HotSchedules vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HotSchedules
Score 7.9 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,…
$2
per month per employee
Paylocity
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Editions & Modules
Essentials
$2
per month per employee
Plus
$4
per month per employee
Quote-Based
Quote-based pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Considered Both Products
HotSchedules
Chose HotSchedules
I'd prefer to use only HotSchedules, for the potential ease with which one could streamline all aspects of employee maintenance. For instance, since we use 3 separate platforms, it is easy, around payroll time, to end up with discrepancies and have to triage those at the last …
Chose HotSchedules
We still use Paylocity for our payroll but the time monitoring and scheduling on hotschedules is more user friendly. It also allows for easier and better communication outside of normal emailing.
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
With the exception of Oracle PeopleTools (2010 US Census version) and CompuPay (I don't even think it exists anymore), Paylocity is the only system I have used in my HR career. I have never had the need or want to switch. Both companies I worked for used Paylocity, and I am …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
1142 Ratings
1% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.61084 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.21046 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.0976 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.6989 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.1919 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings7.8895 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.5767 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.2
1111 Ratings
2% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings8.61083 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings7.6530 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.6818 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings7.4748 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.01080 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings8.2862 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings8.1539 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
939 Ratings
7% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.7838 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.3896 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.5706 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.4
1123 Ratings
4% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.51093 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.71113 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.1896 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.3808 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.4959 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
348 Ratings
8% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.4348 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.2
1035 Ratings
4% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.2990 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.51010 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings7.0642 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.3
972 Ratings
4% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.4966 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.2775 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.8
534 Ratings
2% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.8420 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.7491 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.8369 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.7497 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.6
676 Ratings
3% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.5612 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.5524 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.6624 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.6628 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.6525 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
350 Ratings
6% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.9234 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings7.4287 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings7.9320 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.6259 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
HotSchedules
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
641 Ratings
2% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.0547 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.1571 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.9448 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.9543 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.5464 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.2592 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.9589 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Small Businesses
7shifts
7shifts
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Jolt
Jolt
Score 9.6 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
1.0
(167 ratings)
8.2
(1212 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(2 ratings)
8.8
(114 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(12 ratings)
8.2
(74 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.3
(16 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(16 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(4 ratings)
7.3
(103 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(14 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(53 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(12 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(12 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(14 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(15 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(9 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(16 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(15 ratings)
User Testimonials
HotSchedulesPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
HotSchedules and Fourth
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
Honestly, I would recommend the system. Generally proactive, frequent updates, easy to navigate. The only negative is the knowledge in the customer support area. The frequent enhancements are great, but at times it is 1 step forward, 2 steps back. It often impacts something else. We have good enhancements, but now something else does not work the way it had in the past.
Read full review
Pros
HotSchedules and Fourth
  • 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.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Keeps track of our manufacturing floor employee clock-in/outs - very reliable.
  • It helps me to administer and manage benefit enrollments, life changes, and automatic data feeds (EDI) to our insurance companies.
  • Makes it easy to manage time off (PTO) requests, balances, accruals, roll overs.
Read full review
Cons
HotSchedules and Fourth
  • 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.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • We have had several account manager changes and we are a unique company and having to get new people up to speed wastes a lot of time. I would like to have 1 assigned account manager and for that not to change.
  • Make Reports easier to create.
  • I would like the account manager to be able to handle all aspects of the account but if we want certain things added or changed, we get sent to different people. I understand that you are a very large company and it is probably good to have 1 team that does certain things. But, it would be nice if the account manager could handle more on the spot without having to send things off to other people.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
HotSchedules and Fourth
Ease of use, efficiently creating and posting staff schedules.
Read full review
Paylocity
The primary reason AUSGGAR purchased Paylocity was for payroll/accounting/taxes and I think it does a great job on those functions. Paylocity is also solid with performance reviews. As far as the ATS, I like the screeners we are able to set up as that helps in qualifying or disqualifying candidates
Read full review
Usability
HotSchedules and Fourth
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
I find Paylocity to be almost too robust so that its functionalities are sometimes too complex to use. Sometimes it appears that they don't get a user's experience and keep a software developers mindset which doesn't always work well with users that are not at their technical level of expertise. A perfect example is the way the payroll dashboard USED to look compared to the recent update
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I can always call the direct number and there is a representative always available to answer questions. I can also email the service desk for Paylocity or my representative and they are pretty quick to respond if we are having issues
Read full review
Performance
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
We had some minor hiccups throughout the year but they have all been fixable. Paylocity integrates well with our 401k provider, Principal, and our benefits, OneDigital. It makes it simple to house everything and have it all connected. It doesn't slow anything down to have Principal integrated. It makes it more efficient
Read full review
Support Rating
HotSchedules and Fourth
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
Everyone wants immediate assistance. Awaiting a response from an email only to ask 2-3 more questions is time consuming. Within the first six months of setup, I would rather respond back to the instructors who provided me the training in each category of my contract.
Read full review
In-Person Training
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well. My in-person training was conducted y one of our employees who was involved in the initial set-up and training of all employees. She was excellent.
Read full review
Online Training
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
We were handed off to multiple implementation people, some quit, one went on leave, one left suddenly, one was transfered to a diff dept...all causing a significant amount of disruption for our team. Many had conflicting info on how to properly set things up...hence a complete mess was left for us to figure out
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
HotSchedules and Fourth
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
We feel we got all the features and functionality needed at a fair price. One HUGE determining factor was Paylocity's ability to interface with Employee Navigator in which we already used through our insurance broker. We also liked that the company was relatively local to where we are located.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Include more services in the packages they offer.
Read full review
Scalability
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Our main function for Paylocity is payroll, data insights for employee working hours and onboarding. This has been a very reliable source for us for these functions. Payroll has been extremely easy to do using Paylocity. The onboarding process is very simple for new hires and makes the process run smooth. It is easy to find the information you are looking for while on Paylocity.
Read full review
Professional Services
HotSchedules and Fourth
No answers on this topic
Paylocity
Support is quick and proffessional
Read full review
Return on Investment
HotSchedules and Fourth
  • 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.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Saves me at least 2-3 hours of time on each New Hire enrollment. It makes it very easy to get employees information, organize the information where it needs to be, and get the employee engaged in the site before they even start working!
  • The information is usually more accurate then relaying to me on a piece of paper that I cannot make our their handwriting. It is the employee that is responsible for putting their information in, so less errors.
  • Paylocity is great when it is working. But when something unusual is needed so you need help from customer service, they are not always helpful and takes much longer than it should. But it does work great most of the time, so not always an issue.
Read full review
ScreenShots

HotSchedules Screenshots

Screenshot of Time-Off, Availability, Employee Hours, Sales Volume are all available in the scheduler.Screenshot of Employees are able to swap and pick-up shifts from the HotSchedules Mobile App. All shift changes or requests require a manager's approval.Screenshot of Managers and employees can communicate with each other from the mobile and web apps - from anywhere and at anytime.Screenshot of Employees can submit a time-off, request - paid, or unpaid - and can request to work or request off right from the mobile app.Screenshot of Managers can view sales and labor data from their phone.

Paylocity Screenshots

Screenshot of a view of real-time employee data and performance metrics used to uncover and analyze trends. This creates an impactful understanding of the business, increase retention, understand labor costs, and plan for changes.Screenshot of where to automate manual processes with Paylocity's self-serve automation engine, Workflows. Users can implement routines for time-consuming manual tasks.Screenshot of where to manage and comply with employment law. Paylocity's HR Compliance solution helps users to stay on track and view important employee compliance items, from Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), healthcare, and compensation.Screenshot of how Paylocity Recruiting can automate hiring processes. amplify outreach, showcase a company's culture, and build stronger candidate connections to swiftly fill positions.Screenshot of recognition and rewards in Paylocity.