A performance review template is the key to an effective employee evaluation. With valuable input on employee performance, managers can decide how to best utilize each employee’s skills. An effective review can also help employees focus their own efforts to improve.
It’s important that managers establish trust with employees to make their feedback count. They should, of course, work toward this goal every day.
Within the context of a healthy manager-employee relationship, a well-structured review template will help make the most of this important evaluation process, and minimize the anxiety associated with performance reviews.
In this article, we’ll outline what a review template is and explain the benefits it delivers. Then, we’ll launch into how to select the right template. After that, we’ll dig into choosing questions and considering which feedback phrases to use!
Navigation
1. What Is A Performance Review Template?
2. Benefits for Employees and Businesses
3. Designing Your Review Template
4. Common Review Template Questions
5. Giving Feedback in A Review Template
What Is A Performance Review Template?
A performance review template serves as a guide to help you create the perfect employee evaluation. Structuring your evaluation keeps you on track. In other words, it helps ensure you won’t forget to cover any key points.
This template is essentially a form that contains questions on key topics. We’ll share some examples in a moment! But first, let’s explore why you need a review template.
Benefits of an employee evaluation form for Employees and Businesses
How can a review template help you and your employees?
A review template can help you assess many aspects of employees’ work. For example, it can cover topics like these:
Dependability
Punctuality
Relationships with peers
Client relationships
Ability to work independently
Collaborative abilities
Technical skills
Creativity
Integrity
Progress toward goals
Take action to upgrade your performance reviews by selecting the right template. We’ll discuss how to find one and then customize it in the next section.
Designing Your Employee Performance Review Template
If you’re using an existing template, it may be time to update it. Qualities like adaptability, flexibility, and agility have become increasingly important. This will probably remain the case for the foreseeable future. Make sure questions speak to these competencies, and address the 6 most important topics to address in every performance review
H2 Popular Performance Review Templates
Several templates can each enhance your review process. We discuss the merits of the GOOD template, rating scale template, and narrative template here.
The GOOD Template
GOOD stands for “goals, obstacles, opportunities, and decisions.” “GOOD reviews evaluate all important areas of a worker’s performance: how they’re meeting company/individual goals, tackling obstacles, capitalizing on opportunities and making decisions,” says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Use them to dig deeper into challenges and strengths related to different aspects of performance.
Here’s what the GOOD framework can look like in practice:
Collaborative abilities
Goals
Obstacles
Opportunities
Decisions
Leadership skills
Goals
Obstacles
Opportunities
Decisions
Presentation skills
Goals
Obstacles
Opportunities
Decisions
You can also use this framework in conjunction with ratings or narrative reviews (discussed next). The GOOD framework can guide informal check-ins, too.
Rating Scale
With the rating scale, you respond to each question or statement with a numbered rating. This allows you to easily assess employees against their own past performance. Plus, you can determine which employees are currently excelling and struggling. This can help you make decisions about assigning responsibilities and offering new opportunities.
In a simple 4-point rating scale template, answers include “Unsatisfactory,” “Satisfactory,” “Good,” and “Excellent.”
Each item on the scale details how to rate the employee on a particular quality. For example:
Job knowledge
“Knowledge of products, policies and procedures; OR knowledge of techniques, skills, equipment, procedures, and materials.”
Initiative and creativity
“The ability to plan work and to proceed with a task without being told every detail and the ability to make constructive suggestions.”
This level of detail provides clear criteria for how to rate the employee. Such detail promotes greater objectivity.
Narrative Review Template
A narrative review template prompts—you guessed it—narrative statements. Instead of just assigning a rating number, you write a response to each question. This response can span a paragraph or more. The detail provided is an obvious benefit, so ask both short- and long-term answers.
Topics range from the employee’s three main accomplishments to the ability to uphold team values.
Comparing employees’ performance from a narrative review alone can pose challenges. For that reason, we suggest combining narrative review with ratings. This will help you understand which employees are star performers and which need the most support.
Common Review Template Questions
Asking the right questions will also maximize the results of your review. The best questions (or rating statements) to choose will depend on organizational priorities. However, a number of questions will be highly relevant have great relevance to most businesses, for both those working in offices or employees completing their reviews remotely.
Remember, formulating questions carefully is a key step to avoiding bias in performance reviews.
The following rating statements encompass several important topics to cover.
Collaboration Questions
“Reaches out to peers to initiate collaboration frequently.”
“Guides group discussion when people need to make a decision together.”
“Demonstrates willingness to assist others with problems.”
Accountability Questions
“Takes responsibility for mistakes, working to correct them.”
“Welcomes feedback from others, carefully listening to their input.”
“Demonstrates measurable improvement after receiving constructive criticism.”
Adaptability Questions
“Handles pressure calmly and skillfully, responding to current team needs.”
“Embraces change when confronted with new plans, technologies, or situations.”
“Stays flexible when last-minute changes to plans are necessary.”
For a leader, questions like these (c/o SHRM) will apply as well:
“Merges intuition and strong analysis in order to make great predictions that shape organizational plans.”
“Designs strategies in response to changing organizational priorities.”
Change Management Questions
“Communicates appropriately with the manager when circumstances call for a change in plans.”
“Looks for new ways to use available tools to address changing circumstances.”
“Helps team members adapt to changes.”
By asking the right questions, you’ll gain a well-rounded range of feedback.
Using Online Employee Performance Review Software
Wondering how to improve your formal review process? Facing challenges to the review process that you are not sure how to overcome? Consider the benefits of using professional online employee performance review software. With a good program, you can customize the template to meet your needs. Plus, the software helps you manage your entire review workflow process. How? First, it will provide structure for each manager’s review. Second, it will help ensure all steps are completed in a timely manner.
Consider the digital employee experience when selecting review templates tools. Everyone benefits from completing templates electronically rather than scanning and uploading forms. This approach also gives HR easy access to all the information.
Last but not least, using an employee review software gives managers the flexibility to access the template in a user-friendly format. With the Primalogik performance management suite, you can also link reviews with the goals tracking tool to easily evaluate employee progress.
Tips for Giving Feedback During the Performance Review Process
There are quite a few ways you can improve your formal review process. Let’s look at how to share feedback using a review template. When answering narrative form (or short-answer) questions, these tips will help. You can use them in your one-on-one meetings with employees, too.
Use action words
Stick to action words rather than vague descriptors like “good.” One person’s “good” may be another person’s “excellent.” Phrases like these cut right to the chase:
“Detects and corrects errors skillfully when reviewing materials.”
“Synthesizes group members’ ideas during meetings.”
“Sparks group discussion during brainstorming sessions.”
“Says ‘yes’ to too many requests and becomes overloaded.”
“Showed up late to several team meetings over the past two months.”
Keep a forward focus
Deliver feedback in a forward-focused manner. Yes, it’s important to evaluate how employees have performed over the past quarter or year. And giving specific examples from past months will illustrate your points. But maintain a positive, future-focused approach. Discuss how employees can model the desired behaviours in the future.
“Organizations that make performance reviews forward-looking, not backward-looking, can expect to improve employee performance by as much as 13%,” says Gartner. “Those that provide ongoing, not episodic, feedback could get a boost of as much as 12%.”
Don’t just answer questions, ask your own
When giving feedback, ask questions as well. Initiate a dialogue instead of delivering a lecture. Questions like these will help you better understand employees’ efforts:
“What barriers do you need to overcome to achieve your goals?”
“What are your greatest achievements within the review period?”
“How do you feel about our workplace culture?”
Try Primalogik’s online employee review tool – annual performance review template included!
Now you have a solid understanding of how to select a great template. Plus, you know the principles of delivering helpful feedback. As you take action to upgrade your performance review process you’ll see everyone benefit- employees, managers, and your organization as a whole.
Want to learn more about how our online employee performance review software can benefit your review process? Book a free demo today!
