5 Best Work Schedule Apps & Software for Employees (In-Depth Look)

5 Best Work Schedule Apps & Software for Employees (In-Depth Look)

Managing your team’s schedule and coordinating hourly employees is notoriously inefficient and frustrating.

To solve this, many businesses turn to a work schedule app that handles everything from:

  • Creating and publishing shifts.
  • Automatically notifying employees when a shift has been published (or when a change to the schedule has been made).
  • Letting employees trade shifts, set their scheduling availability, and more — all within the app.
  • And so on.

In this post, we’ll make a case for why Buddy Punch (our own product) could be a great fit for your business. Then, we’ll list four other employee scheduling apps.

Best Work Schedule Apps & Software

  1. Buddy Punch
  2. When I Work
  3. Hubstaff
  4. Connecteam
  5. QuickBooks Time

1. Buddy Punch

In this section, we’ll cover just a few of Buddy Punch’s key scheduling features. For the full list, visit this page.

Drag & Drop Schedule Creation

Buddy Punch allows for easy schedule creation in just a few steps:

1. Click on an open cell/area to create a shift.

Drag and drop schedule builder.

2. Specify who the shift will be assigned to, the end and start time, location/department/position code, and more.

Example of where to enter shift information.

3. Drag and drop shifts as needed until the schedule is complete.

4. Hit “Publish”…

And you’re done!

Note: Click here to learn more about how easy it is to create a schedule with Buddy Punch.

Employees Will Automatically Get Notified When the Schedule is Published

Choose to send notifications when you publish or update a schedule.

Once the new schedule is live (or if a change has been made to it), an alert will automatically get sent to employees via your choice of email, mobile push notifications, or both.

This is a much more efficient process than manually coordinating shifts (i.e. texting or emailing employees).

Note: On the employee side, they can conveniently review shift times via the Buddy Punch app. They can also sync it with Google Calendar or iCal in just a few clicks.  

Repeating Shifts

Choose to repeat schedules.

When adding a shift, you can optionally have it repeat at a frequency of your choosing (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, and so on).

Note: Click here to learn more about this feature.

Working Hours & Availability

Employees can mark when they're unavailable and their preferred shifts.

Employees can easily input their scheduling availability within the Buddy Punch app. For example:

  • Available from December 1 to December 7.
  • Unavailable from December 8 to December 15.

You can then reference this information when creating a schedule (and avoid assigning shifts to someone who is unavailable).

Note: Click here to learn more about this feature.

Shift Trades

Employees can request shift trades with other employees.

Employees can easily request a shift trade within the Buddy Punch app, subject to your approval.

Note: Click here to learn more about this feature.

Shift Start Reminder

Example of how to add shift reminders.

With this feature, an alert (email or push notification) can optionally be sent to employees who forgot to clock in within X minutes of the start of their shift.

Note: Buddy Punch offers many other scheduling notifications, including but not limited to:

  • Shift End Reminder
  • Early In & Early Out Alerts
  • Late In & Late Out Alerts
  • Missed In & Missed Out Alerts

Additional Scheduling Features

So far, we’ve covered just a few of Buddy Punch’s key scheduling features. For the full list, visit this page.

Accountability & Payroll Features

Buddy Punch is not just limited to scheduling. We also offer features to help you:

1. Increase Accountability 

  • Punch Limiting Rules: Limit employee punches to X amount of minutes before and after a shift.
  • Photos on Punch: Employees take a photo of themselves each time they punch in or out.
  • Geofencing: Restrict employee punches to a radius around a specific location.
  • IP Address Locking: Restrict employee punches to a specific Wi-Fi network or devices in your office.
  • And more.

2. Save Time on Payroll

See What Customers Have to Say about Buddy Punch

At the time of writing, Buddy Punch has 646 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra:

Buddy Punch reviews give 4.8 out of 5 stars.

We’re grateful that many customers have taken notice of Buddy Punch’s stellar customer service and ease-of-use.

Reviews Highlighting Buddy Punch’s Customer Service

Reviews Highlighting Buddy Punch’s Ease-of-Use

Interested in Learning More about Buddy Punch?

2. When I Work

At the time of writing, When I Work has 4.5 out of 5 stars and 885 reviews on Capterra.

They offer various features, some of which include:

Here’s one review highlighting why it’s a great work schedule app for employees (see more reviews here):

"Scheduling made simple."

3. Hubstaff

At the time of writing, Hubstaff has 4.6 out of 5 stars and 1192 reviews on Capterra.

They offer various features, some of which include:

Here’s one review highlighting why it’s a great solution (see more reviews here):

"Simplicity and easy management - all you need."

4. Connecteam

At the time of writing, Connecteam has 4.8 out of 5 stars and 131 reviews on Capterra.

They offer various features, some of which include:

Here’s one review highlighting why it’s a great shift work schedule app (see more reviews here):

"I liked that it was able to support us as a small business."

5. QuickBooks Time

At the time of writing, QuickBooks Time (formerly Tsheets) has 4.7 out of 5 stars and 5511 reviews on Capterra.

They offer various features, some of which include:

Here’s one review highlighting why it’s a great employee work schedule software (see more reviews here):

"Easy to track and submit hours worked."

Interested in Learning More about Buddy Punch?

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