Whether you're a small business owner or a human resource professional looking to integrate digital workforce management, an efficient personnel management tool can help you optimize your workforce. This guide examines the top five personnel management systems to simplify workforce management for your organization.
What we will cover
With the increasing hybrid and remote work trend, businesses often need help tracking and managing their geographically dispersed employees. Whether you’re a small-and-midsize-enterprise (SME) owner or a human resource (HR) professional, you can optimize various aspects of labour management using a personnel management tool.
The best personnel management software will help you automate many HR tasks, such as scheduling, time tracking, payroll, and performance analytics, ensuring efficient resource allocation and decision-making. But how to identify the best personnel management software for your organization?
This article reviews five of the best personnel management software for SMEs reviewed on Capterra Canada, presented alphabetically. For this list, we considered tools with company headquarters in Canada, each with a minimum overall user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars and a host of features relevant to employee schedules and forecasting. You can find the full methodology at the bottom of the article.
1.
- Overall rating: 4.6 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.5 / 5
- Customer service: 4.6 / 5
- Features: 4.7 / 5
- Value for money: 4.5 / 5
7Shifts is a personnel management tool designed for the restaurant industry. Small-and-midsize restaurant owners can use the tool to streamline scheduling, communication, and labour cost control. Reporting features in its dashboard can give managers detailed insights into employee availability, attendance, time-off requests, and overall labour costs.
Employee managers and HR professionals can use 7Shifts’ generated analytics to assess labour trends. The tool provides detailed labour cost analysis and sales forecasting tools, aiding managers in making informed financial decisions. The performance tracking and employee feedback features help managers identify areas for improvement and offer actionable insights.
7Shifts has four packages: ‘Comp,’ ‘Entree,’ ‘The Works’ and ‘Gourmet,’ serving different organizational requirements. The ‘Comp’ plan is the free version suitable for single-location businesses with small teams. It offers various features, such as schedule building and publishing, employee shift trading, and a manager logbook. The other three plans provide additional features, such as advanced performance monitoring, customization and dedicated support, and integration with various POS and payroll systems.
2.
- Overall rating: 4.6 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.5 / 5
- Customer service: 4.4 / 5
- Features: 4.6 / 5
- Value for money: 4.5 / 5
Jobber assists small-and-midsize-field-service businesses with cloud-based tools for job tracking, scheduling, invoicing, and customer relations. Its user-friendly dashboard centralizes key operational data, making it easier for business owners and managers to stay informed.
The platform includes cost estimation and quoting tools that aid in accurate budgeting and revenue forecasting. An integrated time-tracking feature helps managers monitor worker hours, breaks, and overtime. Users can delve into tool-generated comprehensive reports to track business performance metrics and labour costs. Jobber supports integrations with accounting software like QuickBooks and payment gateways, such as Stripe, facilitating streamlined financial management.
Jobber has three paid plans: ‘Core,’ ‘Connect,’ and ‘Grow.’ All three plans come with a 14-day free trial, which provides limited access to core features, such as basic job scheduling and tracking, quoting, and invoicing, and has a mobile app for field workers. Upgrading to the paid plans will allow users to get additional features, such as advanced job scheduling with GPS tracking, detailed reporting and analytics, custom forms and checklists, and third-party integrations with accounting and other business software.
3.
- Overall rating: 4.4 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.2 / 5
- Customer service: 4.3 / 5
- Features: 4.3 / 5
- Value for money: 4.1 / 5
MakeShift is best suited for industries that require complex staff scheduling, such as healthcare, retail, and hospitality. The platform’s features can simplify employee scheduling and monitoring with features for time tracking and attendance management. Its cloud-based structure allows managers to access data remotely, making it easier to manage staff and schedules, even when they are not on-site.
MakeShift offers labour cost analytics and budgeting tools to aid financial planning and management. The software also offers detailed reports on labour costs, schedule adherence, and employee performance. It can be integrated with multiple HR and payroll software solutions, streamlining data exchange for efficient operations.
MakeShift’s personnel management system offers a paid ‘MakeShift Scheduling’ plan, which includes a mobile app for employees and a MakeShift Live mobile app along with an online scheduling desktop app for managers. Users can also get an employee time-tracking add-on. The paid plan also offers various advanced features that users can try for a 14-day free trial.
4.
- Overall rating: 4.5 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.4 / 5
- Customer service: 4.3 / 5
- Features: 4.5 / 5
- Value for money: 4.2 / 5
Replicon is a cloud-based platform providing comprehensive time tracking and expense management features designed to serve various industries, including consulting, manufacturing, and healthcare. Its unified interface brings together different aspects of project management within a single dashboard, assisting managers to analyze real-time data and make informed decisions accordingly.
Replicon includes tools for budgeting and forecasting labour and project costs, enabling effective financial management. The online time clock system accommodates manual and automated time entries. Detailed analytics and reporting functionalities offer insights into project profitability, employee performance, and resource allocation.
While Replicon does not offer a forever-free plan, a 14-day free trial allows users to test core functionalities, such as expense reporting and basic project tracking. The tool’s pricing depends upon the business size, requirements, and role. Users can get custom quotes to access additional features, such as artificial-intelligence-powered timesheets and advanced third-party integrations with HR and ERP systems.
5.
- Overall rating: 4.5 / 5
- Ease of use: 4.4 / 5
- Customer service: 4.4 / 5
- Features: 4.3 / 5
- Value for money: 4.6 / 5
TimeWellScheduled is a personnel management tool focused solely on time and attendance management. It provides specialized tools to help Canadian businesses across varied industries, such as retail, healthcare, and manufacturing. With features that support in and out clocking, schedule creation, and reporting, the tool aims to simplify labour management and ensure compliance with relevant labour laws. The platform is cloud-based, offering easy accessibility from multiple devices.
TimeWellScheduled comes with labour forecasting tools to assist businesses in effective resource planning and allocation. Users benefit from a suite of reporting tools focusing on employee attendance, overtime, and labour costs, aiding in operational and financial planning.
TimeWellScheduled has three plans: ‘Free,’ ‘Premium,’ and ‘Enterprise.’ The forever-free plan is for up to 10 employees and offers basic features, such as time-tracking, attendance, news board, and time cards. Upgrading to the paid plans (Platinum and Diamond) will give access to additional features, such as third-party integrations with payroll systems, project and equipment tracking, and detailed reporting. The tool’s paid plans (Premium and Enterprise) come with a limited-time free trial.
The right personnel management system can significantly impact the smooth running of digital workforce management. An efficient system that aligns with your HR goals can streamline operations and improve productivity. The tools mentioned above offer a robust set of features that can help you facilitate efficient workforce management in HR.
Methodology
To be considered for this report, products had to justify the following criteria as of September 2023:
- The tools in our list justify Capterra’s definition of workforce management software: ‘Workforce management software enables organizations to plan, track, and manage the allocation and requirements of labour resources. These applications allow businesses to optimize staff scheduling, predict labour requirements, manage employee databases, and more. The software can also be utilized to develop and retain top talent. Workforce management software is related to human resource software, payroll software, team management software, and time clock software.’
- All five software companies have headquarters in Canada.
- They have the following core features:
- Employee database
- Employee scheduling
- Labour forecasting
- Time and attendance
- They have a minimum average overall rating of 4.5/5 stars
- All tools have had over 40 user reviews in the past two years (13 September 2021 to 13 September 2023)
- From there, the five products with the highest review count were selected for inclusion. The tools in our list also have the highest ratings regarding the following four features—customer support, ease of use, value for money, and functionality.
