HR and shift scheduling for retail stores and restaurants
PeopleMuster is HR and shift scheduling software for retail stores and restaurants with hourly staff. Opening, peak and closing windows are named shifts assigned per person. Staff punch in at a fingerprint terminal or in the browser, and late minutes read against the hours each person was given. Leave, checklists and coverage by day sit in the same system, for $3 per person per month.
The shift pattern
Split and overlapping windows. An opening window, a middle, a closing one, and a short peak window laid over the top of them.
Each is a named shift with its own times, assigned per person from a start date. Someone who moves from openings to closings keeps a record of the change.
Part-time and hourly staff are the normal case here. A four-hour window is a shift like any other, and late minutes and working hours read against the hours each person was given.
How attendance is taken
Two ways in. A ZKTeco fingerprint terminal in the back office, or browser check-in that an admin switches on, open inside each person's shift window.
Running several sites? Each terminal sits on its own site's network, with its own device-user mapping. Browser check-in needs no hardware at all, so a new site can start on day one.
Short shifts produce a lot of punches. The manual punch request queue matters more here than anywhere else, because the ratio of corrections to shifts is higher when a shift is four hours long.
Hours export as CSV over any date range. Pay runs stay with your accountant or payroll provider, and they start from the same hours your managers approved.
The number retail argues about
Coverage at the busy hour. Not how many people worked this week, but whether four of them were standing there on Saturday at two.
Capacity planning gets closest. The allocation grid lays people against days, with leave and holidays already removed, and bands each cell under, partial, full or over.
Pair the grid with the shift windows. The grid says Saturday is covered across the day. The named windows say who stands there at opening, in the peak and at close.
Attendance then shows what happened: who was on time, who was partial, and what average hours ran. That's the evidence you build next week's rota from.
Shift tools price in different units. Homebase lists Essentials at $30 per location a month, and Deputy lists Core at $6.50 per user a month (vendor pricing pages, 24 September 2026). PeopleMuster is $3 per person per month, with leave, checklists and the device register in the same price.
Which modules run here
Switched on
- Shifts
- Opening, middle, closing and peak as separate named windows.
- Attendance
- Punches, late minutes and the correction queue.
- Resource allocation
- Day-level coverage with leave and holidays already out.
- Leave
- Quotas per type, with a request and approval trail.
- Checklists
- Opening and closing routines run as tracked processes.
- Todos
- Shared lists with due dates, for the handover a shift leaves behind.
Questions people ask
Does it work for hourly and part-time staff?
Yes. A four-hour window is a shift like any other, and working hours and late minutes read against the hours each person was given. Hours export as CSV for whoever runs pay.
How do I see coverage for a busy day?
On the capacity grid, by day, with leave and holidays already removed. The shift windows then show who covers opening, peak and close.
How does attendance work across several branches?
Each branch can run its own ZKTeco terminal with its own device-user mapping, or use browser check-in, which needs no hardware. Both land in the same attendance records.
How do opening and closing routines get done?
As checklists. Each routine is a template, run as a tracked process with a named owner, so the closing steps get ticked by a person.
What does it cost for a store or restaurant?
$3 per person per month, with every module included. There's no base fee, no per-location fee and no seat minimum, and every new customer gets 14 days free with no card.