Employee shift management has always been an integral but tedious part of the business process. This is primarily due to the huge number of tiny details you have to keep track of. Each employee has shift they have to follow through with, but that also comes with overtime schedules, off days, and unusual work hours. Recording these details manually can be a heavy task. There are always unexpected events such as employees calling in sick or schedule conflicts arising when making shift adjustments. The list goes on and on, and this is why shift management has always been an unappreciated job for any manager. Here is where Shift Management SaaS apps come in to lighten the load. These tools are leveraging web, mobile, social technologies and sophisticated algorithms to make the tedious shift management job easier and even sometimes enjoyable. So, for the company that needs more efficiency with less stress, here are a few SaaS shift managing programs your business can use right now.

PlanDay

Retail or restaurant businesses may experience a few problems when it comes to their workforce. While a stable staff is great, sometimes you will need extras or replacements in order to accommodate more traffic. PlanDay is the answer to a lot of the needs of businesses which use freelancers as a workforce. However, the program also comes with an array of schedule templates which makes any transitional process much easier. PlanDay also works with time constraints in mind; the program constantly checks for any conflicts or double booking issues. Finally, its integrated payroll feature allows for quick calculations on payday.

Pros
– Union Rules can be applied to employee schedules
– Employees are given a measure of power by allowing them to exchange shifts with other workers
– The extensive event management system ensures that you can schedules public and private functions instantly
– Cross platform support allows you to schedule and monitor shifts on a phone, tab, and from your desktop.

Cons
– Adding overtime, budgeting, turnover, external events, and union rules to the program will cost more per month.
– Training on your part will be necessary
– Larger companies with more than 150 will have to negotiate a special package with the company

Shift Planning

From the get go, Shift Planning presents itself as a clear and user friendly program. The prime difference between SP and PD is that the former uses a clean grid interface rather than a drop down menu with hour long assignable shifts. Each schedule is laid out cleanly on a grid and every box represents each day of the week. The power of shift management can also be shared to your employees, much like PlanDay. The relative flexibility of the program will ensure that you keep track of your employees’ payrolls and any fluid changes will show up in your inbox as soon as it happens. Pricing ranges from $33 for 20 people all the way to a customizable package which can be negotiated upon with the people at Shift Planning.

Pros
– Free month long training program
– Excellent and simple time tracking and scheduling
– Map options allow you to set up schedules in different locations
– Integrates and syncs up with 3rd party apps like Google Docs

Cons
– Notifications are still limited to SMS and emails
– More active push notification would be welcome
– Extensive employee profile modifications mean extensive and set up
– The program is better used in a restaurant environment

7Shifts

7Shifts is a bit a like Shift Planning in that it offers restaurants an alternative to spread sheet and pen paper scheduling. Upon start up, you’ll be treated to a clean interface with a very minimalistic look and theme. There are few options available, but that isn’t a negative in this case. Clicking on a specific shift or job will show you the schedules and employee profiles assigned to each. It also supports multi-location planning so catering services are made simpler. Mobile presence and an online manager log book ensures that on the fly changes are possible and easy.

Pros
– Simple but detailed scheduling system
– Task reassignment and trade are even easier
– Predictive scheduling system allows you to have an accurate reflection of hours on an employee’s payroll

Cons
– Employee bidding is a little difficult to get a hang of
– The program’s focus on restaurant makes it very limited
– Established employee profiles mean temp workers will have to fill out the full form

Hello Scheduling

Hello Scheduling has a very simple foundation; scheduling with a friendly vibe. Instead of setting days, the schedules are laid out according to the employee’s time. It will detail the time all your employees and present them in a graph. There’s shift swaps and requests for time off, making it easier for your staff to swap workloads whenever available. Pricing is also relatively cheap when compared with the rest of the programs on this list. However, Hello Scheduling’s simplicity is both a blessing and a bit of a letdown as well.

Pros
– Accurate to the dot scheduling mechanics
– Relatively easy to use so training is optional
– Cheap monthly rates
Cons
-Only the second package onwards include the Time Clock
– It lacks a few advanced features like expansive rules or more detailed schedule modifications
– Web Based and can prove unstable with sketchy connections

ESchedule

Seeing this program from startup looks gorgeous because of how well presented the UI looks. It’s easy to find the tasks and the schedules you’ll need to alter. Employee accounts will also come with the ability to trade and grab new shifts. One of the bonuses to this program is that it supports a wide number of employees and juggles all schedules with relative easy. Active reporting is also a plus because you’ll be served an overview of your businesses movements. ESchedule is very flexible in that it can be up-scaled from a smaller business all the way up to a mid-scale company. It is also the cheapest program, coming in at $20 at the most basic package.

Pros
– Relatively cheap packages with a significant number of employee counts making it perfect for starter companies
– The shift guidance feature helps you set up future schedules using historical demands
– Excellent UI and it is also very user friendly
– A long free trial period which allows you to make a more informed decision

Cons
– It’s a very basic program
– No Payroll system
– This is another program which focuses more on restaurant shift management

These are just a few of the most reliable SaaS shift management programs available on the market right now. It is worthy to note that you can subscribe to each of these programs’ free trials if you need to test the water for any one of these programs.