Key takeaways
- A number of performance management software solutions and brands offer complimentary, customizable performance review templates.
- An effective performance review process leaves room for personal reflections; build space into review templates for employee self-evaluations.
- Having a structured performance review template and process in place will ensure everyone stays on the same page about current production goals and future growth plans.
- Click here to jump to the templates.
- Dec. 22, 2025: Hanna Sillo refreshed the page structure and formatting to improve readability, added updated data points, introduced a new section on using AI in performance reviews, expanded key elements with practical examples, and added FAQs.
- Aug. 24, 2023: We refocused the content to offer more valuable information about performance review templates and how to use them. We also provided information about what to include in a performance review template if you decide to create your own. Finally, we added linked resources for performance review templates and tools that support a smooth employee performance evaluation process.
Performance management software can simplify the review process. Browse top solutions in our Performance Management Software Guide to get started.
What is a performance review?
A performance review is a formal feedback process in which a manager evaluates an employee’s work over a designated review cycle, measures results against preset goals and standards, and discusses outcomes and future goals with a direct report. Reviews may occur monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually, but regardless of frequency, they should include formal documentation and individualized employee feedback.
Performance reviews work best when they summarize ongoing feedback, goals, and outcomes—not when they stand alone. The most effective review templates pull together insights from regular check-ins, real-time feedback, and goal tracking to support continuous performance management.
What is an employee review template?
An employee review template is a structured document or framework that managers and HR professionals can use to structure employee performance reviews. These templates can either be used as is or as a baseline for creating your own employee performance review template.
What are the benefits of a performance review?
Performance reviews help employees and their managers get on the same page about their performance, what’s going well, and where the employee is struggling. Managers have formal opportunities to coach and share constructive feedback with their employees, employees have a platform to voice concerns and questions, and both parties have space to discuss future growth, training, and professional development opportunities.
More on this topic: Why Is Performance Management So Important?
Performance review best practices
If your organization is just getting started with performance reviews, here are a few quick tips and best practices to consider:
- Set goals before you begin, designing key performance indicators (KPIs) around company values, business goals, company goals, department goals, and individual goals based on job role.
- Have regular informal check-ins (with documentation) leading up to formal reviews in order to build a culture of consistent performance appraisal and transparent feedback with direct reports.
- Make reviews reciprocal, giving employees a chance to review themselves (or you) and share their thoughts on their progress, goals, and challenges.
- Focus on the metrics that matter, and consider adopting a results-only work environment that rewards employee productivity appropriately.
- Invest in performance management software to guide your processes.
- Use performance review templates to consistently structure your reviews.
10 things to include in your performance review template
Performance review templates serve an important purpose: adding structure and standardized processes to reviews for all employees, ensuring everyone gets a fair chance to discuss their performance and opportunities for growth within the organization.
Effective performance review templates evaluate more than short-term outputs alone. As roles evolve, organizations increasingly assess skills growth, collaboration, and adaptability alongside traditional performance metrics. The elements below can be structured to capture both outcomes and how work gets done without requiring a complete redesign of your review template.
1. Employee information
Your performance review form should include space for the employee’s name, department, role, review period, and any other information that’s relevant for archival purposes.
Example: Employee name, job title, manager, review cycle dates (e.g., January–June 2026)
2. Clear scoring system
Each evaluation category in your review template should require reviewers to give a quantifiable performance rating — one to five, for example. This makes it easier to standardize and compare performance across individuals, teams, and departments who are doing different kinds of work.
Example: 1 = Needs improvement, 3 = Meets expectations, 5 = Exceeds expectations.
3. Self-evaluation
Employees should be given space to assess their own job performance during the past review cycle, highlighting any big wins, questions, concerns, and goals they have for the future. This is one of the most important parts of your performance review because it gives employees a chance to steer their own careers and communicate candidly with their managers.
Example prompt: “What accomplishments are you most proud of this review period, and where do you want to improve?”
4. Core competencies
Core competencies will typically be role- or department-specific, covering all of the bases for what an employee must be able to do in order to succeed in their role. It’s important to customize this section; managers, individual producers, and interns will all have different core competencies that make sense for their positions, for example.
Core competencies should reflect not only role-specific skills, but also how employees collaborate, communicate, and adapt to change. Many organizations also use this section to capture skills progression, learning agility, and readiness to take on new responsibilities as roles evolve.
Example: For a people manager, evaluate coaching effectiveness, cross-team collaboration, and change leadership.
5. Quantitative KPIs or OKRs
Include KPIs and/or objectives and key results (OKRs) to judge how this individual, their team, and their department performed against specific goals during the review cycle. This is a necessary review component for judging employee productivity against the organization’s most important goals.
Example: Closed 95% of assigned support tickets within SLA or achieved 4 out of 5 quarterly OKRs.
6. Qualitative feedback
Employees should be evaluated on qualities that are harder to quantify, such as communication skills, leadership skills, organizational skills, and how they measure up against specific company values. Though this part of the review template can be expressed through numeric scores, it’s important to leave room for comments and written feedback to contextualize the ratings.
Example: Narrative feedback on how the employee handled conflict, mentored peers, or demonstrated company values.
7. Future goals
This area of the template should cover goals the manager has set for the employee, as well as any goals the employee wants to accomplish before the next review cycle; these goals can focus on training and development and/or areas for improvement and development.
Example: Complete a leadership training course or lead a cross-functional project next quarter.
8. Signature and date
At the bottom of the template, designate space for a signature and date to make it easier to confirm the process has been followed and the review completed. Ideally, both the reviewer and the reviewee should sign off on the document.
9. Space for notes and unstructured feedback
Leave additional space for reviewers to leave comments for the reviewee if desired.
10. Space for updated financial and role information
Consider having a specific template area to denote any changes in role or compensation, including promotions, raises, and bonuses for that review cycle.
Example: Promotion effective March 2026 or a merit increase of 4%.
Continue reading about the importance of performance-based bonuses: How Performance Bonuses Help Avoid Bias and Increase Productivity.
Performance review templates and tools
If you’d prefer to get started with a performance review template from a trusted source, a number of HR leaders, software vendors, and job boards have designed review templates and resources that anyone can access.
Performance review template examples
Performance management software examples
How to navigate AI in performance reviews
Many organizations use AI-powered tools to support parts of the performance review process. These tools can help summarize performance notes, identify goal-progress patterns over time, and generate draft feedback based on documented check-ins and outcomes.
However, employee sentiment around AI-driven evaluations remains mixed. According to a 2023 Pew Research Center study, 39% of folks oppose using AI to evaluate how well people are doing their jobs, while 31% support it. Notably, there are ongoing concerns about fairness, accuracy, and transparency in automated assessments.
Yes, AI can reduce administrative burden and improve consistency by pulling together insights that might otherwise be overlooked. However, AI should serve as a support tool—not a decision-maker. Over-reliance on automation can introduce bias, remove important context, and erode employee trust if decisions feel opaque or impersonal.
To use AI responsibly in performance reviews, HR teams should take a clear, structured approach:
- Define where AI can and cannot be used: Use AI for summarizing notes, tracking goals, and spotting trends, but require managers to write or approve final evaluations, ratings, and recommendations.
- Require human review at key decision points: Promotions, compensation changes, and performance improvement plans should never be finalized without manager review and contextual input.
- Audit AI outputs for bias and accuracy: Periodically review AI-generated summaries and recommendations across roles, teams, and demographics to identify patterns that could signal bias.
- Train managers on how to use AI responsibly: Managers should understand how AI tools work, their limitations, and how to interpret outputs without treating them as the objective truth.
- Be transparent with employees: Clearly communicate what data is analyzed, how AI supports the review process, and where human judgment applies. Transparency helps address skepticism and build trust over time.
Performance review template FAQs
It should be detailed enough to guide meaningful discussion, but not so long that it becomes burdensome. A strong template captures key metrics, qualitative feedback, and future goals while leaving room for conversation rather than forcing excessive documentation.
Structured templates reduce bias by ensuring all employees are evaluated against the same criteria, using documented examples rather than vague impressions. Clear prompts and consistent scoring also help managers focus on evidence instead of recency or favoritism.
Employees should have access to the review template in advance, along with relevant goals, feedback, and performance data. Transparency helps employees prepare thoughtful self-evaluations and reduces anxiety around the review conversation.
At least annually. Templates should evolve as roles change, new skills become important, and company priorities shift, especially in fast-moving or hybrid work environments.
Want to browse other performance management tools? Explore our Performance Management Software Guide to find expert recommendations and a full catalog of top solutions.
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