Honest Review:

Deputy

• Touchless facial recognition
• Powerful scheduling tools
• Dynamic employee engagement

Deputy has four paid plans and a seasonal plan, each with a specific target, as well as a free trial period and discounts. Let’s take a closer look:

Scheduling Plan

The Deputy Scheduling Plan is designed for businesses that need a better way to create and manage schedules and communicate with their team.

At $4.50 per user per month, businesses get unlimited shifts per month, employee scheduling, auto-scheduling, POS integration, PTO & leave management. They also get the news feed, tasking, access to their open API, dashboard, meal & rest break planning, demand planning, SMS & email notifications, availability management, shift swap and find replacement, and users can creat schedule templates.

Time and Attendance Plan

The Deputy Time and Attendance Plan is intended for businesses that need to track attendance and seamlessly export timesheets to payroll. 

For $4.50 per user per month, this plan gives businesses access all the Scheduling plan features plus unlimited timesheets per month, payroll integration, performance & journaling, biometric and geolocation activated time clock and custom timesheet fields.

Premium Plan

The Deputy Premium Plan addresses both the Scheduling and Time and Attendance targets and adds reporting into the mix.

Priced at $6 per user per month, this plan has all the features of both Scheduling and Time and Attendance, plus reporting and the Shift Pulse™ employee engagement feature.

Enterprise Plan

The Deputy Enterprise Plan is for organizations with more than 250 members and complex custom configuration needs.

This plan has all the Premium features, plus SSO, advanced demand planning, advanced reporting and analytics, custom-built pay rates, custom implementation, custom roles & permissions, custom organization structure, dedicated enterprise support, location & department level procedures, and training matrix. 

Pricing for this plan is custom, and prospective users must contact Deputy directly for a quote. 

Flexi Weekly Plan

The Deputy Flexi Weekly Plan is designed for seasonal businesses that need all the features of the Premium Plan and the flexibility to pay only $2.50 per active user per week, and $0.50 per inactive user per week.

1. Deputy Auto-Scheduling

Deputy offers cutting-edge auto-scheduling assisted by AI that eliminates the need to build schedules shift by shift. This AI-powered feature creates schedules based on data analytics such as sales, foot traffic, season, occasions, and more. What I love about this feature is that it takes the guesswork and agony out of scheduling and ensures that schedules are optimized with the most suitable workers in every shift.

Users can specify parameters and considerations for the auto-scheduling feature to follow, such as accurate labor forecasting for priorities like cost and shift equality, or even match preferences to create rosters that best match business needs. 

Shift lengths, start times, and other preferences can also be factored in to ensure that employees are kept happy and productive. All of these considerations can be specified in the initial setup and then reflected in custom schedule structures at the click of a button with Auto-Fill. 

Best of all, Deputy’s auto-scheduling feature also takes legal compliance with wage and work hours laws into consideration, so employers have a guard against legal violations that endanger businesses.

2. Deputy Employee Break Compliance

Breaks are an essential part of the work day, as they allow employees to devote a bit of time for their needs and for rest so they can be at 100% on the hours that they’re actively working. Mandatory breaks for meals and rest are covered by the law, and their lengths and frequency are dictated by the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The states of New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Oregon, and California have tougher restrictions than most. For such a crucial aspect of work, ensuring compliance to avoid potentially catastrophic and costly violations is difficult — if not totally impossible — with paper-based or manual scheduling.

Luckily, Deputy has break planning and compliance functionality across all devices that enable businesses to create compliant schedules and manage both paid and unpaid meal and rest breaks. This is a very valuable tool that eliminates the employer’s worry about compliance with break legalities by harnessing the power of AI to create schedules that factor in complicated workplace regulations with ease.

With this feature, employers can be confident about scheduling multiple breaks in a single shift without sacrificing coverage, prevent non-compliant early clock-in and early break returns, have attestation showing compliance and all break details for company records, and ensure that employees are getting the downtime they need to ensure optimum performance.

What I also love about this feature is that it forces employees to really take some time for themselves during the workday. It can be very easy to forget to eat or rest when fully immersed in work, and that can have serious implications on both physical and mental health. Deputy’s break compliance helps take care of that, and hopefully, promote healthier practices in the workplace.

4. Deputy Payroll Integrations

The data captured by the Deputy employee time clock are automatically translated into timesheets that can be reviewed and verified with GPS location stamping and facial recognition and then approved individually or in bulk. 

These accurate and verified timesheets cut down on admin tasks by automatically calculating the various pay rates for every employee, job, and location, including overtime and penalty, and can be exported to any of the many Deputy third-party payroll integrations with just one click. 

Deputy integrates with various payroll software to save time and provide even deeper insight into captured work hours data. These include the usual suspects such as Xero, QuickBooks Online, ADP, MYOB, Access WageEasy, and more. 

Aside from payroll software, Deputy also integrates with point of sales, human resources, storage, sales forecasting, financial wellness, and other software to vastly improve its usability and functionalities. Plus, its integration with Zapier opens up even more possibilities.

Now, while I’m truly impressed by the wealth of integrations offered by Deputy it needs to work on their seamlessness. Exporting to Xero can be problematic at times, and integrating with financial apps can be quite difficult. Plus, it also doesn’t offer much in the way of customization so users have to make do with what’s available. 

Deputy is a very good solution for businesses that need a complete admin and HR tool to increase productivity and streamline processes. In the course of research for this review, I’ve found out that it is an efficient second in command that when utilized properly, delivers amazing results. It stands out as a highly capable and versatile solution for businesses aiming to streamline their workforce management processes. 

With its suite of features, including AI-powered auto-scheduling, legal break compliance, touchless facial recognition for clock-ins, and more, Deputy effectively addresses the diverse needs of modern businesses. 

These tools not only enhance operational efficiency but also help businesses maintain compliance with labor laws, making it a valuable asset for organizations of all sizes. Its affordability and tiered pricing plans offer flexibility, accommodating businesses from small startups to large enterprises with unique needs.

That said, Deputy is not without its limitations. Users have highlighted occasional glitches, a lack of customization options, and a subpar mobile app experience, the app can sometimes be slow and unreliable. 

These issues, while not deal-breakers, underscore areas where the platform could improve to better serve its user base. Enhancements in performance, user experience, and integration seamlessness would also further solidify Deputy’s standing as a top-tier workforce management solution.

For businesses willing to navigate these relatively minor drawbacks, Deputy offers great value. It combines functionality, and compliance into one package, empowering organizations to optimize their operations, improve employee satisfaction, and save time.