Homebase Software

Awesome software!

Okay, so I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS APP AND LOVE THIS PRODUCT. Home base is easy to use, easy to read, easy to understand. The platform is SERIOUSLY DUMMY PROOF! My 9 year old daughter helped me set it up. It is seriously that easy! My 4 year old will open my app and can tell if I forgot to clock out when I left work, and he even knows how to clock me out at the right time! It really is just that simple. I love the restrictions it offers. I can determine whether employees can clock in and out from their app, I can determine whether they can see labor reports, view other employees schedule, and I love the fact that they can request off right from the app, and I can approve or deny right from the app. I love that they can switch schedules and I can approve it instantly from home. This app just has so many great features. I will never use another payroll system again.

Pros

I love that the employees can request time off or switch/trade shifts from their phone and I can instantly deny or approve the request. I love the ease of pulling the time sheets, and reading the time sheets. I love the access to be able to edit employees time on a daily or weekly basis. Employees can be horrible for clocking in early unauthorized, not clocking out to walk down the street to the store, etc. This app makes it simple to edit this carelessness from employees without even having to sit them down and talk to them about clocking in and out. Its kind of like, Okay, you want to take 20 mins to walk down to dollar general and you have already taken your lunch previous, oh and you didn't clock out. Well let me fix that mistake for you. The system tracks tardies, which is awesome, bc after 90 days, anyone who has been tardy more than 20% of their shifts, only gets offered a part time position within the company. This system gives us accurate data to show the employees at their 90 day evaluation, and the data can't be disputed bc it is tracked based on their clock in and clock out times.

Cons

I don't like the fact that there is not room for multiple clock outs under the edit mode. If we do not clock out for an extra break, there is no where to add it. I always have to add the time employees are gone to their lunch break. It give a false interpretation and false data when we pull data from this system for evaluations. I really wish you would update this to add columns for extra breaks, and reasons for the breaks. Also, I wish you would add a column to give explanation for employees that clock in late, miss a scheduled day, or clock out early. This system does not even track early clock outs, just late clock ins. We often find that employees will leave early to take care of things, and sometimes it can become repetitous. I would like to be able to track the data.

Great system for employee time tracking.

Great experience! US-based representative whom were very kind, understanding and WILLING AND READY to resolve any and all issues when I needed to call to resolve the only issue I’ve ever had.

Pros

Homebase is extremely easy to set up employee time clock which happens to be free if your business has a single location and with a single location you may set it up for unlimited employees. For a small business owner where every dollar and cent matters, it’s a no brainer. A business owner may assign or allow the employee to set up their clock in and out code. Also, it may be set to take a photo of the employee during the clock in and out sessions to help or eliminate other employees from clocking in and out for them. Homebase offers an iPad, iPhone and an android app. You may also use your device's browser. We downloaded the app, installed it on an iPad for our employees to clock in and out on. The administrator has 100% access via web browser login. There’s also a feature which allows employees to clock in and out in the field which would geo-tag the location of the clocking activities.

Cons

Not a lot a negative things to say. This software is best if you have multiple employees who may have a staggered schedule. Example: an employee opens, then you have a mid day shift, then a closer. You also have many employees that may be out in the field. geo-tag is not the best choice for a single entrepreneur who’s trying to track their time, set up easier ways to do so.

A comprehensive, user friendly application that offers must-have features

This application was offered as part of our new Clover POS system. I began to use it to set up the employee schedules for a small (seven employee plus owners) business. The more I used it, the more impressed I was with it. It provides every function that a small business like ours needed, taking a very tedious and error prone process and making it easy and transparent to handle. Being able to delegate certain tasks to key employees, auto notices sent for upcoming shifts, notification if someone hasn't clocked in within a set period for their shift, labor rate vs revenue analysis, end of year tax information gathering...and this was all in the free version that came with Clover! All in all, I am both impressed and pleased with this package. It looks to me like the right team wrote the right code for the right objectives at the right price. How often does that happen in the software world?

Pros

Ease of use, nailed key functions needed, intelligent navigation, visually uncluttered despite having a lot of functionality.

Cons

It is not a shortcoming of the software but of non-technical users. The biggest problem I have had is bringing along the technophobes who are used to working with...wait for it...paper calendars and personal journals to keep up with. They yearn to be able to use something so powerful but blanch when they open the home screen and see what is available. It is about as user friendly as can be imagined but some still are so intimidated that it is hard to get them to dig in. When they do, they begin to appreciate the value that is provided.

The key is bringing the shy types along S L O W L Y. This software will sell itself once it is given a fair opportunity to shine. Just grit your teeth and work with them. It's more than worth the effort.

Low cost, high value scheduling software

Overall we have been extraordinarily pleased with Homebase. Our employees have had no issues signing themselves in and using the app. We've used other scheduling software in the past that made it too complicated for our employees. We love the way Homebase simplifies all parts of scheduling, so we can focus on our employees and the children we serve!

Pros

Homebase is easy to use. We had to quickly implement a scheduling software. The way our business is setup has a variety of departments but employees work in multiple departments in a single day. Homebase lets us easily schedule each employee for the exact shift they work. We can view by department or by employee, which is helpful for both our employees and our managers.

We haven't tried it out yet, but one of the bonus perks to Homebase is their hiring module. We have tested but not actually published a job. It was easy to do and posts across multiple platforms.

Homebase has a lot to offer at a very reasonable price.

Cons

After you have scheduled in a department or scheduled an employee, you cannot use the + button to add another shift. This is annoying because you have to duplicate an existing shift and clear the information, instead of easily adding an empty shift and filling in what you need. We also did not find a way to delete an employee when they were duplicate added without choosing "terminate" the extra employee. This is not an issue now, but it could be in the future.
Another feature that would be nice in the app would be the ability to call the phone number from the roster or at least copy and paste it.

Low Stress Management

We can not say enough about Homebase and how it has helped our business grow to 7 locations across 3 states ( FL, TX, and NV) with some 80 employees. We could not have managed our staff, Labor cost, Scheduling, Labor Cost Management, and get the support anywhere other than Homebase. When we receive calls from other companies promising everything, it's a short conversation once we inform them of all the FREE services we currently get from Homebase. Staff training took less than 5 minutes. With the Mobile App. They now schedule their own shifts and changes to the schedule. They communicate with us and other employees. Homebase feeds into our payroll, gives us a real-time complete one screen view of our organization, including real-time sales, real-time Labor cost, who is working at what location all from our mobile phone. We are able to make an adjustment on the fly if our sales to labor cost are out of balance by sending someone home early or get extra help when required. All this over a coffee or lunch. LOW-STRESS MANAGEMENT.

Pros

Easy to use.

Cons

Not available in Canada.

Homebase is the best scheduling software!

Organization, communication, efficiency, ease of mind

Pros

I use Homebase on the daily to manage scheduling for my team of 10. It's incredibly efficient, easy to use, and keeps me and my team organized. Our staff's schedules tend to change on the fly with last minute bookings given our private event business, and Homebase is the perfect platform for me to communicate these changes to my team in real time. It's also a great way to manage time-off requests, monitor work hours for our part-timers and hourly employees, and coordinate shifts that need covering. They also have a very responsive customer service team, with options like Live Chat. I strongly recommend the software to smaller teams with hourly employees or contractors!

Cons

It'd be great to have a 'jump to X date/week' option. I view our staff's schedule on a weekly basis, and while you can jump to a monthly calendar view, I'd love an option to type in a specific date and it cue up the weekly schedule from there.

Best Scheduling Tool for Small Businesses

Overall experience with Homebase has been exceptional. We used another scheduling tool in the past and it was much too complicated and difficult to look at.

Pros

I thoroughly enjoy the Homebase platform and its ease of use. Everything is color coordinated, which is my favorite part. I use this to schedule my employees for all my locations. My employees enjoy it too because they can request time off, trade shifts, and see when they are scheduled on their phone. I also love the stats where I can keep track of sales and labor - and it links up all my locations which is a plus!

Cons

There honestly isn't anything I dislike about the software. I use it mainly for scheduling, but it does so much more than that. I would maybe like to customize admin roles a little more for better security, but that isn't entirely necessary.

We got our homebase through our clover system, it was free and an amazing app.

I wouldn't change to another application, this has everything you will need for scheduling and payroll. Even if you don't have a clover you can go online and set up your business to schedule your employees.

Pros

I could post schedules with ease and it wasn't hard to learn the program. My staff loved if because they could download the app on their phone, see their earnings, schedule and could request time off or switch shifts. Once the staff requested off or changed shifts it gave me the opportunity to approve or deny the request. Also once I uploaded a schedule it would text or email the entire staff or just the ones I made changes to.

Cons

They did update the system and it is a little bit or a learning curve. It also changed how the staff sees their schedule and dashboard.

Customer service is lacking, and No functionality for multiple store locations

To honest the experience hasn't been great, it feels more like a start up and they haven't worked out all the kinks with the technology, service, and training. They are very nice on the phone i have to give them they still have a long way to go.

Pros

it's easy to use, and the staff can use the app to request time off, and they can chat to one another.

Cons

1) It doesn't connect to your payroll system (even if they say it does)
2)you can't have more than one location and share staff between 2 locations, because the 2 separate schedules don't recognise each other which means when you auto-populate the schedule it double books staff members. (so then the auto-populate feature is useless to you)
3) The support staff are friendly but they ARE NOT very knowledgeable about the products or services, no can seem to make a decision and they very rarely call you back when they say they will.

I cancelled the service to one of my locations and they continued to bill me for 4 months , when i called they said they would call me back once they investigated the billing. I never received a return, when i called them 3 weeks later they said they would only give a refund for 2 months because i never called them back sooner.

Simply the best for me!

I have been using Homebase for over a year. It has been extremely useful for all of my scheduling needs. The few gaps present in the beginning were solved and streamlined. Support has always been over the top amazing! Thanks for a great product!

Pros

I love being able to access Homebase on my phone. The features available at the Free level are sufficient for my needs at this time and that is very helpful with so many software programs charging for the most minimal of services. I am excited that there are more robust plans available as my business continues to grow that will help me manage my team even more efficiently and with a wider range of options for structure.

Cons

No cons really because everything that has ever been difficult to use within the software has been resolved and fairly quickly.

Finally! A online scheduler that easy to use!

This scheduler (and more) has been a huge time + business saver. You can schedule and have your staff clock in with ease.

Pros

Definitely ease of use! We have tried at least 2 prior to Homebase and they were too cumbersome to use and were ultimately ditched. Once we tried HB, everyone was able to figure out the app and can easily enter their availability. You assign staff based on their availability (or actually unavailability by day down to the hours) and staff can swap shifts if needed. You can message your team by email or the instant messenger to individuals or group. This is only the tip of the iceberg! There's team building features, sales, tip-out, time clock, 3rd party app plug-ins, reporting and so much more! This has everything already figured out! You just have to explore all the features and functions. Priced per location, but very reasonably priced that is scalable to your growing business.

Cons

Nothing we can think of except they have job market feature which allows you to post your job (to whom?). This is probably still in development and we tried it once and gotten inquiries from random job seekers from another country. Perhaps geolocation and category filters would help provide more suitable applicants.

Absolutely the best product and service available.

I wish I could rate Homebase 10 stars! Of all the things that I use in my business Homebase would be one that I could never let go. I have been with them from the start and have never experienced a growing company striving so hard in customer satisfaction. There were bumps in the road developing the product BUT never once has their customer service let me down. They continually improve and always listen to requests . Response is almost instant when I am in need of help. I am old and set in my ways and this was the most user friendly product ever. We are a Pet Resort not food service and it more than meets our needs daily. My staff loves the ease of use and would revolt if we tried to change back to our previous system.

Great for my small business

Pros

My coffee shops use Homebase for all our scheduling. It is the perfect software! It is cost effective- the free version has all the necessary features. We also use it for own employees to clock in/clock out. You can send messages to your team and see who has read them. I highly recommend you check out Homebase if you are in any sort of business.

Cons

Every once in a while the time clock will be glitchy. The manager can correct these discrepancies from with in the app, you just have to keep an eye out.

Scheduling made easy because of the great user experience!

Scheduling staff with this software gets me super organized and takes me very little time to do so.

Pros

I like the ability to move my staff's hours with ease. If I want to switch someone's hours, I can just drag and drop their hours. I'm also able to see the total amount of hours per role, per week and per day. This helps me organize my staff and makes sure I'm at the maximum number of hours I'm allowed to staff for my restaurant.

Cons

I've had problems with the wage rate and applying them when necessary. I print our employees schedules instead of sending their schedule via the app. I never use that function but it seems like it could work well. Just not for our small establishment.

Makes my life as an office manager a whole lot easier

Pros

I love the schedule features. I am not generally the best with technology, but this is about as easy as it gets. I LOVE the drag-and-drop feature so I can switch schedules around easily without having to create new shifts, delete shifts etc. SO user-friendly. I love how you can send out a notification to only those employees whose schedule has changed when changes are made. I love that everyone is notified. And I love that I can check the app from home to see who is working the next day, or on any given day.

Cons

We are using the free version, so really this isn't a con if you are willing to pay for a monthly/annual subscription. The doctor I work for does not want to pay any monthly subscription fees. I wish we could use the time clock for employees to punch in and out, but it is not realistic for us as a two-location practice. You have to have a manager log in to the time clock computer, and we only have a manager in one location. This seems like it would work very well for those willing to pay for this feature, though, and it is really not that pricey. It's a minor con.

My first year anniversary and still in love

I've just completed my first year with Homebase and not only do I love it but so do the employees . And if they are happy i'm very happy . Our late shows has stopped almost entirely and confusion is almost never . I have employees come to me and point out simple mistakes that have been skipped in the schedule almost immediately . Customer service was a shock . I have not needed them but about 3 times , since everything is so simple , and everytime issues have been cleared up almost instantly . Thank you Homebase for being one of lives pleasures . I now enjoy doing the schedule .

Pros

Everything . Customer service is awesome and kiss ( keep it simple stupid ) is the order of the day .

Cons

Nothing I have found .

Great App and customer service!

Free software that really works and simplifies payroll and scheduling. Absolutely love the customer service and it is offered 24/7! Need to call at midnight? Not a problem!

Pros

This app has been extremely beneficial for employees to quickly run cash out reports and enter cash tips at end of shift. The mobile app is great for correcting clock in/out times and adjusting cash tips in a matter of seconds. Great tracking for payroll and syncing with clover. I have not used the scheduling feature yet, but love the functionality of it.

Cons

The free version does not allow you to assign multiple jobs to each employee.

doug's review

I have been working with Homebase now for a couple of years. I love it. I learn more and more every time i use it. I am at the point where I cant do without it. I have become dependent on it. I really dont know how I did everything I did for all of those years without homebase

Pros

The ability to navigate it

Cons

everything is great about it. I really cant think of anything that i can really criticize

Scheduling Made Easy

Pros

Prior to using this system, I used to use google calendar and I relied on my employees to check the calendar in order to know when they work. Now with home base I can:

- See when my employees viewed the scheduled via text or email
- See when my employees arrive late or miss a shift all together
- Request a trade or coverage

One feature I recently paid for was the ability to monitor their breaks better. In the past, we had just given them paid breaks and hoped they'd punch back in at a reasonable time. However, now we give them a set time and any additional time is taken as unpaid. I love that I don't have to watchdog them for their entire shift.

Cons

The schedule layout is a little wonky. I don't do the best with color definition, so It would be nice if they allowed schedulers to use symbols instead of colors to define job responsibilities.

Really convenient for employers and employees

Super easy to use and maintain for employees and employers alike, with lots of features that make work schedules (known to be a hassle) much simpler to tackle.

Pros

The accessibility to Homebase is super appealing. Being able to log online and view schedules and request for time off is one thing, but being able to easily access it all on your phone is entirely another. The color scheme and design make it pleasant to look at as well. It's pretty simple to view a schedule, request time off, or trade shifts with other employees as long as you've communicated with them outside of the app. Being able to sync it with your calendar and have it send push notification reminders helps, too.

Cons

The biggest downside is mainly just a small gripe. Occasionally, when I was either looking at the schedule, the names would appear out of order or it wouldn't update to the most current week. Or when you would request time off, it wouldn't select the day you selected, going back to the default and causing the need to fill out the request all over again.