Community Learning Series - Personalising your payroll experience using Zoho Payroll

Community Learning Series - Personalising your payroll experience using Zoho Payroll

We all know that employees are the most important asset for any organisation. Organisations spend copious amounts of time recruiting, training, and retaining sufficient employment to maintain their business health and operations. And one of the most important ways that business owners look after their primary assets is timely payroll. In this Community Learning Series post, we will focus on customising some of the crucial elements within the payroll journey.
 
But why even customise? Irrespective of the size of the organisation, payroll plays a huge role in employee morale. While timely payroll is essential, personalising the employee experience is also important. Zoho Payroll helps you out with plenty of customisation options for various stages within the payroll process, so you can deliver a completely custom experience right from the moment your employee joins your organisation to the day they receive their full and final settlement.
 
Here, we will talk about three features of Zoho Payroll and how they can be customised to your needs.
 
  • Email templates
  • Payslip templates
  • Organisation announcements
 
1. Email templates
 
Despite the variety of instant messaging platforms in existence, we still rely on emails for most of our professional communication. The reason is very simple: emails add a professional touch, but still pass on information instantly. In payroll, it's often important for communication to reach your employees in a professional and timely manner. Zoho Payroll helps you personalise this communication experience with templates specific to different scenarios.
 
Has a new employee joined your organisation today? Time to welcome them with a personalised message that reflects your organisation's culture. You can save the voice and tone you've chosen for your message, using a template.
 
Inside Zoho Payroll, go to Settings -> Email templates -> Employee invitation. As you can see in the below image, we have a predefined template set up for your convenience, but you can customise it to suit your brand and voice. You can make changes to the text size and font, and add links, photographs, and placeholders. We even provide the complete HTML code, which you can edit to make the changes you need. 


 
Once you make your changes, click Save. Now whenever an employee joins, they will receive the newly customised email you created specifically to welcome them.
 
You can customise other emails in the same way here. For example, this payslip notification template has been customised by adding a motivational quote, which can be changed every month. Or if you have revised employees' salaries this month, you can mention the change in the email.


 
These are just a few examples of how to utilise this customisation. Now it's your turn.
 
2. Payslip templates
 
Why are payslips so important? A payslip is a proof of the contract that binds any employee to an organisation. Professional-looking payslips will be considered as credible proof for future employment, or for obtaining employee loans. A detailed payslip showcases all the employee's tax liabilities, thus helping them make the right investment decisions, maximise their take-home salary, and plan their savings well in advance.
 
You've probably noticed that we provide a variety of payslip templates, including one specially designed for the full and final settlement. There are various components that should be present within a payslip to prove its credibility. Let's see how this can be easily achieved with our pre-existing templates.
 
Inside Zoho Payroll, click the Settings icon -> Payslip templates
 
As you see in the images below, we have 6 templates, and they cover all the necessary information such as the organisation details, employee information, and the breakdown of the salary into earnings, deductions, and reimbursements.
 



 
How can the templates be customised further?
 
Click on the edit icon below any template and you will see different ways to customise it on the left side. Here are a few things you can do:
 
  • The organisation logo can be resized.
  • You can choose the information you want to display on the payslip.
  • You can even add up to 5 custom fields to the payslip.
 
When you're done making changes, click Save.
 
For example, we can add a custom field called Aadhar card to this template. When you come back to view this template again, you'll see the Aadhar card number field appear in it automatically. The full and final settlement payslip can be customised too—for instance, to edit the declaration section.


 
And that's how your payslips can be customised to look professional and reflect your brand voice.
 
3. Organisational announcements
 
There are various ways for you to communicate with your employees via Zoho Payroll, whether you're inviting new users or employees, or sending reminders for reimbursement proofs and tax declarations. But emails can be missed easily. So, if you want to make an organisation-wide announcement, how do you ensure that your employees don't miss it?
 
Zoho Payroll has an option for this.
 
You can now add a customisable banner message in the ESS portal. Here's how:
 
  1. Inside Zoho Payroll, go to Settings -> Preferences -> Employee portal.
  2. Under the Banner Message option, type your announcement.
  3. Select the date until which you want this message to be displayed.
 
Here's an example:


 
And this is how the announcement will appear on the ESS portal for your employees:
 

 
So, have you tried out these features yet? If yes, were they useful? Let us know in the comment section below. 

    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts





                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                        Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner







                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Actual vs Minimum

                                                                                                                  Hi all, I am sure I am not the only one having this need. We are implementing billing on a 30-minute increment, with a minimum of 30 minutes per ticket. My question is, is there a way to create a formula or function to track both the minimum bill vs the
                                                                                                                • Generate leads from instagram

                                                                                                                  hello i have question. If connect instagram using zoho social, it is possible to get lead from instagram? example if someone send me direct message or comment on my post and then they generate to lead
                                                                                                                • Kaizen #234 - Automating Deal Handoff with Zia Assistant API, Workflow, Deluge, and Widget in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                  Hello all! Welcome back to a fresh Kaizen week. In this post, we will explore how to automate the deal handoff process in Zoho CRM using Zia Assistant API + Workflow + Deluge + Widgets. Here’s how the final output looks when a deal is reassigned 1. Deal
                                                                                                                • Warranty Service and Repair in Zoho FSM

                                                                                                                  Hi There, We are a retail store that sells products and also performs installations and repairs. Our field technicians handle this work. Some repairs are covered by manufacturers, who reimburse us for both parts and labour. In these cases, we perform
                                                                                                                • How do you print a refund check to customer?

                                                                                                                  Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does anyone print a refund check to a customer? We cant find anywhere to either just print a check and pick a customer, or where to do so from a credit note.
                                                                                                                • Ability to assign Invoice Ownership through Deluge in FSM

                                                                                                                  Hi, As part of our process, when a service appointment is completed, we automated the creation of the invoice based on a specific business logic using Deluge. When we do that, the "Owner" of the invoice in Zoho FSM is defaulted to the SuperAdmin. This
                                                                                                                • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

                                                                                                                  Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. Latest
                                                                                                                • Enhancement to ICR’s field prompting: Preferred data extraction using advanced field prompting

                                                                                                                  Dear Customers, We hope you’re well A quick background Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) comes as part of Zia’s optical recognition capability called Zia Vision. When we introduced it last April, the data extraction was training-based and was applicable
                                                                                                                • See a list of all records enrolled in a cadence?

                                                                                                                  I am looking for a way to see a list of all leads or contact currently enrolled in a cadence. I do not see any way to do this through the cadence UI.
                                                                                                                • Limitation in chart of accounts

                                                                                                                  There is a limitation of 4000 accounts in chart of accounts  Zoho needs to remove this limit
                                                                                                                • How do I change the account bank charges are charged to?

                                                                                                                  I want bank charges charged to my Credit Card Fees account. Is there a way to do this?
                                                                                                                • Real signature in Zoho Expense PDF report ?

                                                                                                                  Hello ! Is there a way to put a real signature on the signature line when a PDF report is generated in Zoho Expense? Through Zoho Sign or another way? Can't seem to make it work.
                                                                                                                • Copy paste settings

                                                                                                                  Hello all i have 2 organizations running in ZOHO books in one organization i have customised Tax rates, codes and customized templates instead of manually doing again in org 2 can i have some shortcut to copy paste or export and import??
                                                                                                                • Custom TDS on Vendor Credits via API

                                                                                                                  Hi, We are using Zoho Books APIs for posting Bills and vendor credits. We are unable to post custom TDS amount posting vendor credits. Can you please share the API spec and Payload that need to be sent for Custom TDS for Vendor Credits.
                                                                                                                • "Unlink" Advance from Bill without Deleting the Payment Record

                                                                                                                  I am writing to highlight a significant workflow issue in Zoho Books (India Edition) regarding Vendor Advances and Bills. The Scenario: I recorded an Advance Payment to a vendor. I matched/reconciled this payment in the Banking module. I received a Bill
                                                                                                                • Advance Payment Record Removed When Deleting Applied Credit from Bill

                                                                                                                  Hello, So while working with vendor advance payments, I noticed that removing the applied credit from a bill also removes the corresponding entry from the Payments Made section. What I did : Recorded an advance payment to a vendor through Payments Made.
                                                                                                                • What is the best way to convert MSG file to Word format?

                                                                                                                  The best way to convert MSG files to Word format is by using a reliable and professional tool Aryson MSG file Converter. Manual methods are often time-consuming and may not preserve email formatting, attachments, or metadata accurately. In contrast, Aryson
                                                                                                                • Address Typeahead Extension for Zoho Books

                                                                                                                  I installed the Address Typeahead extension for zoho books but when I went to configure it, it said that that version was deprecated. Is there a newer version somewhere?
                                                                                                                • How to create a new Batch and update Stock via Inventory?

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, We are building an automation where a user enters batch details (Batch Number, Mfg Date, Expiry, and Quantity) into a Custom Module. I need this to trigger an API call to Zoho Inventory to: Create the new batch for the item. Increase the
                                                                                                                • Zoho Projects : Task should auto-update to 'In Progress' if timer started

                                                                                                                  Namaskaram. Right now, if a Task's timer is started, the Task stays in 'Not Started' status. One has to manually update it to 'In Progress'. From a #uxdesign standpoint, it is an unnecessarily two step process to start working on a task. It would be better that, if I start the timer on a task, it should automatically change to 'In Progress' status. Crafted with ❤️ Zoho Gurus | Zoho One Practice Team @ CubeYogi Zoho Authorised Partner | 7+ Yrs | 200+ Projects | 100+ Customers
                                                                                                                • Invoice template with sales tax totals

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone,  I am trying to edit my invoice template so that only the total sales tax collected for my tax group shows up. Right now, under by sub total, each individual tax shows up and that takes up a lot of unnessary space, so I just want the one
                                                                                                                • Zoho Delayed Posting & Loss of Article Thumbnails on BlueSky

                                                                                                                  Hello! I am wondering if anyone else has had the either of the following issues when posting to socials via Zoho and if there is a fix? 1. Post says it is scheduled or it is live when sent off via Zoho but it doesn't show up on socials till some time
                                                                                                                • Connection Not Secure (Certificate Mismatch) Error

                                                                                                                  Hi, Just a fyi, when you go to https://bigin.zohocloud.ca/bigin/Home you get a "Your Connection Is Not private" error. (Certificate mismatch to domain.) I get to that page after I have signed up and signed in as a customer and select the Access Bigin
                                                                                                                • Recording the Investment

                                                                                                                  Hello, - One Investor Invested to our company, So how do we record investment which we received in our bank in the Zoho books ? - How do we record if we provide shares to the investor in the Zoho books? Thanks
                                                                                                                • Export Invoices to XML file

                                                                                                                  Namaste! ZOHO suite of Apps is awesome and we as Partner, would like to use and implement the app´s from the Financial suite like ZOHO Invoice, but, in Portugal, we can only use certified Invoice Software and for this reason, we need to develop/customize on top of ZOHO Invoice to create an XML file with specific information and after this, go to the government and certified the software. As soon as we have for example, ZOHO CRM integrated with ZOHO Invoice up and running, our business opportunities
                                                                                                                • Client and Vendor portal at the same time

                                                                                                                  We have companies that serve both as clients and vendors and they are linked. However, we have a problem giving them access to the vendor/client portal. If they accept the invitation from the client portal, when we try to invite them to the vendor portal
                                                                                                                • Integrate Multiple ZohoBooks organization with zoho projects

                                                                                                                  We have successfully connected our Zoho Books with Zoho Projects for synronizing timesheet data. Our Business specialty is, that the staff of the Main company (A) is working on several projects, but the Clients are sometimes contracted and paying to a
                                                                                                                • ZOHO CRM Button Integration

                                                                                                                  Hi Team, I’m currently working with Zoho CRM along with a custom application where I fetch deal details from the CRM and use them based on my requirements for each deal. Now, I want to enhance this setup. I plan to create a button on the Deal Detail page
                                                                                                                • Ways to calculate the difference form two years or months

                                                                                                                  Hi to everyone I have this request: I need to show the difference or variation from two periods (years or months) whether using a Pivot View or a graph, in this is case is better in a Pivot view. In the pivot view I will have the amount or results from
                                                                                                                • Zoho CRM strips whitespace in text fields

                                                                                                                  When editing field text with multiple spaces: CRM - both UI and API trim / compress the whitespace to a single space when saving: Is this known / expected / documented behaviour?
                                                                                                                • Career site URL - Suggestion to modify URL of non-english job posting

                                                                                                                  Hi, I would like to suggest making a few modification to career sites that are not in english. Currently, the URL are a mix of different languages and are very long. It makes for very unprofessional looking URLs... Here is an example of one of our URL
                                                                                                                • Uplifted homepage experience

                                                                                                                  Editions: All editions. Availability update: 17th February 2026: All editions in the CA and SA DC | JP DC (Free, Standard and Professional editions) 23 February 2026: JP (All Editions) | AU, CN (Free, Standard, Professional editions) 27 February 2026:
                                                                                                                • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

                                                                                                                  Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards
                                                                                                                • How to update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho CRM, How do I update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records at once? To give you a background, these leads were uploaded or Imported at once but the lead status record was incorrectly chosen. So since there was a way to quickly add records in the system no matter how many they are, we are also wondering if there is a quicker way to update these records to the correct "Lead Status". I hope our concern makes sense and that there will be a fix for it. All the best, Jonathan
                                                                                                                • Introducing Contract Settings & Backdated Contracts in Zoho Contracts

                                                                                                                  We are rolling out updates that give you more control over how contracts are created and managed in Zoho Contracts. From defining default workflows with Contract Settings to aligning agreements with real timelines using Backdated Contracts, these enhancements
                                                                                                                • Celebrating our customers on International Client's Day

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, Every customer is part of our Zoho Desk family, and we wouldn’t want to miss celebrating you on this special day. This International Client's Day, we’d like to take a moment to appreciate every customer who has helped us grow and build meaningful
                                                                                                                • Zoho Books | Product updates | February 2026

                                                                                                                  Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From Advanced Reporting Tags to the ability to mark projects as completed, explore the latest updates designed to improve your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Advanced Reporting
                                                                                                                • Faster Ticket Response with use of Snippets in comments

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, Responding to tickets often involves repeating the same messages, whether it is sharing updates with customers or leaving notes for internal collaboration. To make this easier and more consistent, we are allowing agents to use snippets
                                                                                                                • Improving Zoho Creator's email deliverability

                                                                                                                  Hi all, We're pleased to announce updates to email handling in Zoho Creator to improve the deliverability of the emails sent from the Creator platform. These updates have been designed keeping in mind the fact that emails from domains with strong sender
                                                                                                                • What's New in Zoho Billing | February 2026

                                                                                                                  February brings a powerful set of updates to Zoho Billing, from smarter subscription management and flexible payment options to better reporting and more control over your hosted pages. Here's everything that's new this February. Create Subscriptions
                                                                                                                • Next Page