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

      • Archiving Contacts

        How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?

      • Filtering in Help Center

        Hi, our ticket system is based on a set of structured status categories. The customer must be able to filter by these status. How can we add "Status" as filter to the help center. In the same moment we do not need filters e.g. as "channel". How can we

      • On Edit Validation Blueprint

        Hello, I have a notes field and a signature field. When the Approve button is clicked, the Signature field will appear and must be filled in. When the Reject button is clicked, the Notes field will appear and must be filled in. Question: Blueprint will

      • Google Fonts Integration in Pagesense Popup Editor

        Hello Zoho Pagesense Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Pagesense’s popup editor with Google Fonts support. Current Limitation: Currently, Pagesense offers a limited set of default fonts. Google Fonts

      • Increase Round Robin Scheduler Frequency in Zoho Desk

        Dear Zoho Desk Team, We hope this message finds you well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Round Robin Scheduler in Zoho Desk to better address ticket assignment efficiency. Current Behavior At present, the Round Robin Scheduler operates

      • Feature Request – Conditional Visitor Information Request in Zoho SalesIQ

        We would like to request the ability to conditionally ask for visitor details based on the communication channel used in Zoho SalesIQ. Specifically: When a visitor initiates a conversation through the live chat widget on the website, we want to continue

      • Can multiple agents be assigned to one ticket on purpose?

        Is it possible to assign one ticket to two or more agents at a time? I would like the option to have multiple people working on one ticket so that the same ticket is viewable for those agents on their list of pending tickets. Is something like this currently

      • Where is the settings option in zoho writer?

        hi, my zoho writer on windows has menu fonts too large. where do i find the settings to change this option? my screen resolution is correct and other apps/softwares in windows have no issues. regards

      • When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

        When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

      • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

        Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

      • Can we add zoho sign to a custom module?

        i understand out of the box it works with 8 modules. is it possible to add it to a custom module?

      • Synching changes to Stripe when changes are made in Zoho Billing

        We have a situation where we have merged customers in Zoho BIlling and then found out later that the payment in Stripe was not updated and still associated with the old customer record. The card gets updated and billed, but that payment is still associated

      • Zoho Sign Not Delivering

        I have sent several contracts out via Zoho Sign.   They do not seem to be getting delivered.  I had one person receive it, but the others have not.   I had one person tell me they sent it back to me and never got it and doesn't show as signed.  I've sent

      • Update latitude & longitude address field API

        How do I update the coordinates of an address field from a widget? I can't modify the latitude and longitude of the address field. I think the problem is how I'm writing formdata variable. zoho_init.then(function (data) { var queryParams = ZOHO.CREATOR.UTIL.getQueryParams();

      • Bank Feeds Breaking Constantly

        Hey Everyone, I have already reached out to support about this issue but I am wondering if anyone else is having the same issue. My bank feeds keep breaking within days of me fixing them by updating the credentials. Its been happening for a while and

      • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

        Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

      • Zoho Payroll's USA and KSA editions are available in Zoho One!

        Greetings! We’re excited to share that Zoho Payroll, currently available only in India and the UAE, is now introducing the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) edition and the USA (United States of America) edition, and these editions are now available in Zoho

      • 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,

      • Tip #63- Exploring Technician Console: Elevate to Admin Mode (Windows & Mac)- 'Insider Insights'

        Hello Zoho Assist Community! Ever been in a remote support session where you couldn’t complete a task because you didn’t have admin privileges? Maybe installing software, accessing secure system areas, or rebooting into Safe Mode just didn’t work because

      • Prevent accidental duplicate entry of Customer Ordersome

        Zoho Support has confirmed that Zoho currently does not have any method (using Deluge, flow or any other method) to alert a user when a sales order has been entered twice using the same customer reference number (i.e. a duplicate). Most ERP platforms

      • Zoho Mail - Email Reminder template (default)

        Zoho Mail Users, Does anybody here use the email reminder template? I'm asking Zoho to allow and add us to select which one of our many templates will be our default. It allows us to operate more efficiently. It's a Checkbox. If you feel this can benefit

      • Windows Desktop App - request to add minimization/startup options

        Support Team, Can you submit the following request to your development team? Here is what would be optimal in my opinion from UX perspective: 1) In the "Application Menu", add a menu item to Exit the app, as well as an alt-key shortcut for these menus

      • Zoho CRM Quotes – Subform and PDF/Writer Limitations

        Hello, I am encountering the following limitations in Zoho CRM Quotes: Custom product images cannot be uploaded in the subform – the image upload field cannot be added; only the file upload field is available. File upload placeholders cannot be used in

      • Canva Integration

        Hello! As many marketing departments are streamlining their teams, many have begun utilizing Canva for all design mockups and approvals prior to its integration into Marketing automation software. While Zoho Social has this integration already accomplished,

      • Announcement integration between Zoho People and Zoho Connect

        As we're using these 2 products, there're areas of overlapping especially in the Announcement. When there's a new announcement in Zoho People, can it push to the company wall in Zoho Connect?

      • Does Zoho Mail Have Popout windows?

        I recently switched my work email over to Zoho and everything I read said that you can popout the draft email as you're writing, however, all the pictures or info I've seen show the typical popout arrow in the top right, which I can not for the life of

      • Can I reorder how the staff are displayed on the booking page?

        As the title suggests, can I change this? Either reorder manually reoreded to my preference, or automatically (a-z, z-a etc.)

      • FSM integration with Books

        Hi, I have spent a few months working with FSM and have come across a critical gap in the functionality, which I find almost shocking....either that, or I am an idiot. The lack of bi-directional sync between Books and FSM on Sales Orders/ Work Orders

      • Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce

        I dont know if I am not looking into it properly but is there no option to bulk upload images along with the products? Like after you upload the products, I will have to upload images one by one again? Can someone help me out here? And what should I enter

      • 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

      • Filter Records in CRM API

        Hi Team, I’m currently working on a task to retrieve expired deals from the CRM. By “expired deals,” I mean deals where the closing date has already passed and the stage is not “Closed Won” or “Closed Lost” (i.e., all other stages). I tried using both

      • Subheaders for Sections in forms

        Currently, every form section has a field name, which one can choose to show/hide to the end user. It would be great if there was an option to show a SUB-HEADER in addition to a header. It would be useful for explaining to the end user what the section

      • Custom view inconsistencies

        Why is "is not" missing from criteria, along with other comparison operators ??? It makes it almost impossible to build required custom views, I don't want "void" invoices listed & why on earth would "Void" invoices be showing when the criteria includes

      • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

        Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

      • Promote a layout to standard so I can delete one layout

        Similar to this and many other topics: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/set-layout-as-standard The problem, every model has a standard layout, which is what we use most of the time... But as the business grows and evolves we may have to

      • Adding VENDOR SKU to PURCHASE ORDERS

        how can we add the Vendor SKU when issuing a Purchase Order , so the PO shows the Supplier SKU and our own Internal SKU , which is what we want to receive into the system .

      • Can Zia summarize fields?

        A great use case of AI for me would be summarizing company descriptions. We often get long winded descriptions from databases or scraping websites, then reduce them to a couple of sentences stating what a company actually does. Is there any way within

      • Zoho Recruit Community Meet-up - India (Venues Finalised)

        Zoho Recruit Community Meet-up - India (Venues Finalised) Namaste, India. 🙏🏼 The Zoho Recruit team is hitting the road—and we're absolutely excited behind the scenes. Join us for the Zoho Recruit India Meet-up 2026, a morning designed to make your recruiting

      • [Webinar] Solving business challenges: Secure, real-time, and external collaboration

        Hi Zoho Writer users, We are excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for March 2026: Solving business challenges: Secure, real-time, and external collaboration. Zoho Writer supports real-time collaboration by allowing teams to work together in documents.

      • Table dimensions

        I try changing the dimensions of the table on my computer but it doesn't change. Do I have to be a premium member or does it only work on the app?

      • Next Page