HR Systems

Sequoia changes how you and your team record work hours and request leave.

Exempt employees no longer submit a time card each pay period. Instead, both exempt and non-exempt employees request absences as they plan and take time away. This means fewer approvals for managers of exempt staff while still maintaining accurate records of vacation, sick time, and other leaves. If an employee makes a correction after the fact, the update automatically routes to you for approval.

Non-exempt employees use a new horizontal time card layout to record work hours, and your approval is requested via an automated workflow. A view-only record of absences requested is visible on the time card to facilitate entry of accurate work hours.

Sequoia also allows you and your team to plan leaves in advance, giving you greater visibility into upcoming absences and helping you prepare for staffing coverage. (Note: Some tools and functions remain in Axess, just not time cards.)

Find approval requirements by employee type, workflow, delegation guidance, key deadlines, and more on the Manager Toolkit.

Sequoia's modern recruiting module is a single place for all steps in hiring and onboarding: Post jobs, review candidate applications, send offer letters, and move applicants through each stage of the hiring process with greater visibility and control.

Automated updates and integrated communication: Features keep you aligned with HR at every step so that you can stay informed without extra coordination.

Onboarding is also more consistent: Standardized tasks are automatically assigned to new hires, managers, and HR partners to ensure important steps aren't missed.

In addition, Sequoia introduces enhanced position management. That means you have access to clear records of position history and reporting relationships, giving you better insight into your team structure and making it easier to plan for reorganizations or future growth.

As a manager, you have direct access to initiate key HR actions for your team (after consulting with your school's or unit's HR team on certain specific actions).

This includes: Requesting job or position changes, transfers, and terminations directly in the system rather than requiring HR to begin the process.

Each request moves through a standard approval workflow: So you know where it stands, who needs to approve it, and when it has been completed.

This direct access helps you: Reduce delays and increase transparency, and allows you to manage team changes with greater confidence.

Stanford's new performance management program, Empowering, Developing, and Growing Employees (EDGE), brings a comprehensive and developmental approach to managing performance through Sequoia. This program means several important changes for managers.

With EDGE, you manage the full performance cycle in Sequoia. This includes tracking goals, conducting regular check-ins, and completing performance reviews with your team(s). Sequoia provides a centralized platform for these activities, streamlining the performance management process and ensuring consistency.

The university (except for SLAC, which operates on the government fiscal year) adopts a standardized performance cycle (May to April), allowing you to follow a unified schedule for goal setting, feedback, and performance evaluations.

As part of this new program, all performance reviews include a narrative summary and a single rating approach to support consistent and meaningful feedback. Additional details about ratings will be shared by your HR team to ensure your school or unit is fully prepared. This approach helps ensure that feedback is balanced and comprehensive, directly linking performance to compensation decisions and fostering individual growth.