Comprehensive scheduling tool with a focus on compliance
Table of contents
- Verdict: 8.5/10
- Humanity Pricing
- Humanity Usability and Interface
- Humanity Core Functionalities
- Humanity Security Features
- Humanity Reporting & Analytics
- Humanity Customer Support
- What are Humanity Review Ratings from Review Sites?
- Final Thoughts About Humanity
- Connecteam: The Better Humanity Alternative
- FAQs
Verdict: 8.5/10
TCP Software’s Humanity is an intuitive, all-in-one scheduling tool designed to help businesses comply with federal and state scheduling laws. It simplifies complex scheduling needs, including managing multiple work locations, large workforces, and changing employee availability.
I tried out Humanity and was genuinely impressed by its features. Beyond its strong core scheduling capabilities, the platform includes a time clock, AI-powered forecasting, a basic learning management system (LMS), timesheets, payroll integrations, and extensive reporting.
Humanity is ideal for businesses across all industries, especially those with complex scheduling demands. However, some smaller companies might find the platform’s breadth and depth of features overwhelming and potentially costly, as no free plan is available.
Key Features:
- Shift planning: Enables quick and easy schedule creation that considers employees’ leave, availability, and skills.
- Compliance rules: Offers pre-built and custom rules to create rosters that comply with US federal and state scheduling laws.
- AI-powered forecasting: Generates optimized schedules with the right mix of staff without going over your labor budget.
- Time clock: Enables employees to record their work hours for compliance and payroll purposes.
- Payroll: Lets you generate timesheets and export them directly to your payroll software.
- Reporting and analytics: Helps you gain insights on scheduling, time sheets, labor budgets, and more.
- Mobile and Apple Watch apps: Lets employees and managers access schedules, time clocks, and more while on the go.
Pros ✅ – Supports compliance with US scheduling laws – Offers various scheduling-adjacent features – Supports 46 languages – Includes a predictive scheduling feature – Offers extensive and responsive customer support | Cons ❌ – Extensive features may be overwhelming for some users – Integrations outside of payroll partners are limited – Pricing isn’t publicly available – There’s no free plan |
Humanity Pricing
Unfortunately, Humanity’s pricing isn’t publicly available. When I reached out to the platform for further details, a sales representative explained that their package plans vary depending on the number of users and features.
Interested users can contact Humanity for detailed quotes by providing information that includes:
- Your industry.
- The number of users (employees and managers).
- The number of locations.
- The features you want access to.
Third-party sites suggest Humanity’s pricing may start at around $3 per user. This pricing would be reasonable compared with other choices. For example, Deputy costs $4.50 to $6 per user, When I Work costs $1.50 to $5 per user, and Sling costs $1.70 to $3.40 per user.
Humanity doesn’t offer a free plan, while various competitors do—including Deputy, Sling, and Connecteam. However, you can sign up for a generous 30-day free trial.
Given that Humanity’s pricing is based on the number of users and access to specific features, subscription costs may add up quickly (though it’s hard to say for sure without knowing exact pricing details). The lack of a free plan may make it an unaffordable option for some smaller businesses.
Humanity’s pricing appears slightly more affordable compared to some competitors based on third-party information. However, the lack of transparency and a free plan might deter smaller businesses, despite the potentially competitive starting price.
Verdict: 6/10
Humanity Usability and Interface
I found Humanity’s clean blue and gray user interface easy to navigate. Its main functions—including shift planning, a time clock, leave, availability, and training—appear in a toolbar across the top of the screen. As you click through these primary functions, the corresponding menu bar on the left changes, revealing specific features and tasks.
When you first log in, you’ll be taken to the dashboard, which presents an overview of your time clock, shared files, upcoming shifts, available employees, employees on leave, employees late for work, and upcoming birthdays.
I especially liked the clear scheduling layout. Humanity gives you a weekly view of all scheduled shifts. Filters in the left-hand navigation menu let you quickly toggle between different types of shifts and employees. There’s also a mini monthly calendar on the left side of the screen.
While Humanity’s extensive features are impressive, they might feel a bit overwhelming for users seeking a simple stand-alone scheduling tool. Some of the platform’s more granular features can be less intuitive to navigate than Humanity’s main menu and dashboard, and some new users may experience a gentle learning curve.
To address this, Humanity includes an in-app tutorial feature. You can work through these tutorials at your own pace. I experienced some minor technical glitches when using these—for example, I received an error message when I tried accessing the overview tutorial. However, most worked well and were quite helpful in learning the product and its capabilities.
It’s worth noting that Humanity doesn’t appear to offer specific accessibility features. However, its Apple Watch app (see below) could enhance accessibility for some users.
Verdict: 8/10
Mobile app
Humanity’s mobile app also offers a clean user interface. When you first log in, a dashboard appears, along with an icon to clock in at the top.
The dashboard includes widgets for a countdown to the start of your next shift, upcoming shifts, available open shifts, your message wall, upcoming birthdays, and more. Users can customize their dashboards to see only the content that’s relevant to them.
I was pleased to see the app gives users access to most of the features available on the desktop version. The features that aren’t available on mobile include payroll, forecasting, and reports. These exceptions make sense to me, given that these features are more accessible on larger screens.
The Humanity app is read-only when offline. This means users can see only existing information—like scheduled shifts and a staff contact list—when they’re not connected to the internet. This may be a limitation for some users, especially field employees.
Humanity also offers an Apple Watch app that allows employees to check their schedules, receive scheduling notifications, and clock in right from their watches.
Menu Item | Admin | Employee | ||
Website | Mobile App | Website | Mobile App | |
Key Features | ||||
Dashboard | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Schedules | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Shift templates | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Availability | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Automated scheduling | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
AI predictive scheduling | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Shift trading | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Scheduling rules | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Time clock | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Messages | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Training | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Files | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Analysis | ||||
Payroll | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Reports | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Labor budget | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Verdict: 8/10
Humanity Core Functionalities
Schedule creation
Schedule creation gif (video file in images folder)
Alt text: A video showing a user adding shifts using templates to a Humanity schedule
Caption: Users can easily create schedules with Humanity using templates.
Humanity excels at its core purpose: creating easy-to-use yet advanced schedules, or what it calls “shift planning.” Users can build schedules from scratch or use a range of features to create and publish schedules in just a few clicks. They can:
- Use shift templates.
- Copy shifts across different schedules.
- Copy entire schedules.
- Create compliant schedules based on staff skills and availability in just 1 click using auto-scheduling.
Humanity’s shift planning boasts lots of advanced features. Managers can offer open shifts for employees to self-assign and allow employees to swap or trade shifts (with manager approval), streamlining schedule changes. Custom scheduling rules help managers create compliant and consistent schedules tailored to their organization’s needs.
Schedules are stored in a central location, easily accessible by all staff via their computers, smartphones, tablets, or Apple watches. This is also useful from a compliance perspective, as it creates a record of previous work schedules.
I think one of Humanity’s best selling points is its ability to assist with scheduling compliance. It has a range of pre-built state-specific rules—for example, for mandatory breaks—that you can apply to your schedules. It also helps users comply with child labor laws by tracking employees’ dates of birth, school hours, and relevant labor laws on maximum working hours.
In my opinion, this feature sets Humanity apart from other schedule creation software. While other platforms like Deputy and Sling let you create your own scheduling rules to help manage compliance, Humanity’s pre-built rules offer a uniquely proactive approach.
Scheduling laws are often complex. While Humanity’s pre-built rules aren’t a substitute for legal advice, they provide valuable support in ensuring compliance with the laws that apply to your business.
However, Humanity’s pre-built rules are US-specific, so non-US users must create their own compliance rules. The platform lets you define your own scheduling rules to comply with the relevant laws in your location. For example, you can set maximum work hours, overtime limits, minimum rests between shifts, and maximum consecutive workdays.
Verdict: 9/10
AI-powered forecasting
Humanity’s forecasting feature predicts future business metrics and auto-builds schedules for you, accounting for these metrics and employees’ skills and availability. It analyzes the relevant key performance indicators you enter—such as sales, customer numbers, and ticket volumes—along with previous schedules. This way, it can optimize future schedules.
In addition, the software flags potential schedule conflicts based on your scheduling rules. These include overtime, availability clashes, and rest break laws that aren’t being followed.
This feature is a paid add-on.
Verdict: 9/10
Employee profiles, leave, and availability
Humanity lets users add individualized information to help with scheduling.
Managers can assign skills to employees, so finding the right person for a shift is easy.
Meanwhile, employees can enter their availability and leave requests, which automatically appear across managers’ dashboards.
I like how convenient this feature is, ensuring you have this information at hand when creating new schedules.
Verdict: 9/10
Communication
The platform offers various built-in communication features to keep employees updated on their scheduled shifts, schedule changes, and available shifts.
Managers can send employees email, SMS, and push notifications via their mobile app and automate these tasks to save time.
There’s also an in-app chat function for managers and employees to contact each other individually. This feature is available on both the desktop version and mobile app.
The message board feature that appears on the dashboard is handy, too. It gives managers a quick and easy way to contact their teams with important messages and updates, like leave request reminders.
Verdict: 9/10
Time clock
Employees can clock in and out of shifts using the desktop, mobile, or Apple Watch apps. I found the time clock intuitive and easy to use.
The only downside? It tracks only to the minute, while some competitors—like Time Doctor—track to the nearest second.
The time clock also helpfully flags late check-ins on managers’ dashboards, enabling them to follow up with employees immediately.
Users can create timesheets based on time clock data within the platform. Managers can easily see which employees have clocked in, view their timesheets, and manually approve them. Managers can also set up auto-approval rules to save time reviewing individual timesheets.
Verdict: 8/10
Payroll
Humanity lets managers generate payroll reports based on time clock data and employee timesheets.
You can set specific rules for these reports, like when employees get paid double pay or overtime rates, then export them as a CSV file or to your payroll software.
I was impressed that Humanity integrates with over 30 payroll software providers, including Bamboo Payroll, and Paycor.
Verdict: 9/10
Humanity Security Features
Humanity’s desktop software requires only a password to log in. Sessions time out after a certain period of inactivity, requiring you to log in again. Single sign-on (SSO) is also available. For additional security, you can set expiration dates to prompt your employees to change passwords regularly.
You need to enter your password just once to access the mobile app. When you reopen the app, you go straight to your dashboard without providing login credentials. I know some users prefer mobile apps with an additional layer of security, such as 2-factor authentication or biometric features.
The software offers detailed access levels—like admin, manager, supervisor, scheduler, and employee—giving you complete control over who has access to specific features.
Humanity offers a strong security framework that you’d expect from a scheduling software. It uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host its cloud data securely, which is monitored around the clock for any threats, anomalies, or other issues.
The platform’s data protection policies comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). Humanity is SOC 2 compliant and Privacy Shield Framework certified—and it’s a member of the US Department of Commerce Privacy Shield.
Verdict: 8/10
Humanity Reporting & Analytics
Humanity offers over 17 auto-generated reports, including for:
- Schedule summaries.
- Budgets.
- Open shifts.
- Schedule conflicts.
- Shift exchanges.
- Time sheets.
- Employee availability.
- Employee leave.
- Employee anniversaries.
I found the range of reports to be solid, and they probably cater to most businesses’ analytics needs.
It takes just a few minutes to generate an auto-report. Once you’ve selected the report type, you plug in straightforward information like the date range and location and create the report. You can also filter the data according to specific employees, skills, or custom tags.
These automated reports summarize key data without offering detailed insights. For many businesses, this is enough. However, if you’re looking for more advanced analytics, Humanity’s AI-forecast feature can generate reports that predict future business metrics. These are more involved to generate, but detailed tutorials are available via Humanity’s knowledge base.
Humanity also lets you create custom reports with the platform for specific insights relevant to your workforce—and even offers support.
Verdict: 9/10
Humanity Customer Support
Knowledge base gif (recording in images folder)
Alt text: A video showing a user navigating from Humanity’s dashboard to its knowledge base and searching for “forecasting” tutorials
Caption: Humanity’s support articles can be accessed directly from the app.
Humanity offers extensive customer support. You can contact the team by:
- Phone Monday to Friday between 7am and 7pm CT.
- Email (24/7).
- Live chat (24/7) in-app and via its website.
There’s also an online resource library with webinars and advice for using the software, as well as a knowledge base for technical support articles.
Customer support is highly responsive. Humanity’s website boasts a wait time of under a minute for live support. To test this, I reached out via live chat and received an informative and helpful reply within 10 minutes—more than a minute, but still quick.
Customer support is also proactive. When I asked about a feature not yet available in the app, the agent suggested submitting it as a feature request for Humanity to consider adding.
Users seem happy with Humanity’s customer service, giving it 4.2 on Capterra. It also appears Humanity provides individual onboarding to customers to help them create the necessary scheduling rules, learn the platform’s features, and more.
Verdict: 10/10
What are Humanity Review Ratings from Review Sites?
(As of July 2024)
- Capterra: 4.3/5
- G2: 4.3/5
- Software Advice: 4.5/5
- TrustRadius: 7/10
- GetApp: 4.3/5
- Google Play Store: 4.8/5
- Apple App Store: 4.9/5
Final Thoughts About Humanity
Humanity’s scheduling tool offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to create compliant work schedules easily. Its AI forecasting, compliance rules, and auto-scheduling make it ideal for managing large and complex scheduling needs.
I was impressed with Humanity’s extensive customer service and support resources. Given the platform’s range and depth of features, this support is essential to ensure you make the most of its offerings.
I like that Humanity offers flexibility, letting you choose which features best suit your business needs. However, the absence of a free plan and the extensive range of features may not make it the best fit for smaller businesses. Businesses considering Humanity should take advantage of its free 30-day trial and demo to ensure it meets their scheduling needs.
Connecteam: The Better Humanity Alternative
Humanity’s compliance-focused scheduling solution may not suit all businesses, especially smaller ones, given it doesn’t offer a free plan.
In comparison to Humanity and the best Humanity alternatives, Connecteam has a free-for-life plan that gives businesses with 10 or fewer employees access to an extensive range of features for compliant scheduling and more.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these features.
Intuitive drag-and-drop schedule creation
Connecteam’s employee scheduler lets you create schedules in just a few clicks. You simply drag and drop employees into each available shift or use one of the time-saving schedule creation features, like:
- Pre-built and custom schedule templates.
- An auto-scheduler to create schedules in seconds, accounting for employees’ skills and availability.
- Shift conflict alerts to flag potential compliance or budget issues, like double scheduling.
You can also attach useful information to shifts, such as notes, documents, and images to shifts to streamline handovers and ensure employees have all the information they need.
Employees are notified of published schedules and changes in real time—plus you can send automated shift reminders, reducing the risk of no-shows.
Features to support compliance
Connecteam supports compliant scheduling by allowing you to set regulatory limitations customized to the laws that apply to your business. For example, the overtime app enables you to define when overtime starts and limit employee clock-in and clock-out times to manage labor budgets.
Best of all, Connecteam’s compliance support goes beyond just scheduling. You can:
- Create, complete, and store audit documents.
- Maintain a company knowledge base.
- Deliver and record employee training.
- Share compliance information and updates with your workforce.
Time clock to track time accurately to the second
With Connecteam’s employee time clock, you can record employees’ work hours down to the second. This level of precision ensures timesheet and payroll accuracy. It also supports compliance by helping you track employees’ hours for overtime and break purposes.
Time clock data can easily be converted into time sheets, billing, and payroll reports in seconds.
Employee communication tool
Connecteam’s built-in employee chat is ideal for keeping your employees current on schedules, including notifying them of published shifts, reminding them of upcoming shifts, and flagging schedule changes. Messages can be scheduled so that employees receive them only during work hours to respect their work-life balance.
And more
Connecteam is more than just a scheduling solution—it’s an all-in-one employee management tool that makes scheduling, task management, communication, and employee training a breeze.
Try Connecteam today for free.
FAQs
What is the Humanity app for?
The Humanity app lets users create compliant work schedules that accommodate employees’ skills, availability, and leave. It’s designed to streamline scheduling with features like AI-powered forecasting, auto-scheduling, and a mobile app.
Is Humanity HIPAA compliant?
How do I log in to Humanity?
Provide the email address and password you created when setting up your account.
Does the Humanity app track location?
Humanity includes a GPS feature that tracks the location of employees when they clock in and out of a shift from their mobile devices. Managers can enable this setting to log the locations of mobile employees and ensure they’re at the right work sites.
How much does TCP Humanity cost?
Humanity’s pricing isn’t publicly available. To obtain a custom quote, contact Humanity and provide detailed information about your company.