Introduction

Performance reviews are like cats on the wall. The results can go either way – motivate and encourage employees to perform well in the future or squash down their morale and decrease employee engagement. It all depends on how the reviews are conducted and what’s discussed. Having a set performance review template will help managers clarify the discussion and prevent them from missing out on vital points that create positivity around reviews.

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Stats about performance review

Here are some really interesting stats about traditional performance review processes that should bring you to reality.

  1. About 30% of all employee performance reviews bring down employee performance!
  2. At present, about 70% of all employers are reorganizing their existing review strategies. This clearly shows that people look for a system that works better.
  3. Regarding traditional performance scoring methods, surveys state that 66% of employees who scored really well in their performance reviews aren’t the actual highest performers in the organization.
  4. Only 2% of HR employees agree that annual performance reviews do anything useful to either employers or employees.
  5. About 90% of people feel that the current performance review processes are ineffective and painful.

All these stats tell us something clearly – it is time we invested in an effective employee performance review template worth all the efforts the HR team, the managers, and the employees make in going through the process multiple times a year.

What are employee review templates?

Employee review templates are pre-defined structures that help you when you conduct any review meeting or session. Having a template is useful in multiple ways. It helps you cover everything intended for the session and allows for healthy back-and-forth communication.

An employee performance review template also ensures that you use the session for its intended purpose and your specific goals and pointers to take back after the discussion.

6 employee performance review templates

Below are six employee review templates that may help curate your own model for the next review sessions. Try conducting a session randomly with such a structured template and see the difference in their effectiveness.

  • Quarterly review template

What

Why

Quarterly performance reviews are also called performance snapshots and are conducted once every quarter to highlight short-term goals and make short action plans. A quarterly performance review template is created to ensure the review sessions are focused and concentrate only on pre-decided, short-term goals and action plans. Managers specifically prevent talking about broad or long-term goals/requirements here.

Sample performance review template questions

  1. What went right in the last three months, and what did not?
  2. Did you achieve the goals set in the last quarterly review?
  3. Did you face any challenges while achieving these goals?
  4. What do you think your goals should be for the coming quarter?
  5. How do you think your personal goals are in sync with the organization’s goals?
  6. Did you get the support you needed from your manager?

Making a plan

This performance review template usually ends up making plans for the next quarter. The session should include a rough game plan for the next 90 days, and identify ways of achieving these goals. The manager should ask the employee for the support they need to achieve the goals intended and note these down.

  • Mid-year review template

What

Why

Mid-year employee performance reviews are conducted every six months and done to discuss larger goals, challenges, achievements, and progress in the last half a year. A mid-year performance review template works when the team cannot find the bandwidth to do quarterly reviews but find annual reviews too inconsistent. This is a space to identify performance patterns and problem areas and correct them for the second half of the financial year.

Sample performance review template questions

  1. What went well in the last six months, and what didn’t?
  2. Did you think you achieved all that you intended to?
  3. How aligned was your individual goal with organizational goals?

Making a plan

Managers should intend on making slightly more elaborate goal(s) since this is a twice-a-year session. Make sure you use techniques like OKR along with this performance review template to follow through on these goals and monitor their progress over the next six months. The managers may ask for a one-on-one session before the next review meeting if they feel the employees are straying away from their intended goals and requirements.

  • Annual review template

What

Why

An annual performance review template is not often preferred these days, just because the gap between two such sessions is 12 months, and follow-ups get missed or ignored. This review happens once a year and is pretty detailed and long. An annual employee performance review template works when the organization and the employees have clear-cut goals in mind and achieving these goals is going to take the whole year. So it may not make sense to meet multiple times a year for a review.

Sample performance review template questions

  1. What were the highlights of your year?
  2. Do you think you have achieved your goals for the year?
  3. How often did you have to restrategize and rework the original goals set?
  4. How would you like to set your performance goals for the next year?
  5. What learning goals should be set up for the next year?

Making a plan

The managers and the employee sit together to chart a detailed goal plan for the next year, and since this is a once-a-year process, setting the right goal and making sure it aligns with the organizational goals is essential. This template for employee evaluation should also include the possible support the employee may need over the year to achieve these goals.

  • GOOD review template

What

Why

G-Goals

O-Obstacles

O-Opportunities

D-Decisions

This employee performance review template talks about everything that affected employee performance in the last period and is a great comprehensive template to follow.

A GOOD performance review template will answer many vital questions for the employees and the managers, including – what were the obstacles faced, what kind of opportunities the employees had, the decisions that had to be taken on either side with explanations, and how all these helped or prevented achieving goals.
Sample performance review template questions
  1. What were your initial goals, and did you achieve them?
  2. What were the biggest obstacles in your way?
  3. What are the decisions you took that you are proud of?
  4. How can the management help better your experience here?

Making a plan

A GOOD performance review template is flexible in a way that it can be conducted quarterly, mid-yearly, or yearly and still work. Future plans include identifying goals for the next review period and resolving past obstacles.

  • Self-assessment review template

What

Why

The self-assessment performance review template helps understand employee performance and behavior from the employee’s own perspective. This will help get a clearer idea of who the employee is, what they want in terms of workplace expectations, and what may be holding them back.
Sample performance review template questions
  1. Why did you rate yourself X for technical skills?
  2. Why do you feel you weren’t given enough opportunities to work on it?
  3. How do you think you have upskilled yourself in the last review period?
  4. What milestones can we use to monitor your progress for the next period?

Making a plan

Use the performance review template to identify ways of improving employee performance, identify barriers that may have prevented the employee from achieving goals in the past. Rework on problem areas and talk about how the management can support the employee for the next review period.

  • Upward feedback template

What

Why

This is a great performance review template for managers. This asks for feedback and reviews about the manager’s performance from employees and is usually anonymously shared. A manager needs to honestly know how they have been as a leader and what they can do to match employee expectations on them.
Sample performance review template questions
  1. Have I been available as a manager anytime you wanted help?
  2. What are the good things I do as a manager?
  3. What are the areas you think I should improve in?
  4. Am I a good listener?
  5. Have I solved your issues in the past?
  6. What would you rate me on my technical expertise?

Making a plan

This performance review template should be the basis for discussion when the managers go through performance reviews. This will provide an honest opinion on the past performance as a leader and identify areas of improvement.

How can technology help improve performance review sessions?

Technology can help create a customized and effective performance review template for your workplace. Do remember that there is no one-size-fits-all here. Some templates may work for certain kinds of industries and teams better than others.

The first step is to identify which of these employee review templates work for you and then build them appropriately. PossibleWorks specializes in creating PMS tools that not only create the perfect template for you but also monitor progress, identify problem areas, and fine-tune the process until you see these review sessions opening up a plethora of opportunities to both the employees and the management.

Our tools do everything, from creating OKRs, monitoring them, building a 360-degree feedback and communication culture, and improving employee engagement.

Get in touch with us to find out the perfect performance review template for your team and design them for maximum effectiveness.

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