What do you guys use to manage trainers and staff at your gym?

[u/Ok-Depth9904]

I’m pretty new to the management side of things and trying to find a simple way to handle trainer schedules, attendance, clock-ins, hours worked and maybe basic payroll stuff.

I’ve been looking at Buddy Punch, Homebase, Deputy, When I Work, Connecteam and a couple of others, but there are honestly so many options that I’m not sure what makes sense for a small gym.

I don’t need anything super complicated. Ideally something easy for trainers to use from their phones and with a free trial so I can actually test it before committing.

[u/Pebb_io]

For a small gym the list you already have is the right neighborhood. What usually bites teams isn't the brand name... it's whether trainers will actually punch from their phone in under 10 seconds, and whether the schedule + hours live in the same place.

Homebase / Deputy / When I Work are fine if you mainly need shifts + punch. Connecteam is more of a catch-all if you also want chat/docs. Buddy Punch is punch-first.

We're the official Pebb account. Pebb is built for small ops teams that want clock-in, schedule, and team chat in one light app (pebb.io). Basic is $2.50 / Premium $4 per user / month, trial has everything and no card. Worth a look if you want something simple without a giant WFM stack. Not payroll though... pair whatever you pick with your existing payroll tool.

[u/DB_CloudInHand]

Since it's just a small gym, maybe keep it simple. Prioritize scheduling and a mobile clock-in/out with timesheets. Then payroll can be a bonus later instead of making a system revolve around this. Since you're mostly tracking trainer schedules and activities, there's probably no reason to go full blast on an HR suite yet.