Honest Review:

Zoho

By Asim Qureshi, CEO Jibble

May 9th 2023

As a CEO of a time tracking software company I need to know what my competitors are up to. That means I’m often researching about and/or playing around with their products, you know, it’s part of the job. Here, I share my findings of that research, giving credit to those competitors where credit is due and being honest about which products I believe you really need to avoid. And so, there you have it, this review, and in it, I try to be honest, fair, and insightful…

This review covers:

• Overview
• What Users Like
• What Users Don’t Like
• Pricing Plans
• Standout Features
• Positive User Highlights
• Negative User Highlights
• Ratings from Other Reviews

Overview

So, Zoho is a comprehensive suite of cloud-based software applications that cater to the needs of businesses of all sizes and industries. I am amazed that Zoho offers over 50 different applications that cover various business functions such as accounting, marketing, customer relationship management, project management, HR management, and more. 

What I’ll dissect here are Zoho’s time tracking features that include online timesheets, automated time tracking, and real-time attendance monitoring. With Zoho’s time tracking, businesses can easily manage employee schedules, and track project time and expenses. Along with generating accurate timesheets for payroll processing, it provides advanced reporting capabilities, allowing businesses to analyze employee time data, identify trends, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and productivity.

I particularly love Zoho’s user-friendliness and exceptional customer support that are complemented by an array of features that effectively facilitate productivity enhancement and collaborative endeavours for businesses. Its mobile apps and third-party integrations are pretty cool and the software also offers a marketplace of extensions and add-ons – neat!

However, I do have some concerns when it comes to Zoho. One major issue is the software’s iOS app – it freezes when clocking time and often crashes. And the software’s calendar functionality isn’t as smooth as I’d like either. It doesn’t update in real time, which is quite a bummer for a feature that’s meant to keep everyone informed about any changes immediately. 

What Users Like

• Easy to use
• Customer support
• Seamless integrations
• Easy to set up

Find more on what users love about Zoho.

Let’s Talk Pricing!

Zoho People offers a range of pricing plans:

Essential HR:  At a fee of US$1.25/user/month (billed annually), this plan includes employee onboarding, HR files management, time off management, and multi-level approvals, among other features.

Professional: At US$2/user/month (billed annually), this plan includes all the features of the Essential HR plan as well as attendance marking, shift scheduling, and billing and invoicing integration.

Premium: At US$3/user/month (billed annually), the Premium plan includes all the features of the Professional plan as well as performance appraisals, 360-degree feedback, and advanced HR analytics.

Enterprise: At US$4.50/user/month (billed annually), Enterprise includes all the features of the Premium plan as well as case management, self and blended learning, and assessments.

People Plus: This plan is priced at US$9/user/month (billed annually) and includes all the features of the Enterprise plan as well as additional software such as Zoho Recruit for talent acquisition, Zoho Payroll for payroll management, and Zoho Expense for expense management, among others.

Zoho People offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. 

Check out the 5 things you MUST know about Zoho’s pricing.

Standout Features of Zoho

1. Attendance Management

Attendance management is a robust feature within the Zoho People software suite that enables businesses to track and manage employee attendance efficiently. This tool automates attendance tracking and generates accurate reports to help managers analyze employee attendance patterns and identify areas for improvement. It also allows employees to request time off and track their leave balances, while managers can approve or reject leave requests and manage leave accruals. With Zoho’s attendance management, businesses can ensure compliance with attendance policies and regulations, reduce absenteeism, and improve workforce productivity. 

2. Overtime Calculation

Zoho allows businesses to automate overtime hours calculation based on company policies and regulations. Businesses can track and manage employee overtime and ensure accurate payment for additional hours worked. Managers can set up overtime rules based on factors such as classification, work hours, and pay rates. Compliance with labor laws, fraud reduction, and employee satisfaction improvement are also among its benefits.

3. IP and Geo Restrictions

IP and geo restrictions is a security feature that controls access to HR information based on IP address and location. It prevents unauthorized access, offers customization at the individual employee level, and ensures data security. Businesses can restrict access to their HR information from specific IP addresses and geographic locations.

4. Time Off Management

Time off management simplifies and streamlines the process of tracking and managing employee leave and time off. The software allows employees to submit time off requests, view their leave balance, and track the status of their requests. Managers can review and approve requests, set up time off policies and accrual rules, and generate reports to analyze employee leave patterns. 

Selected Positive User Feedback: 

• “It is very handy for planning my employees. the integration with zoho books is also a time saver” – Mouaade E. (Source G2)
• “Ease of use, time to market, for clients, and all of the training videos provided by Zoho.” – Verified User in Entertainment (Source G2)
• “The ability to assign and re-assign a job to a Temp from the admin account. (It’s flexible!) The option to personalize the locations and approvals is good.” – Victor Dario L (Source G2)
• “I was really impressed with customer support and service. They are very responsive and helped us quickly get up and running. We still haven’t used all the features but for what we were interested in Timesheet tracking, reports and invoicing this product is everything we wanted. It’s easy to use and our team implemented it very quickly and there wasn’t a steep learning curve” – Loni B. (Source G2)
• “The clean look, the ease of use, and the powerful integrations.” – Verified User in Staffing and Recruiting (Source G2)
• “Reduces admin time for myself, temp staff and the client. Integrates with my other software.” – Conrad H.  (Source G2)
• “The integration between talents and projects and clients allow for easy matching of talents’ skills and project needs.” – Eric C. (Source Capterra)
• “Integrates with my crm product and very simple and easy to use. Customer service is great!” – Verified Reviewer (Source Capterra)
• “Ease of useIntegrates with Recruit – some limitationGreat support from Zoho” – Audrey L.  (Source Capterra)
• “Integration with Zoho Recruit > Ease of use > Seamless Timesheeting and Billing functionality > Exceptional end to end management for temp workers” – Steve L. (Source Capterra)
• “Zoho was easy to setup and deploy across our temp staff. Its helping us communicate during COVID and continues to allow direct communication and push notifications through the app.” – Chris P. (Source Capterra)
• “It’s easy and employees can see their time in 8n min and hours real time. It’s quick & easy to clock-in and out for the day. So glad this app is available. We really enjoy it’s benefits! Thank you!” – Google User (Source Google Play)
• “Great program and helpful support.” – Bret Issis (Source Google Play)
• “It’s great and easy to use.” – Lume1124. (Source App Store)
• “The eases of submitting and getting timesheets approved by clients. Customer service is amazing and they have been a great help in assisting me with the set up.” – Verified User (Source G2)

Selected Negative User Feedback: 

• “App constantly freezes and crashes. Does not save time stamps or remarks. Worst app I’ve ever used.” – mf.n (Source App Store)
• “Cannot find a way to make the clock take my 30 minute break time. Freezes while clocking time.” – ConsultRH (Source App Store)
• “Navigation can be difficult at times” – Verified User (Source G2)
• “Some parts are a bit clunky and I would like to achieve a different style of timesheet that in time we will be able to sort out.” – Verified User (Source G2)
• “I would like the ability to further customize financial reports, integrate Zoho PhoneBridge, distinguish between multiple temp types within a single Job, and more flexibility with multiple worksite addresses per client.” – Matt M. (Source G2)
• “I consider the price to be really expensive, and the lack of group scheduling is a major problem I found while using it.” – Tabitha S. (Source G2)
• “The mobile portal needs some improvements.” – Verified User in Human Resource (Source G2)
• “Have had issues with timesheets and the calendar not updating in real time and sometimes taking a few hours for information to appear correctly.” – Verified User (Source Capterra)
• “Calendar functionality could be a little better; wish it could update in real time.” – Verified Reiewer (Source Capterra)
• “Not as fully Integrated with Zoho Recruit & Zoho Books as i would have liked.” – Steve L.  (Source Capterra)
• “We currently also use Zoho recruit and I wish some of the functionality of would be available in one application combining the two would be great. This would limit the need for the two cost.” – Chris P. (Source Capterra)
• “Some of the navigation is hard to get your head around” – Kellyann S. (Source Capterra)
• “It does not fully integrate with Zoho recruit.” – Verified Reviewer (Source Capterra)
• “It can be expensive if you have multiple users.” – Anita V. (Source Capterra)
• “Customization is not possible on financial reports” – Azim B. (Source Capterra)

Ratings from Other Reviews

(As of 05/05/2023)

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.5/5
• App Store: 3.8/5 (in the US)
• Google Play: 4/5 (in the US)
• Software Advice: 4.5/10

Final Thoughts

Zoho is a comprehensive cloud-based software suite that caters to businesses of all sizes with over 50 different applications covering various business functions. Its time tracking capabilities, including online timesheets, automated time tracking, and real-time attendance monitoring, allow for easy employee schedule management and project time and expense tracking.

Furthermore, Zoho provides advanced reporting capabilities for analyzing employee time data and making informed decisions about resource allocation and productivity. What I like is that the customer service is excellent, and Zoho offers mobile apps, integrations with third-party software, and a marketplace of extensions and add-ons. 

However, I have a bone to pick with some of Zoho’s features. The software lacks customization options for financial reports and its calendar functionality doesn’t update in real time. Additionally, Zoho’s iOS app is kind of the black sheep of the software. It has a 3.8/5 star rating on the App Store, owing to its frequent crashes while clocking in. 

Overall, I find Zoho to be a solid HR solution, but am not quite impressed by its time tracking features – they’re quite basic. And it’s iOS app is also a concern for field workers. So if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution that has a bit of everything, then Zoho is for you, but you might want to reconsider if you’re in search of a sophisticated time tracking solution.