When I Work Reviews

Pros

The When I Work software is great at keeping track of my work schedule. On the Dashboard, it notifies me of my next upcoming shift, the date, and the time. It tells at which location I am working and what my position will be. It also tells what coworkers that I am working with during that shift. I can go into the schedule tab of the software and see what days during the week I am working. The software will also tally up my total hours that I will work per week. This is helpful because it allows me to see who is working and who is not so I can get a shift covered. The software also allows me to put in requests in advance of dates that I want to request off.

Cons

The availability scheduling feature takes some time to learn how to navigate. It is somewhat difficult to fully schedule availability. If you make a mistake and accidentally alter the availability for one day you have to go back to that day and fix it before adjusting your availability.

Pros

The platform was easy to use in general and the employee app was handy.

Cons

Wasn't the best solution for a restaurant. Wanted to be able to schedule without defined end times so that staff didn't get the idea they could leave exactly at that time. Some other platforms allow for this (such as scheduling to "business decline" or "close"). But it works well for businesses with fixed schedules.Dealt with some lagging on the backend when scheduling via a pc.

Alternatives Considered

7shifts

Reasons for Choosing When I Work

Wanted an employee app.

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

We ultimately switched away from WIW to 7Shifts.

Pros

Interface is simple and provides an organized structure that is responsive. Inviting and adding employees is automated.

Cons

Your employees cannot "turn in" or "submit" their timesheets! There is no way to know or have them verify that what they have entered is ready for review. A mgr has to chase down each employee to verify they have finished, or have a side system of notices, or double tracking.
Employees cannot enter PTO after the fact, they can only REQUEST PTO for future dates. If a company is using the timesheet function to have employees enter their time, breaks, PTO, etc, there are many limitations that require managers to do additional work. For instance, if an employee has an unexpected family emergency for two days, they cannot request PTO after those days are past. So how does PTO get entered for those days? Somehow the employee has to communicate with the mgr to enter it for them!
Very simple but integral functions that are important to a timesheet app that are missing!!
When giving feedback to WIW about these missing features, we were told that it was fine for us to move to another app since WIW wasn't a good fit. In other words, they are not open to feedback for improvement.....like it or leave.... We are leaving and taking the two clients we already setup on WIW trials to another platform, along with the 5 other clients that were waiting for the results of our trial run. All of which would have been paid subscriptions for WIW!

Pros

When I Work is so easy to use, it is simple to add employees, great for creating shift templates and the chat features and shift drop applications make changing the schedule simple for employees. As a manager these features are awesome as they reduce the amount of time that I spend re-working the schedule.

Cons

The only challenge we have faced is that we don't have access to the task list as we don't pay for this version of the application. We would love to try it out to see if it is a good value add for us.

Alternatives Considered

Schedulefly

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

We liked how easy it was to use, and how many add ons there are included with the basic account.

Pros

It is incredibly easy for both the employee to enter their availability and the manager to appropriately schedule. We love that we cant schedule somebody if they mark themselves unavailable, avoids confusion and holds the employee accountable

Cons

The inability to attach files to an email

Alternatives Considered

Sling

Reasons for Choosing When I Work

We were creating our own schedule utilizing excel spreadsheets, this left open a ton of room for human error

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

The video training was so easy to understand and charming, it was a no brainer

Pros

The features are so easy to use and easy to teach to staff.

Cons

The least I like is the first payroll we had a glitch, but that can happen to any software

Alternatives Considered

Homecare Homebase

Reasons for Choosing When I Work

They were antiquated and hard to use, no support and expensive.

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

Ease of use and features that Homebase did not have

Pros

It is easy to keep track on all employees. It is also very easy to see who is on the schedule for the week and fix times if needed.

Cons

We turned off the mobile access to be sure that everyone was being accurate and honest.

Pros

I love that I can create multiple schedule templates and positions. Also, LOVE the "drop shift" feature for our employees. This feature has made managing this for my managers much easier.

Cons

I wish there were more specific reports I could pull for payroll.

Pros

I love the ease of use. When I work is the whole package for what we needed it to do. The app does what it needs to by allowing the employees to do everything they could do on desktop. This makes them much more willing to use it and use the functions correctly.

Cons

So far we have not found something we don't like.

Alternatives Considered

TimeForge

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

We tried timeforge and I think it is a good product, but the app didn't yet do all we needed it to do and the graphs and info for management tracking were a bit too informative for our needs which I felt made them confusing.

Pros

After searching for a job two years ago, I found one from Craigslist. I was told to download this app and my schedule would be sent to it. Well the next day I woke up and decided to check my phone while doing so, I got a text or notification from the app. I opened it and sure enough I had to go to work in less than 10 minutes. I hurriedly put on my clothes and ran out the door. I was late on my first day. I told them the app lagged and I received my schedule minutes before coming to work. This app never got straight, I had to write my schedule down while at work.

Cons

My schedule never showed up in a timely manner. I was eventually fired then the schedule started showing up telling me I had work. How ironic is that, I didn't need notifications then, yet I was still getting them. I uninstalled the app and went back to my Event Specialist job.

Pros

This is a very straight forward software that focuses on online scheduling. It’s very easy to use. It’s very responsive, and fast. IM feature is very good. Great for communication between staff.

Cons

The cost is quite expensive, as it’s calculated based on number of active employee per month vs a flat fee, so the bigger the company, the more it costs. We have almost 150 employees in total, so it was not the best option for us to use.

Alternatives Considered

7shifts and MakeShift

Reasons for Choosing When I Work

Excel was too basic and I had staff tell me they “did not receive their scheudule” or fail to check their email.

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to When I Work

I end up going with 7shifts because it was an overall superior product, and has better value.

Pros

My employees can use the app to get alerts and check their schedules. Employees can swap shifts with my approval. The time card is integrated into the schedule app. It is somewhat easy to use. We have used this software for about 2 years. When we first started with them there were not a lot of options out there. And it served its purpose. Our employees seem to like using it.

Cons

There are several cons. I think the price is too high for what you get. Trying to process the time cards is very cumbersome and not very easy to understand. We run 24 hours a day and this software is not well suited to a 24 hour clock. Overall I spend too much time trying to understand how to use the time clock - punch in/out- and it is really frustrating. Also- their customer support is really pretty horrible. There is not a way to call someone and you have to submit an email to support and it can take them a bit to get back to you. Issues with time cards are things you want an answer for right away and they do not offer a quick response. Also- you really have to use a desk top to process the time cards and it does not function so well with google chrome- I think safari works better- but I prefer to use chrome. There are glitches with it that are just frustrating.

Pros

It's visual and simple. It schedules down to 15 minute increments. It makes a very dynamic schedule like ours, easy to manage and understand.

Cons

It would be good if a shift automatically started from the time you first click on the schedule. It would be good if they understood how tricking and overcharging their customers leads to a complete lack of loyalty. Buyer beware! Just keep on checking your subscription amounts each month. As if you don't have other things to be occupied with.

Pros

The ease of creating a schedule, distributing it, and letting staff handle their shift swaps or drops has completely empowered our team. The best feature is the 'history' button so that you know where it all began when shifts start with one employee and end with another. No longer do we have to hear, "I didn't know?" or "Who was originally scheduled?" because there's a ledger! Gone are the long, tedious hours of making sure the schedule is correct, every month, due to alternating work sites and schedules. Multi-site employees are never double-booked at different work sites, which is a game changer. Creating employee profiles take less than 60 seconds. Best of all, teaching everyone was not painful as there's a whole video on the website that walks everyone through the basics in less than 15 minutes.

Cons

The print feature is limited to what is offered with no option to change the font, unable to expand the daily roster (daily view is limited to 7 names on paper calendar), and there's no option to print in 2 week segments. This isn't a deal breaker, but the old school needs still exist of having a paper trail (even in PDF form) and due to limited names viewed on any given day, we can't use the feature to it's fullest. If the box for the day could expand to reflect all the names when printing, we'd pay extra!

Pros

When I Work has saved me daily headaches. Public Libraries don't have the funding to implement expensive employee scheduling software. When I Work even offers a free version which we started out with awhile ago but as our staff grew we moved into the paid format. Our library and employee pool has grown and changed, When I Work grows and changes alongside it. They continuously offer new resources and seek to keep ahead of us and just "know" what issues we may have as our staff is in flux.

Cons

The only issue I've seen thus far is a slight problem with the remote ap. Let me first say that having the ability to have an ap at all is great. My staff often is out of the library for programs and if they have an event prior to actual library hours they can clock in from their own phone. The issue that I speak of was mostly in calculating the distance that clocking in was allowed. It took a few tries to make sure that staff can check in, with a decent range, but not be so far from the library that it could be abused by someone wanting to beat the clock when they're late to work.

Pros

It does what it is supposed to - enables us to schedule employees, notify them of their shifts, sends us a text when someone did not clock in or out.

Cons

Their billing practices are very deceptive and not user friendly. They sell you "user spots" in increments of 10. It is very confusing how to downgrade but very easy to upgrade. I urge every customer who uses this program to check their billing to see what they are being charged for. Customer service is not helpful and seems like they are not interested in providing good customer service.

Pros

The ease of the program. It was very user-friendly. Scheduling used to take 2 hours, but it was cut down to 30 minutes with WhenIWork. I love that I could customize the shifts. I especially loved that employees had to acknowledge their shifts. There was no more miscommunication that an employee didn't see their schedule. It's also been a great tool to get staff on the same page. The ability to message everyone at once was awesome. Plus the program tells you which employees have viewed the messages. It also has the option for employees to clock in via the app and you can link it with payroll. Employees are able to submit requests for time-off or vacations. Everything you need is in one place. The customer support team is available immediately through their live chat. They have always been very helpful and friendly. Absolutely a wonderful program!

Cons

The only thing I would modify is to have the ability to block off certain dates for requests. That way an employee wouldn't be able to request off Black Friday for example.

Pros

The ability to post open shifts as revolutionized our ability to communicate with and mobilize our on call staff. By posting an open shift On Call and float staff see the shift right away and are able to pick up shifts that fit with their schedules. The ease of posting open shifts has drastically decreased the time spent trying to find staff to fill gaps in schedules. With over 150 employees and 44 locations we are able to post the addresses of each location that allow staff to pull up a map to the site.

Cons

At this time the product is serving us very well. When I Work continues to add new features and provides detailed descriptions and instructions to these features.

Pros

This product is super straight forward and very user-friendly. It is very easy to use the scheduler as well as keep up with employee hours on the Time Tracker. You can easily edit attendance if your employee forgets to clock out and sending messages to the whole group is super easy with the group message feature.

The online based platform is great and the app is the perfect way to post the schedule without having to send out emails of spreadsheets etc. Notifications come straight to your phone regarding scheduling changes, shift swap requests, time off requests, and even when your employees forgot to clock in. Notification alerts are easy to change in settings. There's even a setting to get a reminder 2 hours prior to your shift so in case your schedule is constantly changing, its so easy to keep up with it!

Cons

The satellite/gps location isn't as good as it can be with regards to clocking in. Sometimes it will not let you clock in due to being "too far away" when you are standing right at your work. The app sometimes freezes up when clocking in/out or takes a while to process a clock in. So then when you press "clock in" again, it'll actually clock you out.

Pros

I have numerous staff working different jobs at different locations. Previously I was using Excel to schedule them all. Keeping track of days off and their class schedules was next to impossible. Letting the staff request time off and set their availability streamlined the process drastically. Since switching to When I Work my time spent scheduling has been greatly reduced. The mobile app is very helpful for my employees. The ability to designate positions is also very valuable. A large portion of my staff work in a child care setting so there are rules about qualifications necessary for each shift. I can designate which staff have which qualifications so that only eligible staff can be scheduled for a specific shift.

Cons

I don't believe I have any cons. Occasionally when they change or update something it will cause an issue. I contact their customer service and it is corrected immediately.

Pros

I've been using WhenIWork for about 3 1/2 years now and the best feature that I enjoy about this software is that I can utilize my phone to track my clock-ins and outs. I travel a bit for my job and being able to clock in at any time without having to jump on a computer is great!

Cons

I love that it gives me a notification when I have an upcoming shift or when I haven't clocked into a shift yet (something you simply forget) but WhenIWork always sends me a notification that I haven't clocked out even when I have clocked out from a shift. I am not sure why it recognizes that I have clocked out but still sends me a notification that I haven't done so. It might just be a personal problem though.

Pros

The monthly view give me the opportunity to see all scheduled shows and the assigned performer for each. So when customer calls with a specific data and time, I can easily confirm the opening and assign a performer to the show.

Cons

The ability to schedule repeating monthly/weekly events. While "every week" is ok, it does not allow for more complex calendaring such: as every 3rd Wednesday in every month, or every other Monday through out the year. This was a feature in the ORIGINAL WIW from 18+ months ago. There was a small ICON (an elliptical arrow icon) in the "TIME" dialogue box. When clicked it would allow for such complex scheduling ... PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!

Pros

Attractive user interface. Easy to set up and add new shifts and move shifts around. Responsive support.

Cons

No ability to track actual sales vs budgeted without exporting to a spreadsheet.
LImited access for supervisors to labour budget.

Pros

The most impactful feature of When I Work is the employee scheduling. It allows for easy maintenance of employee scheduling!

Cons

I would of course like more options on training to use the software but it wasn't extremely difficult to manuve.

Pros

This is a very user friendly software. We are able to quickly create, edit, and distribute schedules to our large staff. We love that the staff can quickly submit time off requests, send us messages about their schedules, and even drop/swap shifts if necessary, within moments of the schedule being published.

Cons

When I Work is a very proactive company, and they make software updates often. The only bad thing about this is that it can some time for us to adjust to changes that are made, and occasionally there are small glitches. But overall, I would say I am more satisfied that they are proactive in expanding what the software can do, than I am disappointed in these occasional issues.