It’s never easy to manage a team of hourly workers. Whether you own and operate a restaurant, retail store, or hospitality business, you need the ability to keep your workforce organized, engaged, and efficient.
Managing everything from scheduling and payroll to task management can feel overwhelming, but choosing the right workforce management software for what you need can be tricky. When there are so many options, how do you know which is the right one?
The stakes are high. If your workers shift to the wrong platform, you'll have a disorganized shift, poor communication, increased labor costs and upset employees; all of which affect your bottom line.
If you are a business owner or manager, you don't want a tool that complicates your operations but not a tool that improves employee satisfaction by increasing their ability to control their work schedule.
Homebase and 7Shifts are two of the major players in the workforce management field. Though both platforms promise to streamline operations, reduce stress, and overall improve the employee experience, both are platformed for slightly different business needs.
Homebase is for small businesses in any industry from hospitality to retail to services, but 7Shifts, on the other hand, is here to specialize in the restaurant industry.
At the end of this guide, you'll know exactly which of these solutions —Homebase or 7Shifts—is the best fit for your business and Xenia may fill in the gaps left by those two in dealing with the challenges your business may face in the coming years.
First, we’ll take a deep dive into 7Shifts, a popular restaurant managers tool.
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Priced on per user or per location basis
Available on iOS, Android and Web
What is 7Shifts?
Built with the food service industry in mind, 7Shifts is a company built workforce management tool that handles the unique challenges of scheduling hourly workers.
Features such as shift swapping, labour cost forecasting, and automated POS integration make 7Shifts built for restaurant managers who want to optimise its labor schedules and easy retain their staff.
Key Features of 7Shifts
1. Advanced Shift Planning & Scheduling: With 7Shifts, restaurant managers can quickly and easily create detailed schedules that take into account employee availability, time off requests, and business needs. Employees can see their schedules in real time, swap shifts, and ask for time off, via the mobile app.
2. Labor Forecasting & Cost Management: The star of the platform is that it can predict labor costs using historical sales data. It aids in limiting labor expense overrun by managers so they can manage expenses. Real-time information on labor-to-sales ratios can also be integrated into the platform with POS systems.
3. Employee Communication & Feedback Tools: Built-in team messaging tools in 7Shifts allow managers and employees to quickly communicate. The platform also lets employees provide feedback after every shift, giving their managers an idea of morale levels inside the department and what’s happening on the shop floor.
4. Mobile-First Design: With a mobile-focused app, 7Shifts has been designed for the employees and managers who are always on the go, approving shift changes, communicating they are being staffed, and all the while monitoring labor costs in one place.
7Shifts' User Experience
When restaurant managers are used to digital tools, 7Shifts provides a smooth user experience. Employees like the self-service scheduling features giving employees control of their schedule. They’re especially valuable for companies that want to optimize staffing against profitability.
That being said, restaurants are the platform’s natural focus, and it might not be nearly as user-friendly — or even appropriate — for businesses beyond the food service industry. Also, users remark that though the mobile app is generally reliable, once in a while it has bugs that disrupt communication or move the updates.
7Shifts' Pricing
There are 7Shifts pricing plans according to its business size and the features needed. All the core features are really cheap, but if you want more advanced stuff, such as labor forecasting, or POS integration, it will become expensive for bigger restaurants.
Pros and Cons of 7Shifts
Pros
- Tailored for Restaurants: It has restaurant-specific features such as labor forecasting and POS integration.
- Shift Swapping and Planning: Employees can switch roles readily easing the issue of scheduling conflict.
- Employee Feedback Tools: Through shift feedback, they help managers stay in touch with their employees’ morale.
- Mobile-Friendly: To manage schedules as they go, managers and employees can benefit from this.
Cons
- Niche Focus: However the platform is very specialized for restaurants and wouldn't work very well for businesses in other industries.
- Limited HR Features: 7Shifts is a different animal when it comes to onboarding and staying compliant with regulations.
Pricing: For smaller restaurants it’s affordable, but for larger operations the advanced features get expensive.
What is Homebase?
Workforce management platform Homebase aims at helping small businesses with scheduling, payroll, time tracking, and HR tasks. It works for all industries that have hourly workers, namely hospitality, retail, services, and so on, and it’s meant to make business life easier with hourly workers.
Key Features of Homebase
1. Employee Scheduling & Time Tracking: No matter how you define 'oversight', Homebase is designed to make it easy to keep track of employee hours and schedules, and obey the laws about overtime limits. Employees can clock In and out directly from the platform, Managers can set schedules based on employee availability.
2. Built-In HR Features: Basic HR tools like onboarding support, compliance tracking, and time off management are some of the benefits of Homebase. They are a more comprehensive solution than scheduling-focused platforms are.
3. Free Version Available: There is the free version offered by Homebase with limited features, which makes it a perfect choice for small businesses looking for a small-budget option. Included are scheduling, time tracking, and team messaging tools in this version.
4. Team Communication: Homebase has a simple in-app messaging system whereby managers can send updates or reminders to employees. Though without advanced communication tools, it fulfills the basic purpose of letting teams know what’s going on.
Homebase's User Experience
One reason many people are familiar with Homebase, first, is its intuitive interface and easy onboarding process. Schedules can be quickly set up and employee hours managed for managers, and employees love the self-service options for managing their schedules and time off.
But the mobile app received mixed reviews. Bugs and performance issues are reported by some users, so operations may be disrupted. Aside from that, businesses with rather complex scheduling needs can find Homebase’s scheduling tools too elementary.
Homebase's Pricing
For new small businesses, homebase provides a free version. Particularly to CloudApp, though, access to more advanced features—like payroll integration, compliance tracking, and reporting—requires paid plans and paid plans tend to add up as you get larger.
Pros and Cons of Homebase
Pros
- Versatile Across Industries: In hospitality, retail, and service industries, Homebase works well.
- Built-In HR Features: It offers basic HR functionalities with onboarding and compliance tracking.
- Free Version Available: A good solution for small businesses that are on a budget.
- Simple Communication Tools: The messaging feature keeps the teams together.
Cons
- Limited Advanced Features: Larger businesses may want homebase but it lacks labor forecasting and deep analytics.
- Scheduling Limitations: Homebase may be a bit restrictive for businesses with complicated schedules.
Mobile App Issues: The mobile app does not perform well, according to users.
Homebase vs. 7Shifts: In-Depth Comparison
To pick Homebase or 7shifts you need to consider how they fit your operations needs. Workforce management solutions from two different directions, but with very different industry focuses, key features, and usability.
Choose Homebase for broader industry needs and HR support on a budget; go with 7Shifts if you're a restaurant prioritizing labor forecasting and scheduling precision.
Xenia: A Better Alternative to Homebase and 7Shifts
Xenia is a complete workforce management system to help with the various needs of businesses with frontline teams. This blends the best aspects of both Homebase and 7Shifts and extends further; covering the pack, or entire employee experience from scheduling to engagement.
Xenia is unlike Homebase, which meets basic scheduling and time tracking needs, and 7Shifts, which specializes in restaurant operations, offering a solution that is balanced and industry agnostic with advanced scheduling, task management, compliance, and training rolled in one.
Since businesses have different needs related to their interactions, Xenia provides them with a single platform that addresses all these needs and allows them to have control over their work operations, and do what they do better.
The beauty of Xenia is that its API is designed to pull all of the pieces of workforce management that can also include items like task workflow or compliance monitoring; but also employee engagement to put this together; to put it together and create a unified landscape for passing data between work tasks and not work tasks; in this in creating this communication because this is what is supposed to take place for this to actually be good flow.
For businesses seeking an all-in-one, flexible, scalable solution that will scale up alongside the business, this consolidated approach is truly the way forward, to ultimately deliver a more productive, inspiring workspace for frontline employees.
Why Xenia is the Ideal Solution
Comprehensive Workforce Management
Xenia brings together scheduling, task management, inspection audits, and compliance in one platform. By integrating these features, Xenia brings all such operations into one app that is less code but provides the same seamless operations across all departments.
It means that data can flow seamlessly between systems, increasing administrative efficiency and reducing errors, so especially in high-turnover sectors.
Task Management and Workflow Automation
Xenia comes with scheduling features and built-in task management so managers can assign tasks, as well as automate recurring workflows. This makes managers real-time aware of their operational progress on tasks so that tasks are done consistently across multiple shifts and locations.
However, this is a necessary feature for businesses that demand medium to high standards of paid operational compliance and performance of tasks.
Employee Engagement and Training Tools
Xenia makes training modules, employee recognition programs as well as feedback mechanisms that work to engage their employees. Unlike Homebase’s messaging basic, modules in resources of Xenia can offer continuous employee development so managers are able to onboard and upskill team members in the same app.
Employee Recognition and feedback features help to build a good culture of work and retain top talent.
Mobile-First Experience
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Xenia allows managers and staff to stay informed and connected from anywhere with a mobile-friendly design. Scheduling updates, shift changes, and task assignments all come with push notifications to let teams know what is going on.
The interface is also very intuitive where users can access all the features directly on their mobile devices (reducing onboarding time and allowing team members to manage schedules, tasks and communication efficiently)
Cost-Effective and Scalable Pricing
With Xenia’s pricing model, we designed a solution that will grow with the business, being flexible enough for even the smallest and the biggest companies. Unlike 7Shifts, Xenia’s tiered pricing allows access to all of its features at competitive rates, rather than progressive pricing that costs a lot more for advanced tools like labor forecasting.
Moreover, Xenia goes beyond the limits of existing Homebase free tiers, being a more affordable way to gain access to more advanced features that support the company's growth yet with no major price increase.
Xenia—The Smarter Choice for Workforce Management
Homebase and 7Shifts are fantastic tools for managing hourly workers, but each has its drawbacks. 7Shifts is good for restaurants but doesn’t provide deep scheduling and labor management functionality. Homebase is flexible across industries but not deep enough for enterprise scheduling and HR needs.
Xenia is a full-fledged solution for scheduling as well as labor management, task automation, and employee engagement. Xenia is suitable whether you have a restaurant, retail store, or service-based business, and it will grow with your team.
If you’re ready to move beyond the limitations of Homebase and 7Shifts, book a demo or start a free trial with Xenia today. See firsthand how it can transform your workforce management and help your business thrive.
Unify Team Operations, Maintenance and Safety Compliance with Xenia
Xenia unifies daily operations, maintenance management and quality assurance to help ensure teams and facilities are effective and efficient.
Our customers love Xenia's robust use cases including:
Operational Execution
✔️ Checklists & SOPs
Create checklists, SOPs, Inspections and Data Logs to power accountability, training and staff clarity on every task.
💪 Team Task Management
Assign work digitally to defeat pencil whipping and disorganized teams. Complete tasks, chat with teams on any device, track time, collect photos, and ensure high quality work.
📆 Recurring Tasks
Create recurring schedules for daily opening and closings, performance review meetings, inspections, cleanings and more.
📲 Chats & Announcements
Centralize team communications with in task chats, one-on-one chats, team messages and company wide announcements
📊 Team Performance Reporting
Use Xenia's analytics dashboards to view staff work reports. Filter by asset, location, category or due date and export the report in PDF or Excel
Maintenance Management
🛠️ Work Orders
Create work orders with associated team, asset, location, priority, category and due date. View live progress reports on each work order, chat with teams, and review resulting template submission, images and notes to improve operations.
🧰 Preventive Maintenance
Create a preventive maintenance calendar to ensure asset uptime is not compromised. Attach images, templates, videos and notes to every task and assign to a team or individual for completion.
📲 QR Codes
Generate and attach QR codes to equipment and facility locations to enable fast and accurate inspections and data logs.
⚙️ Work Order Requests
Receive, approve and assign work order requests from tenants, regular customers and vendors. Enable requesters to submit, track, and communicate with your team, without access to operations templates or unrelated work orders.
📁 Equipment Work History
View work history for every asset and sub asset in Xenia. Review performance data and enable corrective actions to improve your operation.
Safety Compliance & Quality Assurance
👍 Concrete Brand Standards
Put your brand standards in a clear and operational checklist to be attached to work assignments.
🔎 Smart Inspection Workflows
Xenia's operations template builder has built in conditional logic into each step. This allows you to trigger actions based on a form response such as creating a corrective action on a failed inspection step, sending a notification to management for out of range meter readings, and much more.
✨ Corrective Actions
Operationalize inspections with fast work order assignment arising from a failed inspection step. All corrective data is stored in the checklist submission for auditing and accountability.
📋 Analytics and Reports
View live dashboard summaries of tasks, employee performance, template submissions and more. Filter, organize and export compliance reports to PDF and Excel formats to simplify compliance management.
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