October 9, 2026 - New York Weekly

An Essential Guide to Employee Management Software for Growing Businesses

NY Weekly Staff on October 9, 2026

Twenty employees is roughly where spreadsheets start lying to you.

Twenty people in, a shared sheet and a group chat can still hold a business together. Barely. Fifty people in, that same setup starts producing wrong hours, missed shifts, and a founder who spends more time chasing timesheets than actually growing the company. Somewhere in that stretch, every growing business hits the same wall. The tools that got you here stop being enough to get you further.

What follows covers what employee management software actually does, how to tell you’ve outgrown manual methods, which features are worth paying for, and where a platform like DPS Airem fits once you’ve decided it’s time to upgrade.

What Employee Management Software Actually Does

Strip away the marketing language and the category is simple. Employee management software tracks who worked, where they worked, when they worked, and whether they got paid correctly for it. Better platforms add scheduling, communication, and compliance on top, but attendance and accuracy sit at the core of everything else.

Growing businesses usually don’t need this on day one. A five-person team runs fine on trust and a text thread. Somewhere past that, once headcount or shift complexity climbs beyond what one person can track in their head, the math stops working, and for most companies that happens faster than anyone expects.

Signs You’ve Outgrown Manual Management

A few patterns show up again and again right before a growing business finally switches systems. Payroll, for one, starts taking longer every month instead of getting faster, because someone’s manually reconciling timesheets against a schedule that’s already three revisions out of date by the time anyone looks at it. Ask a manager who’s actually on-site right now, and you’ll often get an answer based on Monday’s spreadsheet, not reality. New hires end up learning three separate tools just to clock in, request a day off, and see their shift. And when a client calls asking about coverage or an incident, what should be a two-minute lookup turns into a scramble and a string of phone calls.

None of these break the business on their own. Stacked together, they’re a company quietly outgrowing whatever held it together at twenty employees.

What to Look For in Workforce Management Software

Not every platform in this category solves the same problem, which is exactly why growing businesses tend to either overbuy features they’ll never touch or underbuy and hit the same wall again in a year.

Attendance verification matters more than most buyers expect going in. GPS-based clock-ins and geofencing confirm someone was physically where they said they were, and once a team is spread across several sites with nobody standing over a shared time clock, that confirmation is the difference between trusting your payroll numbers and hoping they’re close enough. Scheduling needs to live in the same system as attendance too, because a scheduler sitting in a separate tool creates exactly the kind of gap where coverage problems hide until a client notices first.

Then there’s the interface question, which gets overlooked constantly. Office software rarely works for guards, technicians, or crew members who never sit at a desk, so the mobile experience matters just as much as the manager dashboard, arguably more. Add incident reporting and internal communication into the same platform, since security firms and field service businesses especially need a way to document what happened on-site without relying on a text message that’s gone by Thursday. And payroll or invoicing should pull straight from real attendance data. Every time a number gets retyped by hand between systems is another chance for it to come out wrong on a paycheck or an invoice.

Employee Attendance Software, the Feature Most Growing Businesses Underrate

Founders usually go shopping for scheduling software or payroll software first. Attendance accuracy tends to be an afterthought, right up until it starts causing problems nobody planned for.

Time theft rarely looks like fraud. It looks like a shift that “started on time” but really started twelve minutes late, repeated across dozens of employees, every single week, quietly. Employee attendance software with GPS verification and QR code check-ins is built to remove that ambiguity, and once attendance data can actually be trusted, payroll finally starts from something solid instead of a number dressed up to look accurate.

Attendance is usually the piece worth getting right first, because almost every other number in the system is calculated from it.

Where DPS Airem Fits Into This Picture

DPS Airem was built around exactly this transition point, the moment a business outgrows manual coordination and needs a real system, minus the headache of stitching five disconnected tools together to get there.

Attendance runs through GPS verification, geofencing, and QR code check-ins, so managers see confirmed location data instead of a self-reported guess. Scheduling and dispatching sit in the same platform, which means coverage gaps are visible in the same place shifts get assigned. Managers, supervisors, and field employees each get a dashboard built for their actual role rather than one generic view, and security or patrol businesses get extra tools layered on top like vehicle tracking, site tours, post orders, and daily activity reports. Payroll calculates from verified hours instead of estimates, and invoices generate from timesheet data rather than a spreadsheet someone updates by hand every billing cycle.

Pricing scales in tiers starting at three users, which fits a business that’s growing but isn’t enterprise-sized yet, and a 30-day trial period is available for teams that want to test the platform before committing.

Choosing the Right Platform for Where You’re Headed

The right employee management software rarely has the longest feature list. It usually just matches how the business actually operates today, with enough room built in to scale without a painful migration eighteen months from now.

Here’s a useful test. Picture the business at double its current size. Does the current system, or spreadsheet, or group chat, still hold up? If the honest answer is no, that’s the signal. Not a warning sign to file away for later.

Growth exposes weak systems fast. Better to replace one on your own timeline than get forced into it mid-quarter, during exactly the chaos a better system was supposed to prevent.

Ready to see what that looks like in practice? Take a look at DPS Airem and picture your team running on data you can actually trust, not spreadsheets held together with hope.

A Few Good Men Broadway Revival Opens Previews at Lincoln Center

NY Weekly Staff 2 on October 9, 2026

The new A Few Good Men Broadway revival began previews at Lincoln Center Theater on October 8, returning Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama to Broadway 35 years after its original run ended. Bradley Whitford takes a different role alongside Tom Blyth and Krysta Rodriguez. Michael Arden directs the limited engagement ahead of its October 29 opening.

Key Takeaways

Previews began October 8 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City
Whitford returns after playing Jack Ross and Daniel Kaffee in the original Broadway production
Blyth makes his Broadway debut as Kaffee, opposite Rodriguez as JoAnne Galloway
Official opening night is October 29, with performances scheduled through January 10, 2027

The first preview took place Thursday at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, where director Michael Arden is overseeing the play’s first Broadway revival. The 2026 staging reunites Whitford with a work in which he made his Broadway debut, while placing Blyth in the role Whitford once played.

Official first-look company photographs by Emilio Madrid accompanied the launch, and an October 9 production announcement confirmed that the opening preview had taken place.

The three-week preview period precedes the October 29 opening. Producers have announced a limited 13-week engagement rather than an open-ended run, with the performance schedule extending into early January.

A Few Good Men Broadway Revival Brings Whitford Back in a New Role

Whitford now portrays Lt. Col. Nathan R. Jessep, the commanding officer whose decisions come under scrutiny as the legal proceedings develop. In the original production, the actor entered as a replacement for Lt. Jack Ross around July 1990, understudied Daniel Kaffee and later took over the Kaffee role that September, according to the Internet Broadway Database.

That casting creates a connection between the original Broadway company and the revival. Whitford previously played characters directly involved in the legal case. He now takes the senior officer role portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1992 film, in which Tom Cruise played Kaffee and Demi Moore played Galloway. The 1992 adaptation was directed by Rob Reiner, with Sorkin adapting his original Broadway script for film.

The play originally opened at the Music Box Theatre on November 15, 1989, and closed January 26, 1991. Broadway records list 497 regular performances and 15 previews. Tom Hulce originated the role of Kaffee, with Megan Gallagher as Galloway and Stephen Lang as Jessep.

The revival also joins a fall Broadway lineup of plays, including The Imaginary Invalid and Other Desert Cities. Whitford later worked with Sorkin on the television series The West Wing, playing Josh Lyman.

Tom Blyth and Krysta Rodriguez Head the New Broadway Cast

Blyth plays Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a Navy lawyer appointed to defend two Marines accused of killing fellow Marine William Santiago. The actor, whose screen credits include The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, makes his Broadway debut in the production.

Rodriguez plays Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway, who presses Kaffee to investigate the circumstances of Santiago’s death rather than settle the case quickly. Her Broadway credits include Chicago and Into the Woods. Arden previously directed her in Deaf West Theatre’s 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. Nick Blaemire appears as Sam Weinberg, another military lawyer on the defense team alongside Kaffee.

Collin Kelly-Sordelet and Lavel Schley portray the two accused Marines, Louden Downey and Harold Dawson. Michael Oberholtzer plays attorney Jack Ross, while Stephanie Berry portrays Judge Randolph. Daniel Velez appears as Santiago, with John Zdrojeski and Thom Sesma among the officers in the supporting cast.

Blyth’s debut follows Daniel Radcliffe’s Broadway return earlier this year in Every Brilliant Thing, another production featuring a performer with established screen credits.

Sorkin’s drama follows the defense team’s examination of orders, testimony and conflicting accounts as the murder case moves toward trial. The revival returns that material to the stage rather than adapting the 1992 screenplay.

Michael Arden Directs a Limited Run Through January 2027

Arden, whose Broadway directing credits include Parade and Maybe Happy Ending, has described an approach that emphasizes the spoken text. In a September interview with BroadwayWorld, he said rehearsals involved removing some props and other stage elements as the company worked through the script.

Arden told BroadwayWorld, “It casts the audience in an active, participatory role in the proceedings.” He was describing theatergoers as a jury observing the case, explaining his approach to material many audiences know from the 1992 film.

The creative team includes scenic designer Dane Laffrey, costume designer Alejo Vietti, lighting designer Japhy Weideman and sound designer Joshua D. Reid. Gabriel Mann provides original music, Ricky Ubeda directs movement and Cookie Jordan oversees hair and wig design, according to the October 9 production announcement.

Lincoln Center Theater scheduled the first preview for October 8, the official opening for October 29 and the final performance for January 10, 2027. The Vivian Beaumont Theater is located at 150 West 65th Street in Manhattan.

Tickets are available through Lincoln Center Theater’s website, its box office and its telephone sales service. The schedule remains subject to change, with seat availability determined by individual performance dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the A Few Good Men Broadway revival begin previews?

The A Few Good Men Broadway revival began preview performances on October 8, 2026. Its official opening night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater is scheduled for October 29.

Who stars in the 2026 production?

Tom Blyth plays Daniel Kaffee, Krysta Rodriguez plays JoAnne Galloway and Bradley Whitford plays Nathan Jessep. Michael Arden directs the Lincoln Center Theater revival.

Was Bradley Whitford in the original Broadway production?

Yes. Whitford joined the original production in 1990, playing Jack Ross and later Daniel Kaffee. He returns as Jessep in the 2026 revival.

How long will the Broadway revival run?

Lincoln Center Theater has announced a limited engagement running through January 10, 2027. Performances take place at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Manhattan.

A Twist in Every Tale: Rick Allen Bennett’s Tall Tales, Rhymes, and Front-Porch Wisdom

NY Weekly Staff on October 9, 2026

How Rick Allen Bennett Turns a Lifetime of Mischief and Memory Into Laughter and Wonder in The Twisted Tales of Rick: Tales, Memories and Mischief

It is raining, there is nothing to do, and an owl is sitting on your doorstep. Better let him in.

That is how one of the stories begins in Rick Allen Bennett’s collection The Twisted Tales of Rick: Tales, Memories and Mischief. Between these covers are more than sixty tall tales, rhyming adventures, cowboy yarns, spooky ballads, heartfelt poems, and at least two recipes you should probably not try at home.

Bennett writes the way a favorite uncle talks on the porch after supper, with a grin and a habit of slipping in a little wisdom when you are not looking.

If you like a book that can make you laugh out loud and then sit very still, pull up a chair…

Every family has a storyteller who never lets the facts get in the way of a good time: Who in your life could turn an ordinary afternoon into an adventure?

An Owl, a Box, and a Rainy Day

In this rainy-day story, a bored boy stares at a gray sky when an owl strolls up the sidewalk carrying a box and wearing an umbrella for a hat. Once inside, the owl opens the box, and the world spills out. A steam train rolls out, followed by Big Ben. An ocean sloshes through the hall, a whole circus tumbles onto the floor, a rocket lands beside the wall, and an elephant settles onto the couch. The boy can only repeat that all of this is going to be very hard to explain.

When the house is finally too full, everything vanishes back into the box, and the boy peeks inside. The box is full of books. “Anything you want can be found in a book,” the owl tells him. “It’s easy and fun; just have a look.”

It is a lovely moment for young readers and a sly reminder for grown ones…

Bennett’s stories are boxes of their own, and you never quite know what twist will come rolling out next…

Tall Tales Told With a Straight Face

The tall tales are where Bennett’s comic voice runs wildest. In “A Trip to the Amazon,” a search for the fountain of youth ends with an army of ants, mosquitoes that seem to have trained with the Luftwaffe, a guide whose yellow BVDs do not survive the trip, and three men spinning down the river in a washtub with one paddle. In “And Rudolph Makes Nine,” a three-foot Santa barges in on Christmas Eve with a sack of dirty laundry, a pinch of snuff, and eight reindeer who flatten the narrator.

Then there is the old fisherman who has his boots nailed to the pier rather than let his catch get away and who, the story solemnly concludes, invented the very first water ski. There is Mr. Tubs, explaining to a weary judge how one shoe, a hog trough, a bed of fire ants, and his best friend BooBoo landed him in court. And there are two backwoods recipes, for fried possum and for armadillo in the shell with red eye gravy, told with such cheerful confidence that you may finish the page before you realize what you read.

Rhymes for Little Ones, Shivers for Everyone

Bennett promises that children like the book too, and the rhyming stories prove it. A boy begs to keep a moose that followed him home until the moose crashes through the bedroom floor and makes Mom’s point for her. Another boy wants to dig a hole but has only a cart, so a bird, a mole, a dog, a farmer, and a mouse pitch in until the hole becomes a home with a red door and a porch swing. And curious Malcom J. Fenny wonders about snails on ceilings, climbs a giant tree, dreams up a zoo, and sets sail.

Bennett also knows how to send a chill down the spine. In “A Halloween Tale,” trick-or-treaters named Freckles, Skinny, and Fatty spy on monsters chanting around a boiling cauldron and decide that Halloween must be saved, with results as funny as they are sweet. “The Shadow Prison” ends with a twist worthy of an old radio drama. “Rooster’s Grim Call” and the ballad “Dragon of Wren Knights” trade jokes for something older and darker, proof that a good campfire storyteller can make you laugh and then make you check the window.

And then there is the title story…

In “The Twisted Tales of Rick,” Erin, a cobbler’s son turned soldier, slips away from an endless war with four fellow deserters. The war is blamed on a winter custom gone wrong and a mysterious creature who rides the night sky and seems to know when they are sleeping and when they are awake. Readers who catch the clues early will grin; everyone else will get exactly the twist the title promises.

What is the best campfire story you ever heard?
Would you have let the owl in out of the rain?

Wisdom From the Trail and the Front Porch

Some of the most memorable pages are also the quietest. In “The Old Cowpoke,” a weathered rider leading a tired mare tells a young man named Zeke all the names life has given him, from Son and Boy to Hand, Deputy, Ranger, Barkeep, and Cookie, before resting by the creek at the ripe old age of “fifty and seven.” Elsewhere, a farmer watches his topsoil blow away in 1931, and a widow fishes with two poles beside an empty chair.

Through it all runs a grandfather’s gentle faith in people. In “A Grandfather’s Wish,” a granddaughter wishes for a camel sitting on a car, and when Grandpa questions it, she asks, “What do you want him to do, walk?” He concedes, then wishes for peace on earth. Bennett dedicates the book to four generations of family, hoping that even if they “may not always see eye to eye,” they will “always see each other.”

His author page simply tells readers to READ THE BOOK and make up their own minds.

An owl can knock on a rainy-day door…

A tale can take a twist you never see coming…

A storyteller can make you laugh, shiver, and remember…

In The Twisted Tales of Rick: Tales, Memories and Mischief, Rick Allen Bennett invites you to open the book and see where you are at!

Author Name: Rick Allen Bennett Book Title: The Twisted Tales of Rick: Tales, Memories and Mischief Published By: Visionary Book Publishers

Day: October 9, 2026