Honest Review:

Deputy

• Touchless facial recognition
• Automatic wage calculation
• GPS tracking and geofencing
• In-depth reports
• Powerful scheduling tools
• Dynamic employee engagement
• Centralized communication newsfeed

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

Deputy 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 $3.50 per user per month, businesses get features such as unlimited shifts per month, employee scheduling, auto-scheduling, POS integration, PTO & leave management. They also get the news feed, tasking, open API, dashboard, meal & rest break planning, demand planning, SMS & email notifications, availability management, shift swap and find replacement, schedule templates, and 24/7 email support.

Deputy 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 $3.50 per user per month, this plan gives businesses access to features such as unlimited timesheets per month, payroll integration, POS Integration, PTO & leave management, news feed, tasking, open API, dashboard, performance & journaling, time clock (biometric & geolocation capture), custom timesheet fields, and 24/7 email support.

Deputy Premium Plan

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

Priced at $4.90 per user per month when billed monthly or $4.20 when billed annually, this plan has all the features of both Scheduling and Time and Attendance, plus reporting and the Shift Pulse™ employee engagement feature.

Deputy 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, billed monthly.

Deputy 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 enterprise agreements, 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. 

Free Trial and Discounts

Deputy doesn’t have a free plan, but it does have a generous free trial period that lasts up to 31 days to help users decide if the software is a good fit for their companies. During this period, businesses can try all features for free, and signing up takes only a few minutes. Users will not be asked for their credit cards, and 24/7 support is available.

If the entity that signs up is a charity or non-profit, they can receive a customized discount based on their qualifications. These are reviewed and decided on a case-to-case basis by Deputy. To apply for a charity or non-profit discount, prospective users must select “Charity” as their industry upon signing up.

1. Deputy Time Tracking and Real-Time Attendance

Deputy captures hours accurately with its easy-to-use employee time clock. Time tracking is made very simple for employees with multiple clock-in and clock-out options such as the touchless facial recognition on kiosks that we’ve discussed above, as well as more traditional methods like using a PIN on shared devices. It can also be done through the Deputy website on a browser, or directly from mobile phones and even smartwatches. And if none of these are viable options, clocking in and out can also be done through SMS from a non-smartphone. 

On the admin side, attendance and accountability are ensured with the use of GPS location stamping to show that employees are clocking in from the right place, or more drastically through geofencing which ensures that only employees within the virtual perimeter around the job site are allowed to clock in. These, in conjunction with facial recognition, ensure that buddy-punching and hours-padding are eradicated from the ranks.

The time clock also displays employee attendance in real-time, showing managers who’s present and on duty, who’s running late, and who’s on break time. This makes it easy to review and monitor coverage, and should the need arise, empty shifts can be filled in a matter of taps.

2. 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 seamlessly 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. Users can even add their favorite payroll software with relative ease.

3. 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 from multiple demand signals such as sales, foot traffic, season, occasions, and more. This 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 an automatic guard against legal violations that endanger businesses. 

4. Deputy Employee Break Compliance

Speaking of legal compliance, 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 California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon have tougher restrictions than most, and 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 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.

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. I think this is aptly reflected in the user reviews on several sites that we’ve checked out — nothing less than 4.5 stars, and I believe those ratings are truly well-deserved. 

What I like the most about Deputy is that it is designed with progress in mind, and this is shown in the brilliance of its AI-powered automations in scheduling and break compliance. The touchless facial recognition clock-in is also a good initiative, especially in this post-pandemic era where sanitary concerns occupy an important space in our collective consciousness. 

I also feel that Deputy is truly empowering for both employers and employees. The accountability guardrails provided by GPS tracking and facial recognition ensure that time theft is eliminated, but they’re not too intrusive like other software that borders on micromanagement. Deputy has this respect for the autonomy of the employee that balances very well with its mission to enforce accountability among the ranks. Another great feature that seeks to bridge the gap between employers and employees is the Shift Pulse™ feature which allows employees to have a voice, and for management to keep in touch with the reality and needs of their teams on the ground. Whatever brings harmony and positivity, I’m all for it. 

But, just like any other software out there, Deputy has its share of imperfections, and as promised at the beginning of this review, I will be completely honest about everything. 

First of all, the bugs and glitches really take away from what would otherwise be a pleasant experience with Deputy. Slow performance is also an issue, and I can see this negatively affecting non-desk staff in a major way, along with the difficulties encountered by mobile app users, particularly those on Android. And if you add the GPS challenges faced by multi-location and larger operations, we have a triple threat to businesses that might just be a dealbreaker. 

The limited HR functionality can be remedied by rolling out new features over time, and I have great hopes that Deputy will keep on developing their product as we move forward. Perhaps they will also consider adding more languages to the interface so that it becomes more inclusive. 

Despite these limitations, I would still recommend Deputy for any organization seeking a reliable and feature-rich HR management and shift scheduling solution. I look forward to seeing its present challenges and issues addressed in the coming years, and I’m sure its users do, too.