University Human Resources

University HR is deeply committed to the faculty, staff, temporary workers, student employees, and retirees who embrace and advance Stanford’s mission.

We honor them by promoting an inclusive and innovative workplace and support them by ensuring Stanford is the best-led, best-managed university in the world.

We guide key employment-related services and support, including:

Compensation
Benefits Programs
Employee & Labor Relations
Employee Support Programs & Services, including Wellness and Distributed Work
Global HR

HR Strategic Services, including Employee Communication, Strategic Projects,
and Organizational Change Management
Talent Management & Workforce Strategy, including Talent Acquisition
University-Wide HR Processes, Systems, and Policies

University HR Departments

Elizabeth Zacharias
Vice President for Human Resources

Office of the Vice President for Human Resources

The Office of the Vice President for Human Resources ensures that Stanford delivers a consistent, exceptional workplace for all employees. We lead the university-wide programs and services that are the cornerstone of the Stanford employee experience, empowering managers and employees to thrive personally and professionally as they advance the university's mission. We work across school and unit HR teams and alongside university leaders to share insights and address the dynamic needs of our workforce, working together to achieve more for Stanford employees.

Chief of Staff

With a broad view of new and ongoing initiatives and our available resources and technology, we drive critical decision-making and leadership through change. We are co-designers of the Stanford HR Strategy and champions of its success and serve as catalysts for information sharing across Stanford HR. We manage University HR’s financial operations, project portfolio, strategic employee communication, and organizational change management partnerships so that we can explore, prioritize, and plan what is possible.

Employee & Labor Relations

The Employee & Labor Relations team has expertise in addressing workplace issues so that employees and managers can focus on what they do best. We are a resource for employee concerns, including discrimination and harassment complaints, and a resource to HR business partners and managers in handling issues related to employee performance, conduct, workplace accommodations, and more. Our guidance and assistance in resolving complex employment issues promotes and contributes to a fair, respectful, diverse, and high-performance culture.

Employee Support Programs & Services

Stanford was an early adopter, and is now a leader, in offering employee programs that support your holistic well-being, purpose, and goals in life. We manage university-wide wellness offerings, mental and emotional health support, distributed work, workplace experience design, family care and financial assistance, worklife integration programs, and on-site child care operator partnerships. With compassion and skill, we meet with people across Stanford every day to connect them with resources and support to help them navigate the competing demands of care and work.

HR Community

Every day, we inspire, elevate, and engage Stanford HR. We create connections across our vibrant HR community so there is space to share discoveries and insights, harness collective wisdom, make informed decisions, and provide proactive and consistent support to employees. We are co-designers of the Stanford HR Strategy and champions of its success, and we create development pathways for our HR talent so that everyone in the function is poised to lead with confidence, creativity, and purpose.

Talent Management & Workforce Strategy

Stanford attracts and retains the best talent in the world to do the best work in the world. We design strategies and solutions that support university-wide workforce initiatives, empowering HR business partners and managers to find, manage, develop, and promote the talent they need to advance Stanford’s mission. We promote the university’s commitment to lifelong learning through skill building and mentorship, and we believe in the power of manager effectiveness.

Total Rewards & Operations

Behind each moment that matters in an employee’s work life, there is a core set of systems, operations, and program support that must work in concert to create an exceptional, respectful experience at Stanford. We maintain foundational systems and processes, orchestrate a suite of health, life, and retirement savings benefits programs, and manage staff compensation so that candidates, active employees, and retirees are empowered to explore all that is available to them. We provide counsel to HR business partners and university leaders on how best to leverage our technology and data insights to design solutions for their workforce goals.