HR software
Zoho People: the complete independent guide
Zoho People is Zoho's HR system: employee records, leave, attendance, timesheets, onboarding and performance reviews. This guide explains what it covers and what it leaves to other tools, which plan suits which company, and how to roll it out so employees actually use it.
- Best for
- Companies of 10 to 500 employees without a dedicated HR system
- Plans
- Free, Essential HR, Professional, Premium, Enterprise, People Plus
- Billing
- Per employee, monthly or yearly
- Free plan
- Yes, for up to 5 users, with employee records and time off
- Not included
- Payroll, which is a separate product in some countries
What it is
Zoho People is a human resources information system. It keeps one record per employee, with their documents, position, manager and history, and builds the daily HR processes on top: requesting and approving leave, clocking in and out, filling in timesheets, onboarding a new hire and running reviews.
Employees serve themselves. They request time off from their phone, see their balance, update their address and find the company policies without writing to HR. Managers approve in two taps, and HR stops being the place where every small question lands.
It is not a payroll engine. Zoho Payroll exists as a separate product in certain countries. Elsewhere, Zoho People prepares the data, such as hours, absences and changes, and a local payroll service does the calculation.
Who it fits
A good fit when
- Leave is tracked in a spreadsheet and balances are regularly disputed.
- Employee files live in folders, email and paper, and you could not answer an audit quickly.
- You bill clients by the hour and need timesheets tied to projects.
- You hire regularly and every onboarding is improvised.
Look elsewhere when
- You want HR and payroll in one product in a country where Zoho Payroll is not offered. A local all-in-one may serve you better.
- You are under ten people. A shared calendar and a folder are enough for now.
- You need advanced workforce planning or compensation modelling for thousands of employees.
What it does well
- Employee database and self-service
- One record per employee with custom fields, documents and history, an organization chart, and a portal where employees update their own information.
- Leave management
- Leave types with their own accrual rules, carry-over, holidays by location and approval chains. Balances are calculated, not typed.
- Attendance and shifts
- Check-in from web, mobile or a device, with location restrictions if needed. Higher plans add shift scheduling and rotation.
- Timesheets
- Time logged by client, project and job, approved by managers and passed to invoicing or payroll.
- Onboarding and documents
- A checklist for every new hire, forms completed before day one, documents sent for electronic signature and policies acknowledged online.
- Performance
- Goals, skills, self-assessments, manager and peer reviews, and continuous feedback, on the plans that include performance management.
Editions and pricing explained
Zoho People is sold per employee in five plans that add modules as you go up. We describe what each one is for and leave current prices to Zoho's price list.
| Edition | Made for | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Essential HR | Companies replacing spreadsheets | Employee database, leave management, documents, self-service and basic onboarding. |
| Professional | Companies that track time | Attendance, shift scheduling, timesheets and billable hours. |
| Premium | Companies with shifts and formal reviews | Performance management: goals, appraisals and 360-degree feedback. |
| Enterprise | Larger HR teams | An HR help desk for employee questions and a learning management system for training. |
| People Plus | Companies wanting the whole HR suite | Zoho People bundled with recruiting, expenses and other HR apps under one price. |
Our rule of thumb: start with the modules you will use in the first three months. Most companies begin with leave and employee records, add attendance or timesheets next, and bring in performance reviews in the second year. Zoho People is also included in Zoho One.
How to set it up properly
Write your policies down first
Leave types, accrual, carry-over, public holidays by location, working hours and who approves what. The system can only apply rules that exist on paper.
Build the organization structure
Locations, departments, job titles and reporting lines. Approvals and reports follow this structure, so it must be right before anything else.
Import employees and opening balances
Load employee data with hire dates, then leave balances as of the start date. Have each employee confirm their own balance in the first week.
Launch leave before everything else
Leave is the module every employee uses and understands. A smooth start there earns the goodwill the other modules will need.
Add attendance, timesheets and reviews in turn
One module per month is a realistic pace. Train managers first, since most problems come from approvals left pending.
Rather have a specialist do it? Talk to TECHMA
Common problems and how to fix them
Leave balances are wrong
Either the accrual rule does not match the written policy, or opening balances were imported on the wrong date. Fix the rule, then correct balances with an adjustment that leaves a trace.
Approvals sit for days
Set reminders and an escalation to the next manager after a fixed delay, and name a delegate for managers on leave.
Employees do not log in
Make the mobile app the default way in, and remove the old route: no more leave requests by email.
Too much access to sensitive data
Review roles field by field. Salary, health and disciplinary information should be visible only to those who need them, and privacy laws such as Québec's Law 25 and the GDPR expect you to be able to show that.
Adding AI
Zoho People includes Zia as a chat assistant that lets employees ask for their leave balance, request time off or check in by message, and it can surface patterns such as rising absences.
An outside assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT, connected through Zoho's API and your policy documents, can go further: answering employees' policy questions in their own language, drafting job descriptions and review summaries, or preparing a monthly HR report. Personal data deserves caution here: limit what the assistant can read to what the question needs.
Questions people ask
Does Zoho People include payroll?
No. Zoho Payroll is a separate product offered in certain countries and it connects to Zoho People. In other countries, Zoho People feeds hours and absences to a local payroll service.
Is Zoho People included in Zoho One?
Yes. Zoho One includes Zoho People along with Zoho Recruit and the other HR apps.
Does Zoho People work in French?
Yes. The interface is available in French and each employee can choose their own language.
How long does it take to set up Zoho People?
Employee records and leave can be live in two to four weeks if your policies are already written. Each additional module usually takes another few weeks, mostly for decisions and training.
Want it set up right the first time?
TECHMA implements Zoho for companies in Canada, the United States and abroad: setup, data migration, automation, AI and team training. The first call is free.
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