Escapes in Time solves the mystery of scheduling with Deputy

Escapes in Time is an escape room located in Orem, Utah. An Escape Room, for those who have never visited one, is a live, immersive entertainment adventure. At Escapes in Time, small groups of people (usually in groups of 4 – 12) travel through Utah’s only “real” time machine, to enter one of the five different themed game rooms. Groups have 60 minutes to find clues, solve puzzles, crack codes, and figure out how to escape! It’s a race against the clock of heart-pounding fun!

Owners Lyman and Marilyn Momeny opened their doors back in 2016 with only 2 employees. “We did everything by hand and on spreadsheets,” explains Marilyn, “But as the business grew and we added employees, we needed a scheduling and timekeeping system.”

The owners were trying to minimize costs and signed up for a “free” timekeeping system. They struggled to schedule shifts as there was no way to copy a standard schedule and make changes. “We started from scratch each week,” says Marilyn, “It was challenging to keep track of who was working, notify employees of changes, allow employees to trade shifts, etc.”

After downloading the final hours at the end of each 2-week period, it took several hours to audit actual hours worked, figure out mistakes (for example, if someone forgot to clock out), and ensure the hours were accurate to send to payroll. “We had another challenge with getting news and information on changes out to all employees in a timely manner,” explains Marilyn.

The challenges Lyman and Marilyn faced with this method added hours to their day. They knew there had to be a better solution.

After researching for a new solution, they discovered Deputy. “Deputy has been a dream!” exclaims Marilyn, “The first time I ran and downloaded the payroll hours, it took about 20 minutes. I was amazed!” In total, Lyman and Marilyn have saved about 2 ½ hours every other week on just downloading and finalizing payroll hours.

Using Deputy, they were now able to approve the hours worked each day, avoid any misunderstandings or errors, set the schedule up as a master schedule and copy it for future weeks. “It’s simple and easy to make changes to the schedule and publish it for our employees to see. Employees are notified of their upcoming shifts automatically,” says Marilyn, “But most importantly, the employees LOVE it, especially the employees who used the other system before Deputy.”

With the ability to copy over shifts to future weeks, they saved about an hour every week. “We have saved untold hours of confusion by ensuring that everyone is informed of changes”, says Marilyn, “And the employees can trade shifts with each other through the application. I can see exactly who opens up their shift and who takes it. I have saved guessing at the actual costs of the new product. I know exactly how many hours have been worked and it is tracked for historical purposes in Deputy.”

The team also enjoy the mobility that Deputy offers and it’s ease of use. “Our employees can clock in and out as they walk in or out of the building with just a click of the phone!” continues Marilyn.

Another feature that Lyman and Marilyn love is the Locations feature. “We set up a separate location for another product we are developing,” explains Marilyn, “I moved the employees working on that product to that location. That way, I can accurately track the time worked on that product versus the time worked in our regular business. No need to guess the actual costs of the new product. I know exactly how many hours have been worked and it is tracked for historical purposes in Deputy.”

One of the other features that the entire staff loves is the News Feed feature. “We all work different hours, but there are things that happen that everyone needs to know about,” says Marilyn, “for example, if a puzzle breaks and needs repair. When that happens,, the employee working posts the issue, what they have done to resolve it and their recommendation. Others can comment on it so that everyone is aware of what is happening. Because our employees work on different days and may not see each other, the News Feed has really helped us keep everyone informed and up-to-date on business happenings.”