Workforce management software has revolutionised the task of creating staff rotas and matching them to the payroll. As a manual task, it is difficult to manage let alone get right the first time, it can take days and is the cause of a lot of frustration. Automating the process with effective software is the solution – it frees up time and allows your staff to concentrate their attention on more profitable aspects of your business, which will take the stress off their shoulders at the same time as enhancing your operational efficiency.
One of the biggest names in the workforce management software field is RotaCloud. However, is it necessarily the best solution for your business? Like any purchasing decision, it’s always a good thing to research other brands’ offerings before making a final decision. So in this blog we’ll look at a couple of RotaCloud alternatives.
Firstly, we’ll compare Excel with specialist software. There are a surprising number of small businesses still trying to manage staff rotas using Excel files, probably because they don’t yet realise the affordability of a more efficient software solution which can significantly transform their workload by making your life easier. Then, with not all software being equal, we’ll investigate the difference between our own Nextra software and RotaCloud, explaining how having everything in place from the very beginning can benefit you now as well as further down the line.
Excel spreadsheets have been the backbone of rostering for decades, and many small businesses are still using them, either because they’re seen as an affordable option or because things have never been done in any other way. However, Excel spreadsheet overload is a real risk, especially as your business grows and you recruit additional staff. Time is one of the biggest costs when it comes to doing staff rotas on spreadsheets – if you measure the time you or a member of staff currently spends agonising over rotas and making sure your payroll and HR data are accurate and up to date, you’ll understand why utilising workforce management software makes financial sense.
Another disadvantage of using Excel is that you have to manually enter all the data, which is not only a time consuming process but also runs the risk of mistakes. Workforce management software automates the entire process: generating the rotas, allowing individuals to clock in and out, and producing the data required for payroll quickly and accurately.
The other disadvantage of Excel is that it’s not easy to see online, making it almost essential to print files out so you can see everything at a glance. If your company’s aiming for a paperless transformation, this is clearly a drawback. Workforce management software has been designed in a way that makes a paperless office possible, with all the information you need easily accessible on screen so there’s no need to print it out.
While using Excel may be free, you need to take into account how much it costs your business in staff time to create and maintain rotas, as well as migrate data to your payroll and HR functions. You will also miss out on the data insights that are easily generated by software.
In the long run it could be more cost-effective – and certainly a lot easier – to use, making the change to a software solution a powerful incentive.
Even the most complex rotas that span different departments and across different sites can be created very quickly. The software will schedule staff, ensuring there are enough on shift with the right industry-specific expertise, training and certifications, so you can rest assured you will always be compliant. It will also take into account people’s availability, not accidentally scheduling in someone who has already requested that time off.
Of course, there’s always a human element and people will always need to make changes to the rota. Software like Nextra’s makes changing shifts super easy with drag and drop functionality.
As the software is linked to your Payroll and HR functions, calculating pay, tax, holiday pay etc will be done automatically. Staff will sign in and out using the app, which they can also use to keep their contact and financial details up to date. This saves everyone a lot of time and reduces the risk of mistakes being made.
Nextra software gives you the opportunity to send messages to staff members, whether it’s directly to individuals, as a team, department, or to the entire company.
Keeping accurate records thanks to our Absence Management software helps you save money by optimising staffing levels so you’ll never be under- or overstaffed.
Labour cost control is one of the main priorities when it comes to rotas and staffing. Nextra clients save up to 27% of their staffing costs. A significant saving on top of the reduction in stress that automating the process results in!
Workforce management software will save you and your staff a huge amount of admin time. Tasks that used to take hours or days and were the cause of such headaches and overtime can now be done at the click of a mouse.
So, having decided that software is the best way to manage your rotas, what is the best software to use?
There are a number of companies that specialise in workforce management solutions, but here we compare Nextra with RotaCloud to find out more about their similarities and differences.
Nextra is the only software that covers 100% of your rostering, payroll and HR needs, making it a very powerful platform. Our software will be installed with all the features you’ll ever need. You simply choose the ones you want to activate and use now – you can rest assured that the others will always be there, fully installed and ready if and when you need access to them. This means that if you expand your business in the future, or simply want to make use of additional features, all you have to do is ask and we will activate it. With any other system, adding a new feature may mean you have to install a different program, ensuring it’s compatible with your current system; or you may even be required to start the entire process from scratch again.
When it comes to pricing, we are hugely competitive. One of our USPs is e don’t charge per user. We provide a site license for unlimited users and departments.that w
RotaCloud provides a similar service to ours, offering functionality for rota planning, shift swaps, clocking in and out, payroll integration, absence management, a mobile app and various HR tools.
When it comes to pricing, RotaCloud charges by the user on a Standard or Pro package, with the option of Time & Attendance and SMS notifications as add ons.
| Features | Nextra | Rotacloud | Excel |
| Can be used by any industry | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Creates staff rotas quickly and accurately, taking skills and availability into account | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Takes into account time off and annual leave | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Shift swaps can be made with drag and drop | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Helps you control staffing costs | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Integrates with Payroll – generates payroll reports in just one click | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Helps you stay on top of absence and lateness | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Mobile app allows staff to clock in and out | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Geolocation function accurately tracks when staff members are onsite | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Live data visualisation | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Documents and integrates HR data | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Gives staff members control – users can update their details, book leave and swap shifts with Employee Self-Service module | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Allows you to customise reporting to get precisely the data you need | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Free setup and support from UK office | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Futureproof – it’s easy to switch on new features as your company grows | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Enables easy communication between departments, teams, or individuals | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| Provides 100% of all your workforce management needs | ✔️ | ➖ | ➖ |
| Tailor-made for your company’s needs | ✔️ | ➖ | |
| No set up fee | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| 30 day free trial | ✔️ | ✔️ | ➖ |
| Pay per user | ➖ | ✔️ | ➖ |
If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to ditch Excel and free up more of that time that can be better spent on other aspects of your work. Contact us to arrange a free demo of Nextra’s powerful workforce management software – the best solution that will help you achieve efficiencies and cost savings and meet your business needs.
