11 Performance Review Templates

Performance reviews are crucial to employee development and organizational growth. They provide a structured opportunity for HR teams and managers to assess job performance, set goals, and provide meaningful feedback that can drive both individual and team success. When done effectively, performance reviews foster open communication, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that employees are aligned with company objectives.

At Lattice, we understand that performance reviews can be time-consuming and complex, which is why we've created a comprehensive set of performance review templates designed to make the process easier for HR teams like yours. These templates cover a wide range of review types, from 360 reviews to peer reviews. Whether you're new to performance reviews or looking to streamline your existing process, these templates are a great tool to help you manage employee assessments with ease.

360 Performance Review Template

360 performance reviews are crucial for providing employees with insight into how their work is valued by the company as a whole. Use this 360 performance review template to get started. It also features space to write detailed performance review comments and recognize high-quality work.

This 360 performance review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Holistic Feedback: Combines input from self, peers, managers, and direct reports, offering a comprehensive view of employee performance.
2. Promotes Professional Growth: Provides actionable insights to help employees identify strengths and areas for improvement across different perspectives.
3. Strengthens Alignment: Connects employee work performance with company values and goals through structured questions and examples.
4. Enhances Collaboration: Encourages open communication and fosters understanding between team members, managers, and peers. Because these reviews include specific feedback from peers and other stakeholders, they can also shed light on working relationships and whether reports are considered team players.

90-Day Review Template

It's critical for managers and new hires to connect on progress, performance, and additional needs within the first three months. Check in with this 90-day review template.

This 90-day review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Evaluates Onboarding Success: Assesses whether new hires feel supported, trained, and clear about their roles.
2. Identifies Development Areas: Highlights opportunities for improvement and actionable next steps for new employees.
3. Encourages Feedback: Collects input from new hires, managers, and peers to refine onboarding processes and improve team alignment.
4. Promotes Employee Engagement: Builds a culture of communication and support, ensuring new employees feel valued and set up for long-term success.

Annual Performance Review Conversation Template

Performance reviews are a critical part of the continuous feedback process. Use this annual performance review conversation template to assess employee performance for the last twelve months.

This annual performance review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Simplifies the Review Process: The six-question template provides a straightforward framework for conducting annual performance reviews, making it easy for managers to guide the conversation and cover all key areas of employee performance.
2. Encourages Balanced Feedback: With questions focused on both strengths and areas for improvement, the template ensures that feedback is constructive, comprehensive, and helps employees understand what they’re doing well and where they can grow.
3. Aligns with Organizational Goals: By asking about performance goals, workload management, adaptability, and communication skills, the template helps HR teams and managers assess how well employees are aligning with both personal and organizational objectives.‍
4. Supports Key Decisions: The insights gathered from these conversations, especially regarding performance and values, can inform critical decisions around compensation, promotions, and professional development.

Employee 9-Box Template

Running a talent review? Use our employee 9-box review template to chart your employees' performance and potential on an intuitive grid.

This employee 9-box template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Identifies Talent Gaps: Provides a clear visual representation of employee performance and potential, helping HR pinpoint areas for employee development.
2. Informs Strategy: Supports succession planning, hiring, and promotion decisions with actionable insights.
3. Encourages Fair Assessments: Facilitates consistent employee performance reviews, reducing bias in talent evaluations.
4. Improves Alignment: Aligns employee growth with business objectives by focusing on high-potential individuals for critical initiatives.

Employee Talent Review Template

Talent reviews are leveraged by companies to identify top performers, high-potential employees, and regrettable attrition risks — giving leadership a better sense of where their talent stands. Use this employee talent review template to chart performance and potential on a 9-box grid.

The employee talent review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Holistic Evaluation: Assesses employee performance, potential, and risks, offering a complete view of talent.
2. Strategic Planning: Identifies high-potential employees and critical roles, aiding in succession and development strategies. For example, consider employees’ leadership skills and whether they might make for effective managers.
3. Retention Insights: Evaluates the risk and impact of employee loss to proactively address engagement and retention.
4. Promotion Readiness: Clarifies when employees are prepared for advancement, streamlining career progression planning. Consider skills like dependability, decision-making, problem-solving, and time management.

Mid-Year Performance Review Template

As part of a comprehensive performance management program, mid-year reviews are a powerful tool for enabling managers and employees to ask questions, address roadblocks, and recognize wins. This mid-year performance review template offers a starting point.

The Mid-Year Performance Review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Track Progress: Evaluates employee performance against goals set earlier in the year, identifying measurable areas of success and needed improvements.
2. Encourage Feedback: Provides a structured opportunity for managers and employees to exchange constructive feedback.
3. Refocus Objectives: Helps prioritize and set goals for the remainder of the year to align with organizational objectives.
4. Boost Engagement: Reinforces employee development by showing commitment to their professional growth and addressing any new challenges.

Peer Peformance Review Template

Peer feedback is a valuable part of the 360 performance review process, as it gives colleagues the opportunity to offer positive feedback and constructive criticism. This peer performance review template helps you gather that employee feedback.

The peer performance review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Enhances Team Collaboration: Provides insights into how employees work together, fostering stronger teamwork and communication.
2. Identifies Leadership Potential: Highlights leadership abilities, whether through direct management or influence, to support talent development.
3. Encourages Constructive Feedback: Creates a structured environment for peers to share praise and areas for improvement, promoting a growth mindset.
4. Broadens Evaluation Scope: Offers perspectives from within and outside the department, giving managers a fuller understanding of an employee’s impact.

Performance Improvement Plan Template

Performance improvement plans (PIPs) are designed to outline performance issues and the steps employees need to take to resolve them. This performance improvement plan template offers a starting point for turning “below expectations” into “exceeds expectations.”

This performance improvement plan template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Clear Communication of Expectations: The PIP template helps outline specific performance issues and improvement targets, ensuring both employees and managers clearly understand what needs to be addressed, reducing ambiguity in performance discussions. Managers should provide specific examples throughout.
2. Structured Support for Improvement: The template guides managers to outline the resources and support needed to help employees succeed, ensuring they have the tools and guidance to improve their performance.
3. Accountability and Tracking: With clear action items, deadlines, and progress tracking, the PIP template holds both employees and managers accountable, making it easier to monitor improvements and take timely corrective actions if needed.
4. Encourages Constructive Feedback: By providing a formalized process for addressing performance challenges, the template fosters a proactive approach to employee development, ensuring employee feedback is actionable and focused on growth.

Performance Review Question Bank

Assessing performance starts with asking the right questions. These sample performance review questions address competencies, strengths, development opportunities, and other criteria.

The performance review question bank provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Streamlined Review Process: The question bank saves time by providing HR teams with a ready-made set of questions, eliminating the need to create new questions for each performance appraisal cycle.
2. Improved Consistency: By using standardized questions, HR teams can ensure that reviews are consistent across all employees, helping to maintain fairness and equity in the evaluation process.
3. Enhanced Feedback Quality: The diverse range of questions in the bank helps HR teams elicit more detailed and thoughtful feedback and constructive criticism, leading to more insightful and actionable performance discussions.
4. Supports Employee Development: The structured questions guide HR teams in addressing key performance areas, helping employees receive clear, constructive feedback and identify areas for improvement and growth.

Quarterly Performance Review Template

Quarterly employee performance reviews are especially valuable for teams focused on short-term priorities and projects. Use this quarterly performance reviews template as a starting point.

This quarterly performance review template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Timely Feedback: Quarterly employee reviews allow for more frequent feedback, helping teams address challenges and improve performance before issues become bigger problems. This ensures continuous improvement and keeps employees on track throughout the year.
2. Enhanced Goal Alignment: Quarterly check-ins help both employees and managers reflect on progress towards goals, allowing for adjustments and ensuring everyone stays aligned with the organization's objectives.
3. Supports Short-Term Projects: Teams working on short-term projects benefit from more frequent employee reviews, as they provide a chance to quickly evaluate performance and adjust strategies for upcoming projects or tasks.‍
4. Employee Growth & Development: By incorporating self-reviews and manager feedback, your template encourages employees to reflect on their own accomplishments and growth areas, fostering a culture of self-improvement and proactive development.

Self-Evaluation Template

This self-evaluation template asks employees to share perspectives on their own performance, actions, and choices.

The self-evaluation template provides these key benefits for teams like yours:

1. Encourages Employee Reflection: Promotes self-awareness by having employees assess their performance, quality of work, goals, and career aspirations.
2. Provides Leadership Insights: Offers valuable data on how employees perceive their contributions and alignment with team and company objectives.
3. Fosters Growth Mindset: Demonstrates an employee's openness to feedback and willingness to develop new skills and take on additional training.
4. Enhances Engagement: Empowers employees to actively participate in their employee performance reviews, increasing ownership of their progress.

Improving Your Performance Reviews With Lattice

We hope these templates offer a useful starting point as you prepare your own performance review strategy. Performance evaluations are essential to helping your team understand their overall performance, and to helping you truly understand your team’s strengths and growth opportunities.

If you’d like to learn more about how the Lattice platform can help you manage your people and their performance, we’d love to chat. Request a demo today.

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