Planday Reviews in 2023: Alternatives, Pricing, Reviews - SSR

Planday offers some of the most critical scheduling app features at an affordable price. Out of all the software we tested, Planday’s app stood out for its visual appeal and after-sales support. That being said, most users are able to figure out and use the app on their own.

Planday is an employee scheduling software that helps shift-based businesses track and manage their workforce through a robust app. Planday excels at simplifying forecasting and scheduling tasks while offering some useful integration options at the same time.

Without making the interface clunky or cluttered, Planday seems to have focused on all the right features packed into a visually appealing, easy-to-use app.

Managers can use Planday to create employee schedules effortlessly. These schedules are prepared in coordination with employees who can share their availability, swap shifts, and request vacation time or sick leave - all within the same app.

You can define the hours and skills required for each shift based on revenue, traffic, and insights generated from the detailed reports. Once you’re able to create a schedule that works for you, Planday allows you to use it as a template for other shifts and departments.

Planday also offers excellent time-tracking that a manager at a UK-based charity, The Disabilities Trust, called his favorite feature because it eliminates the need for timesheets and gets hours of work done in minutes.

Another employee at The Disabilities Trust said he likes the Punch Clock the most because it generates reminders to clock out. Managers can also set a GPS radius around the work location to see who’s on-site.

We also found the messaging features of Planday to be very effective for managers and staff. You can easily send messages via the app or SMS to individuals or groups of employees. For important communication, the app offers a “force read” option so the employees have to read and acknowledge a message before taking any further action on the app.

You can also send updates such that they appear immediately after employees login. This ensures no important messages go unread. Employees can easily share their availability with team members and swap shifts where possible. They can also share events and emails using the messaging feature.

Keep in mind, though, that Planday isn’t a magic formula for all your problems. The software is as good as the team using it. Therefore, you’d still have to hire the right talent, build a conducive environment for tech-based solutions to flourish, offer training where required, and provide accurate data to the app to generate actionable reports for your business.

While Planday has a majority of positive reviews, we also took note of some negative feedback we came across during our research. There are several negative reviews about the company’s transparency when it comes to its subscription renewal policy. Many users felt unfairly committed to plans without their confirmation. Other users found it difficult to use messaging, calendar, and GPS effectively.

Overall, Planday is a robust, user-friendly, and visually appealing software that not only offers the best-in-class workforce management features but scores extra points for its wide variety of 3rd party integrations, offering managers their desired level of detail, insights, and control into staff costs.

Planday is not a great fit for businesses that don’t have multiple locations and at the same time, have a large team. Such businesses may be better off with other tools that offer the ability to add unlimited employees at no extra cost and charge by location.

Organizations with very limited budgets for scheduling might also be able to find more affordable solutions that can address the needs of smaller businesses.

During our research, we found many customers who loved the mobile app but also took note of many others who expressed their reservations. If your business relies heavily on off-site workers who need to get work done on the move, Planday may not be the ideal solution for you.

Some of Planday’s prominent customers are Shell, Sophie’s, Riddle & Finns, Enoteca Da Luca, and Rumba Cabana.

The research that went into creating this app shines through as you explore its features.

• Staff Management: With Planday, you can manage schedules for departments or specific employee groups based on skill set, shifts, or projects.
• Reporting: Planday’s powerful reporting tools help you keep track of attendance, tardiness, scheduling, payroll, etc. The reports can easily be used for direct input in performance reviews.
• Independent Schedules: Create individual schedules for different departments for easier management and a simplified view of what’s going on in the organization.
• Integrations: Planday offers plenty of 3rd party integrations to extend the app's functionality and help you get a complete view of your business.‍
• Instant Communication: Send instant chat messages or SMS to individuals or specific groups in your organization, mark messages as vital, get read receipts, and communicate on the go.

Planday also offers:

• Employee punch clock
• Web and mobile apps
• Shift swapping
• Employee shift personalization.

Planday offers a large number of integrations with payroll, PoS, accounting, restaurant analytics, and other systems you may already be using at your organization. However, the fact that the app only integrates with five HR software tools can be considered a potential area for improvement.

Some of Planday’s popular integrations include QuickBooks, Zettle, Tenzo, Xero, and Flow.

The paid plans for Planday are:

The Starter and Plus plans come with a free trial. It’s important to note that the packages are sold in increments of five users. For example, if you have 13 users, you’d be billed for 15.

Planday is best for shift-based, labor-intensive restaurants with multiple locations that require forecasting and labor planning tools.

• If you don’t already have a Planday account, signing up for a free 30-day trial at their website takes 5 minutes. 
• Create departments - 3 minutes per department
• Add employees to each department - 3 minutes per employee
• Create employee groups based on skills and roles - 3 minutes per group
• Add monthly wages and contact information for each of the employees - 5 minutes per employee
• Set up scheduling - 15-20 mins
• Set up shifts - 15-20 mins
• Assign shifts to employees using drag-and-drop - 2 mins per employee
• Duplicate shifts if applicable - 1 min per shift
• Create templates - 1 min per template
• Set up Punch Clock - 2 mins
• Invite employees to start using Planday - 5 mins

The Customer Success team at Planday is split into three different functions: Customer Support, Customer Enablement, and Customer Onboarding.

Customer Support

The Customer Support team is the first touchpoint for customers who require support. The team assists customers via phone, chat, and email on topics ranging from basic setup to troubleshooting.

Customer Enablement

The Customer Enablement Team is dedicated to helping Small and Medium Businesses set up Planday. The team understands the unique needs of every SMB customer and demonstrates how Planday can help them achieve their business goals in a more efficient manner.

Customer Onboarding

The Customer Onboarding team looks after bigger portfolios of customers with larger teams. The onboarding consultants act as internal representatives of their clients to the internal Planday customer support and engineering teams. Such a structure allows for custom Planday implementations and priority support for customers.

In 2004, Anders Frederiksen and Mikkel Lomholt came up with the idea for Planday at a Copenhagen bar after identifying a gap in the market for workforce management. 

They noticed the struggles of businesses like restaurants, cinemas, and bars in managing their shift workers. They observed how managers had to make sure each shift was planned in a way that every employee’s schedule matched up with the workload demands of that shift. This manual system would often lead to mistakes such as too many or too few employees showing up for the same shift.

On the other hand, employees usually didn’t have access to work email and had no central platform to communicate with their co-workers to swap shifts and discuss other important work issues. 

Planday formally came into being in 2005 to tackle these same challenges. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, the company grew steadily and launched its iOS and Android apps in 2012 and 2013, respectively. 

Planday now operates out of 8 different locations worldwide and has over 350,000 end-users. The company raised over $73 million in 4 funding rounds. Their latest funding was announced on Aug 8, 2018, from a Series C round.

In March 2021, Planday was acquired by Xero for $294.8 million. The acquisition gave Planday additional access to an ecosystem of over 800 third-party apps and 200 connections to banks and other financial partners. As a result, the company looks set to leverage this additional support and continue to expand its customer base in its existing and new markets.