4 ways a schedule planner app can save you hours

Employee scheduling is much easier and quicker when you use an online scheduling software. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out how to configure your team’s shifts in Excel or a calendar app, all you need to do is drag and drop with Homebase’s employee schedule maker—it really is that easy.

Note: There are differences between an online scheduling system like Homebase and appointment scheduling apps like Acuity Scheduling and Square Appointments. With those programs, customers can book scheduled appointments and make online booking easier. Homebase is geared toward scheduling your small business team instead.

An online work schedule maker like Homebase makes it easy for you to gain a holistic view of your schedule. It gives you the ability to view by role, time, or employee. Even better, the schedule maker automatically calculates the total hours your employees work so you can keep track of your labor costs.

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Being tied to your computer as a business owner or manager is problematic. You want to spend more time completing things on your task lists (like managing appointment booking and talking to customers) and less time on your computer.

With a free staff schedule maker you can create your schedule on your mobile phone or any other device by downloading the Homebase app from your app store.

Changes to your daily schedule are inevitable. When your employees are up to date, that improves the likelihood that they’ll make it to work on time. Schedule planner apps like Homebase can help you manage these issues, even while you’re on the go.

When employees always have access to the most recent schedule, they can plan accordingly and get to work on time. They can submit time-off requests, get email reminders about their shifts, and more—no matter where they are.

Knowing your labor costs is critical. That means tracking work hours for each of your employees keeping a pulse on how often they’re working overtime. These metrics are crucial to staying on budget, when combined with your sales data.

The most effective shift schedule template, like Homebase, connects with your POS. That way, you can forecast sales against labor costs and keep all your expenses in line. You’ll be able to spend less time worrying about costs and more time thinking about growing your business.

Saving time where you can is one of the biggest priorities for business owners of any industry. Whether you run a bakery with five employees or a landscape design firm with 15 employees in four different roles, making sure you’re always properly staffed is key to your business’s success. An employee schedule template like Homebase is the best way to do so.

Shift swaps used to require a combination of phone calls, texts, emails, and in person conversations that were difficult to keep track of. With the help of an online schedule maker, you’ll be notified when shift trade requests come up and be able to approve them from anywhere.

First, you decide if you want to approve the shift swap by assessing if it will work. Then Homebase checks and warns you if the change created any conflicts or put an employee into overtime. This way you’ll be on top of any unnecessary labor costs before that team member even clocks in with the Homebase time clock.

Otherwise, it automatically updates and sends notifications to employees via text, email, or within a mobile app via push notifications.

Schedule planning is not a one and done task. The best online schedule makers provide a weekly schedule template. If you have a consistent schedule week over week, save yourself even more time by putting your schedule on auto-pilot.

You’ll always have the opportunity to make small changes when needed, but those schedule tweaks should take minutes—not hours.