When I Work vs Planday

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Our analysts compared When I Work 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.

Product Basics

When I Work is a cloud-based platform that helps design, communicate and track work schedules for hourly workers. It replaces the hassle of spreadsheets and paper schedules with a user-friendly interface for creating and publishing schedules in minutes. You get features like drag-and-drop tools, schedule and timesheet templates, customizable automation, and reporting.

It offers built-in time tracking, communication tools and payroll integrations. Employees can clock in and out directly through the native app. They can also swap shifts and submit time-off requests from their profiles. It lets you access timesheets, identify labor cost trends and control overtime expenses.

Team messaging helps you coordinate staff members and avoid over or understaffing during peak seasons. While pricing varies based on company size and required features, the platform offers a free trial and multiple subscription tiers. This allows you to choose a plan that fits your budget and specific needs.

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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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$2.50/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$2.49/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
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Medium 
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Large 
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Small 
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Medium 
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Large 
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Top-Ranked Scheduling Solution: When I Work stands out as a leader in employee scheduling, with an analyst rating of 85 in our research. This puts it alongside industry heavyweights like Deputy (87) and 7Shifts (86). It offers a comprehensive set of features, including scheduling, time tracking and team communications, all of which are ready to use immediately, reducing setup time.
  • Effortless Shift Management: Our research shows that When I Work offers 96% of tools for creating and managing employee shifts out-of-the-box. These include everything from creating recurring shift templates and customizing layouts to features like open shift bidding and automatic vacant shift assignment. You can also add feedback, task notes, swap shifts and receive automated reminders.
  • Powerful Mobile App: The mobile app keeps everything you need for streamlined scheduling at your fingertips. It offers mobile scheduling, time tracking, geofencing, customizable push notifications and built-in chat for easy team communication.
  • Seamless Integrations: When I Work scored 92 for integrations in our analysis, effortlessly connecting with a wide range of business tools. These include accounting solutions like QuickBooks Online, Google and Apple Calendars, HR and payroll software like Rippling and Gusto, Square POS systems, and integration platforms as a service (iPaaS) such as Zapier and Tray.io.
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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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  • Employee Scheduling: Create work schedules in one click based on employee availability and eligibility. View team availability, manage time off and track shift trades from one place. Allow employees to pick up and trade shifts while boosting workplace efficiency and productivity. Schedule multiple teams across job sites while preventing unnecessary overtime.
  • Time and Attendance: Track attendance, time off and breaks while turning any internet-connected device into an online time clock. Integrate schedules to control costs while applying pay rules. Implement an online time clock with a GPS facility for uniform clock-ins and outs across devices. Let remote employees log in and out using any device while receiving attendance data in real time.
  • Timesheets: Record weekly attendance changes into timesheets while setting differential pay rates for multiple positions. Monitor labor costs while auditing time records with labor distribution reports. Audit and approve timesheets from mobile or desktop while preventing overtime before it happens. Configure paid and unpaid breaks on schedule and time clock.
  • Shift Planning: Plan, swap and approve shifts using a mobile or desktop while empowering teams to collaborate on schedules. Ensure cost-effective shift coverage while creating schedules that work for the entire team.
  • Scalability: Start with a single team or location and scale to multiple teams across geographical locations as per business growth. Schedule multiple teams across various job sites.
  • Push Notifications: Send important messages to the entire staff in one go. Employees get email and text alerts for missed logins or outs. Notify all employees when you update or create new schedules.
  • Geo Check-In: Use GPS tracking and live map views to ensure that employees log in from their designated job sites. Monitor field staff’s real-time location, eliminating the need for employees to update their locations constantly in the office.
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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

#3

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

#18

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

86
81
74
78
78
79
91
65
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Mobile Capabilities
Leave and Absence Management
Integrations and Extensibility
Security and Compliance
Shift Management
Schedule Management
Integrations and Extensibility
Security and Compliance

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

When I Work
Planday
+ Add Product + Add Product
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 74 78 91 98 84 83 88 89 89 77 78 79 65 83 73 83 98 89 75 72 0 25 50 75 100
63%
13%
24%
75%
0%
25%
75%
0%
25%
75%
0%
25%
88%
0%
12%
63%
0%
37%
93%
0%
7%
80%
0%
20%
89%
0%
11%
78%
0%
22%
83%
0%
17%
83%
0%
17%
85%
0%
15%
95%
0%
5%
89%
0%
11%
89%
0%
11%
89%
0%
11%
74%
0%
26%
74%
0%
26%
68%
0%
32%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

90%
0%
10%
90%
0%
10%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1454 reviews
Great User Sentiment 154 reviews
90%
of users recommend this product

When I Work has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 1454 user reviews from 4 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.

5.0 (11)
n/a
4.4 (286)
4.4 (51)
n/a
4.31 (52)
4.5 (1093)
4.4 (49)
4.4 (64)
4.4 (2)

Awards

When I Work stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

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

Intuitive and Efficient: Users appreciate the user-friendly interface and comprehensive features that centralize managing all scheduling needs from a single app.
Prompt Customer Support: Users report getting timely and helpful assistance from the vendor’s support team through live chat and email.
Enhanced Employee Experience: The app boosts staff productivity by offering them flexible tools to control their work schedules.
Improved Integration and Accessibility: Most users have had a positive experience connecting the platform with other necessary third-party tools.
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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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Pricing and Transparency Issues: Users have complained about the vendor’s pricing practices, which include hidden costs and a lack of clear information before signing up.
App Glitches: Users reported issues with iPhone and Android apps, particularly with tasks like staff punch-ins and location tracking using the phone’s GPS.
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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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According to the reviews, users praise When I Work’s user-friendly design and all-in-one features for scheduling and time tracking. The customer support team is another win — responsive and helpful via chat and email. However, the pricing structure is a point of contention for some users, with complaints about hidden fees and a lack of transparency before signing up.What truly set it apart was its affordability for small and medium businesses. The starter plan, costing just $1.50 per location per month, offers unlimited employee scheduling and auto-scheduling — features usually reserved for top-tier plans in competitors like 7Shift and Homebase.However, communication features are restricted. During testing, I could send individual and group messages, but there's no bulletin board or newsfeed functionality, and message read receipts are absent.Security is another concern. The platform lacks biometric clock-in options, opening the door to potential time theft through buddy punching. Additionally, it doesn’t support geofencing or GPS tracking. I couldn’t remotely track staff shifts to ensure they were following established procedures.Overall, When I Work offers a compelling solution for small and medium businesses with a user-friendly interface, robust features and a budget-friendly starter plan. However, be mindful of the pricing concerns and other limitations, which can be a problem for growing teams and businesses.

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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

WhenToWork

ZoomShift

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