When I Work

Overview

When I Work was founded in 2010, headquartered in Minnesota, United States, as an employee scheduling and attendance management tool for hourly and shift-based teams. It helps store managers in restaurants, retail, and hospitality quickly create schedules, manage clock-ins, track hours and overtime, and reduce the communication cost of shift swaps and time-off requests through team messaging. It is a representative "scheduling plus attendance" solution within the productivity category.

When I Work focuses on simple scheduling: managers drag to build shift schedules based on employee availability, employees clock in via Web, iOS, Android, or store kiosks, and the system automatically calculates hours and overtime with export to payroll. Built-in team messaging and a shift marketplace further simplify shift swaps and notifications, suiting multi-location, multi-shift operations.

Key Strengths

• Fast scheduling: Drag-and-drop schedule creation based on employee availability with automatic conflict detection completes a week of scheduling in minutes, saving managers significant time. See remote team toolchain.
• Multi-device clock-in: Supports 4 clock-in methods — Web, iOS, Android, and kiosk — covering storefront and mobile scenarios with real-time attendance sync.
• Automatic hours and overtime calculation: Regular hours, overtime, and breaks are automatically aggregated from schedules and clock-ins to produce accurate timesheets and reduce manual calculation.
• Team messaging and shift swaps: Built-in team messaging, a shift marketplace, and time-off management let employees trade shifts and communicate independently, lowering manager coordination cost. See team communication tool comparison.
• Low entry cost: A free plan is available and paid plans range around $1.5-3.5 per user per month, keeping the barrier low for small teams with scheduling needs. It is a scheduling representative in HR system selection.

Product Ecosystem

Shift Scheduling

Create and publish schedules based on employee availability, with drag-and-drop scheduling, conflict detection, and shift publishing for multi-location, multi-shift scenarios.

Time & Attendance

Clock in via Web, iOS, Android, and kiosk, recording start and end times with automatic flagging of attendance exceptions.

Hours & Overtime

Hours, overtime, and breaks are automatically summarized into accurate timesheets that can be exported directly for payroll. See HR system recommendation guide.

Availability Management

Employees submit their available working hours so managers can schedule accordingly, reducing conflicts and last-minute absences.

Messaging & Shift Marketplace

Built-in team messaging, shift swaps, and time-off requests let employees manage shifts independently and lower communication cost. See team communication tool comparison.

Limitations

• Limited free plan: The free tier offers few features, and full scheduling, attendance reporting, and advanced hour statistics require paid plans.
• Focused on shift scenarios: Deeply focused on hourly scheduling and attendance, with weaker professional project and task management, and lower utilization for knowledge-based teams.
• Limited integration ecosystem: Integration and ecosystem scope are smaller than comprehensive HR platforms, and advanced reports and third-party connections require upgrades.
• Limited value for non-shift teams: Teams without shift scheduling struggle to use the core value, leading to low feature utilization.

Use Cases

• Hour-heavy industries such as restaurants, retail, and hospitality (★★★★★): Scheduling plus multi-device clock-in and hours/overtime calculation fit shift-based operations. See HR system recommendation guide.
• Multi-location chains (★★★★★): Availability management and a shift marketplace simplify scheduling and swaps across locations.
• Small shift teams (★★★★★): The free plan already supports basic scheduling and attendance with a low entry barrier.
• Teams needing payroll export （★★★★☆）: Timesheets can be exported directly, combined with remote team toolchain for payroll.
• Knowledge-based fixed-shift teams （★★★☆☆）: Scheduling value is limited; compare hour tracking options such as Toggl Track.

Pricing

Note: Prices are public reference rates (annual billing); monthly billing is slightly higher. See the official site for current quotes.

FAQ

• Which industries is When I Work for? It mainly serves restaurants, retail, and hospitality that rely on hourly and shift-based workers, with scheduling, clock-in, and hour calculation suiting store operations. See HR system recommendation guide for related industry solutions.

• What clock-in methods are supported? Web, iOS, Android, and store kiosk, with real-time attendance sync covering storefront and mobile scenarios. See remote team toolchain.

• How are overtime and wages calculated? The system automatically aggregates hours, overtime, and breaks from schedules and clock-ins into timesheets that can be exported directly for payroll, reducing manual calculation. See HR system recommendation guide.

• Is the free plan enough? The free plan supports scheduling and basic attendance for small teams; full hour reports, the shift marketplace, and extended integrations require paid plans. Evaluate comprehensively in productivity tool comparison.