Comparing Workforce Scheduling Software

Staff Scheduling Software Definition: What is a Staff Scheduling App?

The main task of staff scheduling or workforce planning is to ensure that companies have employees with the required qualifications in the optimal number and at the right time and place. A staff scheduling software centrally supports those in charge with the associated to-dos.

The main features of such a solution include displaying working hours for each day or in each shift within a particular week. Also, the ability to assign specific tasks or shifts to particular employees and features to change shifts based on shift preferences. Furthermore, the costs associated with work can be tracked and forwarded to other relevant programs. Those in charge also get the opportunity to use data analysis functions to better understand and optimize employee or team performance.

Staff scheduling software can automate related processes using algorithms. Through AI, the solutions can recognize specific business goals - for example, "minimize operating costs without impairing service quality" - and work largely independently or plan to achieve them. Learning from historical data, the automated staff scheduling software creates competitive schedules that simultaneously respect the wishes of employees and/or legally defined conditions.

Why should companies use a staff scheduling software?

Staff is one of the most important resources in all companies for the successful progression of central business processes: Without an appropriate number of optimally trained employees for specific processes, no orders are generated, adequate customer service is not guaranteed, enough operating resources are not reliably available, and the machines in production can hardly be kept running. These and other possible deficits are, of course, easily transferable from the industrial context described here to other sectors. Those responsible should exclude them through optimal organization of the workforce.

Especially for larger operations with a correspondingly high number of employees who might also be working in several shifts, perfect staff planning is a significant challenge. The primary aim is always to organize the right team strength for consistently effective processes. In addition, the need for additional specialists must be recognized, and special regulations, salary or wage, insurance matters, and other work-related aspects appropriately managed.

Given the content complexity of the organization, the importance of ideal resource distribution, the numerous process participants and their interests, the often necessary quick coordination processes, and the rich sources of information associated with them, manual planning procedures in many operations are hardly possible. The use of staff scheduling software is indispensable in many places.

However, it is not just large companies that benefit. SMEs can also significantly improve their management of personnel resources with a work schedule software. In some cases, even a staff scheduling tool that is free to use can make a relevant difference.

Not to be forgotten in all of this is the factor of employee satisfaction. In times of steadily growing skill shortages, even more must be done to ensure that employees feel good, they see their job-related needs and desires (as well as possible) taken into account, and they are not overloaded. Efficient staff planning via software helps prevent various typical reasons for attrition, such as chronically understaffed teams, disliked shift assignments, and increased short-term changes.

How does staff scheduling work via an app?

How a staff scheduling program works or which processes it specifically supports depends mainly on the respective range of functions. The following features and tools are typical.

• Scheduling: Scheduling functions form the core of any staff organization software. They enable those responsible to create employee plans with drag-and-drop functionality easily. Here, recurring plans can be set up relatively quickly, staff peaks can be integrated for special events and/or temporary shift exchanges can be managed.

• Time Tracking: With this function, HR managers can record the working hours of their employees - including start and end times. It often also includes a billing system for calculating wages and overtime.

• Notifications and Alerts: With staff scheduling software, managers can send notifications and warnings to their employees. This is useful, for example, for upcoming shifts or when changes have been made. These messages can be played via email, SMS, or other platforms.

• Attendance and Absence Tracking: This function records the absence and presence of employees. This gives those responsible the opportunity to quickly see who is absent on a particular day or who is late. In addition, reports can be created with information on the number of days of absence per week/month/year.

• Shift Trading: With a shift trade function, employees can swap their shifts with each other and thus make their working hours more flexible. Superiors do not have to be asked for permission each time. However, those responsible have the opportunity to intervene. Moreover, the system ensures that all colleagues work within the approved guidelines and that nobody takes advantage of others.

• Employee Availability Management: With this function, administrators can query the availability of employees, making it easy to find someone to take over an open shift if needed. The system automatically suggests employees who would be available at the desired time.

• Integrations: Many staff planning tools offer integrations with other applications closely related to human resource management. These include payroll programs, tax software, or even recruiting solutions. In this way, those responsible can centrally control all important processes related to personnel, saving a lot of effort and reducing the risk of errors in corresponding processes.

• Analytics and Reports: A staff planning program can perform analyses and write custom reports. Through these, managers gain insights into a variety of business-critical issues, such as work costs, shift performance, and turnover rates. The ability to track trends over time enables users to make informed decisions about their workforce.

• Mobile Staff Planning App: Many staff scheduling software come with a mobile app that allows users to access the system from anywhere. This enables specific processes to be controlled remotely or on the go. It makes it easier for managers to keep an eye on their team's performance, no matter where they are.

• Automation: With the help of some staff planning software, processes can be automated. The intelligent tools organize potentially best-fitting professionals largely independently, recognize scheduling collisions, or report when a team member cannot be assigned to a shift due to vacation or illness.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of an employee scheduling software?

The central advantages of using a personnel planning tool lie in the significant increase in efficiency and the huge potential for a significant increase in employee satisfaction. The following presents the individual benefits associated with this:

• Easy Management of Employees: Staff scheduling software can make managing schedules and shift changes much easier, especially through automation. Those in charge are thus able to adjust the working hours of their employees quickly and easily. At the same time, compliance with labor laws and regulations can be ensured through the establishment of automated rules.

• Improved Communication: Staff scheduling software provides a central platform where employees can communicate with their superiors about their plans and apply for leave or shift changes. This ensures that everyone involved in the planning is on the same page and that employees' wishes can be satisfactorily considered.

• More Time, Fewer Errors: A staff scheduling program helps eliminate manual tasks such as printing paper plans and updating them and individual communication when changes are made. This eliminates time waste in managing employee schedules. Also, the probability of human errors decreases.

• Lower Labor Costs: Automating the planning process allows companies to save wage costs that would otherwise have been incurred for manual handling of plans and their weekly/monthly/annual update. Furthermore, a consistent schedule allows employers to accurately capture their total labor costs, which can help make the budget more effective over time.

• More Accurate Payroll Tracking: Staff scheduling software offers monitoring functions that enable those in charge to understand the number of hours worked by all employees over a specific period. This allows payroll to be calculated very precisely. Errors or discrepancies due to manual calculations are no longer an issue.

• Easier Monitoring of Availability: With a staff scheduling program, it's easy to monitor employee availability and ensure that all shifts are covered, regardless of last-minute changes or sick notifications. In this way, companies can ensure that the right human resources are always available for all business operations.

• Fewer No-Shows: With staff scheduling software, companies can easily set up automated reminders for upcoming shifts for their employees. This can help reduce the number of people who accidentally do not appear or arrive late for their working time.

Unfortunately, besides these numerous advantages, some difficulties can arise when using staff scheduling software. The following problems are typical:

• Underestimated Effort: The complexity of the correct implementation and use of a staff scheduling app is often a highly underrated challenge. To make the most of the solution, it must be optimally integrated into the existing software stack around personnel and fully utilized. Especially in larger operations with a large number of employees - and especially at the beginning of using the software - this can lead to a high workload for those in charge. However, the workload is reduced the better the respective solution is mastered.

• Software Centricity: When staff scheduling software is used, it becomes the central organizational tool. This is practical and efficient. However, it can become problematic should the solution fail at any point. Since staff planning is usually essential for business operations, serious problems are likely in such a case. Managers should therefore opt for a solution that is as fail-safe as possible, and ideally, keep a backup analog planning alternative in hand.

How to choose the right solution from the staff scheduling software comparison?

Choosing a staff scheduling app can be a tremendous challenge merely due to the size of the market and the numerous possible features. However, with the following tips, those in charge can significantly simplify or more precisely align their search. Identifying Pain Points First, interested parties should define which deficits or pain points they want to eliminate with staff scheduling software. The most common problems are:

• Manual, time-consuming creation and distribution of schedules.
• Inefficient data storage.
• Limited accessibility of schedules and updates.
• Ineffective employee communication.

Not every staff scheduling software can handle all possible pain points equally well. If it's just a small, straightforward problem, it might be solved by using a basic staff scheduling software for free. If a multifaceted planning process as a whole needs to be changed, a complete suite is often the better choice.

Once the pain points are identified, it is possible to look specifically for a program that can eliminate them.

Ease of Use When assessing the options, usability should also be considered a central criterion. To estimate these conditions, those responsible should ask themselves the following questions and match their answers with the requirements of the more closely eyed tools.

• How long does it take to implement the software?
• How easy is the training - training courses, online tutorials, documentation, etc.?
• Do users have to deal with new devices?
• Can the software be used anywhere?

If possible, a comprehensive staff scheduling software test should always be carried out before purchasing a solution. In practical use, it's easiest to see whether a program meets user requirements or not.

Optimal Integrability In order to benefit from perfect staff scheduling via software, those responsible need a clear overview of working hours, costs, profits, and compliance with legal regulations. Corresponding data should possibly be processed without complications.

This usually only works if the respective staff scheduling app works perfectly with the other solutions used around employee organization. Therefore, those responsible should make sure that their staff scheduling software harmonizes with the other tools.

What does a staff scheduling tool cost - is there a free staff planning app?

The costs for staff scheduling software can vary greatly. They mainly depend on the integrated functions. Many providers offer different performance levels and price plans.

Generally, prices range from around ten euros for a simple software package to about 100 euros per month for a more robust solution. In larger companies that have many employees to organize and require additional features like payroll integration or more advanced reporting tools, the costs can even be much higher.

At the lower end of the spectrum, you find staff scheduling freeware. Staff scheduling software that can be used for free, although offering only limited functions, may provide an easy start in some company contexts. If only a small workforce needs to be managed and no analytics, automations or more complex functions for payroll integration are needed, it can certainly be an option to handle staff scheduling free of charge.

For more extensive functions, companies should expect monthly costs between 50 and 120 euros for a subscription-based solution. These plans may also include options for technical support and access to comprehensive training resources. For this, quite a sum of money often has to be spent extra.

In general, companies can choose between one-time licenses for desktop applications or on-premise solutions and subscription models for cloud programs. In the case of very special requirements - for example, if hybrid shift assignment models, resource optimization algorithms, or similar are required - individual calculations often have to be made. Corresponding prices are then available only after an extensive consultation - individually tailored to the respective case. In this case, often several hundred or even well over a thousand euros are due.