Collaborate without compromising on payroll security using Zoho Payroll

Collaborate without compromising on payroll security using Zoho Payroll


Welcome to the next session of our Community Learning Series. 

Today we will throw some light on how Zoho Payroll lets you collaborate with your distributed workforce and stay in control of payroll operations without compromising on the security of your employees' data. 

As a Zoho Payroll user, your organisation will possess all the crucial information about your employees like bank account details, personal information, and salary details. Therefore, it is critical that this information stays secure. If it falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to identity theft or worse. This in turn can have adverse effects on your employees' trust and might damage your organisation's reputation. 

To show how you can take control of your payroll operations in a secure way, we'll look at the below organisational hierarchy as an example.

                                        




The following table lists the responsibilities for each role as part of the payroll processing team.  


                                                

From the table above, you can see that only the CEO requires complete access to all the modules. The remaining users need access only to specific modules based on their roles. 

As the payroll admin of the organisation, the CEO can set up multi-level access in Zoho Payroll and allow the users in the organisation to access only selected data and functions. This way the CEO can maintain centralised control yet present the same user interface for all of the staff to get their work done. Distinctive user roles help cross-department staff can work in synergy without compromising the security of payroll data. 

As your organization's CEO or payroll admin, here's how you can assign access for each of your user roles.

Log in to Zoho Payroll.

Under Settings, select Users and Roles. 


                                                     

Refer to our self-help resources for step-by-step guidance on creating multiple distinct user roles.

Once you have created all the roles within your organisation, let's define the permissions for each of the roles. 

Payroll staff:

Let's assume that the responsibility of your payroll staff will be to maintain and update payroll records, validate payroll inputs, and get the pay run ready. 

Your payroll staff will need to collect employee details and payroll inputs submitted through various sources, and then create a pay run with all the information collected. 

They will need access to the following modules:
  • Employee module to maintain employee records.
  • Pay run module to create and edit pay runs. 
  • Preferences module to collect employee reimbursement and POI data 
   
                                               
   
Here you can allow the payroll staff to only view the basic employee details, but not create or edit them. This will ensure they cannot tamper with the employee data. 

In the pay run module, you can decide that they can only create and edit the pay runs, not approve or pay them. When you move on to setting the permissions for the other roles, you'll probably give the payroll admin approval access for any pay run and give the finance team permission to make payments to the employees. Each role has a unique set of permissions based on its duties and position in the hierarchy. 

                                

Now that the different roles have been set, the admin can invite users into the payroll organisation. 

Select Users under Users and Roles and start adding your employees under the different roles you have curated. All they have to do is accept the invitations they receive via email and create a Zoho account using the same email, and they are good to go.

Here's how the users will be seeing Zoho Payroll based on the roles that they've been assigned. 

HR staff:

Can add new employee details while onboarding new staff to Zoho Payroll.



Payroll staff:

Can enter payroll inputs of employees, create and edit pay runs.



HR manager:

Can approve salary revisions, reimbursements and proof of investments. Has access to all reports.



Finance manager:

Can create, edit and delete employee loans and record salary payments. 



External auditor:

Can access payroll, statutory and tax reports. 




So the roles have been created, the users are added, and the admin knows which actions each user can perform. We haven't mentioned user tracking yet, but that's another kind of accountability that's available. If a discrepancy occurs in the payroll system, the payroll admin can check the activity log report to see exactly which actions each user has performed. All of this helps you keep your payroll data safe with Zoho Payroll.

Do let us know in the comments below how you have customised the roles in your payroll organisation. 

Also, check out our previous post on a checklist to follow before hitting pay run here.

Until next time!







    • Recent Topics

    • Izettle or Sumup Integration for Zoho Books.

      The Stripe & Square clearing works great in Zoho Books. Any further integrations planned in the future for Izettle or Sumup? These card processors are very common for taking payments with a card reader.

    • Trying to access records in a custom module in Zoho Desk and not having luck

      I've built a custom module in Zoho Desk and am using a custom function to query the records in the module and I'm not having any luck. The only way I have found to retreive a record is by getting it by its recordID (the long zoho assigned one). The function

    • ZOHO Books Smart Accounting Software for Travel Agency

      Dear Travel partner, Contact for Travel Agency Accounting Setup & Training Vansh Travel (ZOHO Books Authorised partner) Email: info@vanshtravel.com Mo: +91 98984 95155 Please find PDF   

    • 452 Mailbox delivery restricted by policy error

      We have been testing Zoho desk for about a week now and have been forwarding emails in via an Exchange Online Mail flow rule without issue until yesterday. Suddenly yesterday morning we started getting the vast majority of the emails stuck in Pending

    • Send Email reply on behalf of Agent

      Hi, When using the send email reply via the API I can set the reply on behalf of the customer by using impersonatedUserId in the header of the API call. Is there a way to do this for Agents too? I need to be able to send an email reply on behalf of an

    • Sharing Tickets to a team within a department

      Hi there, We have a need for one department to be able to share tickets to a specific team within a department, I'm wondering if this is possible? All the shared tickets are going into the 'Shared Tickets' view for the whole department but is there a

    • Automatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People

      Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.

    • Maximum limit of bank accounts

      I'm currently setting up Zoho Books in order to migrate at the start of our next financial year (April) and while adding bank accounts I've tried to add a second account from the same bank and receive an error about the maximum limit of bank accounts.

    • Unable to load a specific image

      Hi I am trying to upload an svg file, which reports that there is "a problem with the file", but does not say what sort of problem. I can't find anything which says which files are supported, so it may be it does not support svg. (which would be a real shame) The file itself will open in either Firefox or Chrome without problem. For the moment I am using a png file, which does not zoom well of course. David

    • Why does the Address field show the wrong map location even with a correct Pincode?

      I am noticing an issue with the Address field map in Zoho Creator. When I enter a city name that exists in multiple locations within the same state, the map sometimes points to the wrong area even if I have entered the correct Pincode. Currently, it seems

    • Archive Option in Conversation View

      Hello, I have a suggestion\request to add an "Archive Thread" button in conversation view of Zoho Mail. The best suggestion I have is to put an "Archive Thread" button next to the "Label Entire Thread" button in conversation view. Most users don't just

    • Outlook/Hotmail Blocking Zoho SMTP IPs (S3150)

      We are currently facing a serious deliverability issue with Zoho SMTP while sending transactional OTP emails for our production application. Emails sent to Outlook / Hotmail addresses are being rejected with the following error: 550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately,

    • Outlook is blocking incoming mail

      Outlook is blocking all emails sent from the Zoho server. ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately, messages from [136.143.169.51] weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list (S3150). It looks

    • Zoho Social API for generating draft posts from a third-party app ?

      Hello everyone, I hope you are all well. I have a question regarding Zoho Social. I am developing an application that generates social media posts, and I would like to be able to incorporate a feature that allows saving these posts as drafts in Zoho Social.

    • Temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation.

      We have suddenly started receiving the following Mail Delivery Status Notification: Diagnostic-Code: 4.7.650 The mail server [136.143.184.12] has been temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation. For e-mail delivery information, see https://aka.ms/postmaster

    • IMPORTANT: It doesn´t search for letters with portuguese characters.

      Some of my articles have for example the word "vídeo". But if I search for "vídeo" it doesn´t find them. If I search for "video" it does find them. Idealy, it should find the articles either way. But if I have to choose, it would be better to find the

    • IMPORTANT: It doens´t show full article name on search - Should add line break

      When we search for articles, it doesn´t show the full name. There should be a line break so the user can see the full article name, otherwise the user can´t know if that´s the article he/she is looking for. This is very important, otherwise the user has

    • Zoho Books - Payment Gateway - Revolut

      Hi Books Team, My feature request if to include the popular platform Revolut as a payment collection option on invoices in Zoho Books. Please upvote if you are also looking for this option.

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | January 2026

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From e-filing Form 1099 directly with the IRS to corporation tax support, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. E-File Form 1099 Directly With the

    • Kaizen #233 - Generating AI-powered Follow-up Emails Using CRM Functions and Widgets

      Hey everyone! Welcome back to another interesting post in the Kaizen series! Sales teams regularly capture interaction notes in CRM after speaking with prospects. However, drafting a follow-up email that reflects the conversation context can be repetitive

    • Connect Bank in Zoho Books

      Can I connect UOB or Ariwallex in Zoho Books?

    • Using MPN across multiple SKUs and inventory tracking

      I have several different SKU's that share a common MPN and would like to track inventory by MPN. SKU1 has MPN1 assigned SKU2 has MPN1 assigned Here is an example If I start with 5 of MPN 1 in stock I want each SKU1 and SKU2 to show as 5 in stock, If I

    • Marketing Tip #1: Optimize item titles for SEO

      Your item title is the first thing both Google and shoppers notice. Instead of a generic “Leather Bag,” go for something detailed like “Handcrafted Leather Laptop Bag – Durable & Stylish.” This helps your items rank better in search results and instantly

    • Feature Enhancement Request – Text Formatting Options in Item Description (Zoho Books/Quotes Module)

      Dear Zoho Development Team, Greetings from Radiant360 Integrated Technical Services LLC. We would like to bring to your attention a functional limitation we've encountered within the Item Table / Quote Description section of Zoho Books (and Zoho CRM Quotes).

    • ZOHO Books Query

      Good day, Can someone please advise. I recently migrated from ZOHO Invoice to ZOHO Books. No that I want to use the inventory on Books I cant as all my items have transaction history. The person I spoke to at ZOHO said I need to create a new Company profile

    • Best way to schedule bill payments to vendors

      I've integrated Forte so that I can convert POs to bills and make payments to my vendors all through Books. Is there a way to schedule the bill payments as some of my vendors are net 30, net 60 and even net 90 days. If I can't get this to work, I'll have

    • inventory removal at packing list or shipment.

      currently our system is set to remove inventory at invoice. This is creating an inventory nightmare? Is it possible to change the settings to remove the item from inventory at either the packing slip stage or shipping the item.

    • How to add employee and not invite them to log in?

      I want to add 50 employees, but invite them only when everything will be configured and ready. Is it possible? Should we create employee profiles and then convert them later? Thank you,

    • Any Offline Developing Environements or IDE's for Zoho Creator

      Hi there, Is there any offline developing environment for zoho creator like the Eclipse for sales force.com? So that i could make my development faster. Its taking a laot of time to write save and verify the code in Zoho Creator online. Thanks in advance

    • How is Your eCommerce Experience w/Zoho Inventory?

      First off, I'm SUPER grateful for the advent of Zoho Inventory and now the Zoho Commerce Suite. Overall, Inventory is a great product, especially for customers without an eCommerce presence. For eCommerce companies (especially those shipping more than ~10 packages/day), however, there are certain drawbacks that keep my clients from moving over to Zoho Inventory: Cons: 1. Invoice + Package Creation from Shopify/Other eCommerce Integrations: Zoho Inventory makes the somewhat perplexing decision to

    • Ability to Use Both AND and OR When Creating Rules (Advanced Conditions)

      I'd like to be able to use more complicated logic when setting up rules. E.g. in Zoho Mail, I can choose "Advanced conditions (AND/OR) to create a rule that can be applied to multiple subject lines from the same sender. But in Zoho TeamInbox, I will have

    • Facturation électronique 2026 - obligation dès le 1er septembre 2026

      Bonjour, Je me permets de réagir à divers posts publiés ici et là concernant le projet de E-Invoicing, dans le cadre de la facturation électronique prévue très prochainement. Dans le cadre du passage à la facturation électronique pour les entreprises,

    • Zoho Desktop App- Unable to Minimize/Freezes

      I'm having issues with my Zoho Mail desktop app (PC). When go on my desktop and open the app this is what happens: - Unable to minimize and close app (in the screenshot attached you can see at the top right there is no option to minimize/close) - Unable

    • Zoho Invoice Zapier Integration

      Is there still a way to use Zapier with Zoho Invoice? I've read online that that migrated to Zoho Books or Billing but since I am just using Invoice I can not find a Zapier Connection anymore.

    • Conect chat of salesiq with zoho cliq

      Is there any way to answer from zoho cliq the chat of salesiq initiated by customers?

    • Bug: OAuth 2.0 State Parameter fails with Pipe Delimiters (RFC 6749 Non-Compliance)

      I've discovered a bug in how Zoho's API Console handles the OAuth 2.0 authorization flow when the state parameter contains pipe characters (|), and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. The Issue Zoho's OAuth 2.0 implementation

    • Zobot with Plugs

      Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs. Here is my current flow: When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the

    • Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

      If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer

    • Training for How can i Operate the Software Features

      need to Help for Training of the ZOHO Billing Software

    • Automating Vendor Contract Management between Zoho Contracts and Zoho Books using Zoho Flow

      Managing vendor agreements across procurement and finance systems often requires manually downloading executed contracts and attaching them to vendor records. This can become time-consuming and difficult to manage when dealing with a large number of contracts.

    • Next Page