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,…
Frontline is well suited for an organization such as a school district where teachers sometimes need to put in for a substitute at the last minute or especially early in the morning. The system also helps with substitutes in picking up the jobs when a teacher puts in an absence.
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.
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.
Teachers cannot cancel their own absence. We have to ask the office staff to do so. This is irritating when an absence must be canceled (Due to a canceled professional development, for example).
Sometimes absences go unfilled. It would be great if AESOP could have a roster of qualified substitutes to cover absences.
You cannot assign your absence to a particular substitute if you know he or she is available and a good fit for your absence.
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.
Long time customer with Frontline Absence Management. Product support has been excellent, integrations easy to work with, & suite of products mesh together well.
While we have had minor issues logging in as our organization has its own login page, the site and its application are very easy to use. So long as members of a group log in through the appropriate page, navigating and using this site is quite easy. With the transition from Aesop to Frontline, the page also seems to have worked through any glitches found with the previous page and its app.
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.
Internal support is provided by EDU Staff based out of Grand Rapids. Whenever I have had an issue they are very responsive to my needs. For instance, there may be conflicts in the amount of money that was listed for the contract. There may be questions about the length of an assignment such as 1/2 day, full day, or early dismissal. The school will sometimes enter the wrong information. Very good IT support, but sometimes you are on hold for 5 to 10 minutes because they do not have enough workers in their Call Center
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.
Our Implementer/Trainer was a product line expert. He (Connor) walked us through every step with confidence and explained everything in detail. Frontline provided written documentation, cut-n-paste emails to staff, and a test environment for us to play in. We were able to test unique scenarios without actually sending emails, notifications, alerts to staff. This was very useful.
Frontline seems to be the industry standard for this software in the education industry. I am not familiar with any competitors or what was evaluated prior to implementing Frontline. For it to be the industry standard, I would assume that its cost is fair in relation to competitors and that the onboarding process is simple.
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.
Our district has approximately 300 substitutes & 1,800 employees. Size has never been an issue with Absence Management. There are other districts much larger using Absence Management with no problems
It's given staff direct access to inputting their absences and secure coverage quicker, whereas before they had to make a call to a person. That person had to secure coverage for the entire district at different levels. Sometimes that person was absent or unable to provide coverage.
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.
