Employee scheduling & workforce management
4.5/5 (72 reviews)Pros
The strongest features of ShiftPlanning are the many methods for communicating when a worker is to work (general scheduling), when policy changes or other changes at work need to be quickly and easily assimilated to all employees (dashboard notifications), and when notifications need to be sent to just individuals (ping). All of this communication can be managed in ShiftPlanning. Workers can set up their cell phones to receive important notifications. Administrators can control which methods are mandatory and which communication methods are not. A worker can elect to be notified via email and/or text prior to their shift starting. Workers can access ShiftPlanning from any device since this a cloud-based service. Workers are able to make vacation requests ahead of time, even when there is nothing posted for the actual schedule yet. We would recommend a 2-week requirement for this type of request. Otherwise, student workers can request off via a trade shift or drop-shift option, if short notice is provided. All trades can be set to approval first by manager. It is super easy to setup different worker types by area, or by responsibilities. Thus, if you are budgeting out hours between different areas (positions) then you can easily view the subtotal for each while scheduling who should work when. It also gives you a clear distinction in schedule mode as to who can actually work during the designated times you are generating (i.e. 10 AM ' 12 PM, 1 PM ' 2 PM').
Cons
The only concern that we have is with tweaking the trade shift and trade drop feature. Workers who are shown as available for the entire shift don't have the option to select parts of a shift that they are actually available for. Important meetings or events outside of work cannot always be accounted for using the availability feature. The only way this can be done is to not use a static schedule and go to making a policy for weekly updates. Then making it the student worker's responsibility to maintain their own work availability. In our case, we want to stay with a static scheduling system to help reduce the sense of a changing hectic work schedule for our student workers. Thus, students will benefit by having the ability to select from a portion of a shift trade rather than having only the option to pick up all or none of the shift being made available.
Overall, Humanity is an effective way to organize employee scheduling. It is extremely easy to pick up and use, and it allows employees to have a greater freedom over their shifts through the ability to trade. Although this process is complicated at first, it definitely gets easier as you use it. The reminders are useful, and help with timeliness for shifts.
Pros
My favorite thing about Humanity is that it is incredibly easy to view and handle shifts without actually having to talk to a boss in-person. This streamlines this process, saving time for both supervisors and employees. Additionally, it has a simple and intuitive user interface and I was able to pick up most of the features without any in-depth training within several weeks. I also like that it automatically reminds you that you have a shift coming up a day before and an hour before the shift starts, thus making sure that employees are less likely to miss or be late to shifts.
Cons
The process of trading shifts is difficult, and especially difficult on the mobile app. Additionally, configuring availability hours takes a long time, however this only needs to be done once, unless availability changes regularly. The mobile app is also hard to navigate, as some of the icons can get confusing, however you won't need to do much more than clock in and out using the app - the rest can be done easily on a computer.
Hi, Roy,
We're glad Humanity has been so useful to your team. We're always striving to upgrade both desktop and mobile app user experience, so thank you for acknowledging our efforts and providing suggestions for improvement. If you have any specific proposals, you can send them to [email protected], and for any difficulties you might experience, please feel free to reach out to our Support Team via Live Chat.
We spent so much time just getting schedules done and then something would happen - some one is sick or their grandmother died - Then there was all the communication getting employees with the right skills to cover the shift -. I went looking for a scheduling software and got so much more. We use the dashboard and email features every day to keep staff aware of changes. Our business depends on everybody knowing 100s of ever changing details.
We use the email and training functions to keep the staff current with policy changes, to learn new systems and to refresh knowledge when things seem to be slacking.
Being able to send emails to specific groups let us communicate sensitive information securely to those who need to know.
I recommend this to everyone I know who has to manage any size business.
Pros
Communication - quick and flexible. most of my 20 somethings have a phone, rarely use email and rely on apps for everything. The phone app still needs some work but it has been the end of excuses about schedules
the bulletin board keeps everyone communicating not just us to them but they communicate with each other.
Cons
Searching forward and back by months is awkward - google has the same issue with their calendars. I often need to go from a day view now to a day view months away. the path isn't intuitive
I manage a work study staff of 30+ students at a small college. Their work study job is not their first priority so availability, priorities, and their schedules are always changing. It's really nice to have a software to manage much of the administrative side of things. I upload the availability, spend an initial investment creating the schedule. If I have done my job correctly things pretty much run themselves throughout the rest of the semester.
Pros
Ease of updating availability for employees. Clearly seeing how many people can cover what shift. Ability for employees to drop, add, or trade shifts without me micro managing. Creating multiple classification of jobs to organize the different roles in the work place. Reporting makes it easy to submit to payroll.
Cons
The billing is a bit confusing. They bill based off of per user per month. With breaks and a rotating staff I often end up challenging the original bill I get. Customer service has always been good and responds quickly and makes changes.
Hello, Kevin,
Thank you for the extensive review! In such a dynamic work environment, we're glad our app can provide peace of mind with managing different roles and availabilities. As for our billing process, it is set up by default to accommodate the majority of organizations, but, of course, as you have been able to tell yourself, we are always open for discussion in such specific cases such as your own. Our support team is available to you 24/7 via Live Chat on our homepage or app dashboard.
I enjoy using Humanity. It makes scheduling and planning very simple due to their great user interface. I can quickly check any upcoming shifts, and plan accordingly. I would recommend this shift planning service to anyone who needs one.
Pros
Humanity is a very easy to use program. To start off, the time availability function is very useful in scheduling. I was able to go day-by-day and show my hours of availability. This assures that you will not get scheduled on times you are not available.
Humanity also has a great layout that is simple and easy to use. It shows your upcoming shifts for the next Week, Two Weeks, and Month depending on your selection. It is a great way to visualize upcoming shifts.
Lastly, the shift trading function is invaluable. You can either drop a shift, which means that another employee has the option to pick it up, or trade. When you trade, Humanity automatically swaps your shifts. It is very easy to use and has great functionality.
Cons
One of my only qualms with Humanity is logging in. Often during log-in, it requires me to input my password a second or third time. I have a long password so this can get very infuriating at times when I know I input my password correctly. Other than than, Humanity has been a great program for me to use.
Hi,
Thank you for the extensive review. We work hard to make the interface user-friendly, so managing schedules is straightforward and seamless for the entire team. It's great to hear we succeeded in making shift scheduling more comfortable and enjoyable for you. We checked with our Product team about the login incidents you described, and we need more details to help you resolve the issue, so please contact our Support team via Live Chat or [email protected]
While ShiftPlanning is a great product, with most of the features I need, it was a bit confusing as to which settings to use and how to set them up. I am tech-savvy and it took about a month to understand the steps to get to a certain result. Tech Support was invaluable with their quick response and help. I use it 100% now, and wonder now how we got along without it. Such a timesaver!
Pros
It's invaluable in time-keeping and creating shifts. The report function is fantastic for timekeeping and payroll. There are work-arounds to get to where you need to be, with the help of Tech Support.
The mobile app for the staff is easy to use.
Cons
The desktop version is not user-friendly at first. Once you figure out the concept and how it works, and with time, you get to know the ins/outs. While I am tech savvy, I was confused about where to start with the set-up, which settings to use, and how to set up those settings for our company. The set-up was a disappointment to me in that you need a lot of time to understand how to do the different settings. I had to keep bugging Tech Support to help me with it.
The tutorials are great, but the User Manual needs a lot of work.
Pros
As User and not an Administrator, I would say that what I like best about this software is that it is user friendly. It makes picking up shifts for my job easy. And I like that I get notifications when there is availability.
When I schedule myself a for a shift and I have had to drop a shift when something comes up or I accidentially pick a shift that I cannot work. I can immediately notify my supervisors, and it will make the shift available to others to pick up.
I love that management can communicate with us and tell us what is going on. We can share and download files.
This is the perfect program for the company that I currently am working with.
Cons
It has been hard to find something i really dont like about Humanity. Although I would like the ability to message my supervisor or coworkers through the app rather than email.
Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. It's always helpful to us to get feedback from non-admin users as well, as we want to make sure you feel you have control of your time and responsibilities. For in-app communication, we'd like to highlight the messaging option available in the app dashboard (please see more here: https://helpdesk.humanity.com/articles/knowledge/Message-Inbox). We will surely consider integrating the instant messaging option as well, as we understand that it would be very valuable to some of our users.
GREAT PRODUCT! I would recommend this to anyone who is short on time for scheduling. With text message and email communication, by just posting open shifts the schedule almost gets written by its self!
Pros
Mostly, I like the communication within all individuals linked to humanity makes it easy to generate weekly/monthly schedules and find accommodations for call offs. As a scheduler, being able to switch between position view and employee view, enables me to allocate shifts efficiently.
Cons
The only "con" i can really say is it does take alittle time to get use to navegating through the site.
Hi, Edward,
Thank you for such enthusiastic feedback! We understand how managing schedules can be challenging in a large company such as yours, and we're glad our platform can bring you added value. For making the most of the app and helping employees with onboarding, please visit our Helpdesk page (https://helpdesk.humanity.com/), or reach out to us via 24/7 Live Chat on our homepage or app dashboard. We'll be glad to hear any additional suggestions you may have - you can send them to [email protected]
Pros
Humanity is awesome! It makes scheduling so easy. You can add employees availability, write shifts with built in breaks, and so much more. It's very user friendly and really easy to learn. Humanity also keeps track of historical data and has helpful reports to use in forecasting and budgeting.
Cons
One thing to note is that Humanity is constantly making updates. While that's not necessarily a bad thing (in fact, it's great that they continually improve), it can be a little excessive. Right when you get used to the last update, things change again, so you have to be willing to adapt a lot.
Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to write such an amazing review. We work hard to meet our customers' expectations and have a quick turnaround to customer feedback, which is why the updates are frequent. We appreciate your patience, and we promise to put even more effort to ensure that the updates bring valuable, long-term benefits to your user experience.
Overall it does the minimum we need it to as far as recording our employees time clock but the setup is too difficult for our admins and can provide misleading information.
Pros
Clean layout and organized GUI, Cloud based time clock. You can view your work schedule and request time off and view in real-time who is clocked in or running late. Cool that it reminds you of employees birthdays to bring in the cake and ice cream
Cons
Some settings are displaying incorrect info. From what I understand it doesn't record accrue sick leave and paid vacation is saying 50 hours. It maybe a setting the Admin missed but as a user I'm provided false info. Also, this could be our mistake but lunch breaks doesn't work properly, we manually clock out and in, but we need to be in accordance to the state law of minimum 30 minutes.
Pros
The ease of access for the different features. Also, the information is displayed in a user-friendly manner.
Cons
Additional features could be provided along with the option to customize your dashboard so it can feel unique to each user.
Hi, Mark,
Thank you for the feedback and suggestion. We'd love to hear more about the specific features you believe would be valuable to our users, so if you like, you can send us your suggestions at [email protected] In the meantime, you can explore our current options to help you personalize your account. Find more information on our Help Desk page: https://helpcenter.humanity.com/getting-started-guides/module-overviews/dashboard-overview. We redesigned some of the Dashboard widgets as well: https://helpcenter.humanity.com/getting-started-guides/dashboard-widgets/new-dashboard-widgets. You can also reach out to our Support team via Live Chat for any questions.
Pros
Been using Humanity for over 4 years, since when it was Shiftplanning and it's been exteremely beneficial to tracking Leave and Sick days. Our larger HR program only manages PTO but does not have visibility across teams to see who else is off, so Humanity's calendar allows all of our teams to see who else is off before requesting time off, so that we ensure we have sufficient coverage for our phone operations. The ability to easily manually enter or approve time off requests, create and publish schedules is fantastic. Highly recommended!
Cons
I wish there was a way to have automatic approval of leave request depending on how many other people are off on a given day without having to go in and manually approve.
Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback?it's very valuable to us, especially coming from a loyal customer like your business.
We believe setting up custom leave types might be useful to you, as it allows you to limit the number of staff members that can request leave for the same period. Find more details here: https://helpcenter.humanity.com/staff-and-leave-management/leave-managements/custom-leave-types
I've used Humanity (Shiftplanning) just for clocking-in and clocking-out each day. It's not very easy to edit mistaken entries, and even more difficult to figure out what the icons mean, and what effect they'll have on my time entries. This is pretty important to have right, since this is how I (and presumably anyone who uses this software) gets paid.
Pros
I like the app (Humanity 01) usability and ease to clock-in and clock-out.
Cons
The software in general is cumbersome and a bit confusing. There are two apps, and the old version seems to work better for my needs. The new app seems to be specific to those who have different "shifts" each day. This seems great for those who need that option, but takes the simplicity away.
Pros
From a IT standpoint, Humanity is good scheduling app. It has a few issues from time to time, for overall satisfied with the application.
Cons
However, their service client is horrible. We have been with Humanity over 5 years now. And we so unsatisfied with the service that we looking at our options. They literally take you for granted as a customer and never get back to you. You have to run after them constantly and hope to get an answer. When they promise to get back to you, they don’t or tell you they sent you an email, which you of course never received.
For example, we had a new request regarding a service that they advised on their app (payroll integration). When we went forward with the change, they never got back to us. After multiple follow-ups on our end, they tell us our request is ‘’not a priority for them’’ - for a service THEY advertise. When we complained, they told us they would be getting back to us the following week. That was Nov 2018. We are Jan 2019, and I have let you receive a proper follow-up even after my multiple attempts.
The app is not worth the service. I would recommend another one.
Hi, Geneviève,
We apologize for your experience. We believe every customer interaction should be treated equally. Each one is an opportunity to learn how we can improve their daily work life and our services. We are currently in contact with Employeur D, and are working with them to provide a solution. We will update you as soon as we can. Your time is valuable. The feedback you've provided is invaluable. Thank you.
Overall humanity helped to organize employees, create a simpler way to communicate, and remove the burden of shift planning.
Pros
Humanity makes it easier for companies to manage their employees shifts, have employees clock in and out. Employees can also mark them selves for leave and communicate with others in an easy to use way that makes working that much easier.
Cons
Overall I enjoyed using Humanity at my previous workplace, but there were a few annoying things like when the organization tried to "double book" an employee on purpose (for instance if the employee was managing two areas).
Hi, Nathaniel,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this review. Making employee management more straightforward and intuitive is our primary goal, while also striving for a balanced approach that provides more agency to the employees. We would appreciate it if you would send us more details about the "double book" issue you mentioned at [email protected] Thank you in advance.
Pros
The Shiftplanning view is the most powerful feature for productivity for reviewing your schedule and shifts at work.
Cons
There is a bug with the dashboard view and the photo snapshot for the shift acknowledge that most of the time crash on the internet version of the app. The solution for this bug that I have found to work is to clean the cache (sometimes work) or click the dashboard tab for reloading the page (sometimes work too).
Hi, Mauro Alejandro,
Thank you for bringing our attention to the issue you've been experiencing. Our Product team tested it and found that everything functions properly on our end. In case anything similar occurs, please reach out to our Support team via Live Chat so we can get more details about the issue and help you resolve it.
Overall I would recommend this software for a small to a mid size organization. It is functional, however there are much better products available....for a price.
Pros
Humanity is a good tool for scheduling and managing human capital. One of the best features is the ability to look at all of an employees data in one place.
Cons
some of the reporting functions are complicated and the filters do not always allow you to view exactly what you are trying to.
Hi,
Thank you for your review, we appreciate you taking the time to flag out the difficulties you've had. Please feel free to explore the Reports Overview on our Helpdesk page (https://helpdesk.humanity.com/articles/knowledge/Reports-Overview); for additional questions, you can always contact us via 24/7 Live Chat on our homepage or app dashboard. Regarding the pricing, we would like to point out that we have kept the same subscription packages even though we are continually upgrading our services and launching new features.
Mt Baker Camp has been using this software (Shiftplanning) since the end of 2013.
We use for managing all levels of staffing.
We track hours worked, HUGE advantage in allowing employees & volunteers to see when they are scheduled multiple weeks ahead of time.
At the end of the year it's easy to run reports to show how many total hours where contributed.
Pros
Time Clock - for payroll processing this is a life-saver (going from paper punch clock & card swiping)
Scheduler / Calendar.
Lots of training material & how-to-do's.
Cons
mmmmm...nothing
Pros
You can just pull this up and at a glance see everything you need. I can tell who is working and who is off and how long. And it has a great option to message people.
Cons
I wish there was easier access to user images
Hi,
It's great to hear such a positive review, especially from a loyal customer like yourself. If you'd like to provide us with more details about the difficulty accessing the user images, please feel free to do so via our 24/7 Live Chat or [email protected]
I've used Humanity with Lyft and my current temp job and so far so good.
Pros
I love how easy this software is to use and how I can access everything that I need to whether that be my schedule, message board or managers.
Cons
There's nothing that I don't like about this software. I do wish though that at the end of each work week that it would tally up your hours worked for you.
Hi, Malecia,
Thank you for the review, we're glad you're having such a great experience! Let us make it even better - you can view your hours in the Time Sheet report (see more here: https://helpdesk.humanity.com/articles/knowledge/Time-Sheet-Report), but only if your employer has enabled the employees to view reports in the app itself. This option is available in Advanced settings in the Account tab. If you happen to need any assistance, please feel free to contact us via 24/7 Live Chat on the website or in the app.
We use this for all our scheduling
Pros
I love how easy it is to use for both the employer and the employee. I think its wonderful you can do shift swamp within the program and that it also gives reminders when your shift is about to come up.
Cons
It could be prettier, its a very simple looking application but it works great so we love it!
Pros
I love Humanity. Very easy to use and figure out, especially when you’re new to it. It’s layout and set up is deceptively simple and feels fairly intuitive. Easy for employers and employees alike.
Cons
A little bit clunky. It could use some updates, like getting rid of useless buttons or redundant clicks.
We're still learning all the features and working out the kinks. Overall, it seems to be going well.
Pros
The schedule wizard is helpful. I like that I can schedule specific staff to specific locations and positions.
Cons
I wish there was a way to assign specific supervisors to specific locations so that only those supervisors who need to see the staff availability or vacation requests from that location would see them. Right now, all supervisors see everyone and it really fills up their e-mail. Then then have to sort through to see which ones they are actually responsible for.
I’m a driver and Humanity is the app we use to clock in and out. It’s quick and simple to do and use and in my industry, time is money.
Pros
Very very easy to use. Everything that you need is right there in front of you. You don’t have to navigate thru tons of pages and links to get where you need to go. It’s basic and not over complicated which is what you want on a time clock program. It has never crashed on me.
Cons
The ONLY thing that I have to say that’s negative is that sometimes when I clock out, the app will freeze up or lag for a few seconds. After a few seconds it’ll catch up with itself and do what it’s supposed to do.
Hi, Christopher,
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a great review! We built Humanity to cater to the enterprise business needs with its robust features, as well as to be intuitive and straightforward for everyday users. Thanks to reviews like yours, we're sure we're on the right track.
Pros
Easy to use. I've used both the web and app version. For myself, it was just a one or two click process and I only needed the "clock in" feature, so efficient access is important.
Cons
The edit mode when adjusting a time clock period was confusing and glitchy. I had a hard time adjusting times of breaks or correcting times.
ShiftPlanning has been used at our facility for one year now. We are a college campus environment. Thus, scheduling for student workers can be a great challenge due to their dropping and adding classes and potential to working multiple part-time jobs, and of course, due to the differing course load, each student takes on. In the past, we used excel in combination with a learning management system to communicate and maintain student worker scheduling. I am the scheduler for student workers in our area. We have around 8-10 student workers, give or take which part of the year we are scheduling for. We schedule our shifts in a non-linear method. We like the availability feature that ShiftPlanning has. It is a static "when I am not available" table that you or your workers can fill out. At this point I supply entries into these availability tables based on student class schedules and external employment. We do this to prevent students from falsifying availability. ShiftPlannning has a pre-generate schedule wizarding system. This allows managers to schedule weeks, or months ahead of time, based on their current availability. If you are a manager for a college campus, then you may want to consider only doing this once a month for summers, and once a semester for spring and fall. You will be changing availability frequently during the beginning of each semester, almost all summer, and also during finals week. Duplicating the schedule for each week is as easy as two or three button taps on your mouse. Once a schedule is more concrete then this is super easy. During the high volatile periods mentioned above, we highly recommend not scheduling ahead of time. Just do one or two weeks worth of scheduling and make sure to communicate to everyone that the schedule will have a high degree of change. We have also enjoyed the use of the ping feature and other notifications to communicate to students when they should be at work.