Zoho is a provider of all sorts of business solutions that are affordable yet on par with the market’s most popular offerings. Zoho People is a great example of this, being a 360° HR solution that’s robust, user-friendly, and affordable.
Ratings
Ease of Use
Best For
Key Differentiator
Price
Free Trial
PROS
- All core HR features in a single dashboard
- Wide array of integrations
- User-friendly UI, constantly updated
- Available in multiple languages
CONS
- Since they offer so many modules, some may be not as robust as other products that have been more specific about covering certain needs. For instance, some teams have found their payroll offering to be quite basic.
- Not all that’s available in the web platform is available in the app
- Some users reported that the platform can be slow to load every now and then.
Need Help? Talk to an HR Software Advisor!
Tell us more about your company & an HR Software Advisor will help you find the right software
Zoho is an Indian software company that makes all kinds of business software, from IT management to bookkeeping tools. Naturally, they also offer a cloud-based Human Resources Management System that we’ve found checks most boxes in most HR manager’s list of requirements.
This entails features like employee onboarding, performance management, time and attendance tracking, employee self service, database management, and much more. Their list of features is quite lengthy, and although it gets longer and longer with every plan, the essentials one is already quite complete. For example, wider plans like Premium ($3/user/month if billed annually) include OKR and goal tracking, a skill set matrix and advanced HR analytics.
Now, if some plans seem a bit basic, one cool thing about Zoho People is that certain modules are available as add-ons. For instance, this is the case of their learning management system, which features targeted learning, feedback, course customization, and a forum-like system for discussions.
I use Zoho People for tracking time and leaves. Besides, it is great to chat with other team members. The platform includes an organizational chart, compensation, and training modules. It has great reporting features as well. I can easily check all my records, such as my pay stub for every month of the year, company employee list, and vacation schedule. etc.
It is affordable and user-friendly. The customer support that is available in the software is good and always active in responding to customers. The application is easy to use for most users. Zoho People is a great option for storing employee information and tracking time.
5 years ago our company started to use Zoho People to deliver exceptional digital HR experiences to our employees while managing the entire employee life cycle on a single platform. I like its simplicity and integration with other Zoho tools like Zoho Payroll, Zoho Books, Zoho Expenses, etc. I love that the request permission, approval, and tracking features are so helpful. I like that the interactive form builder allows us to create different forms that meet our needs and help our HR team.
Sometimes I run into difficulties in terms of data integration between other integrated programs. Zoho People software does not integrate with other similar applications. They only provide a limited number of administrators for Standard and Premium pricing plans. The system is cloud-based only and not flexible to use.
Zoho People comes with an employee portal, organization chart, self-service, performance appraisal, employee leaves management, and salary tool features. All the HR processes can be managed from a central location which can help users to save time and reduce costs. The software offers a fully-mobile self-service that can help employees to get easy access to their HR data from anywhere, anytime. It can help employees have better control over their work.
The price of the solution is low and most people can afford it. Customer support includes online and email user support. Easy to learn and use.
They offer cloud-based hosting, which means IT resources are retrieved through web-based tools and applications and you don't need to buy servers and additional hardware equipment.
It is very good for small and medium size companies.
It would be a bit challenging for big corporations as Zoho People doesn’t offer unlimited employee profile support.
I initially signed up for a free trial of the plan that I thought suited our organization’s needs best. After checking its suitability, I created my account as an HR partner and uploaded all employees’ data into the system. The platform has helped us automate a lot of our daily HR processes. I used Zoho People to manage employee records, track their attendance, monitor their performance as per KRA, and generate various reports. It streamlines the recruitment cycle starting from job posting to onboarding new talents. The tool has great features in terms of processing employees’ payroll. It has also helped us follow compliance, labor laws, and regulations by providing tools to manage legal documents, track compliance, and generate compliance reports.
- Zoho People helped us manage all employee data in a single location and made it easier to track employee records.
- Zoho People has features for employee self-service, performance tracking, and goal setting, which have helped our employees stay engaged and motivated in their work.
- Zoho People automates a lot of HR processes we used to do manually including attendance tracking, leave management, and payroll processing.
There are many reasons why my organization chose Zoho People: it has customizable features, it’s easy to use, and also cost-effective. It helped us to improve our HR operations and create a more engaged and efficient workforce. I must say Zoho People is worth buying as it streamlines all HR processes. I have been using the tool for 8 months.
- Zoho People could benefit from a more intuitive interface to make it easier to use.
- While Zoho People does have a strong mobile app, there’s room for improvement in functionality and speed.
- Zoho People does offer online documentation and support but it doesn’t cover everything so we do end up reaching out to the support team now and then.
While there are several competitors in the HR software space, Zoho People has several advantages that set it apart from the competition in my opinion.
- Zoho People integrates seamlessly with other Zoho apps, such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Books, which is great if you happen to use their other products too, and can keep virtually all of your employees on a single platform.
- It is competitively priced and quite affordable for businesses of all sizes.
If anyone wants to buy a subscription to Zoho People, here are a few points to take into consideration:
- Determine business requirements and the features you need from the HR management software to choose the appropriate subscription plan.
- Check the pricing plans and select the one that fits the budget.
- Before subscribing to Zoho People, take advantage of the free trial to test the software and its features to evaluate whether it meets your requirements or not.
When Zoho people was first released, it was only used by small-size organizations as this software was limited to employee database, leave, and time tracking. Zoho People has evolved over time to become a comprehensive HR management software that offers a wide range of features to businesses of all sizes. The software's integration with other Zoho applications and its focus on mobile accessibility and analytics have helped it stand out in the crowded HR management software market. It also added a few features recently like an onboarding management system and integration with Zoho Analytics.
Zoho People is a cost-effective HR management software that is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses that may not have fully staffed HR departments. Zoho People is also a great choice for remote-working employees to collaborate, track time, handle scheduling, and more.
Large organizations: While Zoho People is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses, it may not be robust enough to meet the needs of large organizations with complex HR requirements. Zoho People's reporting capabilities may not be as advanced as other HR management software so it is not suitable for those organizations or businesses looking for advanced reporting capabilities.
Zoho People
Zoho People
Homebase
Homebase
Monday.com
Monday.com
Connecteam
Connecteam
BambooHR
BambooHR
Some of the companies that use Zoho people are ZPE Systems, Cloudfronts Technologies, Zomato, SpiceJet, and Foresight CFO.
- Time Off Management: This is where the one HR admin can set up time off policies, manage requests, offer compensatory time off, keep track of each employee’s holidays, and automate certain tasks.
- Employee Files: Coupled with the Employee Database, this basic document management tool allows the HR admin to store and organize all the relevant files for each employee.
- HR Process Automation: You can intuitively set up workflows for tasks like sending out paperwork, creating reports, and updating data fields.
- Employee Database Management: Tracking employee data and records is all made easier with a centralized HRIS. Zoho People syncs employee information across multiple systems.
Also included in most plans are:
- Employee onboarding
- Performance management
- Biometric integrations
- Time and attendance tracking
- Shift scheduling
- Billing and invoicing integration
- E-signature app integrations
- Reports
- Webhooks
- Mobile Apps for iOS & Android
Zoho's integrations vary according to the pricing plan. Their free plan, for instance, allows only for a Zapier connection so you may integrate with the rest of your tech stack. Their API functionality is available from the HR Essentials plan forward. This includes 250 calls per user license with a max of 5000 calls each day.
As we mentioned before, we find Zoho to be very straightforward and flexible about their pricing. You can upgrade at any time if your team size grows, or even downgrade to the free version if you’ve got the user count and find that you prefer it.
Zoho People is free for up to 5 users. After that, it has 4 plans that are priced as follows:
- Essential HR: $1.25/user/month billed annually
- Professional: $2/user/month billed annually
- Premium: $3/user/month billed annually
- Enterprise: $4.5/user/month billed annually
Zoho People has plans for many sorts of organizations, even offering custom pricing for those with more than 500 employees. The product is affordable enough to be used by small businesses and robust enough to handle the complex and scalable needs of large companies. Even the more expensive Zoho People plans can check all the HRMS boxes without breaking the bank.
Zoho People is cloud-based which makes it fairly easy to implement. To get started, head to Zoho People’s page and click the GET STARTED button at the top right-hand corner. This will take you to a page where you can create a trial account to test the platform’s features and offerings.
Whether it’s to ensure proper adoption, handle requests, or provide customer support, the team at Zoho has created many resources for customer success. These include a setup guide, welcome guide, blogs, webinars, a help center with articles and tutorials, and partner training. While this is all on the self-service side, customers can also submit a support request if further help is needed.
The Zoho story goes back to 1996, with the founding of AdventNet Inc. Back then, the company made a network management tool that was popular internationally, but mainly in the Japanese market. Then, in 2001, they launched Zoho CRM, which quickly became one of their best-selling apps.
Then, in 2005, the company caught up with the times and started offering cloud-based applications. They began with the Writer app, then Show (a presentation tool), creator (custom application builder), and Zoho Sheets. It wasn’t long until they realized that there could be a Zoho tool for just about every kind of business app. If you’re curious, the Zoho ‘about page’ actually has an interactive timeline where you can see the evolution of the company year to year. Nowadays, Zoho has over 75 million users worldwide, several offices across the globe, and more than 50 products for marketing, finance, customer and tech support, team collaboration, and of course, HR and recruitment.
Company HQ
Austin, Texas and Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Number of Employees
13,000+
Year Founded
1996
Amount Raised
FAQ
About SSR
We spend hundreds of hours researching the best HR and recruiting software so you don’t have to. We never take money from vendors during our research phase and rely heavily on practitioners and experts to help us recommend the right software. However we may earn a small fee if you click on vendor links on this page.
