Item: HotSchedules
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with HotSchedules

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Each of our full-service locations utilizes HotSchedules as a tool to minimize labor expense and a communication tool with our team.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Communication with team members
Enforce time and attendance with POS to control labor expense
Communication among managers
Tracking staff performance issues
Keeping up permits

Cons

Does not tie labor/schedule postings to budget; too easy for managers to override
Messages are not easily accessible
Above store reporting tools are outdated; should be able to schedule reports

HotSchedules was the first to tie into a POS to control clocking in and out for employees compared to a canned product from major POS providers. HotSchedules is more widely used by hourly employees in the industry, so there is less of a training curve.

Usability

Updates are frequent, and they are not always better. The scheduling portion was one of the easiest at one point. New upgrades make scheduling a bit more cumbersome. Scheduling is not always tied to the benefits of programming. With the expense, it should be used as a labor savings tool. System allows managers to overlook important features to ensure you writing the best schedule for profitability and guest service.

Likelihood to Recommend

For small to medium-sized companies HotSchedules works great when business is very static. If you are simply using HotSchedules for a schedule writing tool, it is phenomenal. However, it does miss the mark as a labor control software. Needs more controls to keep managers aware of spending versus historical sales data.

Comments

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Annie Smith
(Vendor Representative) commented 6 years ago
Thank you so much for your review of HotSchedules. We are glad to hear that it is helping you keep things organized and communicate with your team. I appreciate all of the feedback you provided and you're in luck...we actually do have some of the functionality you are looking for. You can visit our knowledge base and learn how to setup scheduled reports via email: https://help.hotschedules.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000963072-ASC-Configure-Automated-Reports-Blue-UI- We also do have a budget available within HotSchedules that once setup, you can report and compare to within the scheduler so your managers can make better and quicker decisions and stay in line with labor goals. You can see a preview of that here: https://help.hotschedules.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001018692-HS-The-Labor-Budget-Tool Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you'd like to look more closely at the options available to you. I'm happy to walk through it with you. Best, Annie Smith Manager, Customer Success

Great commumication tool