Harvard directly employs about 342 custodians, 456 dining service employees, and 54 museum guards and parking attendants. These three groups, totalling about 900 workers, are the service employees of Harvard University.

In addition, there are about 17 major outside vendors who provide security, retail dining and custodial services to Harvard. They employ approximately 985 service employees who work on the Harvard campus. They receive compensation packages (wages, benefits, retirement, and paid time off) that are comparable to what Harvard provides its own directly-employed workers in like jobs.