Timely is employee scheduling software for shift-based small businesses — restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, salons, retail, and anywhere else where the manager has to ask "who's working Saturday?" every Friday afternoon.
The product does four things well:
- Builds the schedule. Click-to-edit weekly grid, with rules that catch double-booked employees and overtime before you publish.
- Tells the team. One click sends each employee their week via email and SMS. Pre-shift reminders go out automatically before each shift.
- Tracks time off. Employees can text the Timely number in plain English ("Off May 1-10") and the request lands in your manager inbox.
- Connects to what you already use. Square for POS and timecards, Gusto for payroll, QuickBooks for accounting, Google/Apple/Outlook for personal calendars.
Who these docs are for
Owners and managers running the schedule. We assume you've signed up (or are about to) and want to either get up and running or understand why something is behaving the way it is.
If you're an employee, you don't need any of this — your schedule comes to you by email and SMS, and you can text the Timely number to request time off. That's it.
How to read these docs
The sidebar groups docs into seven sections, each meant to be self-contained:
- Getting started — start here if you're new. The Quickstart gets you to a published schedule in under 10 minutes.
- Core concepts — definitions of the nouns Timely uses (organization, location, employee vs. profile, tag, plan tier, etc.). Useful when you're trying to figure out why something behaves the way it does.
- Building schedules — day-to-day work in the schedule grid.
- Team management — roster, contact info, time off, and SMS commands employees can text.
- Integrations — connecting Square, Gusto, QuickBooks, and calendar apps.
- Reports & analytics — what's been scheduled vs. what actually happened.
- Billing — subscription, invoices, what changes between plans.
If you're stuck and just want a fast answer, the FAQ is the catchall.
Conventions
A handful of words show up across these docs with specific meanings. Worth a glance before diving in:
- Org / organization — your account in Timely. One per business.
- Location — a physical or logical site under your org. Restaurants might have one per branch; a gym might have one for the front desk and one for personal trainers.
- Profile — the person who logs in.
- Employee — the person you put on the schedule. Often the same person as a profile, but not always — see Employees vs. profiles.
If you ever need to reach a human, email support@trytimely.com — every message is read.