When I Work

When I Work is scheduling software for hourly teams, out of Minneapolis, that's been around since 2010, long enough that the time clock side has grown into a real product rather than a checkbox. Employees clock in from their phones, and each punch gets a GPS pin. Set up a geofence around your location and punches from outside it get blocked or flagged, which kills the classic move of clocking in from the car, the bus, or bed. There's a photo clock-in option on top of that if you want a face attached to every punch.

The honest comparison is with Homebase, and the deciding factor is usually how you'd rather pay. Homebase charges per location, When I Work charges per user ($2.50 to $8 a month each depending on tier). Run a coffee shop with 25 part-timers and Homebase is cheaper. Run a cleaning crew of six spread across client sites every day and When I Work costs less and handles the multi-site reality better, geofences aren't tied to one storefront.

The asterisk is that time tracking isn't actually in the base price. Scheduling is the product you're quoted on, and Time Tracking & Attendance is a toggle that raises the per-user rate, with the pricing page being noticeably vague about what the toggle costs until you're deep in checkout. Budget for more than the sticker number. And like Homebase, there's no biometric check, a coworker holding someone's phone inside the geofence can still punch them in.