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10 Best Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business (2023)

The Best Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business List

Here’s a shortlist of the best employee scheduling software for small business:

  1. 1. Connecteam — Best for drag-and-drop scheduling and real-time shift updates
  2. 2. Justworks — Best employee scheduling software with 24/7 HR expert support team
  3. 3. Homebase — Best scheduling software for all-in-one team management
  4. 4. monday.com — Best schedule visualization tool for small teams
  5. 5. eResource Scheduler — Best for managing both human and non-human resources
  6. 6. ClockShark — Best for field service or construction businesses
  7. 7. Calendly — Best free meeting scheduler for small business owners
  8. 8. When I Work — Best employee shift scheduling software for shift trading features
  9. 9. Zoho People — Best free cloud-based scheduling app for small business owners
  10. 10. Hubstaff — Best time tracking software for remote teams

This is the ultimate list of the best employee scheduling software for small business in 2023. It contains the 10 best employee scheduling software along with bonus employee scheduling apps for small businesses. I also cover a couple of FAQs related to employee scheduling software solutions. Overall, this article will help small business owners save time by quickly comparing the top employee scheduling software available and selecting the right one for their business.

One of the most challenging aspects of being a small business owner is the administrative burden of managing employee schedules. For example, if you have only one employee it might be relatively easy to remember when he or she is available for work but if you have several then keeping track of who is available and who isn’t can be incredibly difficult.

Luckily, there are several employee scheduling software programs that can help you manage your employees’ schedules with ease. Companies that take the time to implement an employee scheduling system stand out for their people-focused culture (accommodating healthcare leaves, flexible shifts, etc.) and employee productivity. This is because when you schedule operations geared towards leveraging your employee’s skills and needs, you end up with a highly motivated workforce. According to data, almost 95% American workers are happy to track their time. The reasons for this can be the systemization of workforce management leading to accurate compensations and leave accommodations to name a few.

In this article, I will share the 10 best employee scheduling software for your business.

Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business: Comparison Criteria

What do I look for when I select the best employee scheduling software for a small business? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

  1. User Interface (UI): Is it clean and attractive? Is the interface straightforward? Is it free of confusing options that can bog down a small business owner?
  2. Usability: Is it easy to learn and master for a small business owner? Does the company offer good tech support, user support, tutorials, and training? For a small business,  scheduling should be easy to implement from the get-go.
  3. Integrations:  Is it easy to connect with other tools? Any pre-built integrations? How smoothly does the tool work with other products/add-ons in the market to fulfill small business needs? How does it  work with top payment and invoicing apps to streamline employee payments? Does it work out of the box with top team communication apps?
  4. Value for $: How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible? Is it budget-friendly for a small business?  How fast can one expect to get results from it? Do they help in keeping labor costs low?

Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business: Key Features

Here are some of the key scheduling features that employee scheduling software should have:

Real-Time Data 

Does the employee shift scheduling software show real-time data to the minute? Does the shift scheduling software offer data-syncing across desktop and mobile devices? Accuracy of time data is critical when you are a small business paying hourly rates. Data syncing via desktop and mobile apps (both iOS and Android) is needed to maintain synchronization of efforts and getting information on the go.

Alerts And Notifications System

Does the employee shift scheduling app have email alerts/SMS reminders and push notifications system to keep the team up to speed, no matter where they are? This kind of messaging mechanism is important for a fully integrated small business.

Tracking Tools 

Does the tool have time tracking tools? Time tracking is an important functionality to improve productivity as it monitors the amount of time an employee takes in finishing a particular task. As a manager, you can easily detect any lags and compare it to previous timesheets, thus taking actions to optimize the output.

Shift Swapping And Shuffling

Does the employee scheduling software allow shift swapping and shift shuffling between employees? Does it recommend candidates based on open schedules and assist in shift shuffling? Does the tool automatically update all the concerned teams about the shift shuffle and swap? Shift shuffling makes for a more flexible workforce management. So if an employee no-shows or calls in sick, you can shuffle the shift and assign some other capable team member their slot. In the same way, employees can swap shifts between themselves based on their availability. This leads to higher efficiency as your workforce is utilized optimally. 

Timesheet Reporting And Analytics

Does the software have timesheet reporting including billable hours, overtime, and logged time? Does the product give you analytics that help you make informed decisions? Based on timesheet reporting, a small business owner is able to calculate payroll and send correct invoices. It also gives you precise information on the output of your team.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Employee Scheduling Software For Small Businesses

Here’s a brief description of the employee scheduling tools on my list, showing what each does best with screenshots to showcase some of the features.

1

Connecteam

Best for drag-and-drop scheduling and real-time shift updates

Connecteam’s scheduling software is simple to use and scalable, so you can add more features when you need them. It supports drag-and-drop scheduling, as well as features like repeating shifts, flags for periods of unavailability, and a warning so workers won’t exceed their weekly overtime cap. The platform also allows employees to claim open shifts, make simple shift swaps themselves, or reject a shift if they aren’t able to attend it.

Beyond their scheduling features, Connecteam also offers communication and engagement tools such as team and company-wide chat channels, internal quiz tools, and an organizational directory and linked org chart. They also have features to support task management, including descriptive tasks lists with the ability to add sub-tasks and attachments.

Available on mobile, desktop, or as a kiosk app for tablets, Connecteam was built for deskless and remote teams. It’s a popular choice in many industries including retail, restaurants, manufacturing, construction, field services and healthcare.

Pricing for Connecteam starts at a flat rate of $39/month. They also offer a free 14-day trial. A freemium plan with limited features is also available too.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 34

Free plan available

From $29/month (30 users)

2

Justworks

Best employee scheduling software with 24/7 HR expert support team

Justworks is an all-inclusive HR software that offers employee time management solutions to help businesses efficiently track and manage employee work hours. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Justworks can simplify the process of scheduling and tracking time, making it a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes.

The software offers an intuitive interface, which makes it easy for employers to create and manage employee shift schedules, track time, and review time logs and locations. The platform offers a range of features to streamline time tracking and ensure accurate record-keeping of employee data. It caters to the needs of businesses across different industries and sizes, providing flexibility, scalability, and the comfort of 24/7 support from a team of HR experts.

Features include comprehensive time tracking capabilities, allowing employers to accurately record and monitor employee work hours. It provides various methods for time entry, such as manual input, digital clock-in/out, and integration with compatible time clocks. This feature enables employers to track employee attendance, calculate overtime, and generate accurate payroll reports.

The platform also sends notifications and reminders to employers and employees on the mobile and desktop apps, ensuring everyone is informed about time logs, time-off requests, or geo-changes. Users can also sync Justworks' scheduling data with Google Calendar, enabling users to track time off, payroll, and holidays.

Integrations include Google Calendar, QuickBooks, Greenhouse, Xero, Slack, Vanguard, Fidelity, Citi Bike, and E-Verify.

Free demo available

From $59/user/month

3

Homebase

Best scheduling software for all-in-one team management

The Homebase team scheduling software is mainly used by small businesses such as small stores, beauty salons or fitness facilities, and other service providers. The platform provides an exhaustive set of features that let you run your HR tasks from start to finish, including hiring and onboarding, scheduling, time tracking, team communication, and more.

Homebase allows you to create work rosters easily from schedule templates, and then make changes on the fly as required. You can build smart work schedules and forecast your labor costs.

Employees can always get their up-to-date work schedule using the free mobile apps, or they can get the information via text or email. Homebase’s scheduler automatically calculates overtime, subtracts breaks, and alerts you to schedule conflicts.

You can also integrate your sales data and forecasts, so you can build your schedule around your labor targets.

Homebase has a free plan you can use with an unlimited number of employees but fewer advanced features. This replaces a free trial. Their paid plans start at $20/month/location.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 82

Free plan available (unlimited employees)

From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month)

4

monday.com

Best schedule visualization tool for small teams

monday.com’s flexible Work OS system makes it easy for users to organize and track any process through their customized data dashboards. Their system comes with 200+ templates, including a weekly work schedule template, that can be adapted to your business needs. All of their data dashboards can also be visualized in a variety of formats with just one click, including a calendar view or Gantt chart format.

Monday.com is a straightforward and low-cost way to streamline your scheduling process. You can even include automation to notify your staff as soon as a new schedule is posted. Another helpful feature is the ability to share the schedule in “read-only” mode, so you can ensure no alterations are made. You can also search schedules for unique details or employee names, add customized labels, or break schedules down into as many groups and subgroups as you need.

To further enhance your planning processes, monday integrates with a wide range of other communication and productivity tools including Excel, Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Zapier, and others.

Pricing for monday.com starts at $8 user/month. They also offer a 14-day free trial, as well as a free forever plan with limited features for a maximum of two users.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 8065

14-day free trial + freemium plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats)

5

eResource Scheduler

Best for managing both human and non-human resources

eResource Scheduler is an employee scheduling software that can be used to plan, allocate, and manage resources both human and otherwise. Companies can assign resources to projects and tasks based on the type of resource, availability, and custom fields they can configure in the software. This helps maximize how people, time, and tools are used at a small business.

Drag-and-drop scheduling allows managers to move people from one task to another and get an overview of time off and everyone's workloads. Schedules can be saved and adjusted as needed, reducing manual errors and staffing issues. Employees can track their attendance and time using the software's timesheets, and past data can be used for predictive insights for more effective and proactive scheduling.

The software also has reporting tools that provide insights into under and over utilized resources and other key performance metrics. Planned vs. actual reports give an overview of the reality of the time, people, and budgets necessary for various projects.

Paid plans start from $5/resource/month, and a 14-day free trial is available.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4 2

14-day free trial

From $5/resource/month

6

ClockShark

Best for field service or construction businesses

ClockShark is an employee scheduling software with timesheets and time tracking for field services and construction businesses. Employees can clock in and clock out from their smartphones and all job costing data is recorded within the app so you can access it for simple payroll and invoice processing. You have multiple options for employees to access ClockShark: by web browser, mobile app, or even a ClockShark 'kiosk' using a tablet device. You can leverage facial recognition tools and individual PINs to ensure the utmost security no matter how you choose to access the software. 

Crew management is simple with ClockShark's work scheduling calendar. You can create and assign shifts, color-code entries, and drag-and-drop items to make changes quickly. Notifications will prompt affected parties in real-time if their shift is altered in any way (canceled, shortened, swapped, etc.). ClockShark also has GPS and geofencing capabilities baked in so you can see where and when people are checking in.

Overall, ClockShark is a must-have employee scheduling software for field service or construction businesses to streamline their timesheet-to-payroll workflows.

ClockShark integrates with QuickBooks, Sage 100 Contractor, Xero, ADP, Paychex, and other apps.

ClockShark costs from $7/user/month plus a $16/month base fee. They also offer a 14-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 276

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month + $16/month base fee

7

Calendly

Best free meeting scheduler for small business owners

Calendly is a free scheduling software for small businesses that helps you manage your staff schedule. The software is both mobile (iOS and Android) and browser-based, meaning you can book appointments anywhere you have access to the internet. With Calendly, you can create a calendar and share it with clients. You can customize your availability to any time-of-day or day-of-the-week (or remove available slots to show that you are a busy person!).

Overall, Calendly is simple to use and implement with no feature bloating. With the free version, you can schedule unlimited one-on-one appointments. The pro plan comes with additional features like appointment reminders. Customer support for the pro plan is available via email.

Calendly integrates with Gmail, Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, Paypal, Intercom, Stripe, GoToMeeting, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Active Campaign, Drip, ClickSend SMS, Twilio, and dozens of other apps. You can also integrate with hundreds more tools using a paid plan through Zapier.

Calendly is free to use for 1 calendar. Paid plans cost from $10/seat/month and come with a 14-day free trial. They also offer a freemium plan with limited features too.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 1269

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $10/seat/month

8

When I Work

Best employee shift scheduling software for shift trading features

When I Work is a software that helps small business owners stay on top of their schedule. It has a wide variety of features, such as a calendar to track your appointments and a task list for managing your to-dos. There is a press-to-start time clock integrated that allows you to manage your team members and track their hours. The employees can easily collaborate on shift trades, manage their availability, and also submit time-off requests. The dashboard is simple and tailor-made for quick actions. You can also customize the dashboard according to your needs.

When I Work has an option for easy bulk upload of the company directory for quick onboarding. You can send messages to employees with reminders and updates. When I Work works out of the box with Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, TSheets, and more. Support is available via email and chat. There is also an extensive knowledge base with training videos and templates to support the onboarding journey.

Paid plans start at $2 per user with an option for a 14-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4 274

14-day free trial

From $2/user/month

9

Zoho People

Best free cloud-based scheduling app for small business owners

Zoho People is a cloud-based scheduling solution. It includes time tracking and project management tools. It’s easy to use with customizable dashboards and drag-and-drop functionality. It automates and simplifies all the tedious and repetitive HR tasks that can bog down a small business owner. The product allows you to streamline the hiring process from a single location.

You can collect and consolidate attendance data from multiple sources and cut down mistakes due to manual entries. You have the ability to fully customize schedules, conduct leave management by leave types, and create timesheets with ease. There is also a feature for employee queries that can be used to better integrate employees with the project at hand. The product has automated mail alerts and intelligent workflow configuration built-in. The product integrates with AdobeSign, Zapier, QuickBooks, and more. Support is by email and chat. There is also an extensive knowledge base available.

Zoho People costs from $1.25/user/month and comes with a 30-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 149

30-day free trial

From $1.25/user/month

10

Hubstaff

Best time tracking software for remote teams

Hubstaff is a time tracker that allows you to see how many hours your employees are working. It also lets you keep a track of how much of your time is spent on various projects. All this data is analyzed through reports on Hubstaff’s dashboard. This product is best suited for small business owners with its pocket-friendly pricing.

Hubstaff also includes screenshots and activity levels. It tracks employees’ time spent on projects, tasks, and meetings, thus letting managers see where time lags are happening in real-time. Hubstaff integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, and payroll software like ADP and Gusto. Support is available via email, chat, and a quick start guide.

Pricing starts at $7 per month for their basic plan and comes with a 14-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 392

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month

Need Expert Help Selecting The Right Calendar & Scheduling Software?

We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!

Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business Summary

Tool Free Option Price
1
Connecteam

Best for drag-and-drop scheduling and real-time shift updates

Free plan available

From $29/month (30 users) Visit Website
2
Justworks

Best employee scheduling software with 24/7 HR expert support team

Free demo available

From $59/user/month Visit Website
3
Homebase

Best scheduling software for all-in-one team management

Free plan available (unlimited employees)

From $20/month (payroll add-on is $6/user/month + $39/month) Visit Website
4
monday.com

Best schedule visualization tool for small teams

14-day free trial + freemium plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) Visit Website
5
eResource Scheduler

Best for managing both human and non-human resources

14-day free trial

From $5/resource/month Visit Website
6
ClockShark

Best for field service or construction businesses

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month + $16/month base fee Visit Website
7
Calendly

Best free meeting scheduler for small business owners

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $10/seat/month Visit Website
8
When I Work

Best employee shift scheduling software for shift trading features

14-day free trial

From $2/user/month Visit Website
9
Zoho People

Best free cloud-based scheduling app for small business owners

30-day free trial

From $1.25/user/month Visit Website
10
Hubstaff

Best time tracking software for remote teams

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month Visit Website

Other Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business Options

  1. Skedulo

    Best scheduling automation engine

  2. ezClocker

    Best GPS-enabled time tracking software

  3. ABC Roster

    Best for employee and shift constraint management

  4. Buddy Punch

    Best online time clock for small businesses

  5. 7shifts

    Best employee shift scheduling software for the restaurant industry

  6. BambooHR

    Best applicant tracking system for small businesses

  7. Sage HR

    Best employee leave management for small businesses

  8. Wrike

    Best for companies wanting visibility into each team member's availability

  9. Insperity

    Efficient employee scheduling and HR management for small businesses.

  10. injixo

    Best workforce management app for call centers

Related List of Tools: 10 Best HRMS For Small Business In 2023

Employee Scheduling Software For Small Business: FAQs

Before we conclude, I wanted to address and discuss some FAQs related to employee scheduling software for small businesses.

What Is The Best Free Employee Scheduling App?

There are many options you can go for while choosing the best free employee scheduling app. Some top options are Monday.com, 7Shifts, and OpenSimSim.

We've even come up with a list of the 10 Best Free Employee Scheduling Software In 2023 and you can check it out right here!

What Do You Think About This Employee Scheduling Software for Small Businesses?

Now tell me your opinion and thoughts. Anything that I missed that you think has great potential? Let me know about it in the comments section.

And if you're interested in a more comprehensive solution for your organization such as an ERP system, here's our list of the 10 Best ERP Systems For Small Businesses.

Also, if you liked the article, it would be awfully kind of you to give it a share on social media (that sounded so Victorian!). Your social network will appreciate you for sharing such valuable insights. Who knows, maybe you build your next million-dollar relationship from there?
Want to stay ahead in all things related to the employee management and HR world? Subscribe to the People Managing People newsletter.

Related List of Tools: 10 Best HRIS for Small Businesses to Manage HR Data

Also Worth Reading: 10 Best Contact Management Software In 2023

By Tim Reitsma

Tim is the co-founder and General Manager of People Managing People, an online publication focused on building a better world of work. He is experienced with people & culture, leadership, business strategy and operations with a focus on building great teams who are excited about their craft and their organization. With over 15 years of leadership experience, Tim has always been guided by his core values: faith, family, curiosity, and fun. He is a coach, mentor, speaker, advisor, and an active volunteer in his community. Tim loves spending time outdoors with his wife and two kids as well as mountain biking in the north shore mountains.