Frequently asked questions

August HR (augusthr.com) is all-in-one HR software for seasonal employers. It combines applicant tracking (August ATS), mobile onboarding with e-signatures, employee scheduling, a time clock, team messaging, employee management and background checks in one platform, with the August Mobile app for iPhone and Android.

August is built for businesses that hire a seasonal team: pumpkin patches, corn mazes, haunted attractions, farms and agritourism operators, Christmas tree farms, festivals and fairs, water parks, zoos and aquariums, amusement parks, and landscaping companies. It works for teams from a handful of employees to several hundred.

August is made by FarmHand Pro LLC, an independently owned company. It was started by a team that operates a pumpkin patch and haunted attraction in Nevada, after back office tasks kept getting in the way of running the business.

August was previously known as FarmHand. FarmHand Pro LLC is the company that makes August.

Most HR software is built for year-round employees. August is designed around seasonal work: a hiring rush with mobile applications and automated follow-ups, onboarding many people at once from their phones, team-based weekend schedules, easy rehiring of returning staff, and pricing where quiet months cost little or nothing extra.

August costs $400 per year for the platform plus $3 per month for each active employee or August ATS hire beyond the 15 included every month.

An employee is active in a month if they clock in or out, are on a published schedule for a day that has passed, or sign a document. Each active employee counts once per month, no matter how many of these they do. Each new hire you make through August ATS also counts toward that month's usage. Inactive employees aren't billed and can still use the app.

Yes. Every August account includes August ATS, onboarding, scheduling, time clock, team messaging, employee management, the mobile app, QuickBooks and Square integrations, and 15,000 SMS credits. Background checks are an optional add-on billed by TopChecked.

There's no free trial, but you can book a free 30-minute demo to see August set up for an operation like yours before you sign up.

Yes. Additional 10,000-credit SMS packs can be purchased from your billing settings.

August ATS is the applicant tracking system in August. It includes job listings, an embeddable careers page, mobile applications with custom questions, an applicant pipeline with stage automations, automated reference checks and digital job offers.

Free text, multiple choice (single or multiple answers), checkboxes, file uploads and references, plus section separators and explanatory text.

Yes. Stage automations can send a text, an email, a reference request, a background check or new hire documents whenever an applicant moves into a stage. You can also broadcast texts to applicants by job listing and stage.

You send a personalized digital offer with pay rate and team assignment. The applicant accepts or declines from a link, and accepted applicants become employees who can start onboarding right away.

Yes. New hires get a text with a personal link and complete their information, profile photo, clock-in PIN and document signing on their phone.

Yes. August includes a library of common documents including the I-9 and W-4, and you can upload your own PDFs and place fields with a drag-and-drop editor.

Yes. Onboarding packets with documents, background checks and links are sent automatically for new hires, rehires or when someone is assigned to a team, and items can be limited to specific age ranges for minors.

Yes. Post open shifts and employees express interest in the app. Choose pooled mode, where an admin picks from interested employees, or first-to-claim.

Yes. Employees request swaps with coworkers in the app, the coworker accepts, and a manager approves.

Yes. Employees submit availability and time off requests in the app within the rules and windows you configure.

Through a PIN-based timesheet kiosk on a shared device, or in the August Mobile app for employees you enable for mobile clocking. Managers can also clock employees in from the app.

No. August tracks hours and sends them to your payroll provider. It integrates with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online and Square Payroll, and exports Excel payroll reports for any other provider.

Yes. You can configure daily, weekly and double-time overtime thresholds, and allow paid breaks.

No. August doesn't use GPS or geofencing. Most seasonal teams use a shared kiosk, and you control which employees can clock in from their phones.

Yes. Every team gets an automatic group chat in the August Mobile app, which can be two-way or announcements-only. Managers can also message employees directly.

Yes. SMS text broadcasts reach any employee or applicant with a phone number. 15,000 SMS credits are included each year.

Yes. August Mobile is free to download on the App Store and Google Play for employees and managers of organizations using August.

August runs on Amazon Web Services in the United States.

Data is transmitted over HTTPS, Social Security numbers and other sensitive values are encrypted at rest using AWS Key Management Service, employee photos are stored privately and served through expiring links, and public forms are protected with reCAPTCHA.

Yes. Admin access can be granted by module, such as scheduling, time and payroll, hiring and documents, messaging or settings, and timesheet-only logins can run a shared time clock without access to anything else.

Create your account online at augusthr.com in a few minutes, or book a demo and our team will help you get set up.

Most teams start posting jobs the same day. Setting up documents, teams and your time clock usually takes an afternoon, and we're happy to help.

Email support@augusthr.com, use the help center and video tutorials inside August, or schedule a call with our team at cal.com/augusthr/30min.