HotSchedules reviews

Intuitive User interface
Easy to add new users
Great scheduling utility
incredible for contacting staff on a large scale
Has a mobile app that users can use

The mobile app costs money so most of my staff refuses to download this app which sends them push notifications in the event I need to contact them all. I believe that since we are already paying to use the software this app should be free to download. Without a login the application is useless so the fact you need to pay to download the app is very ridiculous.

Hotschedules changed the restaurant industry when it came out. I have worked in the industry for over 10 years, so when this software came out. It really changed the industry. Before we would have to wait for a photo of our schedules and sometimes we would miss our shifts or getting our shifts covered was so difficult. When hotschedules came out , you never wondered when your shift was. You are reminded when you have a shift and if you need a shift covered you simply post it up. It is a secure way to have everyone feel accountable and be accountable for work.

The only thing I had a trouble with when I first started using hotschedules was understanding how to update my availability for work but once someone showed me its a no brainer.

Makes scheduling easier. I've never had an issues when it comes to scheduling with HS. It's a great platform especially when you operate a high volume restaurant. Hotschedules has allowed me to focus on other aspects of managing my restaurant. Scheduling literally takes about 15 minutes every week. Employees past and present have also had positive things to say about hot-schedules. Employees like the fact that you can download the app and be able to see any updates made to the schedule. Go-Hire has also been a great tool for my company. Onboarding new employees is made so much easier now with eliminating paper appplications and documents. Go hire easily let's you conduct background checks on new hires with a click of a button.

As I stated above in the describe your experience section. The fact that getting a new employee synced in hotschedules after they have been entered into Aloha takes 24 hours is really a big inconvenience. For me personally, this has resulted in delaying the start date for new hires. I have documented about twelve different support requests to the support team to help get a new hire synced faster. I suggest maybe allowing admins to manually add employees to the staff list to help resolve this issues. Operating a restaurant with high turnover, it's crucial that new hire are able to start right away with no delay. This by far the biggest and only con that I can think of with this platform.

Users can be grouped into categories based on department, allowing for effective communication without clutter. Also users' title and contact information is kept in a master directory readily available to other users. Another great feature is push notifications regarding company announcements, published schedules, and schedule changes. No need to constantly check the app for changes.

There is no free version of the app, which could be problematic for some employees. Although not expensive, some users don't like to pay for an app to view their schedule.

I like how this software has all of the features needed for restaurant scheduling. You can view who is working each shift and be notified when the schedule is created. It also makes it easy to request time off without having to talk to somebody.

I haven't encountered any problems with this software so far.

This program was super easy to use and I enjoyed the level of communication

The only thing that was no fun was when I would be half way though a schedule and something would go wrong and I would loose my work

What I like most about this software is everything about the software is easy to use very user friendly everything's out there so you can find it easy.

There's no features I like least about this software.

Easy use for employees, the web page navigation on a cell phone works well. The app is definitely a plus.

Negation is hard to understand for upper management. Would like to be able to add daily notes on the schedule for events happening that day for the employees.

Integration with our POS (sales and labor reporting), ease of use for managers and employees, wide variety of reporting, writing schedules takes no time at all

Messaging function (email notifications don't include what the actual message is), no longer have the ability to manually sync new employees from POS

It’s very helpful in the food service industry. When I previously worked as a server, the restaurant used this. It made trading shifts or picking up shifts much easier. The schedules were sent out weekly and it allowed trading shifts. It’s easy to read and use.

The most annoying thing about is the notifications. I think everyone gets all the notifications. So it’s notification overload.

Management "Red Book" log
Logging of Employee and Store incidents/issues.

Cumbersome and non-intuitive UI
Poor employee sharing between locations
Weather Widget did not function in Canada as promised
Training/Learning Center feature was not included in cost of Hotschedules as promised.
When I had issue to be addressed, I was ignored by their staff for months until I stopped paying.
We were not allowed to cancel the contract as promised by our sales person.
The program is centered on the desk top program with the mobile app being an after thought.

The communication side of it is great. I have less meetings now that I can send out mass messages. The scheduler itself is top notch. I can move shifts around quickly using the quick keys and copying schedules is a snap. Having the freedom to do my schedule anywhere and being able to approve or deny schedule changes from my phone makes those decisions more informed. We use it to document all incidents good and bad on employees, so when an evaluation comes around you have all that information at your fingertips. It makes a great reservation scheduler. The roster report is the first thing I print out in the mornings to make sure everyone is here and where they are supposed to be and if they are not I have all the phone numbers on that sheet. The fact that it gives you the number of hours for everyone helps with creating budgets for the week.

My biggest complaint is that part of the expense for the is put on the employee. I know it's very little but some employees don't have a bank account or credit card and have trouble making the purchase. It seems to me that the revenue generated by that could be built into the cost of the software on the employer side.

Hotschedules won our business by having the best Aloha POS integration of all the companies we spoke with. Employees that are added to our system are automatically synced with Hotschedules so you can quickly begin adding them to the schedule. The integration also allows us to restrict employees from clocking in too early or late with saves labor and allows you to quickly identify the less punctual employees. Finally, the integration also pulls historical sales data from our POS and uses it to establish a good sales forecast that you can use to budget your labor accurately.

The app and website are just not as intuitive and streamline as I would like. Previously we had used PeopleMatter schedule, which had a much less cluttered and more user friendly interface. Hotschedules also starts to think it knows how to schedule better than the manager and will start adding "House Shifts" to your schedule that employees can pick up, which frustrates me when I really don't need that shift covered.

I have found that HotSchedules solves the ever-present problem in any workplace: "I didn't know I was scheduled!" Even when employees swap shifts or take another employee's shift, the software shows them that they maintain ownership of their originally assigned shifts until manager approval.

The fact that users have to pay to download the app on their smartphones is challenging. Although the workplace pays for the software, employees have to pay to get the software on their cellphones. This problem is compounded by the fact that the website doesn't have a very interactive design, much unlike the app, so employees often have to get the app to have a decent experience using HotSchedules.

The ability to save a template for a weekly schedule. At our job we put a schedule out on a weekly basis and we don't have to start from scratch every week. It used to take use 5 hours to do the schedule and now it takes us 1 hour. A huge lifesaver!

The look of the software feels a tad outdate. Though that is not a huge deal, it tends to have unnecessary pop-ups or "menu" buttons. However, not enough of a con to ever have me consider using a different product.

I like the copy function when scheduling. You can cut or copy a shift and paste it in another day. I also enjoy the creation of House Shifts to help meet projected labor needed. There are some cool reporting functions and the Broadcast feature is great for company-wide announcements.

Our whole team has had issues with the messaging part of HotSchedules. The messages are easy to missed. Since HotSchedules can put out so many notifications - messages get lost in the jumble.

I love hotschedules. I'd be lost without it. I use it daily. It's easy to see my schedule. I have an organized and easy way to find my coworkers contact info and can easily message them all at once. I can email my managers and change my availability. I can get my shift covered quickly and easily with proof in email that it was covered. I love it. I wouldn't know what to do if i worked somewhere that didn't use it.

I wish when changing your availability you could copy what you already have set and make a change instead of having to redo the whole thing.

First let me start off by saying I have used hotschedules now for years I first started off using it when I worked in restaurants as a server. It was the only way you could know when you work and request time off. Now that I have my own buisness I still use Hotschedules because of how much I like it.
It’s super easy to log on from anywhere and check the schedule adjust the schedule look at upcoming shifts as well as pull up who wants when off for when your making the schedule

The thing I liked least about Hotschedules is the fact that most the time to download the app on your phone there is a fee and you can’t download the app without paying it.

It was clunky and difficult to use. Did not work for mamy staff members

It waant intuitive to use. Felt that i needed a special certification just to get started.

Ease of scheduling . We use the messaging every night to update all on how the day went. If there are any questions their customer support is easy to get a hold of and the problem has been fixed before hanging up. We like employees hour's tracking to keep everyone at or below 40 hours a week.

I don't like having to sign in everytime I want to use it. We would like to connect this to our POS system to have other tracking capabilities but there are additional fees for that.

HotSchedules is very convenient to use for the business and employees. I love that I can message everyone as a group, a specific job title, or individuals. I love that the employees can view their schedule in real time from anywhere.

HotSchedules is time consuming to use. The functionality of the scheduling area could be improved to save time. When it comes to syncing employees with our Micros system it takes too much time and has gotten “hung up” multiple times. Customer service gives great direction but takes too long to get an answer. The layout of the roster is hard to read and offering different layout options would be a huge improvement.

HotSchedules is a user friendly interface that makes scheduling, adjusting schedules, swapping shifts, or viewing staff rosters, sending messages with coworkers incredibly accessible and easy to use.

No cons, this app is a dream for people with a dynamic and hectic schedule and good management running the app for their staff.

Ease of use, accessibility -- the facebook of scheduling!

Honestly, would love to see them work on the ease of the scheduler. I feel like that whole page could be done differently. It just seems that something could be done to streamline it. The shortcuts are nice but not easily remembered. Additionally, I would love if there was a cost effective version for small independently owned restaurants.

Its super easy to get new schedules and the managers know we have seen them. Also we can trade, drop and pick up shifts as needed. Overtime is already tracked so accepting a new shift is fine as long as the dining room is covered. I like that I can see my paycheck too great way to budget.

The app is 2.99 ok not a lot but without tje team app why should staff pay for an app the company is already paying for?