Schedulefly App Review 2024: Features & Pricing
Schedulefly is a cloud-based staff scheduling solution that improves the messy, frustrating, and time-consuming job of creating schedules.
It's an insanely simple and old-school software that performs so well in an industry filled with newer and better technology.
Less technology, more service—that's how these people roll. Believe it or not, this is a type of software your grandmother can understand.
In short, this is a very stripped-down scheduling solution with a low-tech feel. It's suitable for hospitality businesses that need features like employee scheduling, forecasting, messaging, job-posting, and information storage.
In this Schedulefly review, we'll look at the key benefits of the software, dig into its best features, and discuss the various pricing plans.
What Is Schedulefly?
Schedulefly is a stand-alone scheduling and employee management software designed for restaurants and other similar businesses in the hospitality industry. It was founded to offer restaurants an organized and straightforward way to schedule and communicate with their staff.
The platform was built primarily for independent restaurants but has since started accepting other businesses like bars, hotels, breweries, hemp shops, and others similar businesses.
Restaurant management can use the Schedulefly to communicate with restaurant employees through a built-in message wall by sharing important updates. Employees can quickly request time-offs and shift changes, and managers can manage everything remotely. Managers can additionally track labor costs, payroll, and more. The app does a fine job at keeping everyone accountable and connected without being invasive.
The Schedulefly software also includes a Job Post feature that helps managers hire and keep track of resumes. The main dashboard is where staff can view their work schedule for the week, including shift details like times and locations.
The app is very simple, fast, and reliable. It provides you with all the essential features you would need for staff scheduling and communication. It can even help you track staff birthdays! If you have several restaurants, you'll be able to quickly toggle between them, which is another plus!
The software's ease of use means there's no need for lengthy training. This also means that many formerly time-consuming issues—like shift trades and shift checking—are more easily done.
Key Benefits
You can expect a few key benefits from the Schedulefly:
Quick Onboarding
Since the company doesn't have investors or partners, the core team is under no pressure to keep adding technology and features to compete. This helps keep everything simple. Instead of growing exponentially, scaling up fast, and exiting, Schedulefly promises to remain a small software company that people can always rely on to fix their scheduling and staff communication issues. The interface is clutter-free, making it easy for employees to track their schedule, trade shifts, view time-off, etc. The ease of use of the system is incredible, while offering a level of detail you would find in systems costing thousands of dollars. Everything is easily navigated, and all main sections are visibly displayed on the top menu, including Home, Schedule, Time-off, and Shift Trades. The pricing plans are affordable and straightforward. There are no additional fees, pricey add-ons, or complex integrations.
Effortless Communication With Your Entire Staff
The employee scheduling software features many communication tools that can come in handy when you need to communicate with your staff. You can share weekly schedules with employees via email or text with a single click. There's also a Facebook-like message board where you can post updates, menu changes, shift trades, team-building exercises, etc. What's more, all essential documents like menus can be easily shared with staff when needed.
Managers Can Keep an Eye on Multiple Locations
Schedulefly is tailored to meet the needs of independent businesses in the restaurant industry. As the company is not running around trying to "scale" and "penetrate other market segments," its service remains affordable, simple, and relevant.
Even better, the software is an excellent tool for a multi-location business unit. Owners/managers can keep an eye on all locations, easily toggle between them, and quickly communicate with their staff via the platform, email, or text message.
Employees Can Use the App at More Than One Job
Similar to how managers can use Schedulefly to manage a multi-location business unit, employees can use it to keep track of their multiple jobs. More than 10,000 people use Schedulefly at more than one job, and more than 1,000 use it at three or more. There's no need to remember multiple logins. Employees can log in to one account and then toggle to the others. If you click "stay logged in" on the mobile site and save the page to your home screen—you'll be one touch away from everything you need at all your jobs.
Avoid Over or Under-Staffing Your Restaurant
The Reports feature lets you glimpse into forecasted sales and labor costs so that you avoid under-staffing or over-staffing your restaurant.
Friendly Customer Support
If you happen to stumble upon a problem and need to call customer support, you won't be calling a call center where people are reading scripts. Instead, you'll be connected to one of the five guys that created the system. They are always pleased to talk to customers and guide you in the right direction.
Schedulefly Feature List
The main features of Schedulefly are:
Organized Staff Availability (Schedules)
Managers will find that creating a schedule is very simple. You can create a new schedule from scratch or use a template. The work schedule is available to all users on the home screen. You can view the schedule in graph format, by person, or by department. Even better, you can send the schedule via text and/or email. Staff members can enter in their availability to work based upon their own schedules, and managers can see who is available during each shift. The schedule is smart enough to let managers know of any issues that may arise when assigning shifts. The system is smart enough to identify overlapping shifts or employees that are off on a specific day.
Time Off
The time off section is where employees can request time-offs and managers can approve or deny these requests. Managers can also review all staff’s requests at once on the Time Off Request Report. There's a functionality to select parameter boxes when making a request, including Day Off, Evening Off, and Permanent Request. Let's say an employee wants to take Wednesdays off for the whole month. This functionality saves them from repetitively booking every Wednesday off.
Shift Trading
The shift trading feature allows staff members to give up a shift or pick up a shift. When a staff member sends a "Giveup", their available co-workers will be alerted a shift is available. All "Giveup" shifts will appear on the "Pickup Shifts" tab. Once a staff member picks up a shift from the "Pickup Shifts" section, a manager will receive notifications of the schedule change. They must approve/deny the schedule change.
Staff Database
The Employees tab is where you add and get an overview of your current and former staff members. Users can see employees by role, look at their contact information, check birthdays, hire dates, etc. Even better, there's a universal search box that lets managers quickly search for employees by name. Directly from this section, managers can add new employees into the schedule, as well as write notes containing sensitive information about an employee that will only be visible to them.
Documents & Photos
The documents page is where you can store all kinds of documents and keep them in one central place. You can create folders and attach documents in all formats. You can even create folders to organize your files better. This is a great place to keep documents like employee manuals, handbooks, checklists, menus, flyers, marketing materials, and staff photos.
Job Posts
The Job Posts feature lets managers post new job openings. Additionally, they can share these job openings on Twitter, Facebook, Craigslist, and other platforms. When someone applies to the job, managers will receive an alert. Managers can also rate candidates, add comments, and track resumes.
Daily Crib Sheet
Every morning, managers receive a daily crib sheet on their email. The crib sheet contains a list of every employee that's coming to work that day so that managers know who will show up for each shift that particular day. Additionally, the crib sheet also contains employees' contact information, work timings, and birthdays.
Management Reports
The Reports feature lets you review labor costs as a percentage of your overall sales forecast. The calculator is fairly simple to use. Managers only need to input the expected sales numbers and the calculator will calculate the costs. Additionally, you can also see employee logins, employee wage reports, time-off request history, shift gaveup history, and more.
Fly Notes
The Fly notes functionality is where managers can post and share notes with employees. For example, if a specific item is running low, the manager can inform employees so that they can make sure it's restocked. Even better, you can create custom categories, like supplies, deliveries, cleaning, and any other category that's important for the business. Fly notes can be created for specific employees, as well as for specific employee groups like chefs and waiters. Employees can comment on notes sent to them so they can give updates and ask questions.
Mobile Site
Schedulefly has a very simple, fast, and reliable site for mobile access. Managers can approve shift trades, and employees can check their schedules on the go from any mobile device. Everything you can do in the desktop version, you can do it in the mobile, including:
Check schedules
Giveup/Pickup shifts
Approve schedule changes (managers)
Request time off
Check your inbox messages
Check Fly Notes (managers)
Post wall messages
View documents
View reports
Setting up the app on your mobile device is very straightforward. All you have to do is open your browser and visit m.schedulefly.com. Log in and make sure you click "stay signed in." After you're in, save the site as an icon to your home screen.
Pricing
Schedulefly offers simple monthly pricing. There are no yearly contracts, additional fees, or hassles. You can choose between four Schedulefly pricing plans that are based on user count.
If your team counts no more than 19 members, you'll pay $30/ month.
The price jumps to $40/month for a 20-39 staff.
For teams of 40-59 staff members, the monthly fee is $50.
If your team has 60-79 staff members, you'll pay $60/month.
If you're more than 80 staff, you need to contact the company for a custom quote.
There's also a free 30-day trial that gives you access to all features of the software.
What about seasonal businesses? Can they take advantage of the software? Absolutely! If you're a seasonal business, simply get in touch with the team at Schedulefly and tell them when your season begins and ends. Schedulefly will suspend the billing when you're not open, and once you open for the season, your account will be just like you left it.
FAQs
Is Schedulefly Free?
Schedulefly doesn't have a free plan. There's a 30-day free trial that lets you test the full functionality of the system without even leaving your credit card details. Once your free trial expires, you can subscribe to a paid monthly plan that can range from $30-$60 per month. If your staff counts more than 80 staff members, you need to get in touch with the company for a custom quote.
Is Schedulefly an App?
Schedulefly is not available as a native mobile app. However, you can easily add the app to your mobile device, both Android and iPhones. All you have to do is open your browser and visit m.schedulefly.com on your mobile device. Log in and make sure you click "stay signed in."
After you're in:
Tap the Share button on the browser's toolbar.
Tap the Add to Home Screen icon and name the icon Schedulefly.
Tap the Add button, and you should see the app on your screen.
How Does Schedulefly Work?
Schedulefly is a cloud-based scheduling tool that works on desktop and mobile. Simply sign up with an email address and password to use the software. Once you log in, you'll see all the main features on the top menu, including Home, Schedule, Time-off, and Shift Trades. When a manager creates a schedule, you'll receive the schedule via text and email. Every time a co-worker "gives up" a shift, you'll be alerted that a shift is available. If you want to "give up" a shift, click "Giveup" to make a shift available for pick up. If you're unsure how the software works, simply head over to the Schedulefly Help Center, where you can find the answer to all top questions.
How Do You Give Up a Shift on Schedulefly?
To give up a shift, simply go to the "Schedule" tab, and you will see a "Giveup" link under all shifts you're assigned. Click "Giveup" to make a shift available for pick up. When you "Giveup" a shift, your co-workers will be alerted that a shift is available. Once a co-worker accepts your shift, your manager has to approve in order for the shift trade to become valid.
Conclusion
Schedulefly is a fantastic testament that if you keep it simple, you'll never go out of style. Even if you don't rush to grow fast, you can still win! This small business has grown primarily from happy customers spreading the good word.
But is Schedulefly the right app for your hospitality business?
It depends on your preferences. If you need a more complex tool that comes with a bunch of advanced features and integrations, you better look elsewhere—there are plenty of options.
But if you need a headache-free solution to staff scheduling and communication, this is the right app for you! Or, as one Schedulefly customer has pointed out: "Using Schedulefly is like driving a golf cart."
Especially if you run a small or medium-sized business, the affordability of Schedulefly can be a lifesaver. You can offer employees a more professional experience than a spreadsheet schedule on a corkboard.
On the plus side, you'll have an easy way to communicate with your employees. Instead of adding tons of features that sound great but only complicate your processes, this software was built to be fast, clean, crisp, and reliably do its job. Maybe that's why it retains 98.5% of its customers each year.
