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HotSchedules has become a reliable solution for businesses in various industries, including restaurants, amusement parks, resorts, and …
Overview
What is HotSchedules?
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 SchedulesThe scheduling and labor management software reduces the time it takes managers to create and…
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What is HotSchedules?
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…
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7shifts is a restaurant workforce and scheduling management application, which also features collaboration features, from the Canadian company of the same name.
What is Lightspeed Restaurant?
The Lightspeed Restaurant POS, from Lightspeed in Montreal, is a restaurant POS and management system designed to enable users to sync the user's menu with major food delivery apps, manage all orders and and reach new customers.
Product Demos
HotSchedules Demo: The Employee Experience
YouTube
HotSchedules Demo: Creating a New Schedule
YouTube
Demo of Red Book Keep
YouTube
HotSchedules Demo: Navigating the Schedule
YouTube
HotSchedules Demo: Employee Shift Release & Pick-Up
YouTube
HotSchedules Demo: Submitting Time-Off Requests
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is HotSchedules?
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, availability, skill level, and certification compliance.
Work Schedule AppThe HotSchedules mobile app lets employees check their schedule, request time off, swap shifts, manage availability, and send messages. All shift requests require a manager's approval.
Forecasting and ReportingWhen integrated with the POS, the tool pulls time and attendance, sales and guest data into the system. The forecasting engine shows past sales trends, which makes it possible to build schedules with the right amount of labor. There are also over 40 reports.
Multi-Unit Store ViewThe Above Store Console provides reporting and visibility across stores, anywhere and at any time. It can be configured by region, state, country.
Bilingual App & SupportThe mobile app is available in English & Spanish. Employees can call into the AVS or Customer Support Center to get their schedule in English or Spanish - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
HotSchedules Features
- Supported: Online Scheduler
- Supported: Time-Off and Availbility
- Supported: Work Schedule Mobile App
- Supported: Scheduling Templates
- Supported: Employee/Staff Communication
- Supported: Sales and Labor
- Supported: Forecasting Engine
- Supported: Reporting
- Supported: Point-of-Sale Integration
- Supported: Centralized Communication
- Supported: SMS Messaging
HotSchedules Screenshots
HotSchedules Video
HotSchedules Competitors
- When I Work
- ScheduleFly
- Crunchtime
HotSchedules Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Mobile Web |
| Supported Languages | English, Spanish |
HotSchedules Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
When I Work and ScheduleFly are common alternatives for HotSchedules.
Reviewers rate Usability and Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.9.
The most common users of HotSchedules are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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(232)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Recommendations
HotSchedules has become a reliable solution for businesses in various industries, including restaurants, amusement parks, resorts, and retail establishments. Users have reported significant time savings and improved efficiency in scheduling processes. For example, a restaurant manager praises HotSchedules for reducing their scheduling time from over 3 hours to just 30 minutes per week. This software enables employees to cover their own shifts with approval, allowing for better shift management and flexibility. It facilitates communication among team members, ensuring constant checking and trading of shifts in an amusement park setting. Multiple departments at a resort rely on the platform to handle last-minute schedule changes, call-offs, and requests for added shifts.
HotSchedules assists food and beverage departments by providing easy access to availability, time off requests, and labor forecasting. This improves communication between staff and management. The software's user-friendly interface allows for generating and posting weekly schedules effortlessly. It also serves as a means of communication with staff members across multiple locations within a restaurant group.
Moreover, HotSchedules Train formerly Schoox is utilized for employee orientation and training purposes. The software not only helps with controlling labor costs but also offers features like sales forecasting and labor cost analysis. Across organizations, HotSchedules proves valuable by assisting in proper staffing needs and managing labor expenses effectively. In retail settings, the product streamlines employee scheduling while enabling them to view their schedules easily and make shift swaps when necessary.
In conclusion, HotSchedules is highly regarded for its ability to save time, improve communication, increase flexibility in scheduling processes, and provide various features that benefit different departments within organizations. Its broad range of applications makes it suitable for businesses of all sizes across multiple industries.
Users highly recommend signing up for HotSchedules and getting familiar with the application. They also suggest using the convenient mobile app and setting up email notifications for easy access to schedules and efficient shift swapping. Additionally, users highly recommend HotSchedules as a reliable solution for scheduling needs in various work environments. Overall, they find HotSchedules to be a valuable tool for controlling expenses, allocating labor, improving communication, and making positive changes within the service industry.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 167)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
November 02, 2021
HotSchedules support is slow
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- If someone worked for a restaurant before, they may already be familiar.
- Fairly easy to use.
- Customer support is terrible in terms of response... +1 month of cases to be resolved.
- Impossible to get in touch with a live person.
July 01, 2020
Easy to select a shift at any time.
- It is easy to maintain communication with the personnel and thus be able to carry out a correct shift programming.
- It is very simple to be able to choose what time it is and to be able to change it whenever you want without the need to inform or fill out extensive paperwork.
- I love the mobile application, it allows me to be aware of notifications of any schedule availability or when I have a message in my inbox.
- Its platform is simple to use and you can manage shifts quickly or make a copy of existing schedules.
- It is possible to be able to exchange shifts or release shifts without any problem, thus being able to have more freedom when deciding when to work.
- It has a slightly high cost and you also have to pay additionally if you want to obtain certain necessary characteristics.
- I still do not understand why the mobile application has a cost apart from the main HotSchedules, since if we are already paying for a product it should be complete. This is extremely annoying since not all employees can use the application as they refuse to overpay.
- Sometimes the website tends to get slow no matter the speed of the internet connection, it is a bit annoying.
April 06, 2020
HotSchedules - Restaurants
- Online/cell phone shift changes.
- Automatic updates.
- Linking schedule with POS system.
- Printouts for daily schedules, older managers had difficulty reading who picked up for who, if the shifts were all picked up.
- Could have more ease of use for the older generation.
January 27, 2020
HotSchedules
- Scheduling.
- Time off.
- Labor management.
- Pick-up shifts AI management.
December 14, 2019
Great resource if everyone has a smartphone
- Easy to read and easy access to schedules at any time.
- Ability to quickly change availability.
- Notification overload - Too many notifications.
- Support response time is slow when problems do arise.
February 28, 2019
HotSchedules: Hospitality Focused
- Mobile Application
- Restaurant Centric Technology
- Great UI
- Intuitive Features
- Customer Support
- Lack of scheduled/automated reporting
- POS integration version management
- Limited ability to access own data
August 09, 2018
Nathan Miller's Review of HotSchedules
- Makes everything paperless.
- Very user-friendly for back office and staff.
- Can really dive deep into data and sales and what you are spending.
- The schedule view was much better before it changed.
August 09, 2018
Great commumication tool
- Communication with team members
- Enforce time and attendance with POS to control labor expense
- Communication among managers
- Tracking staff performance issues
- Keeping up permits
- Does not tie labor/schedule postings to budget; too easy for managers to override
- Messages are not easily accessible
- Above store reporting tools are outdated; should be able to schedule reports
August 06, 2018
HotSchedules Solutions Work!
- ABF reporting
- Ease of use for all people for scheduling/swapping shifts
- Tie-in to Schoox training platform
- Would like to see quicker response times to issues that arise
- Have had trouble with pre-formatted reports not coming through properly
August 06, 2018
Perfect Scheduling Choice for Restaurants
- Communication
- Integration
- Support
- The are many add ons it is hard to know what you're missing out on.
- Support response time is at times long.
- Activity based scheduling should be part of standard features.
February 08, 2018
Changing the Scheduler's life!
- 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.
- Breaks and Meals: On the time clock we are limited with meals and breaks. If someone has a 4-7.99 hour shift we give them a 20 minute paid rest break. If the employee reaches an 8-hour shift they are given 2 15 minute rest breaks and a 30-minute meal. Meal and Break set up cannot understand changing the breaks. We had it set up to add a 10-minute break to equal 30 minutes when you reach the 8th hour, however, the time clock when they click "Start Break" still gives them 20 minutes on both breaks leaving confusion.
- The Availability module has a few issues we have noticed. When a new employee is set to start a new availability it does not change in the scheduler. The Scheduler still holds the old staff members availability making it challenging for the scheduler to schedule appropriately.
- We believe a late or missed schedule report should be available to print easier reports for time and attendance tracking. Currently having to go through each staff's punch is not as smooth as it could be. This seems to be a simple addition to a great arsenal of reports.
February 05, 2018
HotSchedules has changed the way our organization does business!
- All the information needed for your employees can all be found in one place. From the availability of an employee to their pay rate to their phone number. It's all just a click away. Before HotSchedules all of this information was kept in different places and the managers would need to open several documents and contact lists to find what they were looking for about a single employee.
- Control over how indepth you use the product. The possibilities of this service are seemingly endless. However if you are solely looking for a specific feature HotSchedules offers you have the ability to soley use that feature. HotSchedules can simply schedule, or it can automatically schedule, or you can assign a specific job to a specific person on a specific day. For us, we have employees who are doing a specific job/task one week and then they are needed for a different job/task the next week. HotSchedules allowed us to narrow down our options starting with department, moving to location, moving down to the job they would be preforming for that scheduled day.
- The ease of changing/releasing shifts. If an employee wants more hours they can go in and select shifts that are up for grabs or request to work on a specific day at a specific time. The opposite is also true. If an employee is worried they will have too many hours that week, they can release their shift and put it up for grabs by a different employee. And of course, all of this is fairly customizable to what you want your employees to have the ability to do, with or without your intervention and approval. In our case, if a shift lead releases a shift we only want other shift leads to be able to pick up the shift. HotSchedules allows us to do just that.
- 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.
February 05, 2018
Managers Want Easier Ways to Clock-In Employees
- Copy & Paste shifts save time and help to eliminate errors when scheduling.
- The ability to determine and calculate labor hours per employee and department
- Easy user interface
- I wish there was an ability to "clock-in" employees separately, As in when they arrive outside of their scheduled time. Currently, you either have to get the employee to clock-in, followed by a manager approval, or you must wait until their shift is over to adjust.
- No ability to adjust clock-ins, while an employee is still on the clock. An employee starts a shift, manager is delayed in getting them clocked in when they arrive, requiring later adjustment.
- Does not show reasons for managers allowing employees to clock in, when a shift isn't scheduled. I'd like to know why.
February 02, 2018
HotSchedules review
- Builds templates well.
- Easy drag and drop scheduling.
- Allows online viewing and shift change management by team members.
- Many labor strategy reports to help dial in schedule template efficiency.
- Good integration with POS and time management systems.
- Report printing can become an issue.
- Building budgets can be hard and needs much tutoring to utilize for maximum efficiency.
February 02, 2018
HotSchedules review
- User friendly
- Reporting
- Customization
- Terminated employees info
- Request days off Mgr has overwrite ability
February 02, 2018
Use HotSchedules to streamline your routine
- Easy to use, love the dashboard
- User-friendly when making requests swaps or time off
- Great tech support
- Notes for specific employees on specific days
- Turning off certain notifications
- It seems to take a while to load
January 31, 2018
HotSchedules: Hot and Ready for Action!
- HotSchedules tracks our labor hours and dollars. Being able to do quick labor analysis helps us make sure our pricing is in line with our estimates for clients.
- HotSchedules tracks our employee trainings. Because we are a third party audited food manufacturing facility, we have both formal certifications (CA Food Handler Cards) and monthly trainings on subjects such as Food Safety, GMP's, Pest Control, Allergen Control, HACCP and Sanitation. Being able to have a record easily accessible for each employee to prove to our auditors and keep those employees up to date with training is invaluable as an organizational tool.
- I find that the system of assigning jobs and rates is a little tedious, but understand the need for it.
- I'm not familiar enough with the copy and setting the next week's schedule, but it's not necessarily hard to use.
- The whole assigning welcome letter and with log in and password is difficult with the Spanish speakers even though you have a Spanish version.
- Many of our employees do not have email or smart phones, so I find that HotSchedules is not as useful to them or us.
January 29, 2018
HotSchedules Review
- Graphically intuitive
- Updating through different forms of communication
- Covers a wide array of aspects, not just scheduling
- Editing punches through a shift
- Sometimes there are glitches when I am dragging shifts to a staff member.
- Cannot access multiple windows very well, if I want to double check someone's message or availability while making the schedule I have to exit the scheduling tab to access the availability.
January 29, 2018
HotSchedules review
- Scheduling
- Roster reports
- Messaging
- Layout of site
- Going back without having to repost
- Deleting denied requests
January 26, 2018
HotSchedules: Why?
- HS is useful for keeping track of hours
- HS is probably the best platform for this type of service
- Users are able to see their hours in an easy to read format
- The most frustrating thing about this platform is how long it takes to clock in for the workday. I have to log in to the portal, which takes me to a second screen that I have to log in to, which takes me to a THIRD screen to select that I want to clock in / out. I then have to wait to make sure that it actually clocks me in before walking off, otherwise, I have issues with my hours at the end of the week. On top of these things, it takes a long time for the system to get through the four screens that you have to deal with to start or finish your workday. We've tried to streamline the process associated with this by moving to a pin number, but that has not been effective.
- I cannot believe that you have to pay for the application. No other platform that I have seen makes the company pay for using the service AND THEN passes off the price of the app to either the company or the individual user. On top of the money aspect, all of your apps are named "HotSchedules," leaving a high probability that a user will buy a three dollar app that they have no use for. The app is also terribly created, often freezing or downright not working. I deleted it very quickly, almost as quickly as the buyers' remorse.
January 26, 2018
Great Program!
- Well Organized
- Easy Setup
- A better layout for the employees to view their schedule
January 25, 2018
HotSchedules Review
- Provides employees with an effective mobile application to view their schedule whenever they need to.
- Allows employees to add availability and request days off.
- Allows other employees to see other co-workers schedules so they know who they work with.
- Allow companies to set up different departments within hotschedules, without constantly having to give employees different hotschedule logins.
January 25, 2018
Hotschedules for the non resturant work place.
- It helps with schedule shift trades and publishes the entire schedule for each day so folks can tell who is on shift and when. It enables a staff of mostly teenagers to be able to contact me and help them with any issue regarding scheduling and HR issues they needed to approach me with from time to time.
- It enables the manager to force the employee to be responsible for their attendance.
- Saves time in dealing with shift exchanges and various requests dealing with time off and so on.
- It is extremely difficult to use for my weekly set up. because our shift times differed from the other two resorts that used it, the time slots for when shifts started were different due to different operating hours. Because I had to put in different availability times I had to drag and drop each employee (73 of them) on to the shifts. Because they were not seen as available the program would not show them in the drop down to easily select them as being available for the highlighted shift box
- If I was able to set up my own shift start times for a.m. and p.m and those parameters for myself versus having to have our rep be contacted to see if the change was possible. On our end, the call never was made and I had to spend a lot of time dragging and dropping each week. I did re-use schedules but with so many folks needing different days each week it ended up being less of a shift change and hey you forgot ..... fight that I dragged and dropped each week.
- I think simplifying the system for availibilties and letting the user set them up themselves (like campground master reservation system) would have been great. the time I spent each week would have come from the initial set up phase and would have saved time down the road.
January 25, 2018
HotSchedules Review
- Makes scheduling easy and simple
- Integrates well with other systems
- Can easily be used to set up sales forecasts based on previous weeks and or years
- Deleting old employees is more complicated then it needs to be.
- Often times it won't allow employees to log on, saying it has an error
January 24, 2018
Amazing HotSchedules
- Payroll Budget
- Sales Forcast
- Cash handling
- Sales target
- HotSchedules App
- Missed punch alert to employees
- Blocking employees for a full 30-min break
- When employees clock in late the manager should be notified via SMS