Holidays in Zoho CRM are typically managed through related Zoho products like Zoho Shifts or Zoho People rather than directly within CRM itself. However, you can configure public holidays for your organization, and third-party extensions allow you to reference holiday data in CRM workflows and date-based operations.
Why this matters
If your team uses Zoho CRM alongside HR or scheduling tools, marking public holidays ensures accurate payroll calculations, prevents scheduling conflicts, and helps with date-dependent operations like timesheets and delivery planning. Holiday configuration also supports compliance with regional observances and helps employees plan work around non-working days.
Step-by-step
Step 1. Determine where to configure holidays.
Holidays are primarily set up in Zoho Shifts or Zoho People, not directly in Zoho CRM. If you're using Zoho Shifts for scheduling, navigate to Settings > Public Holidays to add organization-wide holidays [1]. If you use Zoho People, access the holiday configuration through Leave > Holidays [3]. This distinction matters because CRM itself doesn't have a native holiday module—it relies on data from these companion products.
Step 2. Add a public holiday (Zoho Shifts method).
In Zoho Shifts, click +Add Public Holiday [1]. Enter a description for the holiday (for example, "Christmas Day" or "Independence Day"), then select the start and end dates [1]. Click Save [1]. You can edit or delete holidays later using the options next to each record [1]. Note: you'll need the Manage account and other settings permission to perform this action [1].
Step 3. Set location or shift-based holidays (if applicable).
If your organization has multiple office locations or shift schedules, Zoho People supports location-based and shift-based holiday rules [3]. This ensures employees only see holidays relevant to their work location or schedule, reducing confusion in distributed teams.
Step 4. Sync holidays to external calendars (optional).
Zoho People allows you to synchronize your holiday calendar with Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook [3]. This step is optional but useful if your team members prefer to view holidays in their personal calendar applications without opening Zoho.
Step 5. Use a third-party extension to reference holidays in CRM (advanced).
If you need to query holiday data directly within Zoho CRM—for example, to exclude public holidays from working-day calculations or timesheet logic—consider installing a region-specific extension from the Zoho Marketplace [8]. These extensions add a public holidays module to CRM and allow workflows to check holiday dates when processing date-dependent operations [8].
Common pitfalls
- Confusing CRM with HR tools. Zoho CRM does not have a built-in holidays feature. Always configure holidays in Zoho Shifts or Zoho People first, then sync or reference them in CRM if needed.
- Forgetting permission checks. You must have the Manage account and other settings permission in Zoho Shifts to add or edit public holidays [1]. If you can't see the Public Holidays menu, ask your administrator to grant this permission.
- Overlooking regional variations. If your company operates in multiple countries or regions, ensure you set up location-based or shift-based holidays so employees see only applicable dates [3].
What to check
- Verify that holidays appear in the schedule editor when you create new shifts or schedules in Zoho Shifts [1].
- Confirm that employees can view the holiday list through self-service portals in Zoho People [3] and that notifications are enabled so they receive reminders about upcoming holidays [3].
- If using a CRM extension, test a workflow or report that references holiday dates to ensure it correctly excludes or flags public holidays in your calculations.
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*Beam Help — independent expert support for Zoho. This article is not official Zoho support.*