Zoho People: HR Management for Indian Companies

Zoho People is Zoho’s HR management platform covering the employee lifecycle from onboarding to exit. For Indian companies, it handles leave management, attendance tracking, shift scheduling, and performance appraisals with India-specific leave types and holiday calendars.

Core HR Features

Zoho People manages: employee database (personal details, documents, employment history), organisation hierarchy, department and designation structure, and employee self-service for leave requests, attendance, and document access.

Leave Management for India

Configure India-specific leave types: Earned Leave (EL), Casual Leave (CL), Sick Leave (SL), Compensatory Off, and Leave Without Pay. Set accrual rules (EL accrues monthly, CL credited annually), carry-forward limits, and encashment policies. The leave calendar shows public holidays per state, Maharashtra and Karnataka have different holiday lists.

Attendance and Shift Management

Track attendance via web check-in, mobile GPS check-in (for field staff), biometric device integration, or IP-restricted check-in. For companies with multiple shifts (common in manufacturing and BPO), configure shift patterns and rotate employees across shifts automatically.

Onboarding Workflows

When a new employee joins, trigger an onboarding workflow: IT creates their accounts, HR collects documents (Aadhaar, PAN, bank details), the manager assigns a buddy, and training tasks are created. All tracked in one checklist with due dates and ownership.

Performance Management

Run quarterly or annual appraisals with configurable review forms, self-assessment, manager assessment, and 360-degree feedback. Link performance ratings to goals and KPIs. The appraisal cycle runs within Zoho People and produces a rating that feeds into salary revision decisions.

Integration with Zoho Payroll

Zoho People syncs attendance and leave data to Zoho Payroll for accurate salary processing. LOP (Loss of Pay) days, overtime hours, and shift allowances flow from People to Zoho Payroll and statutory compliance without manual entry.

Leave Management and Attendance Tracking for Indian Companies

Zoho People handles the statutory leave types required under Indian labour law, including Earned Leave (EL), Casual Leave (CL), Sick Leave (SL), and Maternity Leave under the Maternity Benefit Act. Each leave type is configured with accrual rules, carry-forward limits, and encashment policies. This configuration is done once during setup and applies automatically to all employees assigned to that leave policy.

For attendance, Zoho People integrates with biometric devices and access control systems from manufacturers such as eSSL and Realtime. When employees swipe in and out, Zoho People captures the data and computes attendance, overtime, and shift compliance automatically. For remote employees or those in field roles, the Zoho People mobile app allows location-based clock-in with GPS capture, giving HR visibility of where remote employees are logging attendance from.

Attendance data feeds directly into payroll. When you run payroll in Zoho Payroll (or if you have enabled the Zoho People payroll module), the attendance summary determines the number of payable days for the month and any Loss of Pay (LOP) deductions for unauthorised absences.

Performance Management and Appraisal Cycles

Zoho People’s performance module supports goal setting, continuous feedback, and formal appraisal cycles. At the start of a review period (typically half-yearly or annually), managers and employees agree on objectives using the KRA (Key Result Area) framework. Employees self-rate their performance, managers provide ratings, and both parties can add qualitative comments.

For Indian companies doing annual appraisals in March or April, Zoho People allows you to run all appraisal cycles simultaneously across departments. HR can monitor completion rates and send automated reminders to managers who have not completed their reviews. Final ratings from Zoho People can be exported and used as input for salary revision letters, which can be generated from Zoho People as well.

Document Management and Onboarding Checklists

Zoho People stores employee documents including offer letters, appointment letters, PAN cards, Aadhaar copies, educational certificates, and experience letters. Documents can be stored against each employee’s profile with version control and expiry date tracking (useful for passports and visa documents for employees on international assignments).

For new joiners, configure an onboarding checklist in Zoho People. The checklist triggers automatically when a new employee’s record is created and assigns tasks to the employee (submit documents), HR (verify and upload), and IT (create accounts). Each task has a due date and an assignee, and the HR team sees a consolidated onboarding status view for all current joiners.

Frequently Asked Questions