SocialSchedules Reviews

Pros

In our successful experience with OpenSimSim, I manage to solve an internal problem in the company and to make an hourly schedule of our employees making its use easy, ease of configuration, the configurations are quite clear. The most practical is that they receive the schedules, they are published on their mobile devices in real time, helping to maintain a reciprocal communication, another very appropriate faculty, because it is free for managers and employees, which gives an additional bonus to this platform, that help
to companies that have workers for a certain time. OpenSimSim gives its users the power to create a program through proven programming templates where they see staff availability and the hours worked are displayed and are more accurate for our workflow, which seeks to achieve and optimize a Correct performance of our employees, which helps managers avoid inconvenience or confusion in relation to the extra overtime so far you have the virtue of visualizing the budget allocated and thus monitor labor costs in real time to keep track of the budget of The company, another useful and pragmatic virtue, is being able to have contact via chat being able to write messages with employees and management, in addition to being able to install a mobile application from smartphones wherever it is, this innovative application allows employees of our company who make purchases and sales of raw materials or product s finished, maintaining a schedule that can be modified by us

Cons

to our experience with OpenSimSim, and the little that could be highlighted as negative or enhance improvements in the characteristics and capabilities of precarious synchronization, which as a constructive criticism can be enriched between the application of the computer and the Smartphone, for the better performance, contact lists must be optimized for use and all personnel, phone numbers and emails can be accessed to be able to exchange shifts with anyone on the contact list, even if they have a different schedule. Currently, the function of exchange and allocation of these hours since what we have seen is that it is available to those who have a clear availability of hours on the platform. Shift change is very important in all lines and departments, since what is sought is that employees are without worries about how to organize their time for better performance since one of the most valuable resources is time for both growth of the company like that of employees and their free time and how to manage it, in terms of organization when printing schedules, everything should be organized from the platform and thus avoid having to go to Excel and place the calendar information of work are better digestible to the understanding of the employees, also organizing by start date and an end date can illustrate how Anasa does it on her platform just to mention as an example and adapt it to the OpenSimSim platform, also look for ways to automate as well as edit the master lists and a

Pros

It is very useful and easy to copy and paste schedules instead of having to individually do a schedule every week. And it reduces the amount of time it takes for me to have to do schedules for my team of 20 + employees

Cons

The messaging portion of the app would be more useful if it could be sorted by message. As of right now it is a little cumbersome with the messaging and trying to revert back and look up previous messages to my teams.

Alternatives Considered

Crew

Reasons for Choosing SocialSchedules

Product was too expensive for what it provided and not easy to use.

Switched From

When I Work

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

Overall it seemed a lot more simpler to use as I do not want to create any more work than necessary in my already busy day. I'm able to put my time to better use because of the ease that I get from a opensimsim.

Pros

I like the fact that you guys actually respond to negative reviews and take a proactive approach to fixing the bugs. Also like the fact that with this app I can take my pick of available shifts and get scheduled with one click instead of being on the phone for half an hour (Securitas at Universal Studios). That's half an hour of my life that I'm not going to get back and they're not paying me for that time, it's bad enough that they want to pay minimum wage to people with specialized skills (like operating X-ray machines) but then they expect me to waste half an hour of my life; every single day on the phone trying to get scheduled. Over a period of one week that adds up to three and a half hours of my life that they're not paying me for.

Cons

I didn't like the fact that I still get notifications for shifts that aren't even available any more. I'll see a long list of invitations, go through one by one - and not a single one of them is still available. It seems like once a shift has been filled it should fall off of my notifications so that I don't have to click through every single one of them just to find the ONE (if any at all) that are still available.

I also don't like the fact that after I've already accepted a shift for tomorrow I still keep getting invitation notifications for shifts that are on the same day as the one I just accepted and these notifications will just keeping coming and keep coming and keep coming and there's no way to shut off the notifications - even JUST for the day that I'm already scheduled. And I shouldn't even have to disable notifications; even for specific days - when the app should already know that I'm already scheduled and don't need to be scheduled again. Our bosses even keep telling us "if you're already scheduled then DO NOT accept the newer shift notifications that come in" because apparently there have been people that accepted one shift - then another one came in that was their preferred shift; they accepted that one two and then it creates a scheduling conflict which is neither good for the employee OR the employer.

Pros

Pretty easy to navigate, most features work well. Has most of what I need on a daily basis

Cons

Good product, but I do prefer some features of a different a scheduling app. Otherwise I appreciate what this app does

Pros

Ease of use, ease of setup, setup is organized and clear, love that it notifies my staff when I publish a schedule and is integrated with phone platforms/has an app.

Cons

I really really dislike that I have to manually edit “availability” for each new staff member, in order to force them to submit timeoff requests. I also don’t like that you can’t have an algorithm for time off requests- for example I require two weeks notice for time off requests, and I wish the app would allow me to enforce that, but it doesn’t...so instead I have employees submitting time off requests 5 days before which then makes me look like the mean guy when I have to decline a request. I wish open simsim would just allow me to have a setting that removes the ability to request time off if it’s less than 14 days from the requested time off date.

Alternatives Considered

When I Work

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

It was free and even though it has a premium upgrade, it still provides more functionality in the free mode than when I work

Pros

It was easy to set up. The staff had no issues getting used to using it. It has reduced hour scheduling hours significantly as we no longer need to contact staff or go through individual text messages, everything is all in one place where we can see who is available and at what times. Makes booking in shifts very easy. I also love that you only have to post once and everyone will have their shifts allocated, no more individual messages to each staff member.

Cons

When posting the shifts it goes to every staff member listed on the system even if you did not get a shift this week. I would prefer it only goes to those who have been rostered on. It would also be more beneficial for us if the availability times show when the staff is available not the opposite way around.

Pros

OpenSimSim has an easy-to-use, simple, and aesthetically pleasing interface that works well on both desktop and mobile apps. Our employees picked it up easily to drop shifts, swap shifts, and message one another and supervisors whether at work or on the go. It's also been very easy for administrators to create schedule templates to quickly and effortlessly publish week after week.

Cons

There is still room for improvement in regards to tutorials for employees. A few of the functions in the tutorials are only covered from the employer's perspective and not the employee's perspective, which makes it more difficult to explain how to use the software to new employees in some regards.

Alternatives Considered

Calamari and When I Work

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

Cost. OpenSimSim filled all of our needs for free. However, if we were a larger company that needed the premium features, we have been so pleased with the software and quick customer service that we would fight to include it in our budget.

Pros

I found open sim sim very user friendly in comparison to it's competitors such a deputy. The navigation around the website is simplistic but effective. The support team are always on hand and eager to help with any issues.

Cons

As the product is still relatively new in comparison to it's competitors some features are only just becoming available, such as accounts integration. However these features are definitely on the way and the product is constantly developing.

Alternatives Considered

Deputy

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

Better support system and more user friendly. Better personal relationship with support team

Pros

It´s very visual, eye.friendly and simple. You figuer it out in two minutes and gives you good reliable information.

Cons

Maybe some drag and pull features; or that I can´t fully customize the viewing screen (you can see it dialy or weekly) but I cant suggest a third way. But nothing too serious

Pros

Being able to easily set and send schedules

Cons

Glitches in the software when scheduling or swapping or dropping shifts

Alternatives Considered

HotSchedules

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

Met with owner great guy and gave us a free trial and we loved it great company

Pros

It's free! We had been using only paper scheduling, and had a lot of no-shows, especially when a TA was supposed to sub for someone else. TAs are now more in control (and aware of) the process of finding a sub.

Cons

Printing the schedules doesn't work for us. When we print our paper schedule, we have the days of the week across the top, and the time of day down the side, and then the name of the person in each room on the chart. This is the only way our director can read it, and OpenSimSim isn't able to sort the information in this way. So we still make a paper schedule in Excell and print that, and then enter all the info in the app.

Also, it would be excellent if people could enter their availability with a start date and end date. We only hire college students, and their schedules change each semester. It is really hard to enter the new semester's schedule, because they have to leave the old semester's availability in for subbing.

The only other complaint has more to do with college kids than the program itself. A lot of our TAs think that they can drop a shift and then ignore it. Then when no one shows up, they're surprised that we're upset. So it still takes a certain amount of checking up on them on my part.

Pros

UI is easy to understand and accessibility on both mobile and desktop is really nice. I'm constantly referencing my phone to check when other employees are going to be working so I know how to balance the workload and who to send tickets to. I work in I.T., so knowing who is working when is really important for handling clients requests quickly. OSS is easy to navigate.

Cons

There are several discontinuities in the functionality. I can view other workers schedules on desktop, but ONLY on days when I'm working. But on my phone, I can view other workers schedules throughout the whole week by turning my phone on its side. It really doesn't look great to have my phone out while at work, so this is frustrating.
Additionally, requesting time off and changing individual availability (not just regular weekly availability) is a pain and can't be done through both mobile and desktop app. There are many things I can do ONLY on mobile or ONLY on desktop, but not both.
Sometimes when changing my daily availability on desktop, the visual block may look like it's between two different times, but the actual time it states is several hours later.
There are many similar bugs and discontinuities between the mobile and desktop apps.

Pros

Love the interface. Communication process is great and customer service is amazing.

Cons

-want to be able to easily black out dates for time off requests.
-a way to force staff to look at messages even or notes and “agree” that they have read them would be awesome.
-would love to have an interface to build “standard shifts” that you can then just mine from and add a little easier.
-also on the time off requests it would be helpful to have a limit on requests. So for example, if 3 people are already requested the 10th of the month off and we had set the limit at 3 requests, no one else could request off or make them u available.
-admins should representative the only ones to be able to edit workers availability

The blackout dates would for sure be the most helpful though. And ensuring that an alert is sent to employees when blackout dates are entered by managers.

Pros

The best part about this product is the ease of use and functionality from a team member perspective. This a very easy to use software for team members to understand, learn and utilize on a daily basis.

Cons

There are several limitations concerning this software from a management/admin perspective. Specifically to my unit, the use of sections is limited too much, including being able to view things by section. This software seems ideal for a place that has 1 location (a restaurant) and is able to split people into several sections. However, my account has upwards of 15 locations (which doesn't even take into consideration that there are several accounts within my company), which make it hard for me to view and manage my team's schedule in that regard.

Pros

The software is super easy to navigate and its all very basic to learn. You can control your costs and see your weekly world all right on the program. I recently opened up a store and the Owner wanted me to use a different program and it is a nightmare compared to the simplicity yet efficiently of Opensimsim. Opensim sim does all the work for you.

Cons

Nothing so far. I had trouble and was a little frustrated trying to figure out how to give employees individual pay, but the OpenSimSim staff walked me thru it and now it makes complete sense. They were very patient and tried different things to show me how it worked. I know I was not the easiest person at the time to work with but they helped me figure it out and now that I understand how to enter it. It is awesome.

Pros

I like that you can see who is all working for the week. I like how it prints out the responsibilities per each person.

Cons

That you cant upload Docs for the staff to see, no files to put things for the staff to see on sales, labor or any sort of spreadsheets.
You cant do the scheduling on your mobile device. You cant see the reason why people have took off via mobile

Pros

It's easy to train staff to use it. It is reasonable customisable for how we need to use it as an agency. We use positions for each possible customer location that might request our services. There are too many locations for each to have its own schedule. Half of our potential customers listed use our services less than once a month. We are not staffing every location throughout the week with different managers like some of your users might be.

Cons

Please make it so that it is easier to add positions to staff in bulk, or groups. I spend too much time setting up new staff with all of the positions they need, or setting up new positions with all applicable staff.

Pros

I am involved in a totally volunteer environment and this is the best option for us to control the shifts. It allows for members to be responsible for their own work shifts. We have members from 14 - 89 and they all use it.

Cons

I wish I could customise each week. As in we only patrol or do shifts on weekends and public holidays so really most weeks Mon to fri is blank. Would be better if not there at all. Minor bug and really only applies to our organisation.

Pros

It's Free! It's a smooth running app. It's convenient, user friendly and my staff loves using it!

Cons

Nothing.

Pros

I use this to schedule a team of work-study students in my office, so it was important to me to use a system that would allow people to drop shifts without needing to find a cover and to post open shifts that any worker can sign up for- this fulfills both of those needs. I love seeing a weekly view and daily view, being able to sort alphabetically and by time of shift for the day, being able to save a schedule template for a week so that I don't have to manually schedule shifts every week (their weekly schedules are the same), and I love how easy the app is to use so that I can manage the schedule while I'm out of the office.

Cons

I created a fake employee account when I was first starting to use this system so that I could see how things look/work from the worker perspective, and then had difficulty deleting my fake worker account. Customer service helped me out with this, but it would be nice if there was a feature that let administrators toggle to the worker view just so that they have an idea of what schedules/notifications look like to their workers.

Pros

The geo mapping. I like that once I have added a job my employees can just open the app and it takes them to the work site.

Cons

There is limited things you can do from you're phone. I also wish when I add a job I could add the client information for billing purposes.

Pros

There is nothing about this software that I do not like and I cannot thing of one thing I like most above about it.

Cons

The only complaint I have, and it's more like a wish list item, is that as the manager, I cannot modify and/or enter a time-off request for employees or modify an employee's availability who as agreed to accept a shift outside their availability.

Pros

The scheduler is intuitive and suggests common shifts along with templates making the uploading of the monthly schedule a breeze. Letting my staff have the freedom to trade and give away shifts, with an automatic schedule update saves me time. I like that I am always informed of activity regarding shifts. Love the chat option.

Cons

Sometimes when inputting shifts, lines are unclear leading me to misalign. Having a history of a staff member after they quit/ are fired would be useful.

Pros

I love the ability to message my entire staff or individual staff members. I love the ease of the app. I love adding shift opportunities and staff being able to request time off, drop shifts and pick up shifts as they wish.

Cons

I have no negative opinions of this software. It did take me a while to realize that I could turn my device sideways to view the entire schedule but that's just on me for not taking the time to learn its features.

Pros

OpenSimSim is incredibly easy to implement. Adding new employees to schedules takes a few minutes, so overall very quick and straight forward. Managing multiple locations is convenient and simple.

Overall, no complaints. Great experience so far.

Cons

Nothing noteworthy. If I had to pick I would say I wish the iOS phone app had better UI for managing the schedule. It seems like the website it still best for creating schedule conveniently.

But not something that is a concern for us, using the website is easy enough.