Arranging employee schedules is not an easy task. Even if you have had plenty of experiences before. Thanks to employee scheduling software your task of arranging employee schedules can be a bit easier.

In general, employee scheduling software have one thing in common. They commonly come with notifications feature to let your employees know when they have to get work. This way, you don’t have to manually tell your employees about the shift changes like you usually do when arranging scheduling using spreadsheet software.

There are tens or even hundreds of employee scheduling software out there. And selecting which one is the best can be a bit hard. To save your time, below are the top best employee scheduling software you can consider. All software below are web-based so you don’t have to install additional software on your computer. Just use your web browser.

1. ezClocker

ezClocker is a simple to use time tracking and scheduling app for small businesses. Ideal for construction, janitorial, and landscape companies. If you have a small team and need an easy to use software without all the fancy and complicated features then ezClocker is a good fit for you. Some of the features you get with ezClocker are notifications where employees get notified when a new schedule is published so no more excuses about not knowing they were scheduled or not. ezClocker also provides an option that you control to allow employees to view their co-workers’ schedules to know who was going to be on the shift with them that day. ezClocker does not provide a shift swapping feature so if you run a restaurant and need that feature then ezClocker may not be a good fit for you.

ezClocker is also very affordable, subscriptions start with $10/month which covers up to 15 employees. All subscriptions come with time tracking and scheduling features. The higher subscriptions provide advanced features like: payroll integrations. Overtime calculations, and job codes.

2. When I Work

There is always a free solution for nearly all kinds of software. Employee scheduling software is no exception. One of the employee scheduling software that you can use for free is When I Work. Unless you have more than 75 employees you want to arrange their schedules, you don’t need to pay anything to use this software. When I Work is great for businesses that employ hourly employees like coffee shops, retail shops and so on. The mobile app availability makes it easy for you to communicate about the schedules with your employees. Most importantly, When I Work offers a demo which is important enough since you can check if it match your need.

3. Humanity

Some employee scheduling software come with a complex enough features in order to ease the HR managers jobs. In addition to their main function to arrange employee schedules, some employee scheduling software are also bundled with time tracking and task management. Humanity is one of the examples of that kind of software. It is a software that all HR managers will love to.

As an employee scheduling software Humanity comes with a number of features you need like SMS notifications. The availability of mobile app allows you, the manager, manage your employee schedules from anywhere. Additionally, Humanity also allows you to create time attendance reports based on time clock data and export accurate reports directly from the app to your payroll provider. Some payroll providers you can integrate with Humanity include Paycor, Paycom and PayMaster. Humanity itself a premium software. You have 30 days to try this software for free during the trial period.

4. WhenToWork

Compared to When I  Work and Humanity, WhenToWork comes with a higher pricing options. To arrange the schedules of only 10 employees you will be billed $15 per month. This software also doesn’t offer much features and integrations like, for instance, Humanity. However, WhenToWork surely has its own argument about its high pricing options. One of the reasons is probably because this software comes with a proprietary shift scheduler algorithm which allows you to assign employee schedules with single click. According to WhenToWork, the algorithm helps eliminating scheduling conflicts and prevents human error.

WhenToWork seems so much focus in providing good service of employee scheduling. Despite its poor integration supports, this software comes with a row of features to ease your job in arranging your employee schedules. In addition to standard features like SMS and email notifications, there are plenty of useful features you can get from this software. This software also makes it possible if you want to export the schedule data for payroll processing.

5. Homebase

If you are a HR manager who are used to using spreadsheet software to arrange your employee schedules and want to switch to employee scheduling software to smoothen your job, Homebase is one of the best options. You can use this tool for free just like When I Work. But of course, you have to work with some restrictions. One of the key features you are going to miss if you use free version of Homebase is SMS notifications. Thankfully, you and your employees can still take advantage of mobile apps to get notified. In addition to scheduling, Homebase also features time tracking as well as team communication to allow you and your employees spend less time on paperwork.

6. TSheets

TSheets offers two main services, time tracking and employee scheduling. You can also use this software for free but limited to a single user so you have to work alone in managing your employees schedules. Free user is also limited to one project. One of the interesting things about this software you will probably love is that you will only need to pay for actual users. This software doesn’t charge you for bundles of seats like other similar software. TSheets is a great software for shift scheduling. Same as other tools above, you can also involve this employee scheduling software in the payroll processing. This software comes with a number of integrations with several payroll providers.

7. ScheduleBase

ScheduleBase is similar to WhenToWork in some ways. Both software come with high pricing options compared to other tools in this list. They also don’t offer free plan. In ScheduleBase, you will be billed $10 per month for 1-20 employees. ScheduleBase is better option if you want to involve your employees during arranging the schedules. You can invite your employees to ScheduleBase by entering their email addresses (your employees don’t need to create a ScheduleBase account). Once you invited your employees, they can then login to ScheduleBase to view work schedules. Most importantly, they will also have the ability to make a schedule request.

8. Sling

Totally free solution of employee scheduling software. Sling is a nice option for small businesses. The fact, the developer of Sling intended this software at small business owners to grow their businesses. Specifically, this software is designed for businesses in retail, hotel, healthcare and restaurant sectors. All standard features you expect from an employee scheduling, like mobile notifications, are fulfilled by Sling. Sling is built around four features: shifts, tasks, messages and newsfeed.

9. Jolt

Jolt is not specifically built as an employee scheduling software. Instead, it is a platform that consists of several services like task management, time tracking, information library and so on. Jolt is a freemium software, free version of Jolt allows you to use the employee scheduling tool for free. In general, features offered by this employee scheduling software are not much different to all tools above. If you are the type of HR manager who prefer to use a versatile software then Jolt can be a nice option. But, get ready to pay more if you want to upgrade your free account.

10. ScheduleAnywhere

With the experience of over 20 years, ScheduleAnywhere claims it is the world’s number one online employee scheduling software in the market. Currently, this software has been serving about 27,000 HR managers in the wide range of industries. Just like the name suggests, ScheduleAnywhere allows you to manage your employee schedules from anywhere using any device you possibly have from desktop PC, laptop to smartphone.

One thing you need to know about this ScheduleAnywhere. This software comes with a highest pricing options than all tools above. The cheapest plan, which can be used to manage schedules of 10 employees, is priced $25 per month. This software also comes with all standard features of modern employee scheduling software, including mobile app for employees to let them keep connected to their work schedules. There is a live demo offered by ScheduleAnywhere. You are also given a 30-day free trial to test this software.