HotSchedules vs 7shifts

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Our analysts compared HotSchedules vs 7shifts based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Employee Scheduling Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

HotSchedules Software Tool

Product Basics

HotSchedules is a cloud-based shift scheduling tool within the Fourth HR ecosystem. It assists with a variety of core employee scheduling tasks, including assigning shifts, tracking time and managing labor.

It helps optimize time and labor costs by analyzing sales patterns, forecasting demand and optimizing workforce allocation through seasons. The built-in messaging portal improves communication and keeps the team on the same page.

Businesses can create custom dashboards to track business-specific KPIs, employee performances and attendance. Employees get unique portals to view assigned tasks, swap shifts and communicate with team members.

A built-in wage and labor compliance module helps maintain compliance with state and federal labor laws. The mobile app provides push notifications for scheduling conflicts and compliance issues to stay agile and compliant from anywhere.

Pros
  • Convenience and accessibility
  • Scheduling functionality
  • Efficient automation
  • Diverse integrations
Cons
  • Learning curve
  • Inconsistent support services
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7shifts is a web-based platform that helps restaurants create, edit and publish staff schedules. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows managers to assign shifts quickly while factoring in employee availability, time-off requests and overtime limitations. To avoid scheduling conflicts, it automatically highlights potential issues such as missed breaks and unbudgeted labor hours during the creation process.

It integrates with existing point-of-sale (POS) systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry. It pulls sales data to help managers create labor schedules that align with sales forecasts. Additionally, clock-in/out data can be incorporated, providing a complete picture of labor costs.

The platform offers a mobile app for both managers and employees. The manager app allows for on-the-go schedule changes, communication with staff, and real-time sales and labor cost monitoring. The employee app allows staff to view their schedules, request time off, and swap shifts with colleagues directly from their smartphones.

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$40/Location, Monthly
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$3/User, Monthly
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Product Insights

  • Save Time: Build schedules and assign shifts more effectively and save time spent on these activities.
  • Improve Communication: Communicate with team members, update schedule changes, swap shifts and more directly through the platform to keep up with all critical and urgent scheduling revisions.
  • Reduce Labor Costs: Generate store reports on labor costs and sales and assess overall labor practices to help inform future budgets.
  • Encourage Employee Engagement: Managers can provide employees direct access to the schedule through the mobile app, allowing them to access and request changes to the schedule, which boosts engagement.
  • Ensure Compliance: Configure labor rules to document shift transactions, control labor costs, and comply with industry, state and federal legislation.
  • Accurate Forecasting: Ensure accurate forecasts using tools that help cut operational costs, boost revenue from sales and increase customer satisfaction and experiences.
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  • Try It Before You Buy It: Get started with 7shifts for free! You can schedule up to 30 employees at one location without needing a credit card. Plus, all paid plans come with a 14-day trial to help you explore all the features before committing.
  • Top-Rated Solution: Our analysts ranked 7shifts among the best employee scheduling software, with an impressive score of 86. This puts it right up there with industry leaders like When I Work (85) and Deputy (86).
  • Simple Setup, Powerful Features: Looking for an all-in-one scheduling solution? 7shifts might be perfect for you. Our research shows it supports 84% of essential employee scheduling needs right out of the box, requiring minimal setup.
  • Enhanced Teamwork: 7shifts excels in team communication and collaboration, offering features like news feeds, group chats, announcements and direct messaging. Plus, read receipts ensure recipients read messages, and employee sentiment tracking helps managers identify potential issues.
  • Effortless Employee Management: 7shifts offers everything you need to manage your team effectively. Create and maintain employee profiles with ease while ensuring compliance with labor regulations. Features include self-service profiles, certification reminders, task management and even employee mood tracking.
  • Robust Mobile App: The 7shifts mobile app is a user favorite, with a 4.8 rating on the Apple Store and a 4.5 rating on Google Play. It includes features like geofencing, time tracking, shift swapping, team messaging and customizable notifications to keep everyone informed.
  • Effortless Schedule Creation: Scheduling is a breeze with 7shifts thanks to tools like AI-powered auto-scheduling, drag-and-drop functionality, conflict identification, skill-based scheduling, and the ability to create and use customizable templates for recurring needs.
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  • Scheduling: Build schedules with customizable templates and intuitive drag-and-drop tools. Approve or deny shift change requests, define rules to limit overtime and manage employee availability from a dashboard.
  • Time and Attendance: Track clock-in and clock-out times, collect information on tip and break entries, and allow employees to access their timecards and payroll histories. Managers can set up alerts to notify employees when they miss a time punch. Set geo-fencing rules using the mobile WebClock to track employee locations.
  • Labor Forecasting: Access the following forecasting features:
    • Schedule Optimization: Standardize scheduling rules and automate recurring tasks using predictive scheduling across multiple branches and locations.
    • Scheduling Visibility: Manage labor analytics to measure critical KPIs like overall performance, cost per labor, sales patterns and labor cost to keep restaurants competitive.
    • Store-Level Forecasting: Analyze historical data to identify weekly sales patterns and help managers allocate workforces efficiently. Send alerts for overtime and other potential compliance issues.
  • Labor Management: Calculate minimum staffing requirements, plan shift breaks, and generate suggested headcounts to ensure that any given shift always has the proper number of staff members.
  • Scheduling and Wage Compliance: Adhere to local and federal regulations with:
    • Predictive Scheduling: Stay up to date with local laws and evolve as regulations shift. Prepare and adapt to compliance changes before they go into effect.
    • Break and Meal Management: Set up rules to automatically schedule meal and break times for staff members. Receive notifications of missed break times and automatically calculate break pay impacts.
    • Overtime Management: Track employees going into overtime and allow managers to swap overworked staff with other employees.
    • Certifications: Receive certificate expiry alerts and define automation to request updated documents from employees, managers and other team members.
  • POS Integration: Employees can track time and clock in and out of work from a POS system. Pull sales and operational data from POS to forecast weekly and seasonal sales patterns and workforce requirements.
  • Health Surveys: Generate digital health surveys to gain extra visibility into the business. Use CDC-tailored surveys and health screening tools to ensure employees are safe to come to work.
  • Manager Logbook: Manage physical and digital logbooks that help track tasks, maintenance objectives and food safety information, such as temperature.
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  • Scheduling: Managers can quickly build staff schedules using drag-and-drop functionality. The system integrates with existing point-of-sale systems to automatically forecast sales and suggest labor needs. Managers can then publish the schedule through the mobile app, allowing staff to view their shifts, request time off and swap shifts.
  • Time Clocking: Use a mobile time-clocking app, 7punches, to simplify employee attendance tracking and ensure labor law compliance. The app integrates with the scheduling system, allowing only employees with scheduled shifts to clock in. This prevents time theft and ensures accurate timesheets. Managers can also enable optional features like photo verification or location tracking (geofencing) upon clock-in to further confirm employee presence.
  • Tip Pooling: You can automate tip calculations and payouts. The system integrates with existing scheduling data to ensure accurate tip allocation. Managers can specify how to split tips among staff, and the system handles calculations automatically, eliminating manual errors and saving time. 7shifts also offers secure and cashless tip payouts, replacing the need for cash advances, bank runs and manual tip distribution.
  • Payroll Management: This integrated solution, specifically designed for US restaurants, centralizes employee onboarding, time clocking, labor law compliance checks and payroll processing. The system automates wage and tip calculations, ensuring accurate and timely employee payments.
  • Employee Engagement: An engagement dashboard helps monitor key metrics and identify areas for improvement. Managers can automate shift feedback surveys to gather employee insights for coaching and addressing issues. The platform facilitates performance conversations with data and insights, ensuring continuous improvement. The manager logbook bridges communication gaps between shifts by allowing managers to document and share daily updates.
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

#12

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Collaboration Employee Management Leave And Absence Management Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Analytics Schedule Management Security And Compliance Shift Management Time And Attendance Management 100 94 87 90 61 81 95 67 89 83 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1149 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 1305 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

HotSchedules has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 1149 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

94%
of users recommend this product

7shifts has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 1305 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.5 (14)
4.2 (12)
4.2 (94)
4.6 (105)
4.37 (426)
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4.4 (388)
4.7 (1176)
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4.8 (12)

Awards

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SelectHub research analysts have evaluated 7shifts and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Collaboration. 7shifts stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Collaboration Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Convenience and Accessibility: Users appreciate the system’s remote accessibility, which saves time and enhances productivity for both employees and managers.
Scheduling Functionality: The platform offers a comprehensive package of scheduling tools, including shift swapping, time off, blackout dates and availability management.
Efficient Automation: Automation such as auto-scheduling, sick pay and holiday calculations simplifies administrative tasks for managers.
Diverse Integrations: Users report that integration with other modules like payroll systems, POS solutions and HR software enhances productivity and workforce management.
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Ease of Use: The platform has an Intuitive interface and is simple to navigate, even for non-tech-savvy employees.
Comprehensive Features: 7shifts supports every key employee scheduling requirement in a centralized platform, managing scheduling, time tracking, payroll and employee engagement.
Responsive Customer Support: Users report positive experiences with support in resolving issues and implementing feedback.
Improved Employee Engagement: The platform reduces managerial stress by allowing employees to manage their schedules and trades from phones. This promotes transparency and confidence among employees by allowing real-time schedule and timesheet tracking.
Efficient Team Communication: Users report that 7shifts has significantly improved team collaboration by facilitating easy messaging among staff and management, making shift swaps and updates straightforward.
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Learning curve & complexity: The interface can be challenging for beginners, requiring significant time and effort to learn and navigate effectively.
Inconsistent customer support: Users report long wait times or difficulty resolving complex issues, leading to potential frustration and delays.
Pricing concerns: Additional fees beyond the monthly subscription can add up, making it more expensive than competitors.
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Comparatively Expensive: Users find the platform costly for accessing necessary functions, especially on higher-tier plans. It could be more affordable for smaller companies.
Technical Issues: There are reports of occasional slowness and glitches, particularly on mobile devices. After a system update, some functions may change without prior notification.
Limited Customizations: Some features lack flexibility, such as the inability to stack and sort employee shifts on a given day and limited options for dashboard and view customizations.
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Let's dish on the good, the bad, and the ugly of HotSchedules based on what folks have been saying lately. HotSchedules seems to be a bit of a mixed bag. Users dig that it's pretty straightforward to use and can be a real time-saver, especially when it comes to wrangling schedules and keeping everyone in the loop. It's like having a personal assistant who's always on top of things. But, there's a catch – it can be a bit pricey, and some users feel like it's missing some bells and whistles that other scheduling software has. Think of it as a reliable car that gets you from point A to point B, but maybe doesn't have all the fancy features like a sunroof or heated seats. So, who's HotSchedules a good fit for? Well, if you're running a business in the hospitality industry, like a restaurant or hotel, and you need a solid scheduling tool that won't leave you scratching your head, HotSchedules could be your jam. It's especially handy if you've got a bunch of hourly employees and multiple locations to juggle. However, if you're on a tight budget or need a software with all the latest gadgets, you might want to shop around a bit. There are other options out there like Homebase or When I Work that might be more your style.

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My overall experience with 7shifts has been positive. The onboarding process was a breeze, taking just five minutes to set up my shop and begin scheduling. I particularly liked the option to have 7shifts automatically set up my business by uploading an existing Excel schedule. The platform then created departments and employee profiles for me, saving a significant amount of time.Another feature I found valuable was the customizable manager logbook. It allowed me to take detailed notes, set up alerts and create reminders for upcoming maintenance activities. Additionally, the mobile app stood out with its unique selfie-based employee punch-in feature, ensuring that the right person was clocking in for their shift.While 7shifts offers a comprehensive suite of features, there are some drawbacks to consider. One major concern is the cost. Compared to competitors like Homebase, WhenIWork and Sling, 7shifts is more expensive for smaller companies. Another point to note is that payroll management is not included in the paid plans, requiring an additional charge to unlock this feature.Despite these limitations, 7shifts offers a user-friendly platform with various features designed to streamline employee scheduling, time tracking, communication and employee engagement. Responsive customer support and a focus on employee experience are additional strengths.Ultimately, whether 7shifts is the right fit depends on your specific needs and budget. For small business owners on a tight budget, the cost may be prohibitive. However, for those seeking a comprehensive, user-centric solution, 7shifts could be a valuable asset.

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7shifts

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