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, for the proper management of an organization, you need employee scheduling software.
Work management becomes much easier when you use open source software for scheduling 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 that will work in any business setup.
Table of Contents
What is Employee Scheduling?
Before we jump on ahead discussing what employee scheduling software brings to the table, let us first get to know what employee scheduling really is.
Also called staff scheduling, it is of utmost importance in any establishment. It contains the number of hours an employee works as well as their locations, duties, responsibilities and more. Rudimentary employee scheduling involves shift planning, assignments, and the allocation of tasks.
The simple pen and paper employee scheduling might have served the purpose in the past, but not now. No longer can good, old-fashioned handwritten worker schedules 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 not only the basic needs of employee scheduling but also brings a lot more to the table? Any establishment can make really good use of free employee scheduling software.
Features of Employee Scheduling Software
An employee scheduling software is a tool that helps ensure an employee’s efficiency and commitment remains devoted to the organization.
They serve as open-source software for scheduling employees that address a lot more than meeting the basic requirements when it comes to maintaining employee-specific schedules.
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you need to be aware of the features of the employee scheduling software you are using. An ideal scheduling tool for employees will calculate the workload, productivity and ensure a trouble-free operation.
Starting with the time tracking element. Your preferred scheduling applications for employees should be able to track the time an employee spends on particular tasks.
A timesheet is always a plus because it keeps track of the efficiency and output of a single worker as well as 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 to your team as well as stakeholders of the organization.
Moreover, the usability and integration functions of the employee scheduling software should be simple enough to master in a short amount of time. And easy enough to connect to other tools. You also want the layout to be appealing to the eye, just so it makes sense and looks coherent.
List of Top 10 Free Employee Scheduling Software
Here is the 10 best employee scheduling software that will boost your organizations’ productivity. With any of these open-source software for scheduling employees, you don’t want to spend hours on end planning your workers’ schedules.
And the best thing is, you do not have to spend a dime on any of them.
1. 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.
2. FindMyShift
FindMyShift is a free employee scheduling software that is web-based and user-friendly. There is a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to create a rota in the shortest amount of time and share it with your whole team.
According to your organizations’ size and requirements, you can access the free-form editor and customize the space by adding as many cells and items that 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 allows for maximum efficiency and productivity, especially if your team is working remotely.
3. 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 identifying proficiency.
The software is Java-based and highlights the workload and breaks each employee has taken during working hours.
Businesses and organizations favor employee scheduling software, Opta Planner. It is a work operating and planning system that is AI-powered and integrates a scoring procedure that allows for optimum employee workspace management.
4. 7Shifts
You will notice the application’s name highlighted in most employee scheduling software picks for very good reasons. You get custom reports for every employee and can optimize work schedule management altogether with customizable shift templates.
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.
5. 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.
6. Homebase
Homebase is user-friendly, has a great interface that is visually appealing and easy to understand and you can manage work shifts, time-offs, and even holidays of your employees.
The creation of payrolls and error-free invoices is straightforward and effortless with this no-cost employee scheduling tool. 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 for each week.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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 keep themselves updated on the workflow of the organization.
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 is happening on each work shift.
10. 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.
