Skip to main content
Tools
10 Best Online Employee Scheduling Software In 2023

The Best Online Employee Scheduling Software List

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

  1. 1. Wrike — Best for companies looking resource scheduling with powerful project management features
  2. 2. Connecteam — Best for browser-based time tracking
  3. 3. Hub Planner — Best for resource allocation and availability mapping
  4. 4. Justworks — Best for managing a distributed workforce
  5. 5. Homebase — Best if you need a complete online HR platform
  6. 6. eResource Scheduler — Best for managing schedules, timesheets, and financials
  7. 7. monday.com — Best custom workflows for team scheduling
  8. 8. ClockShark — Best for field service or construction business
  9. 9. When I Work — Best for employee shift scheduling and time tracking
  10. 10. Shiftboard — Best for highly regulated industries where you need to comply with diverse safety standards and labor laws

Managers have saved hours of work by ditching the classic paper records or spreadsheets to record their employees’ attendance and leave days. Automating your employee scheduling tasks lets you focus on other aspects like maintaining a solid team culture or ensuring your staff is happy.

For this article, I’ve tested 10 employee scheduling tools that reunite the core features you need to manage your team’s work hours, time off, payroll, and sometimes even more. 

Note that each one of these platforms comes with extra features that will be helpful for a specific industry or need. I’ll take you through the benefits of the core capabilities that help you maintain error-free schedules and stay compliant—regardless of your team’s size or location.

Keep reading for the list of 10 online employee scheduling software options HR, business owners, or team managers need to consider.

What Is Employee Scheduling Software?

Employee scheduling software solutions are used to plan, track, and report on your worker’s tasks and timesheets. This includes managing shifts, tracking vacation and sick time, and making wage payments based on fair data—no matter how many locations and teams you’re in charge of.

Their automated versions enable smooth schedule management even when work hours are extended unexpectedly or employees start trading their shifts. The scheduling module on these tools is almost always paired with time tracking and reporting capabilities for complete staff activity organization and analysis.

Note: Most of the tools you can get today are available online via a web application but employees can access them through desktop or mobile apps instead. You can use all of the solutions on this list directly from your web browser as employees can log their time online either from their computers or mobile phones.

Why Choose Employee Scheduling Software?

The complexity of these apps makes for a lengthy list of benefits you can get from a single HR hub. Here’s a few of them:

  • Lowered labor costs and unexpected expenses
  • Less time spent on scheduling and rescheduling
  • No shift delays or overlaps
  • More clarity regarding employee availability and shift exchanges
  • Improved employee satisfaction and retention rates
  • Direct payroll based on clear work hours stats
  • Full labor law compliance
  • Real-time view of your team’s activity and work risks

Most tools also provide flexible pricing levels so any kind of business can gain from them. You can access many free employee scheduling software alternatives with limited core features or for smaller teams.

Online Employee Scheduling Software Comparison Criteria

What do I look for when I select the best online employee scheduling apps? Here’s a summary of the evaluation criteria that should inspire your decision-making process: 

  1. User Interface (UI): Attractive UI is particularly helpful when you’re looking to implement a new tool quickly. An intuitive interface makes it easier for your employees to use the tool without requiring extra training. For a non-boring experience, opt for a bright and clean design.
  2. Usability: Reduce labor costs by looking for sellers that offer timely tech support and training even prior to making the purchase. A comprehensive help center complete with tutorials or a community to answer your inquiries in real-time is an added plus. Without these, you’d have to spend extra time and resources on training instead of using that time to do your work.
  3. Integrations: How easy is it for you to integrate the new tool with your current apps? Employee scheduling software is likely just one of the solutions you need to run your business. Choose platforms that seamlessly integrate with apps you’re already using, such as HRMS, thanks to pre-built integrations or add-ons. Another option is to request a specific integration and see if the seller’s dev team can prioritize this and allow customization.
  4. Value for $: Pick two or three apps from this list to compare their pricing. You want the cost to be appropriate for the capabilities you get. Keep in mind that unclear pricing or a lack of transparency are huge red flags.

Online Employee Scheduling Software Key Features

  1. Employee scheduling: Allocate employee schedules, tasks, and PTO or sick days.
  2. Automated scheduling: Save time by scheduling and adjusting work distribution based on predefined rules or patterns.
  3. Payroll management: Pay your employees on time directly from your employee scheduling solution.
  4. Shift management: Communicate required or open shifts and allow employees to swap shifts with one another.
  5. Time tracking: Allow employees to punch in and out online without the paperwork while managers maintain an overall look at their timesheets.
  6. Reporting and analytics: Create smart and clear reports to keep track of your team’s performance and reduce no-shows.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Online Employee Scheduling Software

Next is a brief run-through of each online employee scheduling software on my list showing what it does best, plus screenshots to showcase their features in action.

1

Wrike

Best for companies looking resource scheduling with powerful project management features

Wrike is an all-in-one project management solution that allows you to easily manage projects, people, and tasks in one unified platform. The software lets you create detailed schedules for your employees that can be edited in real time. This feature is especially helpful when dealing with last-minute changes or unexpected absences.

With Wrike’s employee scheduling features, you can create and manage employee schedules easily and set up alerts to notify you when some changes or tasks need attention. It allows you to create custom work shifts for each employee and assign tasks accordingly. You can also view who is scheduled for which shift at any given time, track changes in work hours, and approve or deny requests for shift adjustments or overtime hours. Additionally, employees can use the self-service portal to pick up shifts, request time off, and swap shifts with coworkers.

Wrike’s time-tracking feature lets you track how long each employee spends on a task or project. You can use this data to accurately measure productivity levels and identify areas where improvements are needed. Employees, on the other hand, can view their schedules from any device with a web browser, giving them more flexibility when managing their workloads. Finally, Wrike allows you to analyze workloads based on detailed reports that provide insight into overtime pay rates or staffing levels over extended periods.

Wrike integrates with over 400 applications, including ADP, Bamboo HR, Workday, Namely, Evernote, Dropbox, and Slack.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 2544

Free plan available

From $9.80/user/month

2

Connecteam

Best for browser-based time tracking

Need more than just staff scheduling software? Connecteam is a complete work management platform managers from all types of industries use to handle their daily operations, scheduling, internal communications, and employee training.

Their time tracking capabilities extend to geofencing which ensures your team is in the right place and won’t clock out when away from the designated work site. Digital forms, checklists, and push notifications or reminders are bonus points that make it a good choice for “deskless” workers. These prove useful as there are limited third-party integrations to opt for.

Paid subscriptions for Connecteam start at $35/month (billed monthly) for up to 200 staff members. Quite a generous offer you can decide upon after testing the platform for 14 days.

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)

3

Hub Planner

Best for resource allocation and availability mapping

Hub Planner provides a complete list of features like core resource scheduling and time tracking along with project planning and real-time reporting. Users from all kinds of professions can use the tool thanks to its availability on various devices—including on the go as long as you’re connected to the Internet.

The tool’s complex resource scheduling functionalities allow managers to find available team members by skills, location, department, workload, and/or custom tags.

Hub Planner plans are available from $7/resource/month with a generous 60-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 16

30-day free trial

From $7/user/month (billed annually)

4

Justworks

Best for managing a distributed workforce

Justworks is a multifaceted HR software solution combining payroll services, employee scheduling, time tracking, benefits administration, and more.

From a scheduling perspective, Justworks makes it easy to create and edit schedules, assign shifts, and track employee hours. The software also provides real-time updates, which helps you stay on top of any scheduling changes or conflicts.

A standout feature of Justworks is its time-tracking capabilities. Employees can clock in and out from their mobile devices, and it automatically calculates hours worked and overtime. This saves a lot of time when it comes to processing payroll.

Justworks integrates with 15Five, Accurate Background, Bench, Checkr, Culture Amp, Expensify, Found, JazzHR, Lattice, Pilot, Remote, Teampay, Velocity Global, and Zip Recruiter.

Free demo available

From $59/user/month

5

Homebase

Best if you need a complete online HR platform

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.

Its simplicity and vast array of functionalities have brought numerous distinctions such as “Top Rated Time Clock Software” by The Blueprint and a 5-star rating on QuickBooks Apps.

Homebase has a free plan you can use with an unlimited number of employees but fewer advanced features. This replaces a free trial.

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)

6

eResource Scheduler

Best for managing schedules, timesheets, and financials

eResource Scheduler (eRS) is a modular resource scheduling and management software that offers scheduling, time tracking, financial tracking, and reporting capabilities. Users can opt in or out of each of the product's verticals, making it customizable to your needs and priorities.

The software's drag-and-drop scheduling can be viewed by the hour, day, or month, giving various levels of depth and detail. Gantt charts give an overview of the projects underway, their timelines, and the people involved at various stages. Profiles can be developed for workers, making it easy to find people with the right skills and capacity to assign to different tasks or projects. 

Timesheets are simple to use and color-coded to quickly identify what projects, tasks, and other work people are spending their time on. Time data can be entered manually, imported using CSV, or automatically uploaded using the tool's API. Approval workflows can be built and saved in the platform, and various levels of access can be implemented for companies of all sizes.

The financial vertical of the software helps users make sense of their cost, revenue, and profit data. Cost and billing rates can be set at a role, project, or resource level for easy input and tracking of finances. Alongside the scheduling and time tracking functions of the platform, financials can be turned into reports and analytics for management to review.

The scheduling software and time tracking software each start at $5/resource/month. Sign up for a free 14-day trial to try before you buy.

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

7

monday.com

Best custom workflows for team scheduling

monday.com is an online employee scheduling software that allows managers to build custom workflows for their team. The tool includes dozens of integrations, widgets, third-party apps, and editable columns.

monday.com includes a time tracker for users to keep track of time spent on tasks. Users can also add the tracker to the team’s high-level overview so managers can see how much time employees spend on each individual task. Managers can also assign individual or multiple team members to tasks.

The tool has a workload widget, which enables managers to pull data from tasks and view individual team member capacity and overall workload. Users can also create custom dashboards that update automatically, so managers can track overall team performance and efficiency.

monday.com costs from $8/user/month. A 14-day free trial is also available.

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)

8

ClockShark

Best for field service or construction business

ClockShark is an online 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 online 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

9

When I Work

Best for employee shift scheduling and time tracking

When I Work is an employee scheduling software with an integrated time tracking tool for shift and task tracking. This allows you to manage your employees and track their hours without ever leaving the app. Your employees can manage their availability, submit time-off requests, and collaborate on shift trades.

For repetitive scheduling, When I Work lets you design shift templates or use easy copy-paste mechanisms to duplicate submitted information. The app makes it super easy to add and remove employees. It also facilitates fast communication with an in-app messaging system. If something about your schedule is amiss or needs to change, you will have feedback right away.

When I Work integrates with Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, TSheets, and more. Support is available via email and chat.

When I Work costs from $2/user/month and offers 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

10

Shiftboard

Best for highly regulated industries where you need to comply with diverse safety standards and labor laws

Need a highly-compliant tool to keep problems at bay? Shiftboard comes with two separate products: ScheduleFlex (used in distribution, staffing agencies, call centers) and the high-compliance SchedulePro (used for oil and gas, manufacturing, petrochemical industries). Both versions allow for general labor law compliance, employee self-service, and time tracking.

ScheduleFlex is better suited for organizations that require constant schedule changes. Flexible team schedule creation, shift blocking and credential verification, or labor demand forecasting help with maintaining day-to-day compliance.

Meanwhile, SchedulePro provides complex compliance with labor laws and safety standards along with labor demand forecasting, exception tracking, and other features to help you manage diverse risks.

The cost for both the ScheduleFlex and SchedulePro plans is custom as you’ll need to request a demo beforehand to see if one of them is right for your organization. Note that additional implementation fees apply in all cases.

Free demo available

Customized price upon request

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!

Best Online Employee Scheduling Software Summary

Tool Free Option Price
1
Wrike

Best for companies looking resource scheduling with powerful project management features

Free plan available

From $9.80/user/month Visit Website
2
Connecteam

Best for browser-based time tracking

Free plan available

From $29/month (30 users) Visit Website
3
Hub Planner

Best for resource allocation and availability mapping

30-day free trial

From $7/user/month (billed annually) Visit Website
4
Justworks

Best for managing a distributed workforce

Free demo available

From $59/user/month Visit Website
5
Homebase

Best if you need a complete online HR platform

Free plan available (unlimited employees)

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

Best for managing schedules, timesheets, and financials

14-day free trial

From $5/resource/month Visit Website
7
monday.com

Best custom workflows for team scheduling

14-day free trial + freemium plan available

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

Best for field service or construction business

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month + $16/month base fee Visit Website
9
When I Work

Best for employee shift scheduling and time tracking

14-day free trial

From $2/user/month Visit Website
10
Shiftboard

Best for highly regulated industries where you need to comply with diverse safety standards and labor laws

Free demo available

Customized price upon request Visit Website

Other Online Employee Scheduling Platform Options

Here are more apps that didn’t make the top list of best online employee scheduling software but are worth checking out:

  1. Schedule360

    Best for healthcare providers

  2. Shiftbase

    Best for easy shift scheduling

  3. Buddy Punch

    Best online time clock with scheduling

  4. BambooHR

    Best for managing employees throughout the whole life cycle

  5. 7shifts

    Best for restaurants

  6. Sage HR

    Best for small and medium businesses

  7. Insperity

    Best for streamlining employee scheduling for businesses of all sizes

  8. Planday

    Best for revenue forecasting

  9. Aladtec

    Best for rescue and law enforcement organizations

  10. WhenToWork

    Best for a one-click smart scheduling process

What Do You Think About These Online Employee Scheduling Tools?

Is there any similar app or workforce management software you’re already using? Looking for employee scheduling software specifically for Small Businesses?

Are you looking to switch to a new online employee management software for the extra features, or taking the leap and implementing an ERP Software?? Let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to bookmark this list if you haven’t decided on a new tool yet.

To keep up with our latest insights from top thinkers in the niche, sign up for The People Managing People Newsletter.

For discussions around these employee scheduling tools and best practices for using them, you can join our community.

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.