Zoho can trace its origins back to 1996, when it started under the name AdvanceNet as a private corporation which it remains to this day. Some of its software products were introduced under the Zoho name, such as Zoho CRM in 2005, and the popular office collaboration suite, Zoho Docs in 2007.
By 2009, with over a million customers, and with the online office suite going strong, the company’s name was changed to Zoho. Its headquarters remain in Chennai, India, with a dozen additional global office locations, and growth has been strong withover 60,000 businesses supported worldwide.
Zoho People, their cloud-based HR application, first came to market in 2008. Zoho’s dozens of products are integrated under the Zoho One name to meet the entire spectrum of business needs. There are over 10,000 Zoho employees, they invest in R&D via the Zoho Schools of Learning, and they proudly claim that 15% of its engineers have been from that program.
Zoho’s time in the market has also allowed it to build out more than 1,000 interoperable integrations, which is a real success.
Zoho People: Plans and pricing
A significant plus of Zoho People is that the pricing is quite transparent for the five tiers offered for this software. We love that Zoho is still able to offer well-prices packages without having to create custom quotes that can be time-consuming and sometimes expensive.
Another advantage is the 30-day trial, which does not require a credit card. There is also a free tier, good for up to five users, which is barely matched by any other players in this space. At the other end of the spectrum a custom quote process is needed for organizations with over 500 users.
The lowest tier is the Essential HR one, which has a cost of $1.50 monthly for each user, and drops further to $1.25 monthly per user when paid annually. Even on this starter plan, the basics are covered with time off management, employee onboarding, and employee database management.
Heading up a tier takes us to Professional, at a cost of $2.50 per user monthly ($2 per user when paid annually). It includes all of the features of the lower plan, and adds in attendance marking via web, mobile, and facial recognition, overtime calculations, timesheets, and shift scheduling.
Next up is the Premium tier, at a cost of $3.50 per user monthly, with an available annual discount that lowers it to $3 per user with annual payment. The lower plan’s features are included, and the additional features include performance appraisals, a skill set matrix, self-appraisals, and advanced HR analytics.
Moving another notch up takes us to the Enterprise tier at a cost of $5 per user per month ($4.50 per user per month for paying annually). This tier brings forward all the features of the lower tiers, and adds employee query management, course management, appraisals, and a discussion forum.
At the top of this heap of tiers is the People Plus plan, which is available for $4.50/4 (Premium) or $10/9 (Enterprise). This plan takes Zoho People beyond what HR software should do with the added “Features” as additional Zoho software offerings, including Zoho Vault for password management, Zoho Recruit for talent acquisition and Zoho Expense for expense management.
If you’re a Zoho user, then Zoho One offers exceptional value for money. It starts at $45/month/employee ($37 with an annual commitment), and includes the full Zoho suite of 45+ apps.
Zoho People: Features
Zoho People has plenty of features of value to an HR department. As it is a cloud-based SaaS, there are advantages such as storage of data online, and the software being up to date.
It has one of the broadest feature sets in its class because Zoho is much more than an HR platform – it’s an entire work management platform whose functionalities span security and IT, bookkeeping and billing/invoicing… even secure email and document storage.
Paydays are stressful for an HR department, so Zoho People has an Attendance Tracker. This allows management to set the hours for the organization, and to track employee attendance.
Leveraging the power of data in the cloud, this allows employees- from wherever they may be, including remote ones- to be able to check in from anywhere with the goal of regularizing attendance.
Reports can then be generated for management, to track working hours, and provide information to make better decisions. Time can also be managed, with real time tracking of employee absences. Pay periods can also be flexibly configured.
Biometric integrations like facial recognition are also supported, as are shift scheduling, overtime, timesheets and client time tracking, so it should be able to handle most business types, both in-person and digitally.
Workers might not be so pleased about goal setting, competency tracking, feedback and performance appraisals, but these are all handled from within the Zoho ecosystem. Maybe they’ll prefer the compensation and salary revision tools, instead.
Zoho People: Ease of use
There is a “structured onboarding process,” to streamline incorporating new recruits into your organization. It starts with a new hire portal, and along the way there are checklists, and customizable workflows.
Through this portal, new hires can receive their offer letter, complete forms including tax forms, and review company policy. Forms can also be electronically signed for convenience. Managers can track the process via status-view reports.
Admins will love the reporting and analytics features – while they’re not quite as glanceable as other tools, they offer a lot more depth, which is far more useful on a business level.
Workers can access the tools they need from a neat mobile app, which includes attendance, leave applications and location tracking for field workers, all in a pretty easy-to-navigate UI.
Zoho has scaled far beyond the products it initially launched with – its success comes from the amount of expertise it gathered building out its first generation of products. As such, the software is generally stable and powerful.
If you’re already in the Zoho ecosystem, then adding Zoho People would be a really smart move. It integrates well with the likes of Zoho Payroll, Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM.
Zoho People: Support
The support for Zoho People offers a number of options, which are centered around the help center.
Here, you can check knowledge base articles, online documentation and even virtual classroom training to help you get to grips with Zoho’s extensive software options.
There is also a series of webinars, for example the on-demand offering “Strategic re-engineering of HR through and post Covid.”
Free and lower-tiered planed tend to have access to standard support, like ticket-based reports and contact with humans within business hours.
Premium and enterprise-grade customers get quicker support and dedicated handlers.
Support is generally considered to be effective, though users report varying wait times. Phone and chat support has also been criticized for not being consistent in multiple regions, so check your local options if support is important to you.
Zoho People: Final verdict
Zoho People offers plenty of features making it worthy of consideration. These include the upfront pricing with no less than five affordable tiers, not even counting the free tier for a business of under five employees with basic functions, the multiple support resources including webinars, and the flexible functionality, such as the new hire portal.
Some shortcomings do remain, such as the lack of direct support options and the fact that some prospective customers will need to get in touch for a quote.
With Zoho People integrating well with Zoho’s other software offerings, we consider it a strong entry into the HR software segment.
Whether you’re already using Zoho’s other software options or you’re a relatively new business that could benefit from its other offerings later on down the line, Zoho People is worthy of your consideration.
If you’re already using other platforms for things like bookkeeping, then consider other payroll and HR options that could offer better integrations with those.
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