8 Best Work Schedule Maker Software of 2024

Amid the demand for remote work mode, the market of scheduling technologies is ever-growing.

In particular, the worldwide market for appointment scheduling software is expected to amount to $1,550.8 million in 2032.

We can point out 3 major factors contributing to the growth of the scheduling software market.

1. Greater emphasis on efficiency and productivity. Businesses are always seeking ways to optimize their operations, and scheduling software offers an automated solution for appointment booking, employee scheduling, and resource management.
2. Expansion of remote and hybrid workforces. As remote and hybrid work schedules become increasingly popular, digital solutions provide a unified platform for arranging meetings, appointments, and project milestones across various locations.
3. Successful companies rely heavily on clear communication and effective collaboration. Scheduling software promotes both by offering shared calendars, instant notifications, and integrated messaging capabilities, fostering a more cooperative work atmosphere.

Yet, crafting work schedules can be a time-consuming process.

It's tough: making sure staff are free, keeping all hours covered, sticking to work rules, and setting good work times.

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The solution? Applying a reliable schedule maker brings a smooth, instant experience.

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How to Choose Work Scheduling Software

Step 1: Assess your organization's unique needs

• Team Size and Structure: Are you a small team or a sprawling enterprise with multiple locations?
• Job Type: Do you need to plan shifts for a store, hospital, or field job?
• Money: How much can you spend? Many options have free and paid levels.
• Current Tools: Do you use payroll or HR tools? How they work with new tech can be key.

Step 2: Look at key parts to help your workflow

• Plan Patterns: Ready-made plans for usual shifts can save time.
• Who Can Work When: Letting team members tell their free times helps keep things fair.
• Time Keeping: Does the tool work with time logs to make paying easier?
• Talk Tools: Can team members swap shifts or ask for days off in the tool?
• Data and Checks: Watch trends and money spent on work to better plan ahead.

Step 3: Try it out

• Many tool sellers let you try for free. This is your chance to check if it's right for your group.

Step 4: Value User Thoughts

• Don’t look past what users say. Read about what others in your field or with your team size have found helpful.

Top Work Schedule Maker Apps for 2024

TMetric - Best Schedule Maker App for Remote Teams

TMetric is an ideal employee schedule maker that goes beyond creating work schedules.

It's a powerful tool for keeping track of time and managing projects to make your workflow effective and boost your work speed.

What TMetric Can Do for Smart Scheduling

• Accurate Time Keeping: It keeps the right count of time spent on tasks, projects, or clients. Users can pick to use time countdowns or auto-start/stop.
• Easy Project Handling: It sorts tasks, assigns them to team members, and watches how they move along with your work times. Set end dates, money plans, and costs to be billed.
• Flexible Time Setting: It lets you or your team set your own work times. See when people are free, use your team well, and make sure everyone knows the plan.
• Data-Led Tips: By making full reports, users can look at how work gets done, spot places to get better, and choose wisely about using your team.
• PTO Module: Managers and team leads can quickly see who will be out of the office and when to plan work schedules and allocate resources more effectively. Storing all PTO-related data in one place allows frictionless monitoring of employee absences over specific periods.
• Smooth Integrations: People can hook up TMetric with big work apps (Slack, Trello, Asana, Jira, GitHub), talk tools (Gmail, Outlook), and time plans (Google, Outlook, no double plans).
• Easy on Mobile: It allows users to keep up with their times on their phones with good apps for iOS and Android.
• Top Security: Gives great safe traits like code lock, double-check log in, and work rule follow.
  
  🪙 TMetric is no cost for one user or a team of 2.

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Calendly - Best for Simplified Scheduling

Calendly is a work schedule creator designed to streamline appointment scheduling, particularly useful for one-on-one meetings and consultations.

Calendly Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Seamless Calendar Integration: It connects effortlessly with your existing calendars like Google Calendar, Outlook, etc., eliminating the need to manage multiple schedules.
• Client-Facing Scheduling: Empower clients to book appointments directly through your personalized scheduling link. They can view your availability and choose a time slot that works for them, reducing back-and-forth emails.
• Customization of Availability: Set buffer times before and after meetings, define your working hours, and create different event types (e.g., consultations, calls, office visits) with specific availability rules.
• Team Scheduling: If you work with a team, Calendly allows you to share team availability and enable group scheduling, making it easier to find meeting times that work for everyone. (Available in paid plans)
• Automated Reminders and Follow-Ups: Reduce no-shows with automated email and notification reminders sent to both you and your clients. (Available in paid plans)
• Integrations: Integrates with various video conferencing tools like Zoom and project management apps, streamlining your workflow. (Availability varies depending on plan)

🪙Calendly offers a free plan with limited features, along with paid tiers

7Shifts - Best for Streamlined Restaurant Scheduling

7shifts is a cloud-based team management platform designed specifically for restaurants, which makes it the best staff schedule maker.

7shifts Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Effortlessly create and edit schedules with a user-friendly interface. Assign shifts by dragging and dropping employees onto specific time slots.
• Availability Management: Allow employees to set their availability preferences so you can build schedules that work for everyone.
• Auto-Scheduling (Optional): Utilize AI-powered automation to create draft schedules based on pre-defined rules and labor cost targets. Fine-tune the auto-generated schedule or take full control as needed.
• Mobile App: Employees access their schedules, request time off, and swap shifts directly through the free mobile app, promoting communication and flexibility.
• Team Communication: Send announcements, share documents, and communicate directly with scheduled staff through the platform.
• Payroll Integration: Use scheduling data in payroll processing with add-on integrations to payroll providers.

🪙7Shifts offers tiered plans starting from $17.99 per month, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes.

Google Calendar - Best for Effortless Time Management and Seamless Coordination

Google Calendar is the best schedule maker due to its simplicity, reliability, and seamless integration with other Google services.

Google Calendar Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Basic Scheduling: Create individual or recurring shifts for employees, including setting start and end times, titles, and descriptions.
• Team Visibility: Share calendars with team members, allowing everyone to see who is working when and avoiding scheduling conflicts.
• Availability Management: Set working hours for each employee so others can easily see their availability when scheduling meetings. (Limited functionality compared to dedicated software)
• Integrations: Integrates with other Google Workspace apps like Gmail and Meet for streamlined communication.
• Mobile Access: Access and manage work schedules from anywhere through the Google Calendar app.

🪙Basic Google Calendar functionality is free with a Google account. This includes creating and sharing calendars, setting working hours, and basic integrations.

Appointy - Best for Advanced Customer Scheduling and Appointment Management

Appointy shines in customer scheduling. It is a cloud-based scheduling software designed to streamline appointment management for businesses of all sizes.

Appointy Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Online Scheduling: Clients can book appointments through a web-based scheduling system integrated with the user's website or social media pages.
• Automation: It can send automated appointment confirmations, reminders, and follow-up emails.
• Staff Management: It allows to assign tasks and services to staff members, set availability rules, and track their workload.
• Appointment Customization: Users can create different appointment types, including group or recurring appointments for ongoing services with varying durations and buffer times.
• Integrations: Appointy seamlessly connects with popular calendars like Google Calendar and Outlook.
• Reporting & Analytics: It generates detailed reports on appointments booked, cancellations, revenue generated, and staff utilization.

🪙Basic Plan starts at $19.99/month

Sling - Best for Scheduling Hourly Teams

Sling schedule making software helps managers easily create and manage work schedules with guaranteed results.

Sling Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Template Magic: Save time by creating reusable shift templates that accommodate recurring schedules or specific departments.
• Employee Availability: Sling helps avoid scheduling conflicts by letting you view employee availability upfront.
• Shift Swapping: Empower employees to swap shifts amongst themselves to accommodate personal needs.
• Communication Hub: Sling acts as a central communication platform for schedule updates, announcements, and team messages. This eliminates confusion and keeps everyone informed.
• Labor Cost Control: Set labor budgets and receive alerts if your schedule exceeds them. This allows you to optimize staffing and keep labor costs under control.
• Time Tracking (Paid Plans): Upgrade to a paid plan to gain features like time tracking, which simplifies payroll processing and helps identify areas for further optimization.

🪙Available on the free and paid plans that start at $1.70 per user per month

Planday- Best for Reliable Staff Scheduling

Planday is an online schedule making app that thrives on detailed organization.

Planday Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Schedule Creation and Management: Drag-and-drop functionality allows for intuitive scheduling.
• Employee Communication: Communicate schedule changes and updates directly with employees through the platform.
• Payroll Integration: Integrate Planday with your existing payroll system to streamline the process. (Availability depends on the payroll system and plan).
• Time Off Management: Manage employee leave requests and track absences efficiently.
• Mobile App: Planday offers a mobile app for both employees and managers for on-the-go access to schedules and communication.
• Scalability: Planday caters to businesses of all sizes, from small teams to large enterprises.

🪙The service is available for a monthly payment of €2.99

OpenSimSim - Best for Work Scheduling in the Hospitality Industry

OpenSimSim is a free automatic schedule generator online that provides efficient employee collaboration. Its industry-specific focus ensures it meets the unique needs of businesses in this sector.

OpenSimSim Functionality for Effective Scheduling

• Effortless Scheduling: Users can manage appointments, tasks, and deadlines within the system, ensuring a clear and organized schedule.
• Seamless Integration: OpenSimSim integrations effectively link scheduling and payroll processing.
• Employee Availability Management: The software allows employees to indicate their availability upfront.
• Shift Management: OpenSimSim facilitates the creation of various shift types, including regular shifts, split shifts, and on-call shifts. You can also manage time off requests and shift swaps through the platform.
• Communication Features: OpenSimSim integrates private and group messaging functionalities, allowing for better communication between managers and employees.
• Labor Cost Tracking: OpenSimSim helps you track labor costs associated with your work schedule and optimize resource allocation for better budget control.

🪙Available for free for 1o scheduled employees. Paid plans start at $12.99 per month

How a Schedule Maker Works

To understand how it works, we need to keep in mind its definition. An employee scheduling software is a digital tool used to assist a business in:

• creating
• managing
• communicating a work schedule to its employees.

It forgoes the outdated pen-and-paper-based scheme of schedules or spreadsheets, which may result in mistakes.

How It Functions

• Insert employee information: Managers feed in employee information such as skills, availability, and certification into the system.
• Specify the business requirements: The manager determines the number of staff members who have to work at various times to achieve balanced levels of work.
• Automates schedule: The program takes into account the availability of employees and the needs of the business in order to create a draft schedule.
• Manual adjustments: Manual adjustments allow managers to improve auto-generated schedules, to accommodate specific scenarios or employees preferences.
• Communication and feedback: The last schedule is sent to the employees electronically.

Problems of Using a Work Schedule Maker Program⏹️

Learning Curve: Not all users will be used to working with new software, particularly when they were accustomed to manual scheduling.

Visual Layout Limitations: Users may encounter visual layout aspects that could be improved or lack customization options, impacting user experience for visual-oriented individuals.

Technical Challenges: Software may have occasional bugs or limitations, such as the inability to delete inactive items, which can affect the user experience until the provider resolves them.

Cost: The prices of the work schedule maker tools may vary depending on the software and features you need, and these expenses might become a financial burden on some people.

💡These are some of the factors that should be put in consideration when selecting scheduling software.

Among the available ones, the tools listed above will prove the best choice, since they have been developed explicitly to resolve these issues successfully and complement the general scheduling process.

Bonus: More Free Scheduling Tools to Try

Coursicle Student Schedule Maker

Free Schedule Maker for Students

Coursicle serves the students studying in more than 1200 colleges and organizes their classes, keeps assignments, and maintains their college work.

💡It is student-focused.

Coursicle Functionality

• Easy Interface: Coursicle has an easy interface that uses a grid format that reflects the days of the week. It is so simple to add your classes just by providing such information as the course name, course instructor, and meeting times.
• Course Exploration: Picking among Coursicle does not mean connecting it to any given college, but it gives a widespread course catalogue at different universities. This enables you to find out possible classes and create a mock schedule prior to registration.
• Schedule Visualization: After entering your courses, Coursicle gives you a straightforward diagram of your timetable every week. This enables you to know areas where you may be geared to conflicts or time shortage.

Minimalistic: It should be mentioned that Coursicle is a minimalistic schedule maker. It lacks such tools as the ability to add assignments, deadlines, and integration with other productivity software.

🪙Coursicle is completely free to use. There are no hidden fees or premium versions to consider.

Schedule Builder Online for Straightforward Scheduling

Customizable Schedules Made Easy

Schedule Builder is a schedule maker application that assists the user in generating and managing their schedule at work, classes, meetings and appointments.

It offers:

• Easy navigability (the interface is really simple and easy to understand, even to a first-time visitor of the website).
• Personalized schedule (The user can include or change, or remove events in his/her schedule by clicking a few clicks). They also have the ability to create reminders, recurring events, as well as customize how they see their calendar.
• Time management (Schedule Builder can be used in allocating time to various activities so that a person is organized and remains productive. It also displays conflicts in case of overlapping events).

🪙Schedule Builder offers its services free of charge. To save and print the schedule, users need to create an account.