A performance review is a formal process conducted by an organization to evaluate the employees job performance over a specific period. Its purpose is to provide feedback to the employees, recognize their achievements, and set goals for their improvement.

1.1. How does it work

You create a performance review template.
You create a performance review cycle.
You add the employees to the cycle.
You assign and share the template with the employees.
Employees submit self-reviews.
Reviewers submit their review on employee’s performance.
Skip-level managers review employee’s performance (if you add them to the performance cycle).
You calibrate the performance and leadership potential ratings if required.
You enable the manager review visibility to the employees.
Employees and reviewers can sign-off the performance review if you enable it.
You lock the performance review cycle.

1.2. User actions

You can perform the following actions in Performance:

Create performance review template
Create performance review cycle
Add employees to the cycle
Assign and share the template
Unassign template
Delegate your review
Invite additional reviewers
Nudge employees and reviewers to submit their reviews
Notify employees and reviewers with pending actions
Manager review visibility to employees
View the employee’s and manager’s review ratings and comments
Calibrate the performance and leadership potential ratings
Submit overall comments
Rollback employees and reviewer reviews
Sign off performance review
Lock the performance review cycle

1.3. Benefits

Different performance templates for different groups of employees within the same cycle help in simplifying the review process.
Integrate employee's goals and IDPs into performance review to track their progress and help in Training Needs Identification (TNI).
Through the Leadership Potential Assessment, HR can identify high-potential employees who can become the future leaders of the organization.

2. General settings

You can add courses to the training recommendations library. You can recommend the courses to the employees during their performance review.

Navigate to Settings > Performance.

In the Training Recommendations Library field, click ADD COURSE.

You can assign different roles and permissions to the employees to manage performance reviews, cycles, templates, settings, and calibrate ratings.

Navigate to Settings > User Management > Roles and Permissions.

Learn more in Overview of user management.

3. Create template

You can create customizable templates to fit the organization's goals, values, and specific evaluation criteria. You can include multiple sections in a template and multiple questions in a section. You can integrate the goals, IDPs, and competencies in the performance review.

After creating the template, you can assign it to the existing cycle or create a new cycle.

Note: You can assign the template to the employees who are already added to the cycle.

Learn more in Create performance review template.

After creating a template, you can edit, assign, delete, duplicate, publish it to the library, and archive it if required. Learn more in Manage performance review template.

4. Create cycle

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

You have to follow the six steps to create a performance cycle:

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

Based on your organization’s requirements, you can create performance review cycles and configure the workflows in the review cycle. While configuring the cycle, you can allow the managers and reviewers to perform some actions to manage the performance cycle. Learn more in Create performance review cycle.

After creating a cycle, you can manage it.

You can filter the cycles based on the

Cycle name
Cycle created and start date
Cycle type, such as focal point review, hire date based review, and work anniversary review
Status, such as active, halted, and archived

Click the Filter Icon to filter the cycles as required.

You can add the cycles to your favourites list. Click the Star Icon on the left side of the cycle name. You can select Only Favourites to view your favourites list of cycles.

You can view the statistics of all the cycles. Select Show Statistics to view how many participants completed the review. Statistics give the completion status of all the participants in the performance review cycle.

Learn more in Manage performance review cycle.

5. Add employees

After creating a cycle, you can add employees to it. Adding employees to the performance cycle enhances transparency, engagement, and communication, ensuring the process is fair and collaborative. It empowers employees to take ownership of their performance, fosters motivation, and helps them grow professionally.

You can access the cycle in multiple ways to add employees. Learn more in Add employees to performance review cycle.

6. Assign and share template

After adding the employees to the cycle, you can assign them the template. While configuring the cycle, you can allow managers to assign and share the template with employees.

You can assign the template to individual or multiple employees. You can filter the employees based on the departments, business units, and locations and assign different templates to different employees as required.

Note:

You cannot assign multiple templates to an employee.
While creating a cycle, in the Process Configuration, if you have selected AUTOMATIC to share the template, the employees can access the review form immediately after assigning the template.

After assigning the template, you have to share it with the employees. While creating a cycle, in the Process Configuration, if you have selected MANUAL to share the template, you have to assign and share the template manually.

You can share the template with the individual or multiple employees.

If you want to modify the template, you have to unassign it, make the necessary modifications, and save it. If you want the modified changes to reflect in the template, you have to reassign it.

Note: Unassigning the template will delete the review progress of the employees.

Learn more in Assign, unassign, and share performance templates.

7. Delegate review

You can delegate the performance reviews to someone responsible for evaluating the employees’ performance. If the employee is collaborating with multiple teams, you can delegate review to evaluate the employee’s performance to anyone in the organization. While creating a cycle, you can allow managers to delegate their review to others.

You can delegate the individual or multiple employees’ review. Learn more in Delegate performance review.

The delegate reviewers receive pending actions on the home page, in-app, and email notifications after you delegate the reviews to them.

8. Enable leadership potential

Employee leadership potential in the performance review process refers to assessing and evaluating an employee's capacity and readiness to take the leadership roles and responsibilities in an organization. While creating a cycle, you can enable the leadership potential in the Review Form Sections. The managers identify their employees who demonstrate the qualities, skills, and behaviors that suggest they have the potential to excel in leadership positions in the future.

You can enable leadership potential even after creating a cycle for individual and multiple employees. You can access the cycle in multiple ways.

After enabling it, if you want, you can disable it. Learn more in Enable or disable leadership potential in performance.

9. Nudge employees and reviewers

You can nudge the

Employees to submit their self-review.
Reviewers to submit reviews for the employees.
Employees to sign-off.
Managers to sign-off.

Learn more in Nudge employees and reviewers in performance.

10. Notify users

You can notify the individual and multiple users with pending actions in the performance review to ensure that the users complete the review process on time.

You can notify the following users with their pending actions:

- Employee with pending self-review
- Manager with the pending review
- Skip-level manager with the pending review
- Additional reviewer with the pending review
- Managers with One on One
- Users with pending sign-off

Learn more in Notify users in performance review.

11. Calibrate review ratings

Calibration in performance reviews allows managers and leaders to collaborate to achieve consistent performance ratings across the organization. It aims to align interpretations of performance standards and ratings, ensuring fair, accurate, and bias-free evaluations. It provides valuable insights into employees' strengths and areas for improvement, which are crucial for shaping effective development plans. It aligns individual performance evaluations with broader organizational goals and strategies.

You can collaborate with the managers to calibrate the performance and leadership potential ratings (if enabled in the performance cycle settings) after they submit reviews for their direct reports. The performance and leadership potential ratings are available on the 9-box rating scale, where the performance ratings are on the X-axis and the leadership potential ratings are on the Y-axis.

After calibrating the performance and leadership potential ratings, you have to publish them to make them visible to the employees. You can publish the ratings for individual and multiple employees.

After you publish, the employees can view the ratings on their review form.

Note: If you enable calibration, it is recommended to disable the manager’s review visibility to the employees immediately upon submission.

Learn more in Calibration in performance review.

After you publish, you can view and download calibration history of performance and leadership potential ratings for individual and multiple employees. You can also view the calibration history in the audit log.

12. Manager review visibility

Manager review visibility for employees is essential in the performance review cycle. If the manager review is not visible to the employees, the sign-off process will not initiate.

While creating a cycle, in the Process Configuration, admins can enable the option Make manager review visible to employee immediately upon submission. If it is not enabled, you can enable review visibility even after creating a cycle. While configuring the cycle, you can allow managers to make their reviews visible to the employees. Learn more in Manager review visibility for employees.

13. Sign-off review

The sign-off process allows employees, managers, and HR managers (if involved) to electronically sign the performance review and mark the evaluation process as completed.

Sign-off indicates that the employee and manager agree and are satisfied with the ratings and comments.

The participants with appropriate permissions can sign off on performance reviews. Sign-off initiates when all the review participants submit their reviews.

Note: While creating a cycle, you can enable sign-off to involve employees, managers/delegate reviewers, and HR Managers as required.

Learn more in Sign-off performance reviews for employees.

14. Rollback review

Employees unsatisfied with the manager’s rating and comments can request a resolution. Once the employees request a resolution, you will receive in-app and email notifications. You have to rollback the reviewer’s review.

Note: Employees can request a resolution only when you Enable resolution workflow for Employees in the cycle settings.

You can rollback any participant’s review, such as employee review, manager review, skip-level review, additional reviewer review, and HR manager review for individual and/or multiple employees as required.

Note: You can rollback the review of any participant only after they submit their review.

Resolving an issue in the performance review process involves several steps after an employee requests a resolution. Here is a general approach that organizations might follow:

1. Employee Request: The employee expresses concerns or disagreement with their performance review by formally requesting a resolution.

2. Notification to HR/Admin: You receive notification about the employee's concern.

3. Rollback of Manager's Review: You can initiate a rollback of the manager's initial review, reverting the evaluation to its pre-resolution state.

4. Manager's Adjustment: The employee's manager revisits the performance review, considers the concerns raised, and makes necessary adjustments to the ratings and comments.

5. Resubmission of Review: The manager resubmits the revised performance review.

6. Sign off Notification: The employee receives a sign-off notification indicating that the review has been updated and is ready for their acknowledgment.

7. Employee Decision: The employee has the opportunity to review the revised feedback. They can sign off on the review if they agree with the changes.

8. HR/Admin Verification: If sign-off is enabled, you can verify whether all participants involved in the performance review have acknowledged that the review process is complete.

9. Documentation: The entire process, including the initial review, resolution request, and subsequent changes, is documented for transparency and record-keeping purposes.

10. Post Review Feedback: Organizations may use the post-review feedback to improve the performance review process.

The specifics of the request resolution process may vary between the organizations. Some may have specific procedures outlined in their performance management policies, and others may involve additional layers of review or mediation. Communication and transparency throughout this process are crucial in maintaining trust and fairness in the performance review.

Learn more in Rollback performance review.

15. Lock review

You can lock the performance review to avoid further actions or modifications by the participants. It signifies the final state of the review process and ensures its integrity. You can lock individual or multiple employee reviews.

You can unlock the review, allowing the reviewers to modify their submissions in the performance reviews.

Learn more in Lock or unlock performance review.

16. Access review form

You can access the review form to provide comments, recommendations, and sign-off.

In the review form, you can add the following:

Review notes for reference, which are visible to the manager by default.

Note: You can make the review notes visible to the employees.

IDPs to the development plans or provide a comment for the employee’s development.
Courses to the training recommendations.

Learn more in Access employees review form.

17. View and export review reports

You can export the performance review reports for the active, halted, and archived cycles. You can filter the data based on the business units, departments, job titles, and locations as required. The Analytics tab gives comprehensive graphical data of the different sections of the review form. Learn more in View and export employee review reports.

You can export the performance review in PDF format. Learn more in View and export employee review form.

Performance reviews are a valuable source, which provides critical data and insights that support talent management, resource allocation, compliance, and overall HR strategy within the organization. You play a critical role in ensuring that the performance management process is efficient, fair, and aligns with organizational goals.

Performance reviews empower you to drive employee growth and contribute to organizational success. It allows you to identify high-potential employees for future leadership roles.

Learn more in the glossary to understand the key terms of Performance.

Performance user guide for admins

Table of contents

1. Introduction