Sling Mac App Schedule

The Schedule Planner is a simple calendar for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. You can easily schedule and overview your events. ICalendar(.ics) files are partly supported, so you can import, export and update your simple events (Recurring events will be supported in the next releases).

14 Best Free Employee Scheduling Software Tools | 2020

With the Fox Sports Go app you can get access to even more sports coverage from Fox family of sports networks. PLEASE READ: When you go to sign in with Sling TV on the Fox Sports Go app you need to select Sling Television. That will take you to the Sling TV login page but for some reason Fox listed it as Sling Television. You must also pay for. On top of all the intuitive tools you’d expect from an app that’s dedicated to scheduling, Sling provides guidance and helps you avoid conflicts with up-to-date availability and time-off requests. Sling even notifies you of overlapping shifts or double-bookings. Sling Tasks allows you to assign jobs and follow their progress.

Scheduling employees in a restaurant — or any business, for that matter — is a monumental task. There are many variables to take into consideration, and you need to make sure your business continues running like a well-oiled machine.

So what’s a busy manager to do? Well, there are many ways to crack this nut. It might be fun to have blindfolded monkeys throw darts with employee names written on them at a blank schedule, but that probably wouldn’t produce the best results.

Of course, there are more effective ways to create a work schedule. Using pen and paper, for instance, is a time-tested technique. There are also several varieties of free employee scheduling software.

While most of these scheduling tools aren’t specifically designed for scheduling, one system is — Sling. We’ll explain more about Sling a bit later.

This article will start by discussing the pros and cons of both pen-and-paper scheduling and software scheduling. We’ll also tell you why software is the hands-down winner. Then we’ll go over exactly what qualities you should be looking for in a free employee scheduling software.

Finally, this post will share 14 free employee scheduling software tools and how they work in a business setting.

Pen And Paper VS. Free Employee Scheduling Software

Despite decades of technological advancements and the advent of software for just about every conceivable demand, some managers still prefer using pen and paper to make their work schedules.

Fair enough. That’s how things were done for a very long time, so it certainly serves its purpose. And the good, old-fashioned pen-and-paper method does have its advantages.

For starters, it doesn’t require anything more than, well, a pen and a sheet of paper. As long as you know your employees’ and your business’s needs well, this simple system still works. On top of that, it doesn’t require familiarity with any computer programs or software.

However, the pen-and-paper process is not without its drawbacks.

For one thing, it’s not very conducive to rapid mass distribution. This method relies on either posting the schedule and making sure everyone sees it or producing a copy for each employee and then making sure you get it in everyone’s hand.

Another disadvantage is that pen and paper schedules aren’t the easiest to adjust after they’ve been passed around. Any changes to the schedule require another round of printing and distribution.

What about free employee scheduling software? Let’s start with the downside.

As with any computer program, there’s sure to be a learning curve. It takes a little time to learn the ins-and-outs of any new system or process, and free employee scheduling software is no exception.

Until you become acquainted with the software, it might feel a bit cumbersome. Using free employee scheduling software also assumes that all of your employees have access to the internet and a device they can use to get online.

This might seem like an issue, but a recent study from Pew Research Center shows that 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone.

Those numbers are even higher for younger people: a full 92 percent of Americans aged 18-29 own a smartphone, and the figure drops only slightly to 88 percent for Americans aged 30-49. So it’s not unfair to assume that virtually all of your employees will be able to get online easily.

Now for the advantages of free employee scheduling software. Here’s a list of the amazing things employee scheduling software does:

Automatically saves your schedule every time you create one. So you can use a previous week’s schedule as a template and then make any necessary changes, like time-off requests, before sending out the new schedule.
Instantaneously distributes the schedule when you send it out electronically. There’s no need to track employees down to make sure they’ve seen the new schedule. With software, the schedule is received the moment you send it.
Allows you to make necessary adjustments quickly and easily. The updated schedule can be instantly sent out once again after the changes have been made.
Cuts back on the amount of paper your business uses. This reduces costs and helps reduce paper waste, which is better for the environment.

Even the most basic software can provide all of these benefits. And advanced, industry-specific software can actually do much, much more.

That makes it pretty clear that software trumps pen and paper because software offers all the advantages of the pen-and-paper method, and then some. Sure, there’s a learning curve, but using free employee scheduling software will save you time and money in the long run.

Let’s talk more about what you should look for in your scheduling software.

What To Look For In Free Employee Scheduling Software

When making your schedule, there are a number of factors that you have to consider. Any free employee scheduling software worth its salt should take those changing elements into account, too.

Here are some of the variables your employee scheduling software should allow for.

The varying needs of your business for every shift. Perhaps you only need four servers on the floor for a weeknight shift, but you may need 10 servers for a Friday or Saturday night.
Employee availability. Some folks may only be able to work at night, while others are only free during the day. You will also need to consider whether each employee is part-time or full-time and see to it that everyone is receiving the appropriate number of shifts.
The positions that each individual is qualified to work. You probably have employees that can fill different posts — as either a host or busser, for example. But you don’t want to schedule someone for a position they haven’t been trained to do. Make sure you don’t put a busser behind the bar.
Time-off requests. This one can really throw a wrench into your schedule. If several of your strongest employees have all asked for the same time off, making the work schedule becomes even more difficult.
Special events that may affect the amount of staff you’ll need for a particular shift. Everything from holidays to local festivals to graduation weekends to national sporting events needs to be considered.

In addition to all of that, a truly superb employee scheduling software should also alert you when there’s a potential problem. For example, if an employee is scheduled for too many shifts and will have overtime hours, that should be made clear in case changes are necessary.

So what program can handle all of these tasks? Let’s have a look at 12 free employee scheduling software tools and find the right one to help you conquer the employee-scheduling feat.

Comparing Free Employee Scheduling Software Tools

1) Word

Microsoft Word (or some other word processing software) is basically just glorified pen and paper. Word processing software was created with the written word in mind, not scheduling.

Sure, it can get the job done, but you’ll have to put some major effort into getting it right and making it collaborative.

Even if you do decide to use Word as your schedule maker, it’s still not super conducive to rapid mass distribution. Like pen and paper, a Word document requires another step to get it into your employee’s hands.

That step could be printing it and posting it or handing it out. It could be emailing it to all your employees (as we’ll discuss below). Regardless of your choice, it’s still another step that makes your life just that much more difficult.

And while a Word document is easier to change than pen and paper, it’s still not the most user-friendly tool out there. Formatting a Word document to reflect your business’s work schedule can be a daunting task that may require hours upon hours just to set up.

Plus, if you update a Word document, you’ll have to resend the whole thing and then make sure everyone sees the new version.

In addition, you won’t see a Word document let you know when you’ve scheduled someone to work during a time when they’re not available. Yes, a Word document is a step up from pen and paper, but it’s only a very small step.

And while it is more-or-less free, there are certainly better free alternatives out there. Keep reading to find more.

2) Excel

Excel is a more common replacement for pen and paper. Excel doesn’t have the formatting restrictions that plague Word when the latter is used to make a schedule. Excel allows you to easily resize rows, columns, and even individual cells.

So while it’s much more flexible as an employee scheduling tool, it still suffers from the distribution problems that keep the previous entries from being your go-to solution. You’ll either have to print and distribute your Excel schedule or email it to all your employees.

Excel was designed as a database and accounting tool. It is in these tasks that it excels (no pun intended). Like Word, it can be made to work as a scheduling tool, but it’s still most at home crunching numbers.

3) Email

Let’s switch gears for a moment and consider distribution — how you get your schedule into your employees’ hands. Yes, posting your schedule or handing it out personally does work, but it’s much easier to send your schedule via email.

You simply create a mailing list or group that includes all your employees, attach your Word or Excel schedule, and hit “Send.” It requires very little effort to use. It can also reach a large number of people quickly.

Even though it’s easy, it may not be the best bet for getting your schedules out there. What with texting, instant messaging, and chatting becoming the norm, some people don’t check their email very often — if at all.

4) Dropbox

Dropbox is another option that can facilitate your schedule distribution. With Dropbox, you first create your schedule then upload it to Dropbox, where you can specify who is allowed to access the file.

Dropbox can then be instructed to send notifications to all parties involved via email, text, and various other means to let your employees know that a new schedule has been posted.

In some ways, it’s better than email because it can reach those who don’t check their email very often. Like email, though, it’s another step in the difficult process of scheduling.

Is there a way to combine the creation process and the distribution process into something a bit more streamlined? Read on to find out.

5) Google Docs

Google Docs takes the creation of your employee schedule and puts it firmly in the cloud. You create your document online. It’s saved online. And you can specify who has access to the document.

Then, like Dropbox, you can send notifications via various methods to all your employees.

Once that’s done, your document is available anytime, anywhere. Your employees just need to access Google’s document editor (which is pretty much everywhere) to view or print the schedule.

With Google Docs, the distribution has been streamlined considerably, but the creation still leaves a lot to be desired. Like Word, Google Docs was meant for text-based projects like letters and reports.

As such, its most powerful features are focused along those lines and not toward making the scheduling process easier for you.

6) Google Sheets

Google Sheets — Google’s cloud spreadsheet program — is much like Excel in that it makes the formatting of the schedule that much easier by allowing you to resize rows, columns, and cells.

You can also add color-coded blocks to delineate employees and include tasks and responsibilities in a more logical and visually appealing way.

Google Sheets, like Docs, can be distributed quickly and easily by sharing the document with specific users. Those users can then access the document whenever and wherever they choose.

The ease of distribution is certainly a plus and the fact that Sheets is much easier to manipulate for scheduling purposes than Docs makes it a better choice amongst free scheduling tools. But is there yet a better option?

7) Microsoft Outlook

Calendar software like Microsoft Outlook can be an excellent replacement for pen and paper, word processors, spreadsheets, and their cloud-based counterparts. And chances are you have a free scaled-down version of Microsoft Outlook on your computer already.

So what makes Microsoft Outlook a viable (though not ideal) choice for free employee scheduling software?

Microsoft Outlook is much more amenable to scheduling because it was created with that in mind. Times, days, weeks, months, and even years are already present and can be manipulated with ease.

In addition, creating shifts, which on most calendars would be tasks or appointments, is as easy as clicking a time slot and labeling it accordingly.

So while Microsoft Outlook is a large step in the right direction, it still shouldn’t be classified as the best free (or paid) employee scheduling software option.

For one thing, Microsoft Outlook was made for the use of a single individual. Because of that, it can be a bit difficult when you have to schedule more employees than you can count on one hand.

For another thing, Microsoft Outlook wasn’t created with overlapping shifts, rotating shifts, night shifts, and other complicated scheduling practices in mind. Remember, it was intended for one person who could only be in one place at a time.

Microsoft Outlook also faces the same distribution challenges that make native word processors and spreadsheet programs like Word and Excel obsolete (e.g., they’re not cloud-based).

That’s not to say that you can’t make them work. It’s just that there are better solutions out there for free employee scheduling software.

8) Google Calendar

Google Calendar combines the ease of online creation and distribution with the power of a calendar specifically designed for scheduling. Google Calendar replaces Docs, Sheets, Word, Excel, and, yes, pen and paper.

Though Google Calendar was originally designed to be a personal calendar, with some work it can be altered to schedule multiple employees.

From either the day view or the week view, you can click on a time to add an event. You can then label that event (with the worker’s name or duties) and specify the duration (say 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

You can also color code the event for easier viewing, attach email addresses to the event for simplified communication, and set up automated notifications to keep your employees informed.

Though Google Calendar may look like the answer to your scheduling prayers, it can be a bit tedious if you have more than 4 or 5 employees. In addition, it can be difficult to decipher if you have overlapping shifts and other complicated scheduling.

Above all, the tools mentioned to this point weren’t designed with restaurant scheduling in mind. Only one tool was.

9) A Group Chat App

One of the biggest challenges you face as a manager is distributing the schedule to all your team members. You have to consider questions like:

What’s the best way to get the schedule into every employee’s hand?
Would giving them a physical copy be the most efficient and timely method?
Do they have email and do they check it regularly?
Are websites like Dropbox the easiest way to make the schedule available?

Chances are that when you examine your answers to the above questions, you’ll see that those solutions are not the most productive choices. That’s because your employees don’t use apps like Dropbox regularly other than for work.

Instead, they’re using group chat apps to stay in touch with their friends.

Why not distribute your schedule through an app they’re already familiar with? That’s where these group chat apps start to shine.

The unique thing about group chat apps is that they allow you to exchange messages (texts) with one or all of your employees without paying SMS fees. You can use the app to get your schedule into everyone’s hands instantaneously.

Keep in mind that group chat apps do require a smartphone or mobile device with cell service. If one or two of your employees don’t have a smartphone, you’ll have to come up with another way to reach these individuals.

Here’s how to use a group chat app to distribute your schedule.

Let’s say you use Excel or Word to build your schedule. You can store the finished file on Dropbox and then send the link to your team members using a group chat app. If you choose to use pen and paper, you can take a picture of the finished schedule and send it to everyone using the group chat app.

Distributing the schedule like this is a quick and easy way to reach all of your team members at the same time.

Employing three different tools (e.g., Word, Dropbox, a group chat tool) to get the job done certainly isn’t ideal (we’ll discuss the ideal solution at the end of this article), but it is a way to get around all the shortcomings of each individual tool.

The benefits of using a combination of free tools are instant communication and simplicity for your employees. The drawback is that all of your employees have to use the tools you use.

They’ll need to download them and then learn how to use them. That shouldn’t be too difficult since they’re probably already familiar with these types of messaging apps, but it could be much simpler.

Requiring that your employees download two or three separate programs to access their schedule is a bit much.

First, they’ve got to learn how to use them. And for some programs (like Excel), the learning curve can be quite steep. Second, those programs take up valuable space on their devices.

It would be better if you could just text a link and be done. That’s the premise behind the last (and best) free employee scheduling software tool on this list.

You send your employees a link to a cloud-based document, and they can access it anywhere, anytime.

No need to download multiple complicated, memory-heavy apps to their device. No learning curve that could make accessing and reading the schedule difficult. Just easy schedule access at the click of a button or tap of the screen.

Before we get to that, let’s discuss another common app that many try to make work — often unsuccessfully — for their employee scheduling needs.

10) Google Drive

Another viable free scheduling software option is Google Drive. If you’re using Word, Excel, Google Docs, or Google Sheets to create your schedule, Drive is a quick and easy way to make the schedule available to a large number of your employees with just a few clicks.

With Google Drive, you can create shared folders and give specific individuals access to those folders.

You can create one folder where everyone can view the schedule. You can create another folder just for servers. You can create another just for kitchen staff, one for bartenders, one for hosts and hostesses, and one for managers.

All you need to set up permission to access these folders is an email address. Then your employees can view the information via a web browser on any smartphone, tablet, or computer.

As familiar and widespread as Google Drive is at the moment, it only addresses the distribution issue within your scheduling process. It does nothing to alleviate the pain of actually creating the schedule.

Yes, you can use one of the other free employee scheduling software tools listed above to build your work plan, but, as we’ve seen, those don’t really make the process any easier.

11) Trello

Trello is another free tool that you can use to make organizing your team easier. Trello is a web-based list-making application that lets you and your employees work collaboratively to get more done.

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize work projects in a flexible and rewarding way. Like Google Drive, you can create Trello boards for different positions within your business and give each member permission to access that board.

Trello also integrates with a number of the apps on this list (like Google Drive, Dropbox, Docs, Sheets, and others) to meet your team’s unique business needs.

And, no matter where you are, Trello stays in sync across all your devices so you can collaborate with your team anywhere, anytime.

Trello even works in real-time so that when someone moves a card, it moves on your board at the same time — no matter what device you’re using.

Within the Trello cards themselves, you can add members, assign labels, make checklists, set up due dates, start a discussion, and much more.

Trello, though, is more of a task or to-do list than a full-service employee scheduling tool. Yes, you can attach documents, spreadsheets, and files to the Trello cards, but this is more of a distribution channel than an app that can actually streamline and simplify the scheduling process.

Trello does have a calendar tool, but, like Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar, it wasn’t designed to coordinate more than one or two people. You can make it work with three or more employees, but it’s going to be difficult, tedious, and confusing to read.

There’s no need to add more issues to the scheduling process when you can harness the power of an app that was specifically designed to remove all the problems and make organizing your team one of the easiest jobs you’ve got.

We’ll examine the best free employee scheduling software tool in more detail at the end of this list.

12) ABC Roster

ABC Roster is a free software application specially designed to assist in the complex task of organizing your team’s shift schedules.

Built for small businesses with a limited number of employees, it has since expanded to serve larger businesses such as charities, hospitals, and museums as well as the food and beverage departments in hotels and restaurants.

ABC Roster aims to be efficient and user-friendly while providing you, the manager, with a convenient and intuitive way of creating schedules quickly.

The main features of ABC Roster revolve around an easy-to-use interface that allows you to manage all aspects of scheduling — including employee availability, days off, leave, events, bookings, and more — from one screen.

And with ABC Roster’s automated planner feature, the program can generate schedules for you at the touch of a button. Just review the schedule to make sure all shifts are covered according to your business’s needs, then export the schedule to Microsoft Excel, PDF, or HTML document and email it to your team directly from the application.

ABC Roster is a free employee scheduling software tool that is simple and focused solely on scheduling your team. Those benefits, though, are also part of what makes the app limited in its scope and usefulness for most businesses.

ABC Roster does nothing but schedule employees. If you need more integration to help you control labor costs, deal with overtime, and monitor paid time off, a more powerful program may be a better choice.

Another factor that may affect your decision is that ABC Roster is a native application, meaning that you download it to a phone, tablet, or computer and it runs ONLY on that device.

ABC Roster is not a cloud-based tool, so it doesn’t benefit from the power, reach, and usefulness that users of those types of applications enjoy.

13) DRoster

DRoster is for organizations and businesses that need to schedule unlimited shifts, positions, duties, and employees with one program.

Whether you manage a bar, delivery service, catering company, real estate agency, coffee shop, or retail establishment, DRoster offers an industry-neutral design so you can customize the app to your specific needs, regardless of your organization’s size.

In addition to DRoster’s customizable properties and unlimited positions and employees, you have access to templates for recurring shifts, on-board reports, and the ability to create minimum and maximum weekly hours to ensure zero overtime.

While DRoster is better suited for larger organizations, it, like the previous entry on this list, is a native application — downloaded directly to your computer — so it doesn’t incorporate the flexibility, scope, and user-friendliness that the best cloud-based options offer.

And while DRoster does offer a free version of its program, the functionality is limited. If your business needs advanced features — like batch delete, copy duties to future dates, and reporting — you’ll have to pay for the premium version of the software.

If you’re looking for a turn-key solution for all your workforce management and optimization activities, look no further than the last entry on our list.

14) The Best Free Employee Scheduling Software: Sling

Sling was designed specifically for retail and restaurant business owners. Because of this, Sling simplifies the scheduling process like none of the other free options on this list.

In fact, it is the easiest way to schedule and communicate with your employees. And it’s free!

On top of all the intuitive tools you’d expect from an app that’s dedicated to scheduling, Sling provides guidance and helps you avoid conflicts with up-to-date availability and time-off requests. Sling even notifies you of overlapping shifts or double-bookings.

Sling Tasks allows you to assign jobs and follow their progress. You can create to-do lists and assign by name, group, location, or position. You can even set due dates and reminders as completion time approaches.

Sling Messages and Newsfeed make communication a breeze. You don’t have to rely on email or some other third-party app. You can communicate directly with employees on Sling and send messages to individuals or groups. You can even share work files, photos, videos, and links when you communicate.

Sling is the most powerful restaurant scheduling tool available. It reduces the time it takes to create and manage schedules and helps managers bring their teams together, keep everyone informed, and build better company culture. What more could you ask for in a free app!

For more free resources to help you manage your business better, organize and schedule your team, and track and calculate labor costs, visit GetSling.com today.

Scheduling your employees never seems to get easier, does it? There are so many moving parts to coordinate: time-off requests, overtime, getting the right people working the right shifts, training new employees, finding substitutes, dealing with emergencies…the list goes on and on.

Thankfully, modern mobile technology has introduced ways to make the entire process more streamlined. First, be sure to follow some important essential strategies.

For example, create the schedule well in advance; make the schedule easy to read and easy to access; make it easy for staff to indicate their availability, communicate, and keep everyone updated; and always, always have a plan B. These best practices can help streamline the scheduling process and keep things running smoothly.

In this article, we’ll kick things off by taking a closer look at all the benefits a work schedule app can provide. Then we’ll discuss 13 of the best work schedule apps. At the end, we’ll focus on the Sling app, which can help you schedule, communicate, build company culture, keep employees engaged, set tasks, and so much more.

Benefits Of A Work Schedule App

You may not yet be completely sold on the idea of using a work schedule app for your business. Allow us to convince you now.

The number one reason to use a work schedule app is that it saves you time and money. A quality work schedule app will make scheduling quicker and easier, which frees up time that you can commit to other tasks.

As you focus on improving other aspects of your business, like marketing or customer experience, you’re likely to see a boost in your bottom line. That’s pretty hard to argue with, right?

So how exactly does scheduling become so much simpler and faster? A work schedule app streamlines the scheduling process by:

Preventing you from double-scheduling an employee for the same shift or from scheduling an employee for a position they aren’t qualified to do
Ensuring that you’ve scheduled the appropriate number of staff for each position and for each shift
Notifying you when you’ve scheduled an employee for a shift that conflicts with their availability or a time-off request
Warning you when an employee might go into overtime pay in a particular week
Distributing the schedule to your employees instantly once you’ve finished creating it
Allowing you to easily make any necessary changes to the schedule, even after it’s been finalized and sent to your team
Informing all staff members when a change or update has been made to the schedule

All of these helpful features shrink scheduling from a mountain to a molehill. But the advantages of a work schedule app don’t stop at scheduling. Here’s a list of some other functions an exceptional work schedule app can fulfill.

Time Clock

Employees can simply clock in and out on their phones, and the app can keep track of the hours that each person works. Additionally, some apps require that employees be logged on to your business’s wifi before they can clock in, which ensures everyone is actually at work when they claim to be.

Payroll Software

After recording the number of hours that each employee works per pay period, the best work schedule apps will also allow you to export that data to run payroll. With Sling, for example, you can even view your labor costs and estimated labor costs for scheduled future pay periods.

Work-Specific Messaging System

Communication is of the utmost importance, but employees may be reluctant to use a personal messaging app, like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, for professional conversations. An ideal work schedule app provides a messaging feature to house all work-related discussions.

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea of just how useful a work schedule app can be for your business. By simplifying the scheduling process and serving several other important purposes, an outstanding work schedule app can help you increase both efficiency and profits.

So which apps can you trust to provide all of the benefits outlined above? Let’s look at 13 different work schedule apps and compare their features.

Available Work Schedule Apps

1) Schedule Planner

Schedule Planner is a work schedule app that can help you take control of the employee-scheduling process. It allows you to create unlimited color-coded fields that can be used to represent your employees. These fields can then be distributed on the calendar interface to indicate when an employee works.

Like Google Calendar, Schedule Planner is cloud-based, so distribution, changes, and collaboration are streamlined down to just a few taps of the screen.

Keep in mind that Schedule Planner was intended for a single individual, so complicated scheduling like overlapping shifts may not be easy, or even possible, with this work schedule app. It’s a simple scheduling tool, but it wasn’t created with restaurants or retail businesses in mind.

2) Fantastical 2

Fantastical 2 (the emphasis is on the ‘cal’, as in calendar) is another work schedule app that can help take the stress out of scheduling your employees.

Like other scheduling apps, employees can be entered as tasks and color-coded to set them apart from each other. Users can then view the schedule by day, week, or even month. Users can even search the schedule to see past, present, and future events that apply to them.

While Fantastical 2 does have some powerful features (like Apple Watch support and 6 different languages), it was built mainly for a single user. Yes, it can be forced to work for multiple people and complex scheduling, but why go to the effort of pushing a square peg into a round hole?

There are other work schedule app options that fit better.

3) WorkTime

As the name implies, WorkTime is all about scheduling and tracking work time. This work schedule app lets you create and track complex work schedules with ease. Users can enter a shift in just a few easy taps and then view the entire week’s schedule all on one screen.

Professional-level features — like unlimited jobs, alarms and notifications, and even schedule sharing via Facebook, Twitter, or email — make this a useful app for scheduling employees. Users can even add up hours worked and wages earned with WorkTime’s hours calculator.

But, like many of the other work schedule apps on this list, WorkTime was really only intended for a single user. On top of that, it doesn’t have any features to help you during the scheduling process. Really, only one work schedule app does.

4) Google Docs

As work schedule apps go, Google Docs is pretty basic. It starts out as just a blank sheet of paper, so you have to do a lot of extra work to get the schedule looking like a schedule. That may be a deterrent to some folks, as it should be.

There are better ways — better apps — to simplify the scheduling process.

The nice thing about Google Docs is that it’s cloud-based. This means that employees can access the schedule at any time or in any place. For you, it means that distribution is easier, as is receiving change requests and making alterations. Google Docs might not be the first choice for a work schedule app, but it’s a start.

5) Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a step up from Google Docs in that it already has the columns, rows, and cells formatted and ready to go. This removes one big step from the scheduling chore and makes Sheets one of the first work schedule apps that many turn to.

Google Sheets gives you the flexibility and ease of alteration that comes with a spreadsheet, along with the streamlined distribution and alteration that comes with cloud-based apps. Spreadsheets were created for database manipulation and accounting, so common restaurant needs may not be addressed by apps like Google Sheets.

These apps cover the basics but don’t offer any more help than that.

6) Google Calendar

Google Calendar combines the simplicity of a calendar view with the accessibility of a cloud-based work schedule app. For you, the manager, the calendar view means that the process of scheduling will be simpler and more intuitive. That’s a win all by itself.

For your employees, the calendar view means that the completed schedule will be easy to understand. That means that confusion over who works when will be drastically reduced.

That said, it’s important to keep in mind that Google Calendar can be difficult to use if you have more than five employees. It, like so many other calendar apps, was created to schedule activities for a single user. Because of that, it doesn’t have many of the features that a growing restaurant or retail business might need.

7) Word Processor

Some team managers swear by the word processor that came with their computer. But apps like Microsoft Word and Apple Pages were created with the written word in mind. They certainly weren’t meant for scheduling, nor do they make the process any easier. That puts them just a small step above pen and paper.

Sure, a word processor can get the job done in a pinch. But it will likely require a considerable amount of time and effort just to get formatted correctly…not to mention making it easily accessible and collaborative (two very important factors in today’s fast-paced work environment).

One of the drawbacks of using a word processor to schedule your team is that, once the schedule is complete, it requires another step to get it into your employee’s hands. You’ll have to print it and post it, hand it out, email it, or send it to a third-party file-sharing site like Dropbox.

Regardless of what method you choose, that’s still one more step. And let’s not even think about making changes to the schedule! With a word processor, you’ll have to resend the entire document, verify that everyone has seen it, and then make sure they don’t get confused about which one to use.

8) Spreadsheet Software

While a word processor like Word or Pages may be just a small step above pen and paper, a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers could be considered more of a jump above the very basic method. That makes a spreadsheet app a more common replacement.

One of the benefits of a spreadsheet app is that it isn’t restricted by the formatting problems that plague word processors. Spreadsheet apps allow users to resize rows, columns, and even individual cells in a much simpler and more-straightforward manner.

That doesn’t mean that it won’t take you a fair chunk of time to get everything right for your schedule, but the process should be considerably easier with a spreadsheet app.

While spreadsheet apps enjoy more flexibility as an employee scheduling tool, they are still constrained by distribution problems. You’ll still have to print and distribute the schedule by hand, email it to all team members, or post it on a file-sharing website. That’s one extra step that doesn’t need to be there.

Much like word processors, spreadsheet apps were designed with other tasks in mind. They are very good as a database and accounting tool. Yes, a spreadsheet app can be made to work as a scheduling tool, but you’d be better off with other apps on this list.

9) Shifty

Shifty is a simple little app for small businesses and individuals that lets you schedule multiple individuals amongst multiple shifts. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can quickly and easily manage just one person or all your staff. You can even assign duties and tasks so your employees know what needs to be done during slow times.

This app is much more conducive to scheduling multiple shifts and multiple employees when compared to word processor and spreadsheet apps. For one thing, it’s meant for scheduling (as opposed to writing or database maintenance), so the view, interface, formatting, and all of its tools make that task easier.

It does, however, suffer from the same distribution problems as the previous two apps. Schedules are distributed via email. That means that you have to make sure everyone receives them even if they don’t have an email account.

Plus, you have to verify that everyone understands when changes are made because slightly different copies of the same schedule will exist. That distribution speedbump can make things more complicated than they need to be, but the time you’ll save just putting your schedule together will likely be significant.

As nifty as Shifty is, its functionality is basic at best. Shifty won’t notify you when you’ve double-booked one of your employees. Shifty won’t keep track of time-off requests. And Shifty won’t offer suggestions to make the scheduling process easier.

10) Email

Let’s talk about distribution for a moment. At some point, and if you haven’t already, you’re going to have to make your schedule available online. That’s just the business climate we’re living in. The simplest way to do that is with a cloud-based solution like Sling. But if you’re still stuck using a word processor or a spreadsheet app, email is the next best option.

To get your schedule into the hands of your employees, you simply create a mailing list that includes all your team members. Then you attach the schedule to the message and send it off.

Once you’ve set up your group, sending the schedule requires very little effort…although it is one more step that could be eliminated with the right app.

The nice thing about email is that it can reach a large number of people quickly. The bad thing is that email use is on the decline. Texting, instant messaging, and chatting are becoming the new norm, so your employees might not check their inboxes very often…if at all.

You also have to contend with multiple copies floating around when changes have to be made. It’s very easy to imagine an employee missing a new email and relying on an older copy of the schedule. There is very real potential for confusion there.

If you’re going to rely on email to distribute your schedules, we strongly suggest including a revision date on the document and in the email subject so that your employees don’t have to wonder which schedule to abide by.

11) Dropbox

Dropbox is another distribution option that can make the scheduling process simpler. You just create your schedule, upload it to Dropbox, and specify all the employees who are allowed to read it. You can even give some employees the ability to edit the document if you so choose.

A nice feature that Dropbox offers is that it can be set to send notifications to all your team members via email, text message, and a number of other channels so that they know when a new schedule has been posted. In many ways, it’s more efficient than email because it can reach those employees who rely on text or chat to communicate.

But again, it’s one more step that carves away at your precious time.

12) Doodle

Doodle is another simple scheduling app that can be pressed into service as a way to keep track of the shifts when your team members work. This app doesn’t offer many features, so multiple shifts and other complicated scheduling may exceed its abilities.

But for a small business with only a few employees, this may be a nice transition from pen and paper (or spreadsheet) toward a more advanced scheduling app like Sling. The cloud-based interface of Doodle makes it ideal for getting the schedule into your employee’s hands quickly and easily — just text them the link — and for making updates and changes that everyone can see.

When you create a schedule, you are, essentially, creating a master document that everyone can view. When changes are required, they are made to the master. That way, when employees view the schedule link, they are always seeing the most up-to-date version.

Like the apps that precede it on this list, Doodle doesn’t provide suggestions, it doesn’t display overlapping shifts, it doesn’t notify you when you’ve double-booked and employee or scheduled them during a requested time off. For those things, you need something much more powerful.

13) Sling

Sling App Schedule

Sling is a work schedule app made specifically for restaurants, retail, hotel, and healthcare. It combines cloud-based distribution with powerful scheduling features that make even the most complicated schedule a piece of cake.

Other powerful features help you reduce no-shows and get everyone to work on time. Managers can set up and send push notifications to remind employees when they have to work. Users can even send messages, files, photos, videos, and links to one person, a user-defined group of people, or everyone at the same time using Sling’s powerful communication features.

Sling even offers unique time clock and labor-cost tools to make your managerial life simpler.

Schedule

Sling makes it easy to schedule a large number of employees, thanks to the ability to copy schedules between days and weeks or simply drag and drop shifts where you like them. You can even create recurring shifts that appear in the same place every time.

The Sling AI provides guidance, suggestions, and minute-by-minute time-off requests and availability. Sling also helps you eliminate conflicts during the scheduling process by providing alerts and notifications when you’ve overlapped shifts or double booked someone.

Time Clock

Sling’s Time Clock feature allows your employees to clock in and out for their shifts at a central computer or even right from their phone or tablet.

Concerned about early clock-ins or an employee punching in for a late friend? With Sling, you can ensure your employees are in the right place by enabling location-specific parameters that must be met for the clock-in to work. You can even set up a geofence to prevent employees from clocking in and out before they’re supposed to.

This unique feature also helps prevent accidental overtime accumulation as well as forgotten clock-outs. In just a few clicks, you can set limits on how early your employees are able to clock in. You can also set the app to automatically clock an employee out if they forget to do it themselves. This helps control expensive labor costs and prevents time theft.

Communication

Sling Tv App Download

The Sling Messages and Newsfeed features make communicating with your team a breeze. You don’t have to rely on phone calls, email, or other third-party apps to stay in touch.

You can communicate directly with your employees (and your employees can communicate directly with you) on Sling through push notifications and various messaging categories. You can even share files, photos, videos, and links with everyone, or just one person. That’s powerful communication that won’t keep you chained to your desk all day.

Additionally, the Sling Tasks feature allows you to assign jobs to individuals or groups and follow their progress.

Sling App Schedule

Tasks lets you create to-do lists and share them by name, group, location, or position. You can even set due dates and send reminders as deadlines approach.

Labor Costs

And let’s not forget about one of the largest expenses any business has to absorb: labor costs. Sling helps with that too. Sling makes it simple to optimize labor costs while you schedule. No more going back and forth trying to get your shifts under budget.

You can even take advantage of powerful expense-saving features, such as:

Set wages per employee
Set wages per position
Forecast schedules for maximum savings
Set alerts to inform you when you’re over budget
Create wider margins (for increased profits)
Prevent overtime from becoming an issue
View labor as a percentage of sales
Analyze labor data to understand your team

Sling truly is a start-to-finish employee management solution. It goes above and beyond every other work schedule app by solving the issues that impact you and your employees on a day-to-day basis.

And the fact that Sling works anywhere, all the time, means you can keep your team informed and engaged and build better company culture without working 24/7.

Stop trying to make multiple scheduling, time-tracking, and payroll programs work together. Get the one app that does it all. Get Sling. Check it out for yourself and try it for free.

The Best Work Schedule App Should Help You Manage Better

While many apps make the scheduling process simpler, only a handful (like Sling) actually provide tools that help you in all aspects of managing your restaurant, retail store, hotel, or healthcare business.

From establishing your own business-based news feed for employees to creating tasks that help everyone work better, these types of work schedule apps really are the best choice for busy managers.

Don’t settle for second-best. Use the premier tool for the job at hand to:

Automate your scheduling
Control your labor costs
Streamline the repetitive managerial processes
Centralize workplace communication

Sling Mac App Schedule Download

And make your team — and your business — run smoother and more efficiently with the Sling suite of tools.

For more free resources to help you manage your business better, organize and schedule your team, and track and calculate labor costs, visit GetSling.com today.