So you’re finally ready to stop using Excel as your schedule maker.  Great move!  But… how do you know what to look for?   We here at Hello Scheduling have spent countless hours listening to business owners and managers while building a well reviewed employee schedule maker and are happy to share what we’ve learned.

Here are a few fast questions to ask right off the bat:

1. Does the scheduling software encourage employees to actively manage their own schedule and remove burden from you?  After all, every minute you spend answering, “when do I work” calls and change requests is a minute less you have to sell, manage or take a well deserved break.
2. Can employees request time off easily without bugging you?
3. Can your scheduled workers quickly see when they work?
4. What if you need to change the work schedule after you’ve already shared it?  Can you communicate the updates quickly to all those effective by the schedule change?
5. How easy is it to get started?  Will you be endlessly answering questions and filling in data or can you start building your online schedule right away?
6. Once you’re set up, can the online schedule maker automatically schedule for you thereafter?
7. Can employees handle their own shift-swaps without bothering you?
8. What type of reporting capabilities does the schedule maker have?
9. Will the scheduler let you set up breaks and calculate how many automatically?

You’re too busy to try out a bunch of different scheduling systems so hopefully these tips will help you decide which staff scheduling software is right for your business. To see how Hello Scheduling let’s you deal with these needs have a look at this:

• Getting Started
• Automatically Scheduling Your Employees
• Employee Break Scheduling
• How Employees Swap and Trade Shifts
• Creating Time-Off Reports
• Creating Payroll Reports

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for a demo or with a question.  Happy Scheduling!