Deputy Review: Is It Right for Your Business?

Create schedules from scratch or with a template and drag-and-drop shifts to make changes. Deputy lets you set rules for labor budgets, breaks, the spread of hours, and more. It also checks the availability of your people so you don’t try to schedule someone on their day off or when they have PTO. It also tracks certifications, so that if you need a person with specific qualifications, it can let you know if the person you choose fits.

You can quickly edit shifts and find available workers from the schedule.
(Source: Deputy)

Even better, auto-scheduling is available in the Scheduling, Premium, and Enterprise plans. Let artificial intelligence (AI) take everything into consideration and build a schedule for you that you can then modify as needed. How easy is that?

Like most scheduling software, Deputy lets you announce open shifts and allows employees to trade shifts as needed.

Deputy makes employee management easier by providing stellar communications features to use. It allows you to send out schedules, notify employees about open shifts or trades, and send alerts and reminders of upcoming shifts. You can even request read confirmations to ensure employees have seen and read messages—a great tool for tracking compliances to safety regulations.

It also has a newsfeed where you can post policies, announcements, and events. Besides that, its video feature is excellent for demonstrating a new procedure, sharing a motivational message, or showing off a new product or development.

You can communicate by mobile or desktop.
(Source: Deputy)

Employees can find qualified replacements and offer shift swaps directly. Managers can get alerts when an employee is nearing overtime, when someone clocks in late, or someone misses a shift. Finally, you can create task lists as a one-time or recurring item, including individual or team assignments and due dates, and supervisors can get notified when tasks are completed.

Tracking employee hours is straightforward with Deputy. The time clock works on the web or mobile app, giving you the flexibility to have your employees clock in where needed. It also includes location tools and facial recognition to prevent buddy punching or clocking in from somewhere that isn’t work. On top of that, it includes shift notes and the ability to have employees verify that they took required meal and rest breaks.

There’s a plan for just time tracking, or you can get the Premium Plan for time clock and scheduling.
(Source: Deputy)

The time clock data is collected into time sheets that managers can view, edit, and approve. You can sync the hours to the employee pay rates. It will even calculate premium rates for special shifts and assign the correct pay rate to the position the employee is working at the time, such as waitstaff one shift, and then bartending the next. Then, you can export the time sheets to CSV or integrate them with your payroll system. Deputy integrates with more than a dozen payroll systems, including ADP, Gusto, OnPay, Paychex, Rippling, Square, Xero, and Zenefits.

Deputy’s mobile app lets you tackle the most common scheduling and time tracking functions on a smartphone or tablet, so managers can work from anywhere. From the app, managers can create time sheets, publish shift information and send notifications, alert employees about open shifts, and approve time-off requests. They can also use the communications for announcements (including video recorded posts).

Meanwhile, employees have access to their shift schedules and group communications, can swap shifts, request time off, and clock in and out through the app.

Employees stay updated on their schedules with the mobile app.
(Source: Deputy)

Users rate this app highly, especially on iOS. Users said it was dependable and easy to use. However, some did complain about login problems and not being able to view certain information like available shifts after taking one.

User Scores

• Android: 4.5 out of 5 stars with 11,200+ reviews
• iOS: 4.8 out of 5 stars with 3,600+ reviews

In addition to the payroll applications, Deputy integrates with POS software like Lightspeed, Clover, Revel, Shopify, and Square. You can tie it to HR software like BambooHR, Proliant, Rippling, and Zenefits. It also integrates with other types of third-party software like Box for document storage, Okta for password management, or QuickBooks for accounting. While it lists about 30 integrations on the website, it says it can sync with over 300 third-party apps. It offers video walkthroughs and setup guides to help you get connected fast.

If you have data you need to connect each shift, you can have employees fill out notes or comments, or set up shift questions. They can be anything, from health screening questions before clocking in, to noting tips, sales, or inventory when clocking out. One advantage to the health screening questions is that if your employee comes down with a virus, it’s easy to trace what co-workers they may have had contact with, letting you be proactive about stopping transmissions.

The Shift Question tool lets you add questions like tips received or COVID screening questions.
(Source: Deputy)

The scheduling rules can help you prevent shift overlaps or “clopenings,” which are when someone is scheduled to close one night and open the next morning. It can calculate required compensation if someone has to take an extra shift, such as on holidays, and prevent minors from working during school hours. If you have a last-minute change, Deputy can record schedule amendments, calculate the required predictability pay, and capture employee consent to the change, helping you stay compliant with fair workweek laws.

Deputy allows you to keep all your employee data in one place. Use it to run analysis on labor costing, conduct forecasting to optimize workforce to demand, and get a clear view of profits and costs. You can also run reports required for legal compliances. Finally, you can use it to record performance ratings and feedback and apply that information to boosting morale with attaboy announcements or conducting extra training when needed.