HotSchedules vs Planday

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Our analysts compared HotSchedules vs Planday 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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Planday provides tools to businesses of all sizes across all industries. It automates administrative tasks like workforce schedule building and report generation for growing businesses.

Organizations can make use of built-in messaging features to improve team communication. It helps manage hourly workers, track employee activity and builds reports that provide a comprehensive overview of the business.
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$40/Location, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$2.49/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
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Android
Chromebook
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Android
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On-Premise
Mobile
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On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Videos
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Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
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24/7 Live Support

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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  • Ensure Organizational Compliance: Set up compliance warnings based on organizational policies to avoid employee overscheduling and putting them in shifts too close together. 
  • Unique Templates: Save schedules as templates for future use, plan upcoming shifts and streamline the process. 
  • Decrease Scheduling Conflicts: Avoid potential scheduling conflicts by allowing employees to indicate preferred shifts. Employees can also find shift coverage outside of the app. 
  • Streamlined Workflows: Export employee work hours data directly to a payroll provider using the integrated time clock. Get an overview of payroll costs for budget planning and forecasting future schedules. 
  • Mobile Capability: Access it anytime, anywhere using iOS and Android devices. 
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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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  • Staff Management: Let employees submit time-off requests and set availability. Get updated employee availability information and avoid scheduling unavailable staff. 
  • Scheduling: Create, edit and publish schedules directly. Schedule qualified employees for skill-specific shifts. 
  • Communication: Send shift change alerts to team members. Employees can message coworkers directly to swap shifts or find a replacement. 
  • Time Clock: Let employees clock-in and out using mobile apps. Set location-specific rules to ensure employees clock-in for shifts. 
  • Reports: Track labor data like employee sick leaves, hours worked and shifts assigned Create reports using this data for insights into schedule standards. 
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Product Ranking

#7

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

#18

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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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 78 79 65 83 73 83 98 89 75 72 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1149 reviews
Great User Sentiment 154 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.

87%
of users recommend this product

Planday has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 154 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.5 (14)
n/a
4.2 (94)
4.4 (51)
4.37 (426)
4.31 (52)
4.4 (388)
4.4 (49)
4.0 (227)
4.4 (2)

Awards

we're gathering data

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Planday and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Integrations and Extensibility.

Integrations and Extensibility 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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Easy-to-Use: The system offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface that helps group employees according to their skills for skill-specific shifts. It simplifies scheduling, payroll and break allocation, saves man hours by automating tasks, improves access to schedules and provides an overview of all projects in progress, noted 83% of users who talked about the product’s usability.
Customization: The system offers customizable fields for employee information, which makes scheduling easily. It can also personalize reports to reveal data according to user requirements, as reported by nearly 81% of the users who mentioned customizations.
Communication: Nearly 81% of the reviewers said that the product fosters team communication through its built-in messenger and sends notifications for important project milestones and deadlines.
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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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Integrations: The system offers limited integrations with popular third-party applications and cannot be integrated with special features, noted nearly 72% of reviewers who mentioned integrations.
Glitches: Nearly 79% of reviewers said that the system is prone to glitches and doesn’t offer smooth cross-platform use between the desktop version and the mobile app.
Support: Support for technical or other issues related to the product is sluggish, with many users receiving a response only after a week or more, said nearly 75% of the reviewers who talked about support.
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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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Planday simplifies scheduling by segregating employees according to their skills and automates recurring tasks. It offers an easy-to-use, intuitive interface that prevents double booking employees, gives a clear picture of costs against revenue and stores all employee information in one place. Businesses can use the in-built messenger to foster team communication, get budget control assistance and manage remote teams transparently. However, the system offers limited third-party integrations, encounters glitches and isn’t backed by prompt customer support.

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Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Employee Scheduling Software


7shifts

Deputy

Findmyshift

Homebase

Humanity

OpenSimSim

Planday

Quinyx

ScheduleFlex

Shiftbase

Shiftboard

Sling

TimeForge

When I Work

WhenToWork

ZoomShift

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