ADP's ezLaborManager is a time tracking and attendance offering.
N/A
HotSchedules
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
HotSchedules is a cloud-based scheduling, labor and communication management software solution serving the restaurant and hospitality industry. According to the vendor, key benefits include: Build & Communicate Schedules The scheduling and labor management software reduces the time it takes managers to create and communicate schedules. All scheduling and employee information is stored in one central location, so managers have access to time-off requests,…
[ADP is well suited for] Smaller agencies with a regular payroll and not a complex payroll. Users must be familiar with databases, reporting, etc. as system is not as user friendly as we would like. The cost is also a factor especially as the basic system does not include other features such as performance management, dashboards, etc. I was hoping to have access to the dashboards. Reporting should also provide more sample reports
For small to medium-sized companies HotSchedules works great when business is very static. If you are simply using HotSchedules for a schedule writing tool, it is phenomenal. However, it does miss the mark as a labor control software. Needs more controls to keep managers aware of spending versus historical sales data.
Ease of use: employees can clock in and out on the tablets that are at that location site. They can use the same punch information to log into ADP and look up and edit personal information on their own. Like changing address, phone, and open enrollments.
Various methods of clocking. Tablets, computer, biometric clocks, and hand clocks.
Communication is so simple on HotSchedules. Whether it is communicating a new schedule release, or a quick note about tonight's shift we as managers are able to easily communicate and know that it will reach our team through text notifications, or email notifications.
The Meal Break planning tool is very useful in being able to help our floor leaders clearly understand and plan for what breaks are needed throughout the shift. This allows them to come up with a strategic game plan quickly and spend more time with our guests.
Shift Swaps and Releases are so seamless. This is our favorite tool as it makes helping our team cover shifts extremely easy and painless. On the flip side it also makes staff who want more hours be able to find what is available in real time.
Trying to research previous time cards past a month are hard to achieve. There is a custom date range option but it rarely works, the program just sits there and doesn't pull up the custom range.
Pulling reports for various needs is also more difficult then it needs to be. Instead of pulling a quick report with the dates and parameters you need you have to go in and edit the report and then go back in and edit it again to return it to default settings.
You also have to watch your invoices and make sure you are receiving your discounts otherwise this software can be quite costly.
Make sure your employees bookmark the ADP ezLaborManager website, otherwise it gets difficult to find through an internet search.
Clocking In and out can be a little slow. It takes longer to clock in then our previous method. Before we just had a card you swiped and it would clock you in. Took 2 seconds. Now with the Hotschdules method we use it take 30 seconds or so. Not a huge issue but it can add up if you have one computer and a line of employees waiting to clock in.
Time Cards. It does not allow you to view someones current time until the "punch" has ended. If the manager would like to check what time the employee clocked in/out from lunch they have to wait until the employee has clocked out for the day before the record is generated. As a shift lead you may send and employee to lunch but forget to note what time you sent them. Awhile passes and you feel like they should be back by now, so you want to go in and see what time they left for lunch but it does not show you that punch record because the employee is still "clocked in" they are just on their "Meal Break"
The ability to customize the restrictions for Clocking in and out. You can set it up so that employees can only clock in from a specific location, however if you have a manager who is allowed to work from home they would not be able to clock in without being at the same location as set in the software. It would be nice to see it able to be customized per user.
ADP is a good system to track information but, what it lacks is just some detail that provides time savings. Some instances they have made "updates" that tend to have been better previous to those "updates." One example is for staff to see how they have used their time off in the past. There should be an easy way to report and review such other than looking at pay periods. Pay statement and review and totals can also improve.
6 Years of Experience provides me the insight on the upgrades and changes that HotSchedules has done to improve the experience of its users. There are so many features that we still have not started or used to the fullest, but we believe that we are currently getting a strong value out of the money that is paid for this product.
The support is not the best as they take much time to get back to you, days for some items as simple as a standard report. They do not know much about their own system I feel and it shows a lack of knowledge on their part. We have gotten wrong answers and it's not so user friendly.
On rare occasions a phone call has been required to find the solution to a problem, the HotSchedules response staff have been helpful, courteous, and genuinely seem to care for their clients and take pride in what they do. The consistent development and fine tuning of the platform, interface, and mobile environment shows that this is not a program full of people who rest on their laurels.
The training provided was based on a generic database and reporting which made it difficult to compare when you had your own database to work at. It also didn't provide good written materials that would be useful after the training session. It was more geared towards the practice tests or applications within the training.
ADP exLaborManager - I prefer ADP over the Paycor and Aon Hewitt timecard applications. This software was more user friendly, had easier access, reporting, and tracking hours than the others I have used. I am not saying the others are horrible, just that ADP was more simplistic to use and administer than the others.
I have not used any other Scheduling software for employees. As a campground manager in the summer season, we are using campground master for reservations. it is very similar in process to employee scheduling. the ability to the user of that program to set up their own parameters for time and reservations is something that would benefit the employee scheduling software.
Saving time on scheduling means our managers can focus more on guest experience, managing the floor and other areas that contribute to the success of our business.
