Dear Michlib-l:

Thank you for your replies, I have shared them below.

Additionally I would like to clarify that our TCP representative did not share a timeline for a sunset of When to Work. The vibe of the call was, "Switch now and save money, or keep what you have and face price hikes, until we probably cancel it eventually." She said that they do not plan to further develop or support When to Work and want to move everyone to Humanity, which I interpret as a death knell for W2W but perhaps I am being pessimistic. I do not think it is a good sign when a company abandons maintaining one of its products.

FWIW, on the call she pressured me to sign an agreement to transition to Humanity by August 30th. I asked to have until October 30th to allow time to review and evaluate other products against Humanity. She said she'd ask her manager and get back to me. The next day she followed up with an updated deadline - August 25th. I asked for +60 days to consider and received -5.

Recommendations:

Schedule 3W - https://schedule3w.com/
"The interface is unimpressive, but the price is very reasonable and it's specifically made for libraries. It allows us to schedule people with very different schedules at various service points throughout the day, with no chance of double-booking."

Sling Scheduling - https://getsling.com/
#1 - "You pay per user, either monthly or annually at a discount. We subscribe to their business model"
#2 - "It's super user friendly on both admin side and employee side. I think we pay $.50 per person/ per month and it's free if you have under 30(?) people. Has time clock rounding, scheduling, shift-exchanges, automatic clocking, paid time off, messaging to full staff (which I use for weather closures or reminders) - both website and app features are great."
Here is a demo of Sling: https://support.getsling.com/en/articles/2961944-full-demo

When I Work - https://wheniwork.com/
"It is pretty good - not perfect. We use it to schedule shifts but not desk or department specific shifts/duties. It's perfectly adequate for a timekeeping software."

M.

On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 1:28 PM Maria Williams <mwilliams@northvillelibrary.org> wrote:
Dear Michlib-l:

I was informed yesterday that TCP will no longer develop or support When to Work, the scheduling tool we've used for five years. They plan to transition all W2W users to their new product, Humanity, at an undisclosed future date. A demo of Humanity left me unimpressed, as did the sales representative's tactics - which included pressuring me to sign a commitment to transition to Humanity by August 30th and a refusal to share its regular cost.

If any of you subscribe to a professional scheduling tool that you feel works well and is worth the cost, I'd be interested in your recommendation. We have previously considered and ruled out a Google Form/Sheet or other "homemade" option; we prefer a pro option.

Also, to those of you who are currently using When to Work, I was told yesterday that we will definitely have access to it through the end of our contract in May 2027, but if their goal is to move all users off of it in time the clock is ticking. If you've recently heard otherwise from TCP/W2W I'd be curious to hear your version of events.

Warm regards,

Maria Williams

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Thanks,

M.