If you’ve searched for workforce management platforms, you’ve probably heard about Deputy.
It is often suggested for small businesses with fewer than 20 staff members that operate shift-based workforces. Deputy offers features for employee scheduling, time tracking, task management, and team communication.
While the software excels in employee scheduling, it also simplifies the clocking in and out process through on-site kiosks and a mobile app. Notably recognized for its labor compliance capabilities, it assures wage and hour law concerns.
Overall, we can say that Deputy is a solid choice for handling the fundamental aspects of managing a shift-based workforce.
But then again, for large enterprise level companies with complex ongoing requirements, Deputy sometimes falls short of meeting the expectations.
That's all the more reason to explore the different available options that you can use as a substitute to Deputy and similar online tools.
7 Best Deputy Alternatives in 2024
Let’s drill down on the best Deputy alternatives that you can potentially use to scale and monitor your operational activities.
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1. Xenia - Overall No. 1 & Best Free Deputy Alternative Online
Xenia is a user-friendly facility maintenance and front-line worker management software, available on both desktop and mobile.
It efficiently covers a wide range of end to end operational activities, including process standardization, work orders, preventive maintenance, inspections, meter logs, and basic asset management.
As one of the best Deputy alternatives to date, the program extends its support to various frontline departments like cleaning, sales, customer service, and security through integrated conversations and adaptable tools.
Despite its lightweight nature, it offers a blend of essential CMMS + end-to-end operational execution features at a significantly lower cost compared to competitors - and that too, with a monthly expense that’s less than half of comparable providers.
Features
- Checklists & Procedures: Create easy-to-follow checklists and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for better accountability, training, and clear instructions on various activities.
- Work Orders: Effortlessly generate work orders, specifying team, asset, location, priority, category, and due date. Track real-time progress, interact with teams, and analyze submissions, photos, and comments to improve processes.
- Preventive Maintenance: Ensure optimal asset uptime with a preventive maintenance schedule. Attach photos, templates, videos, and comments to each task, assigning completion to a team or individual.
- Smart Inspection Workflows: Xenia's template builder incorporates smart workflows with conditional logic. Take actions based on form answers, like initiating remedial actions for failed inspections or notifying management of out-of-range meter readings.
- Corrective Actions: Failed inspection phases can seamlessly trigger work orders for corrective actions. All remedial data is stored in checklist submissions for auditing and accountability.
Pricing
- Starter Plan: Starting at $99/month for the first 15 users, includes a work calendar view, work reports, template reports, sub-assets, and sub-locations.
- Premium Plan: Starting at $199/month for the first 15 users, includes reporting dashboards, time and cost tracking, template branding, public form submissions, automated templates, and more.
- Custom Plan: You get unlimited users, a dedicated account manager, onboarding and implementation, and integrations.
For pricing & a free product walkthrough: Book a Demo Today!
Available for up to 5 users
Premium for $99/month for the first 20 users (with free trial period)
Available on iOS, Android and Web
2. Paymo
If you're in search of employee scheduling software comparable to Deputy, consider trying out Paymo.
It provides a comprehensive set of features designed to streamline scheduling for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises.
One notable feature is the user-friendly visual timeline, which offers an aesthetically pleasing and easily readable format for an efficient scheduling overview.
Paymo allows you to view both project and employee schedules on the same timeline, it ensures adequate staff coverage and deadline adherence.
Real-time scheduling by multiple managers is another advantageous feature, enabling collaborative efforts for effective scheduling solutions within your team.
It also offers a helpful time-tracking tool alongside its employee scheduling capabilities. Paymo allows the implementation of mobile time clocks for your employees, facilitating easy tracking of their paid time.
Features
- Time tracking
- Task Management
- Kanban Board
- Team Collaboration
- Team Scheduling
- Leave Planner
- Gantt Chart
- User Onboarding
- Chrome Plugin
- Invoicing & Estimates
Pricing
- Starter Plan ($9.9/user/month): Made for freelancers or solopreneurs managing a higher number of clients. Offers accessible invoicing features at a cost-effective price point.
- Small Office Plan ($15.9/user/month): Designed for smaller teams requiring advanced task management, profitability tools, project templates, and features like proofing and versioning.
- Business Plan ($23.9/user/month): Includes planning and resource scheduling, Gantt charts, leave management, and more.
3. ZoomShift
ZoomShift offers customers the flexibility to suspend their plans during less work, eliminating the need to afford software expenses when not in active use.
For businesses that experience peak activity only for a few months each year, software subscriptions can pose unnecessary costs.
ZoomShift's pricing plan caters to seasonal businesses such as ski resorts and beach bars, allowing the deactivation of employees or placing the entire plan on hold as needed. This approach ensures cost savings by enabling users to pay for ZoomShift features exclusively during periods of actual utilization.
Features
- Automated Scheduling
- Mobile Access
- Payroll Management
- Shift Swapping
- Messaging
- Online Time Clock
- Reporting/Analytics
- Schedule Distribution
Pricing
- Starter: $2 Top-notch scheduling and time tracking for growing organizations.
- Premium: $4 Powerful workforce management for organizations of any size.
- Enterprise: Custom plan, designed for growing businesses with over 100+ employees.
4. Connecteam
An excellent alternative to Deputy is the cloud-based Connecteam, which offers a simple and convenient way to manage employee schedules.
This program provides a clear business work schedule planning experience with its drag-and-drop interfaces. The platform further enhances efficiency by offering pre-made templates for single days, entire weeks, and shift reporting.
Connecteam's employee scheduling software is designed to facilitate team communication, ensuring that your team has easy access to all scheduling and employee information during their shifts.
Also, as highlighted on the official website, Connecteam enables real-time updates to keep your employees informed, helping in the effective management of diverse needs across different areas of your business.
Features
- Employee Time Clock
- Employee Task Management
- Employee Scheduling
- Employee Training
- Employee Communication
- Checklists and Forms
Pricing
- Free-for-life plan available
- Premium plans start at $29/month for 30 users
5. Skedulo
Up next on our best Deputy alternatives list, we’ve got Skedulo!
Managers within the healthcare & other industry sectors may find value in Skedulo. Beyond scheduling, the tool facilitates the identification of the most appropriate employee for a client and expedites their dispatch.
This capability enables companies to respond promptly to scenarios such as medical emergencies or mental health crises. Notably, Skedulo also offers the option to designate team members as 'on call,' setting it apart from many competitors.
Features
- Calendar
- DispatchRoles
- Booking
- Location
- Employee Communication
- Behavior Monitoring
- Client Notifications
- Field Sales
- Reports
Pricing
- Skedulo has not provided pricing information. You can contact them and ask for a quote.
6. When I Work
Another notable alternative to Deputy is the employee scheduling software called When I Work.
This platform stands out due to its scalability across multiple locations, allowing comprehensive scheduling coverage for your entire business. The platform offers automated scheduling, streamlining the process of ensuring all shifts for the week are covered with just a few clicks.
When I Work goes the extra mile by checking for adequate staff coverage and obtaining employee confirmations of their schedules, reducing the risk of human error and misunderstandings.
A noteworthy feature of When I Work's employee management software is its capability to turn any mobile device into a time clock.
As a result, this functionality facilitates easy tracking of employees' work hours, providing insights into their productivity and helping monitor time spent on activities like social media.
Features
- Time Clock
- Employee Scheduling
- Timesheets
- Team Messaging
Pricing
- Standard Plan:
Priced at $2.50 per employee per month.
Optional addition of time tracking and early cashout tools available for an extra $1.50 per employee.
- Advanced Plan:
Available for $6 per employee per month.
Option to include the same tools offered in the Standard plan for an additional $2 per employee.
7. OntheClock
Moving on with our best Deputy alternatives recommendations, we’ve got OnTheClock for you.
This app proves to be an excellent substitute for Deputy, providing a variety of features to help you in scheduling your business.
The platform allows you to effortlessly define shifts and replicate them for multiple employees and dates, significantly saving you time.
A notable aspect of OnTheClock is its clear display of the scheduled hours for each employee per week, enabling easy management of overtime or the filling of additional shifts as necessary.
OnTheClock is also effective in tracking hours for employees with set schedules, all the while optimizing time efficiency.
Features
- Time Clock for Desktop, Mobile & Phone Apps
- Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Surveys
- GPS Tracking
- Messaging
Pricing
Pricing is based on the number of employees.
- 3 - 10 employees: $3.50
- 11 - 25 employees: $3.45
- 26 - 50 employees: $3.40
Deputy also stands out for its adaptable weekly plans designed for short-term events. This feature is particularly beneficial for businesses involved in seasonal events like conferences, festivals, or corporate functions, making Deputy a valuable solution for such dynamic operational requirements.
However, to provide our readers with more options that are better than Deputy, we have crafted this article with the best Deputy alternatives.
Deputy Features
- Automated scheduling through AI
- Open shifts for sign-ups
- In-app time-off requests
- Break scheduling for labor compliance
Deputy Pricing
- Premium: $6 per user per month
- Scheduling: $4.50 per user per month
- Time & Attendance: $4.50 per user per month
- Enterprise: Quote-based
Conclusion
As compared to Xenia, and many other online tools that are similar to Deputy, Xenia comes off as a user-friendly employee scheduling and workforce management solution.
With its extensive features and seamless integrations, Xenia significantly enhances team collaboration, productivity, and overall business operations. The platform's intuitive design simplifies navigation for both managers and employees, which reduces common frustrations experienced with other software.
With a free-forever plan accommodating up to 5 users, Xenia delivers an affordable solution to comprehensive employee management needs.
Unify Team Operations, Maintenance and Safety Compliance with Xenia
Xenia unifies daily operations, maintenance management and quality assurance to help ensure teams and facilities are effective and efficient.
Our customers love Xenia's robust use cases including:
Operational Execution
✔️ Checklists & SOPs
Create checklists, SOPs, Inspections and Data Logs to power accountability, training and staff clarity on every task.
💪 Team Task Management
Assign work digitally to defeat pencil whipping and disorganized teams. Complete tasks, chat with teams on any device, track time, collect photos, and ensure high quality work.
📆 Recurring Tasks
Create recurring schedules for daily opening and closings, performance review meetings, inspections, cleanings and more.
📲 Chats & Announcements
Centralize team communications with in task chats, one-on-one chats, team messages and company wide announcements
📊 Team Performance Reporting
Use Xenia's analytics dashboards to view staff work reports. Filter by asset, location, category or due date and export the report in PDF or Excel
Maintenance Management
🛠️ Work Orders
Create work orders with associated team, asset, location, priority, category and due date. View live progress reports on each work order, chat with teams, and review resulting template submission, images and notes to improve operations.
🧰 Preventive Maintenance
Create a preventive maintenance calendar to ensure asset uptime is not compromised. Attach images, templates, videos and notes to every task and assign to a team or individual for completion.
📲 QR Codes
Generate and attach QR codes to equipment and facility locations to enable fast and accurate inspections and data logs.
⚙️ Work Order Requests
Receive, approve and assign work order requests from tenants, regular customers and vendors. Enable requesters to submit, track, and communicate with your team, without access to operations templates or unrelated work orders.
📁 Equipment Work History
View work history for every asset and sub asset in Xenia. Review performance data and enable corrective actions to improve your operation.
Safety Compliance & Quality Assurance
👍 Concrete Brand Standards
Put your brand standards in a clear and operational checklist to be attached to work assignments.
🔎 Smart Inspection Workflows
Xenia's operations template builder has built in conditional logic into each step. This allows you to trigger actions based on a form response such as creating a corrective action on a failed inspection step, sending a notification to management for out of range meter readings, and much more.
✨ Corrective Actions
Operationalize inspections with fast work order assignment arising from a failed inspection step. All corrective data is stored in the checklist submission for auditing and accountability.
📋 Analytics and Reports
View live dashboard summaries of tasks, employee performance, template submissions and more. Filter, organize and export compliance reports to PDF and Excel formats to simplify compliance management.
Unify End to End Business Operations with Xenia
Xenia unifies daily operations, maintenance management and quality assurance to help ensure teams and facilities are effective and efficient.
Our customers love Xenia's robust use cases including:
🛠️ Work Orders & Task Management
Create work orders with associated team, asset, location, priority, category and due date. View live progress reports on each work order, chat with teams, and review resulting template submission, images and notes to improve operations.
🧰 Preventive Maintenance
Create a preventive maintenance calendar to ensure asset uptime is not compromised. Attach images, templates, videos and notes to every task and assign to a team or individual for completion.
🔎 Smart Inspection Workflows
Xenia's operations template builder has built in conditional logic into each step. This allows you to trigger actions based on a form response such as creating a corrective action on a failed inspection step, sending a notification to management for out of range meter readings, and much more.
✨ Corrective Actions
Operationalize inspections with fast work order assignment arising from a failed inspection step. All corrective data is stored in the checklist submission for auditing and accountability.
✔️ Checklists & SOPs
Create checklists, SOPs, Inspections and Data Logs to power accountability, training and staff clarity on every task.
💪 Team Task Management
Assign work digitally to defeat pencil whipping and disorganized teams. Complete tasks, chat with teams on any device, track time, collect photos, and ensure high quality work.
📲 Chats & Announcements
Centralize team communications with in task chats, one-on-one chats, team messages and company wide announcements
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