Deputy has been super simple but even more effective, helping us manage our time to the minute.
November 11, 2021
Deputy has been super simple but even more effective, helping us manage our time to the minute.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Deputy
We use Deputy to plan and make rotas for our coffee shop staff. They clock in and out of their shifts and use it to request time off, alongside speaking to me directly. I use Deputy to export timesheets and send the hours to my accountant who runs the payroll. We now have workers that work partly on-site and partly remote. They have to work 25 hours per week and so managing this could’ve been difficult, but now they start an unscheduled shift on the Deputy app when working so I can track their hours throughout the week.
- Rota planning
- Easy clock in and clock out
- Easy direct messaging to all staff members
- Holiday entitlement is very hard to work out, and so we have not used it yet. We want to use it ASAP but it is difficult.
- Another setting for offsite / flexible working
- Positive: Improved payroll and timekeeping accuracy. We had a staff member who was consistently late, so letting them only clock in only when geographically on site (not while they’re still on their way) was very helpful in seeing if they were on time, managing timekeeping conversations, and in turn, pay them appropriately for their time worked.
- It is now helping us to manage staff working hours, even when they are working remotely, and so we can check in with them during these working hours, not just receive their hours at the end of the week.
Do you think Deputy delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Deputy's feature set?
Yes
Did Deputy live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Deputy go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Deputy again?
Yes
Using Deputy
6 - Manager x1
coffee shop staff x3
remote workers (writing and content creation) x2
coffee shop staff x3
remote workers (writing and content creation) x2
1 - It’s primarily only used by myself to create rotas, run payroll, and manage leave requests.
It doesn’t require a high level of skill to create rotas and manage staff hours, you just need to be quite tech-savvy, but this should be doable for someone who is managing staff or working in HR.
- Schedule management and rotas
- Clocking in and out of shifts
- Exporting hours for payroll
- For announcements and communicating important information, and in some cases training through the messaging / posts function
- Managing remote worker hours
- Holiday management - entitlement and approving holiday requests
- Remote worker management
- Hoping to move paper health and safety daily checklists to lists on the deputy app
Evaluating Deputy and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
Price! Being charged per active user is really helpful, not a flat fee that doesn’t change if we have 1 worker or 10!
We were also able to freeze our account for some time during the lockdowns, which was very helpful too.
We were also able to freeze our account for some time during the lockdowns, which was very helpful too.
I might ask other business owner friends what programs they use, but at the time of opening the store, I needed quick and easy decisions and integrations, as we had so much to do.
Deputy Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Deputy Training
- no training
It’s easy if you’re used to working with apps and have a rudimentary understanding of scheduling or can pick up tech and apps quickly.
People who are less tech savvy may want a video walkthrough or a guided call.
Configuring Deputy
Fill out as much information as possible when doing your first set up. Put in staff’s hourly rates, set hours, holiday entitlement, if breaks are unpaid or paid, etc from the beginning. This makes things run a lot smoother down the line, rather than having to set it up and fiddle with things later on.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
Deputy Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success | None |
I didn’t know anything about premium support.
When we were forced to go into lockdown, I contacted deputy to freeze our account rather than cancelling it, and they froze it until I was ready to reopen I needed these services again, no questions asked.
Using Deputy
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- The schedule / rota function
- Sending out posts to the team
- Clocking in and out
- Holiday entitlement
- Timesheet exporting
- Sometimes a staff member will clock in and out, but it will come up as an unscheduled shift, while their scheduled shift shows that they were absent. This causes us to need to delete one and approve the other, and we can’t figure out why this sometimes happens
Yes - Well, it’s easy for staff to clock in and out, to see their schedule and who else is working.
It’s easy to fire off quick messages that will be delivered to the whole team.
As an admin, it’s actually easier to approve past shifts on the mobile app than it is on the desktop.
Deputy Reliability
Integrating Deputy
- None
N/A
This is quite specific, but we have a remote workers who work 25 hours per week. It would be great if deputy linked with an Asana board to show us how many hours these workers have worked per week so far, which would help us with delegating tasks, keeping an eye on their hours, and so on without having to go into the deputy app.
Relationship with Deputy
I believe we were set up on a month to month contract, which is great for a new business.
No, not needed!