Employees are the heart of any workplace, whether big or small.
You can not run an organization without them. Scheduling the shifts of every employee is a monumental task. You want to keep your stakeholders happy and consider your workers’ well-being too. Hence, you need employee scheduling software to manage an organisation properly.
Work management becomes much easier when you use open-source software to schedule employees. If you want your company running like a well-oiled machine and, at the same time, do not want to incur extra costs, we have great news for you.
We bring the top free employee scheduling software for any business setup.
Table of Contents
What is Employee Scheduling?
Before we discuss what employee scheduling software brings, let us know what employee scheduling is.
Staff scheduling is also of utmost importance in any establishment. It contains the number of hours an employee works, their locations, duties, responsibilities, and more. Rudimentary employee scheduling involves shift planning, assignments, and the allocation of tasks.
Simple pen-and-paper employee scheduling might have served the purpose in the past, but not now. Good, old-fashioned handwritten worker schedules can no longer comply with every conceivable demand of the present.
Now, an organization calls for as much efficiency and accuracy in its employee scheduling as possible.
So why not reap the advantages of new technology that satisfies the basic needs of employee scheduling and offers a lot more? Any establishment can make really good use of free employee scheduling software.
Features of Employee Scheduling Software
Employee scheduling software is a tool that helps ensure an employee’s efficiency and commitment remain devoted to the organization.
They serve as open-source software for scheduling employees, and they address much more than meeting the basic requirements for maintaining employee-specific schedules.
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you must be aware of the features of the employee scheduling software you use. An ideal scheduling tool for employees will calculate workload and productivity and ensure trouble-free operation.
Starting with the time tracking element, your preferred scheduling applications for employees should be able to track the time they spend on particular tasks.
A timesheet is always a plus because it keeps track of the efficiency and output of a single worker and the team. With timesheet reports and analytics, you can also calculate billable hours and monitor logged time and overtime for each employee.
Schedule exporting options are crucial in an employee scheduling application, especially when the team is working remotely and you need to share data access with your team and organizational stakeholders.
Moreover, the employee scheduling software’s usability and integration functions should be simple enough to master quickly and easy enough to connect to other tools. You also want the layout to appeal to the eye so it makes sense and looks coherent.
List of Top 10 Free Employee Scheduling Software
Here are the 10 best employee scheduling software to boost your organisation’s productivity. With any of these open-source software for scheduling employees, you don’t want to spend hours planning your workers’ schedules.
And the best thing is that you do not have to spend a dime on them:
1. Connecteam
Connecteam is a cloud-based workforce management solution designed specifically for businesses with deskless employees.
By streamlining scheduling, time tracking, and communication in one platform, Connecteam frees you up to focus on growing your business.
Imagine creating work schedules and digitally tracking employee hours with ease. Connecteam ensures accurate payroll and empowers your team with custom forms and checklists to keep projects flowing smoothly.
Live reports provide real-time insights into field operations, allowing you to stay informed and adjust strategies as needed.
Connecteam goes beyond managing tasks; it fosters a collaborative environment by providing a central communication hub for your entire workforce.
2. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is one of the ideal no-cost open-source software for scheduling employees. It is a cloud workspace that allows you to access spreadsheets, documents, slides, presentations, calendars and share the same with your team anytime.
Your data syncs in real-time and Google ensures maximum privacy with end-to-end encryption of data. It also allows add-on tools such as Shift Scheduler.
To use Google Workspace for shift assignments, bring on Shift Scheduler. It is an automated tool that will create and manage employee schedules in a single spreadsheet and Google Calendar notifications for your employees.
Shift Scheduler also works offline and integrates freely with most Google Workspace platforms as well as LinkedIn, OneDrive, and Microsoft Office 365.
3. FindMyShift
FindMyShift is free employee scheduling software that is web-based and user-friendly. Its drag-and-drop interface allows you to create a rota quickly and share it with your whole team.
Depending on your organization’s size and requirements, you can access the free-form editor and customize the space by adding as many cells and items as you deem necessary.
FindMyShift also lets you see who is available and who is not, so you can assign the task to the best person present for the job. This maximises efficiency and productivity, especially if your team is working remotely.
4. Opta Planner
OptaPlanner is one of the most preferred open-source software for scheduling employees. You can depend on its accuracy and efficiency when it comes to shifting scheduling and employee identification proficiency.
The Java-based software highlights the workload and breaks each employee has taken during working hours.
Businesses and organizations favor employee scheduling software, Opta Planner. It is an AI-powered work operating and planning system that integrates a scoring procedure for optimum employee workspace management.
5. 7Shifts
You will notice the application’s name highlighted in most employee scheduling software picks for very good reasons. With customizable shift templates, you can optimize work schedule management and get custom reports for every employee.
7Shifts is especially a hit for startups, unicorns, and small businesses. When you have fewer number employees, you can laser-focus on everything that goes on in your organization and unroot any mismanagement from the brim. With this employee scheduling software, you can personally approve in-line requests and time-offs.
6. Sling
Sling is a software that ensures maximum productivity and accuracy in a workspace. Whether working remotely or in an office environment, from managers, stakeholders, to supervisors and employees, everyone gains a transparent view of the scheduling process. This helps reduce any blunders and minimize obstacles during shift assignments.
With Sling, you have access to features such as group scheduling and management of absences and time-offs. This is ideal if you have a large event coming up or a high-priority project. You can customize employee schedules and use shift templates. This saves you the time and energy of creating everything from scratch.
7. Homebase
Homebase is user-friendly, has a great interface that is visually appealing and easy to understand, and allows you to manage your employees’ work shifts, time offs, and even holidays.
With this no-cost employee scheduling tool, creating payrolls and error-free invoices is straightforward and effortless. With Homebase, your employees have upcoming shift information in hand and can plan their tasks accordingly. You can customize, change shifts, and add overtime whenever you like for each week.
8. ABC Roster
ABC Roster is one of the best employee scheduling software with a user-friendly interface. It has no paid or premium version. You get access to work scheduling features such as drag-and-drop calendars, automated work planners, management of time-off and absences, and more.
ABC Roster is open-source software for scheduling employees that will considerably reduce the time and energy you had to spend creating, managing, and publishing staff schedules. There are file export options that make it easier to share files and documents with the team.
9. Trello
Collaboration on projects and working together as a team even remotely become a lot easier with this work scheduling tool. It allows the integration of different applications such as Google Drive, DropBox, and more.
Trello has lists, boards, and cards that will help you organize and set priority settings for each one of them. Each member of the team can access their organization’s Trello board. This allows for flexibility in task management and meeting deadlines.
10. OpenSimSim
OpenSimSim is revered for its time-tracking tool and work management system. Ideally, this open-source software for scheduling employees works for small—to mid-sized companies where managers and supervisors can regularly update themselves on the organization’s workflow.
You can plan for months and years on OpenSimSim because there are no planning limitations. Employees can better clear their schedules and be updated on what happens on each work shift.
11. When I Work
When I Work allows for streamlined onboarding and has remarkable integration options. There is a TeamTxt option that allows you to keep in contact with the whole team and send group updates to each other on the platform.
When I Work only offers its free services for 14 days as a trial period but its premium version is easily affordable and worthy of spending $2 a month for better employee scheduling management.
Final Words
In the end, when choosing your pick from the best free employee scheduling software list, make sure to select the one that works best for your company as well as your employees.
Overall, any of the above open-source software for scheduling employees will bring company costs down, make streamlining employee schedules easier, create a healthier workspace, and reduce the chances of any errors.
