Create performance review cycle

Creating a performance review cycle is crucial for evaluating and improving employee performance, aligning individual and organizational goals, and fostering a culture of communication, development, and accountability within the organization.

Based on their organization’s requirements, HR/admins can create and configure the workflows in the performance review cycle. Learn more in Performance user guide for Admins.

Navigate to Performance > Cycles.

  1. Click CREATE, type the cycle name, and select the cycle type.

You can create three types of performance cycles: Focal Point Review, Hire Date Based Review, and Work Anniversary Review.

Follow the steps to create a performance cycle:

      1. Cycle Information
      2. Rating Scale
      3. Process Configuration
      4. Review Form Sections
      5. Post Review
      6. Notifications
      7. Summary

Create Cycle1

  2.   In Cycle Information step, type the cycle description, set the start and end dates of the cycle, and click NEXT.

Note: In the hire date based and work anniversary reviews, the employees are automatically added to the review cycle based on their hire date.

  3.   In the Rating Scale step, select the rating type as required.

You can select the Numeric Rating or Verbal Rating. You can configure the Verbal Rating in the ADVANCED SETTINGS. Learn more in Glossary in Performance.

In the ADVANCED SETTINGS, you can perform the following actions as required:

  • Show the rating scale to the employees in their review form.
  • Change the name of the rating scale (for example, to evaluation scale, performance scale, assessment scale, or grading scale).
  • Include Not Applicable (N/A) as a rating option in the rating scale.
  • Round off the average rating.

Note: If you enable Round off the average rating, the final rating on the review form is rounded off to the nearest whole number. For example, if an employee's average rating is 3.3, it gets rounded off to 3.

  • Add a grading scale, configure it, and click NEXT.

Note: In the grading scale, if you add the

  • Correct minimum and immediate next maximum grades, the rating appears as grades in the performance review form.
  • Incorrect minimum and maximum grades, the rating appears as Out of range in the performance review form.

Note: Employees and managers cannot see the actual calculation of the grading scale. It is visible only to the admins.

  4.   In the Process Configuration step, you can allow participants, set up timelines, and configure the review process flow in the performance review cycle as required.

  • You can perform the following actions:
    • Allow employees to self-review and set the start and end dates for it.
    • Rollback employees' reviews for editing and allow managers to rollback.
    • Decide whether reviewers can begin their reviews before employees’ submit their reviews.
    • Set manager’s review start and end dates.
    • Make manager review visible to employee immediately upon submission.
    • Decide visibility for reviews.
    • Decide skip-level manager capabilities in the review.

If you include a skip-level manager in the review process, you can decide whether they can only Approve Review, Edit Manager Review, or both. If you enable Approve Review, the skip-level reviewer can either approve the manager’s review or rollback it, allowing the manager to edit their review and resubmit it. If you enable Edit Manager Review, the skip-level reviewer can only edit and approve the ratings and comments of the manager’s review.

  • In ADVANCED SETTINGS, you can perform the following actions:
    • Decide who can assign/recall templates.
    • Decide how to share the template.

Note: If you select AUTOMATIC, the employees can view the template after adding them to the cycle. If you select MANUAL, you have to assign and share the template manually.

    • Decide who can share the template if you select MANUAL.
    • Invite additional reviewers if the employees are collaborating with multiple teams.
    • Decide who can invite additional reviewers.

Note: You can decide who can invite additional reviewers only if you include them in the review process.

    • Allow Employees to view additional reviewer's comments.

Note: Additional reviewer's can only comment on the employee’s performance.

    • Allow managers to view employee's review.
    • Allow additional reviewers to view employee's and manager’s reviews.
    • Decide what ratings employees can view when the manager shares their review, like overall ratings and/or section and sub-section ratings.
    • Decide whether managers can delegate their reviews to others.
  • Click NEXT.

Create a performance review cycle2

  5.   In the Review Form Sections step, you can configure the sections and reorder them, which reflects in the review form.

Click REORDER, drag the Six Dot Six dot icon-1 Icon to reorder the sections, and click SAVE.

Note: You must enable the sections to reorder them.

If required, you can rename the following sections:

Hover over the sections and click the Edit edit grey-2 Icon to rename them.

    • Employee overall remarks
    • Manager overall remarks
    • HR overall remarks
    • Employee Leadership Potential
    • Review Notes
    • Development Plans
    • Training Recommendations
    • One on One meetings
    • HR Recommendations
  • In the Review Form Sections, you can perform the following actions:
    • Enable/disable manager overall remarks with their ratings and comments.
    • Enable/disable employees’ overall remarks with their ratings and comments.
    • Enable/disable HR overall remarks.

Note: HR/admins can only comment on the employees’ performance.

    • Enable/disable employee leadership potential.

If you enable leadership potential, you can perform the following:

      • Allow employees to view their potential rating.
      • Allow the manager to determine whether the employee is not applicable to leadership potential.
      • Determine employee potential by ratings or questionnaire as required.
      • Edit/add potential and performance ratings/questionnaire for the 9-box grid.

Engagedly offers you pre-defined questions created by industry experts. Each question has a weightage.

The 9-box grid displays the employee’s and manager’s ratings in the review form.

Note: The 9-box rating is available for the focal point and work anniversary reviews.

Create Cycle3

    • Enable/disable manager recommendations.

The manager recommendation questions are visible only to the managers on the review form.

    • Allow Employees to view Manager recommendations.
    • Enable/disable review notes, development plans, training recommendations, one-on-one meetings, and HR recommendations.
    • Decide who can add training recommendations.
  • Click NEXT.

  6.   In the Post Review step, you can perform the following actions:

Note: If you enable the sign-off, by default, the employees have to sign-off.

    • Enable/disable the sign-off for reviewers and/or HR.

Note: The employees do not get sign-off if you do not make their manager’s review visible to them.

    • Edit the sign-off message.
    • Enable/disable resolution workflow for employees, allowing them to request resolution if they have any issues with their manager’s ratings/comments.

Note: You can enable the resolution workflow for employees only if the sign-off is enabled.

  • Enable/disable the post-review feedback questionnaire.

The post-review feedback start date should be lesser than the cycle end date and greater than the manager review due date.

Note: Post-review feedback questionnaire will be automatically sent to all the employees who were part of the review cycle after they sign-off.

  • Click NEXT.
  7.    In the Notifications step, you can set up reminders to remind the participants involved in the performance review cycle about their actions.
  • Click NEXT.

  8.   In Summary step, you can view the cycle configurations that you have set and click SAVE.

After creating a cycle, you can add the employees to it. You can modify the cycle if required. Learn more in Manage performance review cycle.