All Stanford staff employees (full- and part-time) are required to report time (hours worked) and/or leave (paid time off) each pay period.
Time and leave reporting requirements apply to the following employees:
- Exempt: These employees approve timecards each pay period. See Enter or Edit Time Leave
- Non-exempt, bargaining unit, temporary, casual or hourly student employees: These employees report time, report leave and check leave balances in Axess Timecard. See Enter or Edit Time Leave
For more information about using Axess Timecard, see the Learning and How to sections on the Axess Timecard System page.
Time and leave reporting requirements do not apply to:
- Faculty, postdoctoral scholars or graduate students receiving assistantships (refer to Sick Time)
- Students on financial aid or stipends (unless they are working in a separately paid position)
Hours worked and/or leave is reported for the following pay periods:
- Beginning the 1st and ending the 15th of the month
- Beginning the 16th and ending the last day of the month
Employees receive an automated email each pay period as a reminder to complete their timecard.
Pay dates are the 7th and 22nd of each month, or the nearest preceding business day if the pay date falls on a weekend or holiday.
Refer to Payroll Schedules and Deadlines.
Each school or department determines its time and leave reporting method. Employees should ask their supervisor which method is used in their school or department. The review and approval of employee time and leave is required by university policy and helps ensure employees are paid correctly.
Axess Timecard
Most departments use Axess Timecard, the online timecard application on the Stanford Axess website.
- Staff members enter time and/or leave for each pay period.
- Staff members approve their completed online timecard.
- Supervisors and/or time and leave administrators review and approve employee timecards (refer to Axess Timecard System page)
- Payroll is run based on the approved employee timecards in Axess.
Using Default PTA
Non-exempt and hourly staff and supervisors/administrators can default the PTA field to labor distribution (LD) by selecting LD in the default PTA drop-down menu and submitting the timecard. This will populate all blank timecard shifts with LD as the PTA. Selecting LD will ensure payments are charged against the employee Labor Schedule. This can be reversed by selecting the blank default PTA drop-down option and submitting the timecard, which will populate all blank shifts with a single PTA assigned to the employee.
Note: Changing the default PTA option will update all future blank timecard shifts.
For more information about using Axess Timecard, see the Learning and How to sections on the Axess Timecard System page.
Time Clocks
Some departments use a time clock for employees to enter “In” and “Out” times. Employees must have an active University ID card to use a time clock. The ID card is swiped through the time clock when employees report to work and when they leave work. Time clock information is automatically transferred to the online timecard application in Axess for the payroll run. For assistance using the time clock, refer to Instructions for Using the Kaba Time Clock.
Manual Process
Only a few departments use a paper form or rely on email for employees to report time and/or leave. Typically, paper forms or emails are submitted for approval and then entered into the online timecard application in Axess by each department’s time and leave administrator. Payroll is run based on the approved timecards in Axess Timecard.
For more information about using Axess Timecard as a time and leave administrator, see the Learning and How to sections on the Axess Timecard System page.
View the time and leave policy regarding vacation time, accrual rates, sick leave, paid disability leave, overtime, miscellaneous authorized absences with and without pay, paid holidays and working during university holidays and closures.
Non-Exempt, Temporary and Casual Employees and Hourly-Paid Student Workers
Federal and state laws require non-exempt employees to keep an accurate daily record of hours worked, including actual start and stop times. Any overtime must be pre-approved.
Stanford policy requires that employees eligible for leave also report paid time off. For a breakdown of annual leave types and hours, see Axess Timecard Leave Accrual Rates.
Exempt Employees
Exempt employees do not report time worked. However, they are required to report leave (paid time off) or approve their blank timecard if they do not have leave to report for the pay period. Leave is normally reported as follows:
- Vacation, floating holiday and personal time off (PTO) are reported in four-hour increments
- Sick leave may be reported in hourly increments
There are two ways to view Stanford employee accrued leave balances for vacation, PTO, floating holiday and sick time:
- From the "My Axess" home page and Axess Timecard application
- Reviewing the hard copy or online advice notice/pay statement
