Best Employee Scheduling Software 2024: Top Picks for UK
Meelik Samel
November 24, 2023
Staff rota software, or employee scheduling software, is designed to simplify creating, managing, and optimising employee work schedules to provide you with more options and a faster workflow than a spreadsheet rota template. The best employee scheduling software solutions automate the creation of a shift roster, track employee availability, manage time-off requests, and ensure compliance with labour laws and regulations.
A staff rota app can offer features such as shift templates, real-time scheduling adjustments, and reporting tools, making it easier for businesses to allocate staff efficiently while reducing scheduling conflicts and labour costs. Rotas software is commonly used in various industries, including retail, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing, where managing a workforce with different shifts and roles is essential.
What Are The Best Employee Scheduling Software for UK Companies In 2024?
What is the best rota software? Well, this depends on what you are looking to get out of it. Different industries have different requirements, and workforce scheduling software that helps large enterprises optimise their labour costs may not be the right solution for a small family business. This is why we have tested different software in this category based on features, price, user-friendliness, support, and integrations, and in this post, we will reveal our findings to help you choose the best solution.
Top Staff Rota Software Comparison & Ratings Chart
| Software Name | Best for | Price | Capterra Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| PARiM | Healthcare, security, events, temporary workforce | £39 per month, unlimited users | 4.8 |
| Deputy | Retail | $3.50 per user per month | 4.7 |
| Findmyshift | Small businesses | €22 per month, 20 users | 4.7 |
| 7Shifts | Restaurants | $29.99 per location per month | 4.7 |
| Quickbook Time | Small businesses | $20 per month + $8 per month per user | 4.7 |
| Google Calendar | Very small teams | $6 per month per user | 4.8 |
Best 6 Staff Rota Apps Reviewed
Most business operations have moved away from pen-and-paper, but many are still using manual digital tools, such as spreadsheets, as their rota maker. At the same time, the work scheduling software market is full of many different options. This can make finding the best rota generator a challenging process. and result in non-optimal. To help you out, we compiled a list of the best employee scheduling software solutions for 2024.
PARiM
PARiM employee scheduling software tops our list as it answers the main question – how to schedule employees effectively – in the most comprehensive way. PARiM provides the most efficient scheduling process for the least amount of administrative work while providing flexibility and customisation options to fit your organisation's size, from small family businesses to large enterprises. PARiM shift tracker lets you easily manage large teams and multiple job sites while providing real-time data flow.
PARiM work scheduling app helps you match employees to positions and automatically finds the staff that will be suitable to notify you about open shifts. You can be sure to avoid scheduling conflicts and ensure fair distribution of shifts. Custom working time rules ensure compliance with your local labour laws without having to worry about it.
And you no longer have to manually manage payroll tracking. With the PARiM shift schedule app, you can set up custom pay rules, however straightforward or complex these may be in your business. And in the big picture, it can help you grow your company quicker as it provides an unlimited staff database with unlimited free users for all plans.
With modular additions, PARiM can also help out with industry-specific requirements. Event organisers and venue managers can create shifts within the events calendar to quickly schedule ahead and overview staffing levels for each position. The security industry can provide timestamped guard tour reports with set-up checkpoints.
Top Features
Quick and efficient scheduling
Accurate time and pay tracking
Extensive absence management system
Unlimited staff database
Industry-specific modules
Pros
Cost-effective
Customisable
Scales with your company
Cons
Limited integrations
Integrations
PARiM has you covered with the two industry leaders for quick and efficient data flow: Zapier and BambooHR. Additionally, PARiM offers its own data extraction API, which is especially useful for large enterprises that may need to export real-time staff cost data. From the payroll side, PARiM rota software offers integration with Wagestream.
Support
In addition to customer support articles, PARiM shift planning software offers email support for all plans. The Professional plan adds chat for quick answers, and Premium users can also have online meetings with the support team. For each enterprise client, PARiM provides a dedicated account manager and additional priority support.
Ratings and Reviews
PARiM holds a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Capterra. Reviews emphasise time and cost savings, shared access options and GPS features for multi-location shifts. Users also point out that the staff app helps eliminate the need for phone calls and text messages. Some have reported a learning curve but conclude that after training, the system is easy to use.
Pricing
PARiM has three different pricing plans to suit businesses and organisations of all stages and sizes and a custom plan for enterprises. All plans include an unlimited staff database and unlimited users. As you move up the tiers, each higher plan comes with extra features and additional shift hours included:
Starter: £39 per month, 1,000 hours included
Professional: £99 per month, 2,500 hours included
Premium: £249 per month, 4,500 hours included
Enterprise: custom pricing, 15,000 hours included
Deputy
Deputy provides core staff scheduling features for medium-sized businesses. It delivers a nice user interface but can be somewhat complicated to use at the same time. Deputy can be inviting for those looking for an option with a lot of integrations. It can be a good fit for small retail businesses and companies that are not affected by seasonal fluctuations. Those who manage temporary staff may want to look elsewhere as the Deputy's per-user pricing can accumulate quickly.
Top Features
Employee scheduling
Task management
Alerts and notifications
Pros
Intuitive user interface
Payroll integrations
Cons
Difficult to use
Can be very pricy
Limited absence management
Integrations
Deputy offers over 50 integrations with payroll software, accounting systems and HR databases. The present options include ADP, BambooHR, Xero and Zapier, among many others.
Support
Deputy has a good help centre with articles sorted by topic and also findable by search function. All plans receive email support with custom support options for enterprise clients.
Ratings and Reviews
Deputy holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Capterra and is well-received for its user interface and integrations. On the other hand, users report that some data can be difficult to find, and time-tracking may provide inaccuracies. One of the main criticisms is that Deputy's pricing model restricts management cooperation as each admin user is priced similarly to each employee user.
Pricing
Deputy has two separate plans for scheduling and time-tracking and a premium plan that combines the two with additional reporting functions. There is also an enterprise plan with custom pricing. The current prices are:
Scheduling: $3.50 per user per month
Time & Attendance: $3.50 per user per month
Premium: $4.90 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Findmyshift
Findmyshift provides straightforward scheduling and time-tracking features for companies looking to move away from spreadsheets. It suits various industries and companies with different sizes but lacks many of the advanced features that the competition provides and comes with a limited staff schedule app. The price points for larger organisations can also be quite steep.
Top Features
Drag-and-drop scheduling software
Shift swap requests
Analytics and reports
Pros
Quick setup process
Easy to use for smaller teams
Cons
Confusing time off management
Dated app with limitations
Lack of advanced features for this price
Integrations
Findmyshift scheduling software offers integration options with over 10 well-known platforms, such as Slack, Xero and BambooHR, to cover communication, accounting and staff data management.
Support
Findmyshift has an extensive help centre with support articles. It provides customer support via email, live chat and WhatsApp. Enterprise customers will also have the option for technical support over phone calls.
Ratings and Reviews
Findmyshift scheduling software for employees scores 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra. Users commend the ease of use, while critics point out confusing notification systems and missing features for time off and absence management. Many users also report that the employee schedule app can be glitchy, limited and difficult to use.
Pricing
Findmyshfit has structured its pricing by teams and team members. There is also a free plan for a very small team of 5 people and one manager with a minimal amount of historical data and forward planning. The current pricing is set up as follows:
Free: €0 per month, 5 team members, 1 manager
Starter: €22 per month per team, 10 team members, 1 manager
Business: €35 per month per team, 100 team members, 100 managers
Enterprise: €57 per month per team, 300 team members, 300 managers
7shifts
7shifts is an employee scheduling platform tailored for the restaurant business, which makes it one of the top choices in this industry. It provides excellent speciality features for tip pooling and employee engagement. However specialisation makes it less adaptable for other industries who may want to look elsewhere when searching for the best shift planner app for their business.
Top Features
Restaurant staff scheduling
Tip pooling
Employee performance management
Pros
Simple employee onboarding process
Quick communication with employees
Cons
Confusing budgeting tool
Formatting can create issues with payroll
Integrations
7shift offers over 70 integrations with payroll and points of sales systems such as ADP and Square. But restaurant owners and business managers may be even more glad to hear that 7shift integrates well with Toast and Doordash.
Support
7shift offers chat support for all plans. Live support is also available for all-priced plans. The free plan users can receive live support for the first 60 days.
Ratings and Reviews
The average user score on Capterra for 7shifts is 4.7 out of 5. Users are happy with the good communication tools and features to find available employees. Some point that there are discrepancies in data when compared to Toast.
Pricing
7shift has structured its pricing by location with four different options available:
Comp: Free, single location
Entree: $29.99 per month per location
The Works: $69.99 per month per location
Gourmet: $129.99 per month per location
Quickbooks Time
Quickbooks Time provides simple and straightforward scheduling and time-tracking options for small companies. It's a good step up from manual scheduling if you don't require advanced features or manage complex schedules.
Top Features
Shift scheduling
Mobile app
Time kiosk
Pros
Easy to set up
Good reporting features
Cons
Limited scheduling options
Users report glitches
Integrations
Quickbooks offers integrations with over 20 payroll and HR data management platforms. Naturally, it can be integrated with the Quickbooks Online bookkeeping platform.
Support
Finding the right support article can take some navigation on the web as Quickbook's main is still their accounting software. However, all Quickbooks Time users receive chat support to help them solve their issues.
Ratings and Reviews
Quickbooks holds a 4.7 out of 5 score on Capterra. It receives good feedback for its integrations, especially for its syncing options with Quickbooks Online. The scheduling module gets criticised for its lack of options, and employees point out time clock inaccuracies.
Pricing
Premium: $20 per month + $8 per month per user
Elite: $40 per month + $10 per month per user
Google Calendar
Google Calendar probably doesn't need much introduction as it's one of the most widely used calendar platforms for both business and personal use. Small businesses with regular schedules can use it to manage their office time and sync the data easily to other apps.
Top Features
Calendar syncing
Reminders and notifications
Contact information
Pros
Integrates well with other Google apps
Video calls
Cons
No advanced scheduling options
Integrating multiple calendars can cause issues
Integrations
Google Calendar integrates well with Google's other apps: Gmail, Google Drive, Contacts and Google Meet. Calendar information can be synced to other widely used mail clients, such as Apple Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird.
Support
Google Calendar Help Center is the main source for support information that covers all the setup, use cases and main features. Additionally, you can also ask for help from the Google Calendar Help Community, where users can post both questions and findings to help each other out.
Ratings and Reviews
As one of the most widely-used calendar systems, Google Calendar scores 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra and receives positive feedback for its ease of use. On the downside, there are still less convincing user experience moments, especially when working with popups that can accidentally disappear with all the input information.
Pricing
Google Workspace has three different pricing options, with each higher tier offering extra cloud storage and video calls. The business Standard plan adds video recording options, and the Business Plus plan adds enhanced security and attendance tracking options.
Google Workspace plans are priced with the following structure:
Starter: $6 per month per user
Business Standard: $12 per month per user
Business Plus: $18 per month per user
What Features To Look For When Choosing A Work Rota App?
Choosing the best online rota system for your company can be overwhelming with the options on the market. Another good way to make the process smoother is to filter out essential features. While the core scheduling and time-tracking characteristics can be similar at first glance, the small differences in features can make a huge difference for your operations.
Look for these shift schedule software features:
Automatic position-matching for open shifts
Accurate time clock app
Automated payroll tracker
Automated billing tracker
Absence management system
Employee data and compliance management
Which Of The Top Rota Management Software Is Right For You?
So, how do you select the best staff scheduling app for your organisation? First, know your industry and know your employees. Then, learn what questions to ask yourself when making a choice:
What type of workforce do you manage?
Do you manage multiple locations?
Are you providing staffing services?
How many manager and employee users do you need?
PARiM rota software is the best answer when managing a temporary workforce and multiple locations while providing unparalleled options for invoicing and client communication. Irregular hours and complex pay rates are also solved. If your company has to recognise seasonal fluctuations in demand, you will not risk paying for unused users, as PARiM offers unlimited free users in all plans.
FAQ about the best staff scheduling software
What is the best software for making employee schedules?
The best software for making employee schedules is the one that provides you with an efficient scheduling process to quickly fill shifts with the right employees. In 2023, PARiM is the best option for companies that work with shifts and complex shift patterns and must provide quick, real-time updates to their employees.
What software do companies use for scheduling?
As of November 2023, the top-rated staff scheduling software tools, according to reviews from real users on sites like Capterra and G2, are PARiM, Deputy and Findmyshift. 7shift is the preferred choice for the restaurant industry, and Quickbooks Time is widely used for small businesses.
Is there an app for scheduling employees?
PARiM has the best employee scheduling app that offers a host of shift scheduling tools. Managers can quickly create, edit and publish new schedules and open shifts. Employees can set their availabilities and request time off while receiving real-time reminders about starting shifts and notifications about available open shifts.
