With an excellent employee scheduling and time tracking tool, keeping staff informed of their hours and monitoring their work is a breeze. These are the best When I Work alternatives for scheduling shifts and tracking worker time.
If your business has mobile staff, you’ll know how challenging it can be to organize and distribute schedules that suit everybody. Tracking the hours that deskless staff work can also be tough to do through traditional methods.
Software for employee scheduling and time tracking simplifies these processes. You can easily create schedules and employees can clock in using a time clock on their phones.
If you don’t have the time to read through our research, jump down to our quick comparison table.
Our Top Picks
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The best alternative to When I Work
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Good for project-based teams
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Good for monitoring work-from-home staff
Why trust us?
Our team of unbiased software reviewers follows strict editorial guidelines, and our methodology is clear and open to everyone.
See our complete methodology
25
Tools considered
16
Tools reviewed
7
Best tools
chosen
What Is “When I Work”?
“When I Work” is an employee-scheduling and time tracking application. You can use it to create a schedule for staff and instantly share it with them. Employees can request time off, trade shifts, and see the tasks they’re expected to complete each day through the app. Employees can specify their preferred hours, making scheduling easier.
You can use When I Work to track attendance and time off. You can also approve or deny overtime requests through the app and monitor when staff are taking breaks. Employees can clock in and out through the app.
When I Work also includes a team communication tool, which means you can have one-to-one and group discussions within the app. You can also broadcast messages to all members of the team.
Why Are People Moving Away From When I Work?
Reading both positive and negative customer reviews is an excellent way to determine whether a software solution will be suitable for your business needs.
While many When I Work reviews say it’s easy to keep track of hours in the app, frustrations with the software’s “many glitches” that cause “a lot of scheduling conflicts and confusion” have also been voiced.
Customers have found the software to be “super frustrating” because it “keeps freezing on you.” This includes situations where When I Work “would not register proper locations” and “when there is a glitch they don’t fix it for like a month.”
Many When I Work reviews state issues with customer service—When I Work doesn’t offer phone support. One review found the customer support that is on offer a “maddening waste of time when you have a real problem to solve.”
Customer reviews often say When I Work lacks the features their business needs. An accounting manager states that When I Work has “important missing features,” making it a “waste of time.” Another customer says When I Work “doesn’t work well for businesses like ours that require multiple shifts.”
Because of what the reviews are suggesting, it’s worth looking at the scheduling and employee-time-management alternatives to When I Work to see which might suit you better.
The Best When I Work Alternatives & Competitors for Employee Scheduling
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Connecteam — The best alternative to When I Work
Key Features
Pros
Flexible but easy to use
Free for up to 10 users
Outstanding customer support
Cons
Doesn’t integrate with some third-party software
Connecteam is a comprehensive employee management solution with employee scheduling, time tracking, team messaging, and more.
Effortless employee scheduling
With Connecteam’s easy-to-use employee scheduling features, you can quickly create shifts in several ways. You can save a lot of time by automatically scheduling recurring shifts, copying previous shifts, or using a shift template. It’s as simple as dragging and dropping a job, shift, or week onto the scheduling calendar.
When you make a shift, Connecteam highlights any potential scheduling conflicts. You can use the scheduling tool to guarantee equal shift distribution between employees.
By setting up employee qualifications, you can ensure you always assign staff with the right skills for every job.
Finally, employees can share their availability with you, making it easier to build shifts that suit everyone without much back-and-forth conversation.
Easy employee access to schedules from anywhere
Employees can see everything they need to know about their shifts right on their phones. You can also attach notes and files to shifts, including customer information and maps.
Shift reminders help reduce the chance of no-shows or somebody showing up at the wrong location. You also have the option of allowing staff to swap shifts between themselves, which leads to better staff morale.
Finally, with Connecteam’s in app task management features, you can set up responsibilities for each employee or team to complete during their shift, so everyone always knows what they’re supposed to be doing.
Accurate digital time clock
Employees can all clock in and out using the Connecteam time clock on their phones. It’s very easy to use. Misunderstandings, mistakes, and payroll errors are a thing of the past. Performing labor cost analysis, making wage and hour calculations, and following labor compliance laws becomes effortless.
With Connecteam, you get a live view in real-time of where your employees are and what they’re doing. You can see where your employees are at all times.
Team communication
Connecteam has excellent team messaging features that complement scheduling and time tracking. You can have one-to-one conversations, group chats, and even broadcast alerts and updates to all staff.
Keeping team communication within Connecteam has several advantages. You can monitor your team’s group chats and delete messages that aren’t appropriate. Media is never saved on employees’ phones for security reasons, and when an employee leaves the company, they lose access to the chat.
Excellent customer service
Connecteam is known for providing excellent customer service to its users. Our customer support team is available 24/7 to assist users with any questions or issues they may have and you will receive a response on our live chat within just a few minutes. The team is knowledgeable, responsive, and always goes above and beyond to ensure that customers have a positive experience. Our commitment to excellent customer service is just one of the many reasons why Connecteam is a trusted platform for scheduling and managing employees.
Beyond employee scheduling and time tracking
Connecteam offers so many additional features that pair well with scheduling and time tracking.
For example, offer employees access to a company directory so they can offer better customer interactions. Or you can provide a library of help documents and training.
Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Get Started Now!
Pricing
Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users
14-day free trial, no credit card required
Start your free trial -
Clockify — Good for project-based teams
Key Features
- Time tracking for project-based teams
- Online timesheets for employees
- Calendar shows what each team member is working on
- Option to manually enter hours worked
Pros
- Apps for more platforms than most other competitor alternatives
- Integrates well with lots of third-party apps
Cons
- Lacks support for shift work
- Scheduling functionality is lacking
Clockify is a software application for tracking employees’ time. Though its main focus is employee timesheets, it also has some limited employee-scheduling features.
Clockify is best used as a scheduling solution for teams working on projects. It’s closer to a project-management tool than When I Work, with tasks and milestones laid out on a grid. You can assign team members to each project.
Employees can start and stop the timer as they work, or enter hours manually. They can log an entire week of activities at a time by entering the worked hours into a table.
Project-based companies may find Clockify a good fit, but it lacks versatility for shift-based work. For instance, employees can’t self-assign shifts—increasing the work that managers need to do.
Pricing
Starts at $3.99/user/month Trial: Yes — For PRO features Free Plan: Yes
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Hubstaff — Good for monitoring work-from-home staff
Key Features
- Schedule shifts that repeat weekly
- Send shift reminders to reduce no-shows
- Monitor the use of employee devices
- Set strict break schedules
Pros
- Strong employee monitoring features
- Apps for many types of devices
Cons
- Extremely limited free plan
- Relatively difficult learning curve
Hubstaff is a complete employee-monitoring application with employee scheduling, time tracking, and project management features. It’s a great option for companies with staff working from home.
Hubstaff’s time tracking features focus on employee monitoring. You can take unlimited screenshots of employees’ screens. You can also set rules which require staff to take specific breaks. Employees must check in and out to ensure they conform to the break schedule. However, you should carefully consider whether to use these features as some employees may find them intrusive or limiting.
You can use Hubstaff’s employee scheduling features to manage weekly schedules and plan workers’ time off. You can set reminders for shifts and set shifts to be recurring.
Hubstaff is a powerful employee-management solution, but it’s mainly designed to be used by employees working from home. Employers with mobile workers may find it doesn’t quite suit their needs.
Pricing
Starts at $4.99/user/month, 2 users minimum Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: Yes — For one user only
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Homebase — Good for single-location businesses
Key Features
- Plans are priced by location
- Can use templates to build shift schedules
- Workers can trade shifts and claim open shifts
- Track breaks, overtime, and tips
Pros
- Plans include unlimited staff per location
- Track GPS locations for clocking in and out
Cons
- Most businesses will require features from the high-tier plans
- The free plan doesn’t have phone or live chat support
Homebase is a When I Work alternative with time tracking, employee scheduling, team communication, and payroll-management features.
You can use Homebase’s templates to manage and optimize your employees’ shifts. An auto-scheduling feature attempts to create the best schedule for you based on the information at hand. Staff availability can be tracked to avoid scheduling conflicts.
Homebase also includes time tracking on all plans—with support for tracking hours, breaks, wages, tips, and overtime. It has a particular focus on hourly work.
Homebase is priced differently than the other When I Work alternatives on our list. It’s charged on a per-location basis, so it’s relatively inexpensive if you don’t have many locations, but pricey if you do.
Many important features—like the ability to organize your teams into departments—are reserved for the most expensive plans. This means that Homebase can be more costly than it first appears.
Pricing
Starts at $20/location/month Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: Yes — For a single location & up to 20 employees
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Deputy — Good for wage-cost budgeting
Key Features
- Automatically create schedules based on forecasts
- Set meal and rest break rules
- Supports open shifts
- Reports on wage costs
Pros
- Reasonably priced
- Schedules can be built quickly with AI tools
Cons
- Scheduling and time tracking are separate paid services
- No live customer support
Deputy may be a lesser-known team-management-software solution, but it brings some interesting twists to the industry. With Deputy, you can use an AI auto-scheduler to fill in your staff schedule for you. It does this by attempting to forecast labor demand and reduce wage costs.
Deputy offers time tracking too. Employees clock in and out using the Deputy app, which creates a timesheet that lists where employees were at all times. You can set Deputy to ensure staff take specific meal or rest breaks—with missed breaks being flagged on the timesheet.
Deputy can show graphs of how much your teams are costing you at different times of the day and week.
On the downside, employee scheduling and time tracking with Deputy are split into two different plans. So, if you want both you need to purchase both.
Pricing
Starts at $4.5/user/month, for Scheduling or Time & Attendance Trial: Yes — 31-day Free Plan: No
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QuickBooks Time — Good for users of QuickBooks accounting software
Key Features
- Manage timesheets via web browser or app
- Track employee location
- Drag-and-drop shift allocation
- Easily copy a previous week’s schedule
Pros
- Works well with QuickBooks accounting software
- GPS tracking of employees
Cons
- Limited employee-scheduling features
- High price
QuickBooks Time is often considered a good alternative to When I Work by those who use the QuickBooks accounting software. But most other time tracking and employee-scheduling software integrate perfectly with QuickBooks too, so this shouldn’t be your main consideration.
QuickBooks Time is primarily a time tracking application, but it has a few employee scheduling features too. Creating an employee schedule involves dragging and dropping shifts and jobs onto a grid in your web browser or the QuickBooks Time app.
With QuickBooks Time, you can track every second that employees work. You can see who is on the clock, what they’re working on, and where they are—all at a glance.
QuickBooks Time is a solid replacement for the time tracking features of When I Work. However, its scheduling features are lackluster. It’s also difficult to manage shift changes between employees and employees can’t self-assign shifts.
Pricing
Starts at $20/month + $10/user/month Trial: Yes — 30-day Free Plan: No
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Buddy Punch — Good for recording when staff clock in and out
Key Features
- Easy-to-use time clock
- Manage paid and unpaid time off
- Monitor remote workers’ locations
- Export to payroll software
Pros
- User-friendly
- Good overview reports
Cons
- Users often report the software is slow to respond
- Relatively expensive
Buddy Punch is an application designed to streamline employee time tracking and attendance.
You can use the drag-and-drop editor to make schedules and send them out to employees with just a few clicks. Schedules can be repeated every week. Employees can receive their schedules via email or the Buddy Punch mobile app. Employees can designate times they’re unavailable to work and request time off.
Buddy Punch time tracking gives your real-time insights into employees’ hours. You can set up email or mobile notifications if workers are nearing the maximum working hours for the day or week. You can view employees’ work locations with GPS coordinates.
On the downside, reviews often state that Buddy Punch “can be slow at times” and that “every once in a while the punch in and out feature is glitchy and doesn’t work.”
Pricing
Starts at $3.99/user/month + $19 base fee/month Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: No
Compare the Best When I Work Alternatives
| Topic |
Start for free
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews |
  |
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| Pricing |
Starts at just $29/month for the first 30 users
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Starts at $3.99/user/month
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Starts at $4.99/user/month, 2 users minimum
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Starts at $20/location/month
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Starts at $4.5/user/month, for Scheduling or Time & Attendance
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Starts at $20/month + $10/user/month
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Starts at $3.99/user/month + $19 base fee/month
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| Free Trial |
yes
14-day
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yes
For PRO features
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yes
14-day
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yes
14-day
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yes
31-day
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yes
30-day
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yes
14-day
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| Free Plan |
yes
Free Up to 10 users
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yes
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yes
For one user only
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yes
For a single location & up to 20 employees
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no
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no
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no
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| Use cases |
The best alternative to When I Work
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Good for project-based teams
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Good for monitoring work-from-home staff
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Good for single-location businesses
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Good for wage-cost budgeting
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Good for users of QuickBooks accounting software
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Good for recording when staff clock in and out
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| Available on |
Summary
Employee scheduling and time tracking can be tricky when you have mobile staff or multiple job sites. Employees are all in different locations, and scheduling can be complex.
When workers can use their phones to see their latest schedule, clock in and clock out, make time-off requests, and communicate with other team members, things are a lot simpler.
This is why employee scheduling and time tracking software is so valuable for businesses with deskless workers. When I Work is a popular option, but customer reviews suggest not everyone’s experience is perfect.
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