including free online courses, videos, and podcasts. 

In addition to being a boon to restaurants, 7shifts offers robust tools for hiring and recruiting fresh talent. It lets you post jobs online, get notified when you receive new applications, and track candidates by application status. 

Once you’ve selected a candidate, you can quickly add them to the schedule and save the applications of runner-ups for future job openings.

Key features

7shifts has an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 1,188 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“From the ease of publishing weekly schedules to employees being responsible for covering their own shifts when needed or scheduling their own time off and/or sick pay is a game changer. No more manual processes.”

5. Employment Hero

Employment Hero is a lot more focused on HR tools around employment management, hiring, and onboarding. Additionally, it offers multiple different features for scheduling, performance reviews, and real-time reporting.

Employment Hero is also specifically made with rostering in mind — and it has specific support for certain regions like Australia, the UK, Singapore, New Zealand, and Malaysia — so if you are a business in one of these areas, Employment Hero might be right for you. 

Key features

Employment Hero has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 218 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“The time-management and payroll modules were incredibly user-friendly, benefiting not only HR but all software users. This ease of use is crucial, as it significantly reduces the time needed to submit leave requests and make adjustments, enhancing overall efficiency.”

6. Deputy

Deputy is a great option if you need a tool that can provide unique and useful scheduling tools so that you can make sure that the people you need to be working are doing so in much less time that it would take anywhere else. 

Deputy has so many different features that make scheduling easier with its multiple different compliance tools, automatic scheduling, and even skillset scheduling. It makes the job much faster by removing all of the little parts of scheduling and doing all of those little things for you. 

Deputy even has the unique employee attestation feature, so you can make sure communication is absolutely clear between you and your employees, as well as making sure your employees are following the rules they need to be when working. 

Key features

Deputy has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 730 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“The system is very easy to use. It also helps me with the coordination of schedules, shifts and total hours worked.”

7. RotaCloud

RotaCloud is one of the options on this list that is specifically made for staff rostering, and it is a great option for businesses located in the UK with features that specifically cater to UK labor laws. Also, since their support is based in the UK, you don’t have to worry about time differences when trying to get support. 

RotaCloud has a lot of useful management features, with a unique feature being their logbook that keeps track of important dates for any kind of important event or situation. 

Key features

RotaCloud has an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 256 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“Rotacloud was very simple to set up and very easy to use. It’s intuitive, and the layout is functional. There are video guidelines to help the set up, and the online support is mostly very quick. Lots of reports on costs, employee lateness and sickness, etc. Shifts are easy to set up and copy.”

8. RosterElf

RosterElf was created specifically with staff rostering in mind, and this software is made specifically for Australian businesses — so if you are a small business in Australia, then RosterElf is made to tailor to your specific interests. 

RosterElf prides itself on the simplicity of its software, and many of its features are tailored to this ease of use. Things like their automated shift scheduling and their AI tools for rostering make it so that you don’t have to spend too much extra time focusing on the app and allows for you to focus more on the other work that needs to get done. 

Key features

RosterElf has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 4 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“This has been one of the best tools to manage timing and staff in a small business. The business runs with approximately 30 people. We have had no problem while using the system. It never crashes, and it is one of the most friendly and easy to use rostering softwares.”

9. Papershift

Papershift is a software made specifically with rostering in mind, and although it does not advertise itself as being Germany specific, it was created in Germany and has support for the language. So if you are a German business Papershift can support you and your needs. 

Papershift is a great option for if you don’t need something super complicated, and it can provide great productivity and scheduling tools for your business no matter where you are in the world. 

Key features

Papershift has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 84 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“At my company, we work remotely and value our personal work/life balance. One of the features is the “Work Balance”: I can quickly see how much time I’ve been working, the upcoming vacation days and holidays, and now I can better plan my own schedule.”

10. Sling

Sling is a great cost-effective option on this list with some of the cheapest plans available (including a free plan for up to 50 users), and the ease of use for all of its great features can make Sling a great option for anybody. 

It’s great if you need to keep track of your employee’s schedules while also having an app focused on making sure that your communication with your employees is still strong, so time and work can be measured correctly and that there are always people that can get the work done when it needs to be done.

Key features

Sling has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 172 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“The ease of use for this app is great. It is very simple, and your eyes are directed at exactly what you’re looking for. Not just the looks are simple, though. It is very easy to navigate, review schedules, timecards, communicate with your team, etc.”

11. Workforce.com

Workforce.com can provide you a very useful multi-tool approach to HR. It has many different features for every aspect of HR so that you can keep everything you need to keep things going in one place. 

It’s a great starting ground, something that you can use if you have no other services and need something to roll everything you need into one place, and features like their attendance points and employee benefits can help you make sure that your employees are being rewarded as well as treated well.

Key features

Workforce.com has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra across 28 reviews. Here’s what customers like about the platform:

“This software is the best in saving time and labor for shift workforces. I have enjoyed an easy to use and customizable dashboard. Employee engagement is at its best giving the freedom over workforce management needs. It is cost effective and very impactful.”

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