SocialSchedules Reviews

Pros

Ease of use. Messaging system and shift swap approvals.

Cons

There wasn't much not to dislike about this product. I've had no user issues with it, nor manager issues with it.

Pros

Super easy to use and set up. It has been as smooth of a transition for our employees One could hope for. Most employees have been able to get it set up and availability updated with no direct instruction other than our expectations.

Cons

A few simple features I would like to see on the app are: view only first initial of last name on printed schedule (privacy issue of employees), hide total hours on printed schedule, select individual rights for remote clock in (paid version).

Alternatives Considered

When I Work

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

When I Works app was very glitchy and its expensive for just a scheduling package. Free trial only allows you to schedule out 10 days and that made the testing out process double the work.

Pros

Everything is great about opensimsim except in January of 2019 the update they did made their system non-compatible with use on iPad.

This is a huge huge downside of the product someone not to smart didn’t keep the system compatible with iOS on an iPad cuz I used it for over a year that way.

I don’t carry or want to carry a laptop with me everywhere which means I get chained to a desk to write schedules now that I can’t use my iPad anymore. Two thumbs down!!!!

Cons

Everything is great about opensimsim except in January of 2019 the update they did made their system non-compatible with use on iPad.

This is a huge huge downside of the product someone not to smart didn’t keep the system compatible with iOS on an iPad cuz I used it for over a year that way.

I don’t carry or want to carry a laptop with me everywhere which means I get chained to a desk to write schedules now that I can’t use my iPad anymore. Two thumbs down!!!!

Pros

It gives us ease of access to schedules for multiple locations, and easy to identify and contact an employee that is working.

Cons

Setting up mutiple locations and schedule labeling/identification.

Alternatives Considered

Spark Hire and HireVue

Reasons for Choosing SocialSchedules

More centralized location of schedules for multiple locations.

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Pros

I like the price, because we are a non-profit organization with about 20 volunteers. I needed something that would keep track of everyone and with your product I can see the schedule on my phone or computer. It is very handy.

Cons

I'd like to be able to schedule people from my phone.

Alternatives Considered

When I Work

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

OpenSimSim allowed me to schedule out for months at a time. The When I Work program only let me go out for 10 days.

Pros

web-based, price, and on-boarding for employees. The software gives you the flexibility that you need when running payroll.

Cons

No phone app. It is difficult to navigate the first uses.

Alternatives Considered

Paychex Flex

Reasons for Choosing SocialSchedules

Employee visibility of whats happening with their wages.

Switched From

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to SocialSchedules

price

Pros

I like that I am able to check my schedule online with ease. I am also able to request time off and that can make it easy so I do not have to come into the office to request.

Cons

I don't know if this was an option that my employer chose, or if it is part of your software, but I would like to be able to see who is scheduled throughout the week. This can solve some confusion if a shift is covered or give you the ease of looking to switch shifts or ask others to cover a shift for you.

Pros

SocialSchedules is easy to read and manage. Our schedules are published every Friday, and we receive a notification as soon as our manager sends it through. I can see my weekly schedule, and I can see a countdown until my next shift is scheduled to start. I can also rotate my screen sideways to see the schedule for the week along with who else is scheduled to work each day. This makes swapping shifts easier if necessary. I can also message my coworkers in the app and receive managerial notifications in the messaging section or in the "Schedule Notes" section on the home page, which is flagged with a red dot if there is a note that needs to be read. Submitting time off requests is a piece of cake, truly. There is even a segment to leave a note about why you are requesting off, which comes in handy! Overall, I enjoy this product.

Cons

I do not like how I cannot see my total weekly hours after the initial schedule notification is opened. I must manually count my hours if I want to know my exact weekly total. I also do not like how I cannot see the day of the week I am looking at when requesting time off; it would be more convenient if there were a calendar layout as opposed to manually scrolling to the date, month, and year you need.

Pros

I've been using OpenSimSim now for over a year. I really enjoy all of the benefits of the program. Obviously, the greatest thing about OpenSimSim is that it is free; however, I also really love the ease of use. If I am unable to put in the schedule for my agents, it is easy to instruct one of my mentors to do so. The platform is colorful, fast, and the notifications setting is much appreciated by myself as well as my staff.

Cons

I feel like the platform is geared more towards businesses that consistently have weekly set schedules. With the type of business we handle, I wish there was an easier way to create multiple shift opportunities for one day. We could really benefit from being able to quickly create shift intervals. The mobile app lags a bit when a shift is posted, preventing agents from applying for the shift in a timely manner. I also wish the chat system was an API that could be integrated into other programs so that everything can be uniform.

Pros

SocialSchedules allows you to see your workweek schedule at a quick glance and also allows you to see what coworkers are scheduled the same day you are. There is also a chat feature to allow you to send messages to coworkers.

Cons

The chat feature does not do a great job of notifying when someone has sent you a message. A better notification system would make this software perfect.

Pros

Its simple and easy to use. It gives you all the information that is required to make informed decisions when planning your teams hours, it gives clarity and removes confusions when dealing with shift swaps and holidays, Both employer and employee are on the same page via a cloud format that automatically updates every one when changes are made. Can roster multiple departments so when in a big retail business you can plan for team members to be working in a different department too. The messaging function is the easiest way to connect with 100+ people in just a few clicks, this helps drive engagement through communication.

Cons

A few upgrades that would improve this further is:
A function to save and print time off requests and approvals so that we could go paperless and keep complient with the IRD -this would also give option for the employee to complete a virtual signature on screen

Also editing a master roster would be great - currently not an option to edit a roster without having it uploaded into an actual week - master rosters are forever changing so would be great to keep these updated simply as things change.

I always found the name OPENSIMSIM "out there" and odd however UBER would have also sounded strange until it was a house hold name, SIMSIM could be as big soon enough!!

Pros

Ease of Use. It has a lot of great features, entering as many job positions as you want, accounting for lunches, different print views etc. We use the messaging system a lot too. I have gotten really good feedback from my staff. This is a place where we can send messages and everyone gets them.

Cons

It is extremely slow. That could be just our internet, but it takes me a long time to do the schedule just from sitting and waiting. When I need to edit the time frame, I click, and sit and wait and wait. Eventually the options come up to Assign, Manage, or Delete. The weird thing though is the actual edit comes up immediately. Have the time, I am clicking just trying to get the hover part to come up and the shift edit comes up.
I would like more color options.
The publishing options for the Job Opportunities is time consuming. I would like if I could publish all instead of one at a time.

Pros

1.I love that there is an app! Doggonit, that thing is awesome!! When staff can get on there and swap and not have to call or message me to make that change, that's AWESOME!!
2. The help desk people (bless their hearts) are very patient, knowledgeable and are available to help every time I have messaged them.
3. I really like that I can stay home when someone calls in. I just open my app and send out a message as well as ask individually if needed.

Cons

1. I would like to be able to see/print a month view at a time
2. I would somehow REALLY REALLY like to be able to see what changes were made to each shift ie..who traded with who, who was originally scheduled on a shift, etc...
3. I would also like the ability to shrink the page (on the screen) so that I'm not constantly scrolling and up and down the page through a long list of staff

Pros

Ease of use by managers, administrators and regular staff. Straight forward and up to date, even old timers can quickly gain the skills to use opensimsim. I love how you can select particular staff, times, breaks and see a total hours per week. Shift dropping and swapping is also a function that helps take stress off myself as a coordinator. the messaging tool is great also and saves some time in last minute needs and cuts out emails.

Cons

This software works perfectly for my personal use.
Another department here onsite use opensimsim for their rostering but use the publishing option to send out shifts for the whole department at once. They do seem to have trouble working around this but are quite new to the tool as well

Pros

I like that I can have this on my phone and check it whenever I want to, and that I can edit shifts from my manager account from my phone. It's really easy to add availability and to teach new employees on how to use it as well. I really like that I can color code position titles as well.

Cons

I don't like that it shows all employees for our team members at one location, because it confuses them on who they can contact about getting a shift covered. I recommend adding their location or main location underneath their name in the messages part of it, or only be able to send a message to others at the location they have access to.

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

Well thought out solid platform with all the bells and whistles of way more costly APPS but functions better, integrates easier, and the fluidity of the data is unsurpassed for an online scheduling APP !!

Cons

Seems a little slow to maneuver at times and ctrl copy function seems a bit glitchy at times. The availability and time off feature works well but its not very intuitive for my staff ... so far I have had people doing it reverse and others squaring me into a position where I have to conform to their specific availability but that is my own HR issue :-/

Pros

This software is very easy to use. It allows me to schedule employees on days when they absolutely must be here, offer up optional shifts, and immediately tells employees that a new schedule has been published (this has dramatically reduced the amount of texts I get at 10:30 Sunday night asking when an employee is scheduled to work). Employees also have the option to request days off, mark days they're absolutely unavailable, and send messages through the app.

Cons

The app can be flakey at times, and doesn't always notify me as the scheduler of changes. Time-off requests don't always show up immediately, and messages can be easily missed.

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 have been using it for more than a year to organize my 25 workers and it has been incredible!! Every worker can easily access his/her schedule on the app and the administrators can easily modify schedules or add/delete shifts as necessary.
I don't know how we survived without this app for so long. Obviously there was a great deal less organization back then.
I recommend it to everybody that needs to have the schedule always at hand, specially when you have multiples sites and workers on a day to day basis.

Cons

If I had a doubt it took me a bit to solve it, although when I needed extra help I could do it with a live chat.

Pros

Schedule is alway at your fingertips ok your phone
You can edit and add shifts between employees.
Send out group messages.
Complete shift swaps
And manage all requests off.
It’s brilliant and bang for your buck is unparalleled

Cons

The program at times has technical difficulties which renders it useless.

Pros

My favorite thing about OpenSimSim is the mobile app. It is very accessible at home and on the go, so if I need to ask off really quickly, this application lets me do so efficiently. another aspect of this application that I really like is that it is easy to maneuver through the app and I am able to understand where I need to go to do something.

Cons

I don't think that there is anything I do not like. However, it would be neat to be able to see what reason you put down for asking off (on a computer) after you submit it. I am able to see that on my phone, but not the computer.

Pros

Makes it super easy to create weekly employee schedules and to create templates that make future scheduling easy. I love that it can be set to allow employees to swap and drop shifts, and to easily submit timeoff requests. The ability to limit certain periods for timeoff requests is also very helpful. Overall, a lot of great functionality with an interface that is very intuitive to use.

Cons

Employees can't see timeoff already requested and approved for other employees. They might be able to adjust their timeoff requests if they could see periods when multiple timeoff requests had already been submitted by other employees (and thus would know their request won't get approved). Would also be nice if the entire schedule view could be seen on the desktop interface (rather than just on the phone).

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.