When I Work

When I Work 

When I Work is a packaged scheduling system solution. It allows employers to create and manage a work schedule and employees to drop, claim, and request shifts, and view their schedule. There is a lot of functionality built into the system, so you have the option to select what pieces of functionality you would like to use. Some of the functionalities include auto-scheduling, shift-bidding/requesting, reporting, payroll, and division of schedules and shifts by roles, locations, and tags. 

We recommend using When I Work’s online resources to get set up and become familiar with its features. 

Guide for Employees: https://help.wheniwork.com/articles/employee-training-resources/ 

Guide for Employers/Admins: https://help.wheniwork.com/articles/manager-resources/ 

Here is additional documentation with step-by-step instructions on how to set up a new system. 

Creation/Setup of WhenIWork System  

1. Navigate to WhenIWork’s website  
2. Create an account and sign-in to WhenIWork  
3. When asked to select a workplace, click Create a New Workplace  
4. Enter the workplace name and address, number of employees, and industry,  then select Start Scheduling  
5. Continue through guided setup if necessary  

Upgrading from Trial to Subscription (Go-live Steps)  

The WhenIWork system will initially be created  as a free trial system.However, the system should be upgraded to a subscription to truly “go-live”. The following steps walk through this process, which can be done once the free trial has ended for the system.  

1. Login to the system you would like to upgrade to a subscription  
2. Click the yellow box in the top ribbon that tells you how many days are left on the free trial  
3. Select the Monthly or Annually buttons at the top of the page depending on how long you want subscription for  
4. Find the plan you would like to use and click Select Plan  
5. Enter your payment information and submit to be billed and upgrade account to a subscription  

Pros: 

• Very user friendly and available on mobile 
• Popular software used by many businesses (not too many bugs) 
• A wide variety of features to be used for scheduling, so you can choose how you want to use the system to fit your business needs 
• Built-in support for a payroll system 
• Discount for nonprofits 
• Reporting system that allows for custom reports 
• They provide their own great documentation online for all features 

Cons 

• Not the cheapest option for scheduling software ($2.50 per user per month) 
• Some features limit flexibility in scheduling 

• Built more for scheduling on a weekly basis, not monthly basis 
• 2 week free trial (able to get an extension, but may take multiple asks) 

How we used WhenIWork 

We used When I Work for a scheduling system at the Harry Ransom Center. This system was meant to schedule their docents (tour guides) for the daily public tours and other group tours they give. We found that the auto-scheduling and tagging system was useful, but was not able to handle the complex scheduling process that our situation had, which used many different factors (availability, interests, qualifications) to schedule. So instead, we used the shift-bidding system, which allowed docents to request tours they were interested in and their supervisor to approve requests to create the schedule.