Employee Scheduling Software

Employee scheduling systems are tools used by employers to schedule work hours for their employees, and to give workers and managers visibility to the schedule. Scheduling systems often have additional functionality to allow the company to communicate changes, block out vacation time, holidays, and shift swaps.

Employee scheduling is often a juggling act between an employers’ need to ensure they have the right number of employees on the floor during certain shifts with employees’ needs for personal time. Scheduling software gives both employers and employees visibility to shifts and allows for easier scheduling processes for both.

Employee scheduling software makes scheduling more efficient, fair and less personal for both employees and employers. Businesses can post shifts far in advance and schedule employees based on their preferences. Most systems also allow for self-service functionality, giving employees the ability to swap shifts, request shift pick-ups and more.

Small businesses should look for the following characteristics in scheduling software: 

• Ease-of-use for both managers and employees
• Both web and mobile functionality 
• Integrates smoothly into your time and payroll systems. 
• Allows pre-built templates
• Employee access for schedule requests

Managing employee shift schedules in ways that both keep your business running and respect employees can be challenging. You should be careful to keep long shifts and overtime to a minimum, and to give employees plenty of notice about their shifts to help them manage their personal lives. Having a visible calendar of future shifts, using a scheduling system, is a great way to keep shift scheduling predictable.