How to manage business Hours in Zoho CRM
Introduction
Setting up business hours correctly in Zoho CRM helps your organisation operate smoothly across different time zones and shifts. Whether your team works 9–5 in the UK or covers international hours in the US, India, or Japan, Zoho CRM allows you to define custom working hours, assign shifts, add holidays, and even manage break times.
By configuring this properly, your CRM activities—like task scheduling, event planning, workflow automation, and reporting—will align seamlessly with your team’s actual availability.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Set Up Your Business Hours
To define your organisation’s working hours:
1) Go to Setup > General > Company Settings > Business Hours.
2) Click Create Business Hour
3) Choose from the following options:
- 24 Hours x 7 Days – For around-the-clock operations
- 24 Hours x 5 Days – For standard Monday–Friday schedules
- Custom Hours – Tailor working hours to your needs:
- Same hours every day – e.g. 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Mon–Fri
- Same hours every day – e.g. 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Mon–Fri
- Custom Hours – Tailor working hours to your needs:
4 )Choose the first day of your organisation’s working week (e.g. Monday)
5) Click Save
📝 Tip: You can set 24-hour operations even when choosing custom hours.
2. Create and Assign Shifts
If your team operates across time zones or in different shifts (e.g. night or weekend support), you can assign shift hours.
To create a shift:
1) Go to Setup > Company Settings > Business Hours
2) Click Create Shift Hours
3) Name your shift and select a time zone
4) Choose:
- Same hours every day or
- Different hours every day
5) Click Save
To assign a shift:
1) Edit the shift you’ve created
2) Select users from the Assign To dropdown
3) Click Done and Save
⚠️ Note: You can create up to 50 shifts. Ensure shifts fall within your business hours to avoid conflicts.
3. Add Break Hours
Break times help indicate when a user is unavailable during their shift.
To add break hours:
1) After setting shift hours, click Break Hours
2) Select:
- Same hours every day or
- Different hours every day
3) Choose the break times
4) Click Done and Save
4. Create Holiday Lists
Manage global and shift-specific holidays for different regions or teams.
To create a holiday list:
1) Go to Setup > Company Settings > Holidays
2) Click Create Holiday List
3) Select the Year
4) Choose Apply to Shift (appears only if shifts are created)
5) Add holiday names and dates
6) Click Save
You can also:
- Edit a holiday list to update dates or assignments
- Clone a holiday list to reuse it for other years or teams
- Use Suggested Holidays for quick auto-fill by country (e.g. UK, India, US, etc.)
5. Mark Yourself as Unavailable in the Calendar
To block time in your calendar:
1) Click the Calendar icon
2) Choose a date and click Create
3) Select Mark As Unavailable
4) Set the time and add a comment (optional)
5) Click Save
Private events synced from tools like Google Calendar are marked as “Unavailable” in Zoho CRM.
Tips for Getting Started
- When setting holidays, use Zoho’s Suggested Holidays > United Kingdom for quick setup.
- Align business hours to your UK team’s core working schedule, then create shift exceptions for overseas teams.
- Use clear naming conventions for shifts (e.g. “UK – Support Team” or “US – Morning Shift”) for better management.
- Regularly review and update shifts, breaks, and holidays at the start of each year or quarter.
