FAS Department Administrator Exit Checklist

  • Collect official notice in writing from employee. Collect resignation letter from employee. The letter should include their departure date (last date worked). It is customary for employees to provide at least two weeks’ notice. Note: for employees who are leaving the University, their last day must be a day worked, it cannot be taken as Paid Time Off.
     
  • Determine if the employee needs to receive their final paycheck on their last day of employment. Employees who are involuntarily terminated must receive their final paycheck, including accrued/unused vacation, on their last date of employment. Harvard’s payroll, however, does not have the flexibility to reliably provide someone with that final paycheck on short notice. As a result, FAS will be following this final paycheck process.

    This new process recommends, whenever possible, coordinating the employee’s last day of employment with the regular payroll cycle. Because Payroll will need to manually add the last week of pay to the final paycheck it is important to follow the schedule outlined in the final paycheck process. This means that departments will need to pay someone who is involuntarily terminated beyond their last day of actual work so that the last date of employment coincides with the next paycheck. (In some cases, this could mean paying the someone for an additional three weeks.)  Departments will have to use salary savings to cover this additional time. Please contact your HR Consultant or your HR or Payroll Coordinator if you have questions.
     

  • Complete the proper forms in Aurora. Department Administrator should then submit the termination action in Aurora, which must be completed for every departing employee. Coordinate TDA paperwork with appropriate parties.
     
  • Notify your FAS HR Consultant that the employee is leaving. We value our departing employee’s opinions--by communicating the employee’s departure date with FAS HR, FAS HR will ensure that employee receives an FAS exit interview. For grades 57 and above, this will be coordinated with the designated FAS HR Consultant/for grades below 57, this will be coordinated with the designated HR Coordinator. Immediately notify FAS HR of a resignation so the appropriate contact can reach out to the departing employee for this conversation.
     
  • Ensure all time and absences are recorded in PeopleSoft Absence Management. If you are a time reporter, be sure to report all time and absences. If you are an exempt employee, be sure to report all absences.

    If the employee is transferring unused vacation time into a Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) Plan account, make note of it in the comment section of the termination action. If the employee gives you their completed Salary Reduction Agreement/Tax Deferred Annuity Plan form, please attach it to their termination action in Aurora. Otherwise, any remaining vacation or longer service vacation time will be paid out on the last paycheck.

    If the last day worked at the University is before the 15th of the month, employees do not accrue vacation for that month. However, if the last day worked at the University is on or after the 15th of the month, accruals are awarded.
     
  • Collect all Harvard University property. Collect all Harvard property including the employee's Harvard ID card, keys, cell phone, laptop computer, PCard, iPad, or Corporate Card, and any other Harvard property prior to the employee leaving. This includes any property that the employee might have taken (such as a chair, laptop stand, etc.) to work remotely.
     
  • Ensure understanding of loss of employee access to email and online resources. Access to email, calendar, and FAS online resources for employees who are leaving the University will be disabled upon their designated departure date. 30 days after the staff member’s designated departure date (when their email is disabled), their email and calendar will be deleted entirely.

    FAS staff members who transfer within FAS or to other HUIT-supported schools or units will continue to have Office365 email and calendar access. However, FAS HR must be notified in advance to ensure that there is no gap in their employment status.

    FAS staff members who transfer to another Harvard schools or unit that HUIT does not support will lose access to FAS online resources, including their email and calendar. (HUIT does not currently support email and calendar for HKS, HLS, HBS, HUPD, or HUHS.)

    This policy does NOT apply to faculty appointments.
     
  • Ensure updated forwarding US Postal Address and personal email address. Remind departing employee to input his/her US Postal forwarding address in PeopleSoft through “Employee Self Service,” and request that they provide a personal email address as well. This will ensure that they will receive all future correspondence, such as W-2 mailings and retirement information.
     
  • Preserve Harvard documents and data. Before an employee departs, ask them to copy or transfer ownership of relevant, work-related documents or data that they have on their computer, OneDrive, Google Drive, personal folders on the FAS shared drive, or consumer services that they may be using such as Dropbox or Evernote.
     
  • Remove any special online access. Ask whether the departing employee has access to any of the shared systems or accounts below. If so, then notify the employee’s manager, HUIT, and/or the appropriate system administrators.
    • Shared departmental accounts or proxy access to others’ calendars
    • Online applications or databases that are local to the department
    • Administrator accounts or privileges on network drives, devices, or servers
    • Special VPN access (e.g., specific VPN tunnels)