ESO Scheduling vs Shiftbase

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared ESO Scheduling vs Shiftbase based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Employee Scheduling Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

ESO Scheduling is a robust software solution designed to streamline employee scheduling, particularly for emergency medical services, fire departments, and hospitals. It offers features like automated shift assignments, time-off management, and real-time schedule updates, making it ideal for organizations that require precise and flexible scheduling to ensure optimal staffing levels. Users appreciate its intuitive interface and the ability to integrate with other systems, enhancing overall operational efficiency. The software stands out for its ability to handle complex scheduling needs, such as accommodating varying shift patterns and managing certifications and training requirements. This ensures that only qualified personnel are scheduled for specific tasks, reducing the risk of errors. Pricing typically varies based on the size of the organization and the specific features required, with options for monthly or annual payments. Compared to similar products, ESO Scheduling is praised for its reliability and comprehensive support, making it a preferred choice for critical service providers.
read more...

Shiftbase is workforce management software that helps businesses with frontline workers manage employee schedules, track time, monitor attendance, handle time-off requests and maintain employee profiles. It offers a comprehensive set of features to streamline HR processes and optimize shift and task management.

Its scheduling feature helps you easily create, modify and share employee schedules. The platform supports shift templates, recurring shifts, drag-and-drop scheduling and flex teams for efficient workforce allocation. It also considers employee availability and absences to ensure optimal scheduling. Additionally, you can manage personnel costs, track wage costs and create schedules based on work hours or budgeted labor costs.

For time tracking and PTO management, Shiftbase can track worked hours, manage time-off requests and ensure compliance with labor regulations. Employees can view their schedules, request time off and track their hours through the mobile app. Also, managers can approve or deny time-off requests and monitor employee attendance.

The human resource management module includes tools for creating and managing employee profiles, storing important documents and managing employee communications. The software also offers compliance management tools to help businesses adhere to labor laws and regulations. This includes features for tracking overtime hours, managing minimum wage and Working Hours Act (ATW) compliance, and generating audit reports.

read more...
$795 Annually
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$3.50/Employee, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Improved Efficiency: Automate scheduling tasks to reduce manual errors and save time, allowing managers to focus on strategic activities.
  • Enhanced Employee Satisfaction: Provide employees with more predictable schedules and the ability to request time off or swap shifts easily, leading to higher job satisfaction.
  • Cost Savings: Optimize labor costs by ensuring the right number of staff are scheduled based on demand forecasts, reducing overtime and understaffing issues.
  • Compliance Management: Ensure adherence to labor laws and company policies by automatically tracking hours worked, breaks, and overtime.
  • Real-Time Updates: Instantly communicate schedule changes to employees via mobile notifications, reducing miscommunication and no-shows.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Utilize analytics and reporting tools to gain insights into workforce trends, helping to make informed staffing decisions.
  • Scalability: Easily adjust to the needs of growing businesses by managing schedules for a small team or a large workforce with equal efficiency.
  • Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrate with payroll, HR, and other enterprise systems to streamline operations and ensure data consistency.
  • Employee Empowerment: Allow employees to view their schedules, request changes, and communicate availability through a user-friendly interface, fostering a sense of control and responsibility.
  • Reduced Administrative Burden: Minimize the time spent on scheduling-related administrative tasks, freeing up resources for other critical business functions.
  • Enhanced Communication: Facilitate better communication between managers and employees through built-in messaging and notification features.
  • Flexibility: Adapt to various scheduling needs, whether for part-time, full-time, or shift-based employees, ensuring all staffing requirements are met.
  • Improved Accountability: Track attendance and punctuality, helping to identify and address issues promptly, thereby improving overall workforce reliability.
  • Customizable Templates: Use pre-built or custom templates to quickly create schedules that meet specific business needs, reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks.
  • Conflict Resolution: Automatically detect and resolve scheduling conflicts, ensuring smooth operations and reducing the likelihood of staffing issues.
read more...
  • Start Scheduling For Free: The starter plan lets you manage up to 75 employees in one location across five teams for free. You can manage employee profiles, create schedules, assign tasks and set role-based permissions. Employees can also track time manually via the mobile app.
  • Streamline PTO Management: Shiftbase's time and attendance management tools, highly rated with a 91 score by our analysts, offer a streamlined PTO management process. Employees can easily request and track time off, while managers can efficiently approve or deny requests and monitor attendance. This not only reduces administrative burden but also ensures accurate payroll calculations and compliance with labor regulations.
read more...
  • Drag-and-Drop Interface: Easily create and adjust schedules by dragging and dropping shifts into place.
  • Real-Time Updates: Instant notifications for schedule changes, ensuring all team members are always informed.
  • Shift Swapping: Employees can request and approve shift swaps directly within the platform, streamlining the process.
  • Automated Scheduling: Generate schedules based on predefined rules and employee availability, reducing manual effort.
  • Mobile Access: Access and manage schedules from any device, providing flexibility for both managers and employees.
  • Compliance Tracking: Ensure schedules adhere to labor laws and company policies, minimizing legal risks.
  • Time-Off Management: Track and approve time-off requests, integrating them seamlessly into the scheduling process.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate detailed reports on scheduling metrics, helping to identify trends and optimize workforce management.
  • Integration with Payroll Systems: Sync scheduling data with payroll software to streamline payroll processing and reduce errors.
  • Employee Self-Service Portal: Allow employees to view their schedules, request changes, and communicate with managers directly through the platform.
  • Customizable Templates: Create and save schedule templates for recurring shifts, saving time on future scheduling tasks.
  • Overtime Management: Monitor and control overtime hours to manage labor costs effectively.
  • Shift Reminders: Automated reminders sent to employees before their shifts, reducing no-shows and tardiness.
  • Role-Based Permissions: Assign different access levels to users based on their roles, ensuring data security and appropriate access.
  • Historical Data Access: Access past schedules and employee attendance records for reference and compliance purposes.
read more...
  • Employee Scheduling: Create and publish work schedules with an overview of expected costs. Repeat standard shifts by dragging and dropping into upcoming schedules while building custom templates. Get employee availability reminders when creating schedules while sending automated shift reminders. Invite employees to pick open shifts.
  • Time Tracking: Prevent errors while recording employee work hours using an online time tracking module. Employees can clock in via mobile apps or desktops based on GPS locations. Copy work hours from timesheets to time registration automatically while saving manual effort and errors.
  • Absence Registration: Automate absence management processes while tracking vacation hours and employee leave requests. Employees can create leave requests while forwarding them automatically for supervisor approval. Get a real-time overview of accumulated vacation hours while entering balance hours for new employees.
  • Resource Management: Manage vacation balances, employment contracts, employee work hours and information from one place. Process employment contract modifications while calculating overtime hours accurately. Set employee birthday and anniversary notifications.
  • HRM: Build personnel files with employee notes, automatic leave accrual, contract reminders, notifications for anniversaries and birthdays, and automatic calculation of plus/minus hours. You can track employee competencies and certificates, monitor employee well-being through overtime and absence tracking, and receive alerts when documents expire.
  • Reporting: Get an accurate picture of worked, scheduled and approved employee working hours. Gain in-depth insights into labor costs compared to revenue, worked hours per department or a team and more. Generate customized exportable reports containing crucial operational data.
  • Mobile App: Manage workforce schedules, absences and availability on the go using Android and iOS apps. Monitor employee work hours while posting important announcements and messages from anywhere. Receive push notifications about timesheets and availability changes.
read more...

Product Ranking

#58

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

#103

among all
Employee Scheduling Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

we're gathering data
75
we're gathering data
52
we're gathering data
62
we're gathering data
91
Show More Show More

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

ESO Scheduling
Shiftbase
+ Add Product + Add Product
Collaboration Employee Management Leave And Absence Management Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Analytics Schedule Management Security And Compliance Shift Management Time And Attendance Management 52 62 91 83 63 81 84 67 79 74 0 25 50 75 100
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
50%
0%
50%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
58%
0%
42%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
88%
0%
12%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
80%
0%
20%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
67%
0%
33%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
83%
0%
17%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
80%
0%
20%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
67%
0%
33%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
79%
0%
21%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
74%
0%
26%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
80%
0%
20%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 31 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 421 reviews
90%
of users recommend this product

ESO Scheduling has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 31 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

90%
of users recommend this product

Shiftbase has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 421 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.6 (225)
4.48 (31)
n/a
n/a
4.4 (196)

Awards

ESO Scheduling stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Shiftbase stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Easy to Use: Users find the interface intuitive and easy to navigate, making it simple to create and manage schedules.
Flexible Scheduling: The system allows for various scheduling options, including shift swaps, time-off requests, and different shift types, accommodating diverse employee needs.
Mobile Access: Employees can access and manage their schedules from their mobile devices, enhancing flexibility and communication.
Real-Time Updates: The system provides real-time updates on schedule changes, ensuring everyone is informed and on the same page.
Automated Reminders: The system sends automated reminders for shift changes, time-off requests, and other important events, reducing the risk of missed shifts.
Show more
Increased Flexibility: Users appreciate the ability to assign different roles and create flexible rosters, making the platform suitable for self-rostering and cross-team visibility. It offers color coding to differentiate users and tasks, improving visual clarity.
Ease of Use: The software is user-friendly and requires minimal training. It simplifies scheduling and time tracking, especially when compared to manual or Excel-based methods.
Time-Saving: Shiftbase significantly reduces the time spent on administrative tasks like calculating hours and scheduling, with users reporting substantial time savings.
Responsive Support and Help Resources: Users consistently highlight the excellent customer service for its quick responses and effective issue resolutions.
Show more
Limited Customization: Some users find the scheduling options too rigid, making it difficult to accommodate unique employee needs or business requirements. For example, they may not be able to easily adjust shift lengths or create specific break schedules.
Complex Interface: The interface can be overwhelming for new users, with a steep learning curve and a lack of intuitive navigation. This can lead to frustration and wasted time trying to understand the system.
Poor Mobile Experience: The mobile app is often reported as clunky and difficult to use, making it challenging for employees to manage their schedules on the go. This can be a major inconvenience for employees who rely on their phones for scheduling information.
Lack of Integration: ESO Scheduling may not integrate well with other business systems, such as payroll or time tracking software. This can lead to data duplication and manual workarounds, increasing the risk of errors and inefficiencies.
Show more
Lengthy Setup Process: Transitioning to Shiftbase from other systems requires a time investment. Users mention that setup can take two to three days, but the platform is highly efficient once it’s operational.
Challenging User Interface: While Shiftbase is functional, users mention that its presentation, particularly in areas like team rosters and part-time employee scheduling, could be more refined with color-coded visual representations.
Limited Advanced Features: The platform has limited functionalities, such as no custom fields, rigid reporting templates and a lack of customizable graphical representations for tracking specific tasks or plotting work hours.
Clocking Issues: The system doesn’t automatically log out employees based on their physical location. Users have complained about spending time manually adjusting or verifying clock-in and clock-out times when employees forget to log their hours properly.
Lack of Detailed Change Logs: There are no clear records of who removed or altered shifts, which limits accountability and tracking.
Show more

User reviews from the past year on ESO Scheduling are largely positive, highlighting its suitability for EMS and fire departments. Users particularly appreciate its comprehensive suite of features, including employee scheduling, time and attendance tracking, payroll management, and certification tracking, all within a single platform. This integration simplifies administrative tasks and reduces the need for multiple software solutions, saving time and money. Users rave about the significant reduction in payroll processing time, citing a decrease from an entire workday to under 30 minutes. The ability for employees to access schedules and submit requests from anywhere is also frequently commended. However, some users find the software's navigation to be convoluted due to its extensive menu options, making it challenging to locate specific functions quickly. While acknowledging this drawback, ESO Solutions states that their development team is actively working on simplifying the user interface for improved ease of use. Overall, ESO Scheduling is best suited for EMS and fire departments seeking an all-in-one solution to streamline operations and reduce administrative burden, particularly those prioritizing efficient payroll processing and flexible employee access.

Show more

Shiftbase is a workforce management and scheduling platform that offers one of the best starter plans for free. You can start managing employee databases and schedule shifts of up to 75 employees in one location across five teams.In my experience, Shiftbase was easy to onboard if you’re not migrating from other scheduling platforms. However, the process is more cumbersome when you’re looking to migrate employee and scheduling data from an external platform. Unlike its competitors, Shiftbase cannot automatically set up your account using a CSV and Excel file containing your business data.One of the things I like most about Shiftbase is how easy it is to create flexible schedules, factoring in staff costs, revenue and budgets. Managers can track working hours through the website, mobile app or clock terminal. This gives insights into attendance and wage costs, allowing for better decision-making and optimized staffing. Additionally, it’s easy to manage employee leave and absences with Shiftbase, making it ideal for businesses with flexible or part-time staff.The platform can connect directly with payroll systems, reducing manual data entry and ensuring accurate, on-time payments. Shiftbase also offers basic reporting tools that help businesses understand budget allocation and staff work hours.Based on my experience and the feedback from other users, Shiftbase is a great option for businesses that need a simple and efficient way to manage their workforce. However, it lacks many advanced features that may be essential for larger enterprises with bigger teams. For example, it doesn't offer built-in AI for conflict alerts, seasonal demand analysis or workforce optimization based on seasonal trends.Overall, Shiftbase is a suitable choice for small to medium-sized businesses seeking a user-friendly and affordable workforce management solution. Its ease of use and focus on core scheduling and time-tracking features make it a good option for businesses with straightforward scheduling needs. However, larger enterprises with complex requirements, such as advanced analytics, AI-powered optimization or integration with multiple systems, might find Shiftbase's feature set limited.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Employee Scheduling Software


7shifts

Deputy

Findmyshift

Homebase

Humanity

OpenSimSim

Planday

Quinyx

ScheduleFlex

Shiftbase

Shiftboard

Sling

TimeForge

When I Work

WhenToWork

ZoomShift

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings