Deputy Alternatives

Why call the Deputy when you can call the sheriff?

Sorry, we had to.

But seriously, have you ever thought about calling the metaphorical “sheriff” in this case? Chances are you have, otherwise you wouldn’t be on this page.

As one of the leading cloud-based workforce management platforms on the market, Deputy undoubtedly can get the job done if you are looking to upgrade a pen and paper system to a fully online system. However, if you are looking to go the extra mile and really drill down where you can improve frontline operations, you may want to consider some alternatives.

Who should use Deputy?

Deputy     |     User Reviews

Deputy is recommended for small businesses (less than 20 staff) that run shift-based workforces. It has features that help with employee scheduling, time tracking, task management, and team communication.

While employee scheduling is Deputy’s bread and butter, it also streamlines clocking in and out via on-site kiosks and a mobile app if that is something you are looking for. Also known for its labor compliance capabilities, you can rest assured that most of your wage and hour law concerns will be covered. Overall, it’s a good option for covering the basics of running a shift-based workforce.

Another key offering of Deputy is its flexible weekly plans for short-term events. This solution is worth looking into if you have teams working on seasonal events such as conferences, festivals, or corporate functions.

Deputy has different pricing plans, and these are:

  • Premium: $4.90 per user per month
  • Scheduling: $3.50 per user per month
  • Time & Attendance: $3.50 per user per month
  • Enterprise: Quote-based

Downsides of Deputy

Even with all of its bright spots, Deputy does not come without its flaws - I mean, that’s why you are here in the first place, right? Here are a few of the things you need to be aware of when considering whether or not Deptuy is the right software for your business:

  • Cannot auto-schedule shift breaks: While Deputy does have robust features to edit and tailor breaks, you are not able to automatically apply customized break templates to shifts. This significantly slows down scheduling time if you live in a state like California where every employee needs to be scheduled with a compliant meal and rest break.

  • Users cannot directly edit or add qualifications: In order to add or remove employee qualifications (think bartender license, CPR certification, etc.) you must ask a Deputy representative to do it for you. While most platforms give this freedom to the user, for some reason Deputy has opted for more restriction here.

  • Limited demand forecasting methods: With Deptuy you are only able to forecast upcoming demand based on historical sales averages. So, for instance, you can take the average of the past two weeks, or the average from the same time last year. This kind of forecasting is dated and is 40% less accurate than modern AI forecasters that account for factors like upcoming weather, events, and economic trends.

  • Only three hierarchy levels: Unless you opt for the enterprise plan, Deputy handicaps your ability to create a robust hierarchy structure as its platform only offers three levels. Instead of having an unlimited and customizable hierarchy structure, you only have locations, users, and teams. First you assign a user to a location; from there, teams can be assigned to each user. There is no ability to add a middleground level like “role” or “group,” severely limiting how users are organized and scheduled at each location.

  • Missing certain scheduling validations: While scheduling staff, Deputy automatically flags when an employee has been scheduled for too many hours in a day, or if they have hit their maximum hours for a week. However, Deputy doesn’t automatically flag other important scheduling validations such as minimum hours per shift, earliest start and end time, maximum shifts per day, and maximum span of hours per day.

  • Manual timesheet management for absent employees: When an employee is absent, their timesheets need to be removed. Otherwise, they might get paid for the shift not worked. Aside from the obvious issue of over payment, this can also result in unnecessary manual work for admins.

Alternative Platforms

While Deputy is indeed a popular workforce management software solution, its limitations often overshadow what it gets right. Because of this, it totally makes sense for you to consider better options - so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up some of the top Deputy alternatives for you, outlining their key features, use cases, and how they fare compared to Deputy.

#1   Workforce.com

Workforce.com     |     User Reviews

Like Deputy, Workforce.com’s bread and butter is employee scheduling, but it also offers a full workforce management and HR feature suite. It’s best suited for mid-sized to enterprise shift-based businesses and typically serves hospitality, retail, and healthcare. Workforce.com’s product line includes mobile timeclocks, points based attendance, skills management, task tracking, labor compliance, BI reporting, and much more.

Deputy and Workforce.com are quite similar in many ways, but there are vital functionalities that set Workforce.com apart. Here are a few of its best features:


  • It does all the things listed earlier that Deptuy can’t do: This one is straightforward. AI demand forecasting? Check. Auto-populate breaks across shifts? Check. Unlimited levels of hierarchy? Check. And so on. Where Deputy restricts, Workforce.com empowers - users get much more freedom to customize their scheduling and time tracking needs as they see fit.

  • Robust, demand-based scheduling: Workforce.com’s scheduling software is robust, thanks to its capability to forecast labor and schedule based on demand. The system takes into account crucial and relevant factors that can affect demand, such as revenue, seasonal trends, booked appointments, and weather, and translates that insight into schedules—ensuring that you don’t get over or understaffed.

    Workforce.com’s employee scheduling software is also set up to ensure you set the correct schedules every time. It flags potential issues before you publish a schedule. Managers are notified if a shift is at risk for potential labor law violations or if an employee on PTO is accidentally assigned a shift. It can also account for qualifications and certifications and help ensure that only employees with the appropriate credentials are scheduled for specific shifts.

  • Complete oversight with time and attendance: Workforce.com’s time and attendance tracking system is housed within the same platform as the employee scheduling tool. This means that data flows seamlessly between those two modules. That means you have complete oversight and know that scheduled staff are where they need to be. In any case of no-shows, you can quickly fill in the gaps and offer vacant shifts to other qualified and available staff.

  • Powerful integrations: Workforce.com has an open API, which means that it can integrate with any system, helping you maximize your data for labor forecasting, creating reports, and streamlining processes like payroll. Workforce.com can sync and create a seamless workflow with HCM, HR software, payroll, POS systems, and internally-built platforms an organization may use.

  • Comprehensive reporting tools: Workforce.com comes with pre-built report templates to choose from which you can easily add to your dashboard. It also allows you to build and customize reports in a few clicks, and it integrates with tools like Tableau so you can export your data and build reports how you see fit.

  • Skills management: With the skills management module, you can build a skills library and assess employee competency via a skills matrix. Over time, you can track employee development in these skills and create action plans to train and cross-train staff in certain areas.

  • Real-time insights: Leading Indicators™ map labor costs to sales in real-time, enabling frontline managers to stay on top of SPLH and receive alerts on potential overtime.

  • Fast and accurate timesheet to payroll processing: Managers can auto-approve timesheets and export them to payroll. Meanwhile, issues in the timesheets are automatically flagged. As a result, managers don’t need to go through each and every timesheet to spot these errors and correct them before exporting them to payroll.

  • Easy pay rate assignments: It’s typical for an hourly worker to be paid a different rate based on the team or role they work in for the day. With Workforce.com, you can easily set these pay rates and have them automatically apply whenever necessary on timesheets.


Workforce.com: Maximizing ROI

Regardless of use case, Workforce.com is designed to maximize ROI as soon as implementation starts. Check out the free webinar below featuring an exclusive Forrester Research report on how six organizations from across the globe experienced this rapid return on investment:



Building a Business Case for WFM

See what Forrester Research consultant Nick Ferrif has to say about the ROI you can expect from workforce management technology.

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Depending on the plan selected, you gain full access to all current features, and any subsequent features rolled out. You’ll need to contact Workforce.com directly for more information on pricing.

To really explore the platform and decide for yourself, book a call today, or, start a free trial.

#2   7shifts

7shifts     |     User Reviews

7shifts is an employee scheduling platform designed for restaurants. Over time, it has evolved into more of a complete HR management system with tools for different stages of the employee lifecycle.

Key features

  • Straightforward employee scheduling

  • Simple labor budgeting

  • Employee engagement tracking

  • Free mobile app

  • Manager logbook

Use cases

  • Small to mid-market restaurant businesses

  • Restaurants, F&B, Hospitality

Pricing

  • Comp: Free

  • Entrée: $29.99

  • The Works: $69.99

  • Gourmet: $135 per month per location

7shifts is a strong choice for F&B businesses looking for a system more tailored to their industry than Deputy. 7shifts has a more in-depth understanding of restaurant operations and can tackle those challenges better, albeit on a smaller scale. However, 7shifts has dated demand forecasting options and integration challenges. If you want better labor and demand forecasting, it’s best to consider software with more advanced capabilities.

#3   Homebase

Homebase     |     User Reviews

Similar with other Deputy competitors, Homebase is another SaaS designed mainly for hourly workers. Aside from employee scheduling and time clock software, it has other modules for human resources, employee engagement, and payroll.

Key features

  • Basic payroll

  • Pay advances

  • Free time clock app

  • Performance metrics

  • Time tracking and employee scheduling

Use cases

  • Small businesses in need of simple time clocks and scheduling

  • Restaurants, healthcare, and non-profits

Pricing

  • Basic: Free

  • Essentials: $20 per month per location

  • Plus: $48 per month per location

  • All in One: $80 per month per location

Homebase is a good alternative to Deputy if you’re a small business looking for s simple and easy time clock system. Homebase also has a payroll module ideal for small businesses, whereas Deputy doesn’t. However, it’s best to consider another alternative if you are a larger business in need of more robust workforce management features.

#4   When I Work

When I Work     |     User Reviews

Like Deputy, When I Work is another scheduling-first platform suited for shift-based operations. While more limited in scope than Deputy, it excels at customer support and ease of use.

Key features

  • Employee scheduling

  • Timeclock and digital timesheets

  • Messaging

Use cases

  • Hospitality, F&B, retail

  • SMB employee self-service

Pricing

  • Standard: $4 per employee per month

  • Advanced: $8 per employee per month

  • Paychex Flex Pro: quote-based but price starts at $185 per month

When I Work is a good alternative to Deputy if you’re looking for scheduling ease of use and configurability. Its higher cost and limited feature suite make it difficult to recommend, however, especially for smaller businesses. You’ll need to integrate it with many other systems to match the same HR functionality as Deputy or other alternatives.

#5   Jolt

Jolt     |     User Reviews

Jolt is software for improving operations in restaurants, retail stores, entertainment venues, and other deskless industries. Its features include team accountability, employee scheduling, and performance management.

Key features

  • Employee task list

  • Centralized library for on-the-spot training

  • Food safety controls

  • Scheduling and time tracking

Use cases

  • Hospital and healthcare, retail, non-profit

  • Organizations looking to combine HR and payroll with traditional workforce management

Pricing

  • Quote-based

Deputy and Jolt have task management features, but Jolt has more specific functionalities around food safety controls. If you’re in the food industry and task management is integral to your operations, Jolt is worth considering.

However, Jolt’s main downside is its employee scheduling and attendance limitations. If you have more complex requirements in these areas, it’s best to consider other options.

#6   HotSchedules

Fourth     |     User Reviews

HotSchedules is a workforce management solution best suited for restaurants and hospitality businesses. It’s one of the solutions under Fourth, a provider of HR solutions and inventory management tools.

Key features

  • Employee scheduling

  • Integration with Fourth’s inventory management system

  • Earned wage access

  • Manager log book

  • Task management

Use cases

  • Organizations that need to link employee scheduling with an inventory management system

  • Grocery stores, retail, restaurants

  • Organizations already using Fourth HR products

Pricing

  • Quote-based

HotSchedules is a good alternative to Deputy if you’re a retail operation, or a grocery store in particular. If you’re using any of Fourth’s systems, it also makes sense to consider HotSchedules for workforce management since it can easily integrate with Fourth’s inventory management and HR.

However, HotSchedules’ mobile app is not free, and employees need to pay for the app to use it on their mobile devices. While they can access the mobile version of the site, it can be challenging to navigate compared to using the designated app.

#7   Sling

Sling     |     User Reviews

Sling is primarily a scheduling, communication, and task management platform. It also has basic functionality for time tracking and labor cost optimization. Toast, a popular POS for F&B businesses, recently acquired Sling.

Key features

  • Task management

  • Employee messaging and newsfeed

  • Employee scheduling

  • Available shift claiming

  • Integration with Toast POS

Use cases

  • Education, hospital and healthcare, restaurants

  • Toast POS users

  • SMBs with straightforward scheduling and task management

Pricing

  • Premium: $1.70 per user per month

  • Business: $3.40 per user per month

Sling has an advantage over Deputy when it comes to communication, task management features, and POS integration. If you’re an existing Toast user with under 20 employees, or if you are a small team of remote workers, Sling could be a good option for you.

However, if you run a bigger operation and need more advanced tools for auto-scheduling and labor forecasting, looking at alternatives that can handle more complex requirements is recommended.

#8   ADP

ADP     |     User Reviews

ADP is one of the oldest and most widely known HR and workforce management providers in the world. Their product line features packages designed for a wide range of business sizes, including ADP Run (small), ADP Workforce Now (midsize), and ADP Vantage (enterprise).

Key features

  • Extensive payroll processing capabilities

  • Time tracking and scheduling

  • Tax calculations

  • Insurance and benefits administration

  • Talent management and acquisition

  • Onboarding and offboarding

Use cases

  • Small business tax and payroll with under 50 employees (ADP RUN)

  • Construction, hospitality, non-profit, health and wellness

  • Mid-size to enterprise level HRIS reporting and workforce management (ADP Workforce Now)

Pricing

  • Quote-based

ADP can be a good choice for non-restaurant businesses needing a comprehensive payroll and tax management system. It can also be helpful for HR processes such as onboarding, managing contracts, and employee handbooks. If you want to prioritize these areas, ADP can be a good choice. However, ADP is notoriously difficult to use as its UI is slightly outdated when compared to platforms like Deputy.

#9   Shiftboard

Shiftboard     |     User Reviews

Shiftboard is a staff scheduling platform suited for specific industries. It has two main products—SchedulePro and ScheduleFlex. Schedule Pro is built for production and manufacturing industries, while ScheduleFlex is fit for the service industry.

Key features

  • Auto-fill open shifts

  • OT detection and equalization

  • Plant and unit-specific staffing requirements

  • Workforce compliance

Use cases

  • Oil & gas, manufacturing, corrections, and energy

  • Supporting industry-specific scenarios like product line changes and emergency response team assignment

  • Managing union agreements and fatigue standards compliance

Pricing

  • Quote-based

Shiftboard is great for scheduling in the manufacturing and energy industries, but its capabilities around time and attendance, leave management, and demand planning are quite basic. Nevertheless, it can be a great alternative to Deputy if you run an operation in one of the industries listed above with niche scheduling requirements. Otherwise, Deputy may be a better choice for a more straightforward WFM platform.