When I Work

When I Work is a workforce management app built specifically for hourly, shift-based teams. It combines three tools that small and mid-sized businesses usually buy separately: employee scheduling, a time clock with attendance tracking, and team messaging. The pitch is simple: replace the spreadsheet, the group text and the punch clock with one mobile-first app that managers and employees both actually use.

Scheduling is the core strength. Managers can build a week of shifts in minutes, use Auto Scheduling to fill open shifts based on availability, and handle time-off requests and shift swaps inside the app instead of over text. Employees see their schedule the moment it is published, get shift reminders, and can clock in from their phones with GPS verification. The built-in team messaging keeps work conversations out of personal numbers, which alone solves a real headache for restaurants and retail managers.

The multi-location plan adds the features growing operations need: unlimited job sites and schedules, labor sharing between locations, custom reporting, role permissions and multiple time zone support. Integrations cover the systems hourly businesses already run, including payroll and point-of-sale connections (Rippling is the preferred payroll partner), and a public API exists for custom workflows, documented at apidocs.wheniwork.com.

Pricing is unusually transparent for this category: $2.50 per user per month for a single location or schedule, $5 per user per month for multiple locations, with every feature included in both tiers. There is no free plan, but the 14-day free trial gives full access without a credit card. For a 20-person cafe that works out to about $50 a month on the entry plan, which is easy to justify against even one missed-shift scramble a week.

Where it falls short: per-user pricing scales linearly, so very large hourly workforces should compare total cost against flat-rate competitors. Reporting beyond labor basics requires the higher tier. And teams that are mostly salaried or project-based will find the shift-first design less relevant than a general project management tool.

The integration list is short but targeted at the systems hourly businesses already run: Gusto, QuickBooks Online, Paychex, Square Payroll, Rippling, OnPay and Simplepay.ca on the payroll side, plus GoCo, People and ResaleAI for HR and operations. Zapier covers the long tail, and a documented public API (apidocs.wheniwork.com) handles custom reporting or scheduling workflows. Support is a genuine strong point for a tool at this price: a customer care team answers at support@wheniwork.com, the help center covers payroll exports and account setup in depth, and the company publishes its Minneapolis headquarters address rather than hiding behind a contact form.

Overall, When I Work is one of the most straightforward recommendations in employee scheduling: focused on hourly teams, fairly priced, quick to roll out, and refined over many years in the hourly-workforce space. It is the default starting point for shops, restaurants, healthcare providers and franchise operations that want scheduling, time tracking and messaging in one place.