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Getting up and running with Houra takes less than 15 minutes. This guide walks you through creating your account, configuring your organization, adding your first employees, publishing a schedule, and inviting your team to the Employee Portal — everything you need to go from zero to a live, operational workspace.
Houra offers a free plan for teams of up to 10 employees — no credit card required. You can explore the full platform, add real employees, and publish live schedules without spending a cent.
If you need more than 10 employees or want access to advanced features, all paid plans come with a 14-day free trial. You won’t be charged until your trial ends, and you can cancel at any time.
1

Create your account

Head to houra.app/sign-up and fill in your details:
  • Full name — your name as the account owner or primary administrator
  • Work email — this becomes your login and the address Houra uses to send notifications
  • Password — choose a strong password of at least eight characters
Once you submit the form, Houra sends a verification email to the address you provided. Open it and click the confirmation link to activate your account. After confirming, you’ll land directly in the Admin Panel and your organization workspace will be ready to configure.
2

Configure your organization

Before you add employees, take a few minutes to set up your organization’s structure. This information shapes how scheduling, attendance, and payroll work throughout the platform.Navigate to Settings → Organization and complete the following:
  • Company name — the legal or trading name that appears on pay stubs and reports
  • Locations — add every physical site or office where your employees work; each location can have its own timezone and attendance rules
  • Positions — define the roles in your organization (for example, Sales Associate, Warehouse Operative, Team Lead); positions are used when building schedules and running payroll
You can add more locations and positions later, so don’t worry about getting everything perfect on day one. Start with what you need to run your first schedule.
3

Add your employees

With your structure in place, it’s time to bring your team in. Go to Employees → Add Employee and create a profile for each person. Every profile requires:
  • Full name — first and last name as they should appear on official documents
  • Email address — used to send the employee their portal invitation
  • Position — select from the positions you created in the previous step
  • Location — assign the employee to the site where they primarily work
You can also fill in optional details like phone number, start date, and salary information now, or return to each profile later. If you have a large team, use Employees → Import to upload a CSV file and create multiple profiles at once.
4

Publish your first schedule

Now you’re ready to build and publish your first weekly schedule. Go to Scheduling → Week View and select the week you want to schedule.
  1. Click an empty slot in the schedule grid to create a new shift — assign the employee, set the start and end time, and confirm the location.
  2. Repeat for each shift you need to cover across the week.
  3. When you’re happy with the schedule, click Publish. Houra will prompt you to notify your team — confirm the notification so every affected employee receives an alert in the Portal and by email.
Published shifts are immediately visible to employees in their portal. Any last-minute changes you make after publishing also trigger a notification, so your team is always looking at the most current schedule.
5

Invite employees to the portal

The last step is making sure your employees can access their schedules, clock in and out, and use all the self-service features in the Employee Portal.Go to Employees, select one or more employees, and click Send Portal Invitation. Each employee receives an email with a link to set their own password and log in for the first time.The Employee Portal is a progressive web app (PWA), which means employees can install it on any smartphone or desktop directly from their browser — no app store required. On iOS or Android, they tap Add to Home Screen from their browser menu and the portal behaves just like a native app, including offline access to their upcoming schedule.Once logged in, employees can immediately see their published shifts, submit time-off requests, view pay stubs, and access any Campus training courses you’ve assigned to them.
You now have a live Houra workspace with real employees and a published schedule. From here you can explore payroll configuration, set up training programs in Campus, or post your first job through Empleo. Check out the Admin Panel overview for a full tour of everything available to you.