What is an employee performance review?

An employee performance review is a process that evaluates how employees perform in the workplace. Managers, supervisors, and team or department leaders typically oversee this process.

The format of an employee performance review can vary. For example, some supervisors may use written evaluations in the form of questionnaires, checklists or long-form paragraph observations.

While the format can differ among organizations, the content often contains similar information. Employers typically evaluate employees based on the following metrics:

• quality of work
• technical skills
• attitude
• reliability
• workplace behaviours
• ability to meet deadlines
• ability to manage challenges
• ability to collaborate with others

Employee performance review sample

The format of employee performance reviews varies, but they typically highlight how an employee succeeds at their job, identify areas for improvement, and outline goals for the next evaluation period. Here is an example:

Since starting her role as assistant manager, Mandy has consistently met and, at times, exceeded expectations. She’s able to work under high-pressure situations, showing her adaptability by shifting priorities when clients make last-minute requests. Even under challenging circumstances, she maintains a positive attitude as she collaborates with colleagues to solve problems.

Mandy also has strong attention to detail, reviewing her work numerous times before submitting it to ensure it is error-free.

While her detail-oriented nature is a strength, it can sometimes affect her time management skills. For example, when providing training to her team last week, she spent significant time focusing on a single topic. She said she wanted to team to understand the new concept thoroughly, but it resulted in her having to rush through the rest of the presentation.

Otherwise, Mandy is an effective communicator who excels at motivating her team. She promotes a transparent work environment and employees say she is always empathetic, supportive and patient when listening to concerns or suggestions. I suggest meeting with a supervisor to debrief Mandy on this review and set long-term goals to help build her time management and leadership skills.

Tips for employee performance reviews

You can use the following tips as guidelines for conducting an effective employee performance review:

Reviewing the role’s core competencies

Leaders can prepare for employee performance reviews by developing a list of specific skills, traits or behaviours that enable employees’ success in their roles. These abilities can include job-specific technical skills and soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and reliability.

To identify relevant competencies, leaders can review job descriptions to ensure employees meet the initial expectations set for them. Leaders can also identify department goals and use them to evaluate employees’ performance by measuring their contributions toward them.

Setting consistent standards

When conducting performance reviews, employers ideally set a consistent evaluation method across their department or organization. For example, they may use letters, such as A through F, or numbers, such as one through 10 or percentages.

They can also use phrases, such as noting whether an employee uses a specific skill “sometimes,” “often” or “never.” Maintaining this consistency helps ensure all employees receive fair evaluations. When developing this system, they ensure the evaluations are easy to comprehend so employees can identify their strengths and weaknesses immediately.

Providing constructive feedback

An employee performance review often identifies weaknesses via constructive feedback. Employers can help maintain employees’ motivation by providing positive feedback about their strengths and giving constructive feedback to build their weaker skills.

For example, the review might include a suggestion for a specific training course to take. Offering actionable steps helps employees understand where they need to improve and feel more confident about their ability to do so.

Making objective evaluations

Employers use objective methods of evaluating their employees, rather than providing subjective or personal opinions. You may avoid emotional language and use objective data focused on the results the employee creates for the business. Reviewers can use their observations to identify behaviours that affect or contribute to the workplace.

Employee performance reviews, when conducted with clear standards, objective feedback and constructive suggestions, can empower both managers and employees to celebrate strengths, address weaknesses and align on future goals.

Employee performance review sample templates for PDF & Word

Use these employee performance review samples to help you carry out reviews.