HRMS User Roles: Seven Ready Roles to Start From

Most Indian companies have the same handful of HR system users: the owner or company head, HR, accounts, the person who runs payroll, line managers, employees and, once a year, an auditor. ZeniaHR seeds seven roles for them in one click, each with module rights, a data scope and field masking already set. The Company Head then adjusts what the company does differently instead of starting from an empty table.

How it works

In Access Control, a company with no roles yet clicks Seed default roles.
Seven system roles appear: Company Head, HR, Finance, Payroll Admin, Manager, Employee and Auditor.
Each comes with rights per module, a data scope and masking for salary, bank and contact.
The Company Head opens each role and changes the ticks where the company works differently.
Custom roles can be added alongside, for example Plant HR with Branch scope.
Once enforcement is on, each role applies to users whose login role has the same name.

What you can set

Company Head: full rights in every module, including configure and finalize, across all data.
HR: full rights on dashboard, employees, attendance, leave, payroll, documents, reports and tasks; view on settings; all data.
Finance: full rights on payroll, reports and documents; view on employees, attendance and leave.
Payroll Admin: runs and finalizes payroll, full rights on reports and documents, view on employees, attendance and leave.
Manager: attendance and leave rights for the reporting line; view on dashboard and employees; salary and bank masked.
Employee: Self scope, with view of their own dashboard, attendance, leave, payslips and documents.
Auditor: view and export across the main modules, no changes; salary and bank masked.

Why start from ready roles

Building roles from nothing means hundreds of tick boxes and a good chance of leaving something open. The seven ready roles reflect how most companies already work, so the job becomes reviewing rather than building. They also bring sensible defaults for data scope and masking: managers see only their reporting line, employees only themselves, and managers and auditors see salary and bank details masked. See the HR roles section for how these jobs are usually split in Indian companies.

Worked example: a 120-bed hospital in Nashik

The medical director logs in as Company Head. The HR manager and her assistant use the HR role, and the accounts head uses Finance with finalize added on payroll, so he signs off the monthly run. Nursing supervisors and department heads log in as Manager, which lets them approve leave and attendance for the people below them while salary and bank details stay masked. Nurses, technicians and housekeeping staff use the Employee role and see only their own attendance, leave, payslips and documents. The Company Head removes delete rights on employees from the HR role, since exits go through offboarding.

Adjusting the ready roles

A few changes are common in the first week after seeding. None of them needs a new role; they are small edits to the ready ones that make the defaults fit how your company actually divides work between HR, accounts and line managers.

Add finalize on payroll to the role that signs off salaries.
Remove delete rights from roles that should never remove records.
Create a branch HR role with Branch scope for multi-location companies.
Check that export is limited to people who need to take data out.

See ready-made roles in a demo

We show it on a video call with your own shifts, leave types and rules. Free for your first 50 employees.

Book a free demo See pricing

Frequently asked questions

What user roles does an HR system need?

Most companies need a company head with full access, HR, finance or accounts, someone who runs payroll, line managers, employees and occasionally an auditor. ZeniaHR seeds these seven roles in one click, each with rights per module, a data scope and salary and bank masking already set.

Can I change the rights of a ready role?

Yes. Open the role in Access Control and tick or untick actions per module, change its data scope or adjust its masking; changes save as you go. Ready roles are marked System and cannot be deleted, but their rights can be edited like any other role.

What does the ready Auditor role allow?

It can view and export the dashboard, employees, attendance, leave, payroll, documents and reports across the company, but cannot create, edit or delete anything. Salary and bank details are masked for it. The Company Head can narrow it further, for example by removing payroll, before an audit starts.

Does the ready Manager role see salaries?

Not in full. The ready Manager role sees only the manager's reporting line and has salary and bank details masked, which shows just the last four characters. Set salary to hidden if managers should not see any part of it. The role keeps full attendance and leave rights for its line.