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Discover how to create an employee performance review template and what to include. Get a free downloadable employee performance review template PDF that you can customise in Adobe Acrobat.
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The benefits of employee performance review templates
Different types of templates to review employee performance
What to include in an employee performance review template
What not to include in a template for an employee performance review
Creating and using employee performance review PDF templates
The benefits of employee performance review templates are multifaceted for both employers and employees. They play a crucial role in managing employee performance, nurturing professional development and aligning individual goals with organisational objectives. Employee performance appraisals are an opportunity to motivate employees and build on developing all the skills and attributes you need in your employees. Employee performance review templates customised to your workplace can contribute to a culture of transparency, accountability and continuous improvement.
Some of the main benefits of using a template for employee performance reviews include —
Standardisation and consistency in conducting performance reviews.
Performance review templates provide a standardised and consistent framework for evaluating employee performance. They ensure that all employees are assessed fairly and objectively with pre-established criteria, questions and rating scales over time and with different employees. They are a tool that you can develop to ensure that you or other people with responsibility for conducting performance reviews in your organisation, hold consistent and fair performance reviews with all employees.
Communication tools.
Performance appraisal templates are a tool for managers and/or supervisors and employees to communicate, provide constructive feedback, have discussions about career growth and clarify job expectations. You should customise an employee evaluation template to suit your communication styles and organisational culture. For example, you can design review templates to include questions and criteria to —
Employee review templates are also an effective way to give and receive feedback from your employees so you can get the best out of your working relationships and role expectations.
Focus and structure for both parties in a face-to-face meeting.
Review templates help to provide focus and a clear structure to follow during a performance review. Your employee review template should outline specific performance criteria and goals for your employees in their roles within your organisation. This helps both the person conducting the performance review and the employee, focus on the review at hand and provides clarity to an employee on what is expected of them.
Employee performance improvement.
Performance review templates help to identify areas where employees excel and areas where they may need improvement. This information can be used to develop targeted training and professional development plans to improve an employee’s skills and competencies.
Goal setting in employment.
Employee evaluation templates should include sections for setting goals. Goal setting at work helps to promote motivation, focus and accountability. Goals may be set to align with an individual’s future career path with the company. They may also include goals for individuals that align with organisational objectives. Any goals set in employment should be SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Salary and employment benefit adjustments.
Performance appraisals often form the basis for awarding promotions, bonuses, pay increases and other rewards and employee benefits. Using a template helps to provide a structured approach for assessing your employees' contributions to your organisation and then determining the appropriate compensation or recognition for everyone.
Key HR templates and HR documentation.
Performance reviews are important HR templates to have. You can use them to document employees’ performance over time because a completed employee performance review records an employee’s achievements, areas for improvement and goals set during each review period.
HR compliance and employment legislation.
Employee performance reviews are not currently required under legislation in either Australia or New Zealand. However, there is extensive employment legislation in both countries that covers fair work and employment relations.
Performance review templates can help to ensure that employee evaluations are based on job-related criteria and free from bias or discrimination. They can provide a record and documentation of an employee’s performance and professional development during their time working with your business.
If you haven't got a dedicated HR team to review the wording in any performance appraisal templates you develop or customise, consider engaging an HR consultant to review the wording of the template you plan to use for performance reviews before use.
There are several different types of employee performance review templates that organisations can use and adapt. Often organisations create and customise templates for employee performance reviews that combine elements of different types of performance reviews, depending on their organisational needs and goals, the nature of the employment and the roles within it and the focus of the review.
Some common examples of different types of employee evaluation templates include —
Traditional employee evaluation forms.
Traditional employee performance review forms will typically provide a basic structured format for managers or supervisors to assess an employee’s performance. Sections will usually cover the employee’s information, goals/objectives, performance ratings, strengths, areas for improvement and overall comments.
360-degree feedback templates.
A 360-degree performance review template will gather feedback from multiple sources in addition to the employee’s manager or supervisor to get a range of perspectives. This may include peers, subordinates and other employees in an organisation. 360-degree employee evaluation templates often include a combination of rating scales and open-ended to assess the employee’s performance from each person contributing feedback.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or goal-based performance review templates.
Templates for goal-based or KPI performance reviews will usually focus on the employee's individual goals and objectives and any key performance indicators that are aligned with the employee’s performance with any organisational objectives. They will include sections to review progress towards measurable goals, accomplishments, challenges faced and future goals.
Competency-based performance review templates.
Competency-based review templates are used to evaluate and assess an employee’s performance against specific competencies or skills required for their job. They will usually include sections for evaluating how well the employee demonstrates each competency and to provide examples that support and illustrate the employee’s work.
Self-assessment performance review templates.
Templates for self-assessment performance reviews allow employees to evaluate their performance before the review meeting. They will include sections for employees to reflect on their accomplishments, challenges, areas for improvement and development goals.
Behaviour-based performance review templates.
Employee review templates that are behaviour-based assess an employee’s performance based on specific behaviours or competencies relevant to their employment. Behaviour-based review templates may include descriptions of behaviours and examples of how well the employee demonstrates each behaviour or rating scales that evaluate performance.
Narrative or open-ended performance review templates.
Open-ended or narrative performance reviews ask managers or supervisors to provide feedback in descriptive or narrative form. These templates can provide space for managers to give qualitative feedback on an employee’s performance overall or they can be broken into sections for descriptive feedback on aspects of an employee’s role or workplace requirements. They allow for more detailed commentary on the employee's strengths, weaknesses, contributions and areas for growth.
Role-specific performance review templates.
Performance review templates can also be customised to be role-specific. For example —
Create an employee performance review template that includes sections to effectively assess your employees’ performance, provide constructive feedback and set goals for improvement and the future.
A performance review template should be customised to suit your organisation’s goals, the roles and positions of your employees, your performance management processes and your overall organisational culture.
Regularly review and update your performance review template to ensure that it remains a relevant and effective tool to evaluate the performance of your employees and encourage professional development, growth and improvement.
To get started, sections to include in an employee performance review template typically include —
Employee information.
Start with basic details such as the employee's name, position, department and review period. Performance reviews are usually held quarterly, six-monthly or annually.
Reviewer’s name and title.
Include space to record the reviewer’s name and title.
Introduction.
Provide an overview of the purpose of the performance review. Emphasise how evaluating performance regularly is important for individual employee development and organisational success. Explain your performance review processes.
Performance evaluation criteria.
Define the key performance areas or competencies relevant to the employee's role. These may include —
Comments on performance.
Allow space for comments or feedback under each performance criterion. Ask for specific examples to support observations and assessments.
Rating scale.
Establish a clear rating scale for each criterion to evaluate performance. This could be numerical (e.g., 1-5, with 1 being unacceptable and 5 being excellent) or descriptive (e.g., Unsatisfactory, Basic, Proficient, Outstanding). Provide definitions in your template for each rating level to ensure there is consistency in evaluation.
Strengths.
Dedicate a section to highlight your employee's strengths and achievements during the review period. Acknowledge and appreciate their contributions to your team and organisation.
Areas for improvement.
Identify specific areas where your employee can improve or develop further. Provide constructive feedback and actionable suggestions for growth.
Goal setting.
Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals for the upcoming performance period collaboratively with your employees. Goals should align with the employee's career aspirations and your organisational objectives.
Training and development needs.
Review any training, skill development or career advancement opportunities that could benefit your employees. Identify resources or support available for their professional growth.
Overall performance rating.
Offer an overall written summary of the assessment, backed with supporting evidence of your employee’s performance. Write this positively, constructively and based on the feedback and comments provided and an average of the rating scales you have used.
Follow-up plan.
Outline the next steps, including any follow-up meetings or check-ins to monitor progress on goals and address any concerns or challenges.
Signatures and acknowledgement.
Provide space for the employee and the manager or supervisor conducting the review to sign and date the performance review document to indicate they acknowledge the feedback and future work goals discussed.
Some things should not be included in an employee performance review template. It’s important to be mindful of these when you’re designing or customising a template to help ensure the performance review process is fair, objective and constructive.
Some things that should not be included in an employee performance review template include —
Personal characteristics.
Employee performance reviews should not focus on personal characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or spiritual beliefs. Reviews should focus on job-related performance, skills and behaviours at work, not personal characteristics.
Unsubstantiated claims.
Generalised or unsubstantiated claims should not be included in performance reviews. Reviews should be based on specific observable and measurable performance and outcomes with concrete examples to support feedback and assessment.
Personal opinions.
Reviews of employees should be objective and based on measurable criteria, not personal opinions or feelings. Avoid language or assessments that could be perceived as discriminatory or unfair.
Too much focus on negatives.
Negative feedback in a performance review is important, if applicable, but it should always be accompanied by suggestions for improvement. Avoid using language that could be perceived as threatening or coercive. Reviews should be constructive and aimed at helping employees improve.
Unrealistic expectations.
Unrealistic performance goals or expectations can demotivate employees and create unnecessary stress. Ensure that the criteria you use in your performance review templates are clear, fair, achievable and aligned with the employee's role and responsibilities.
When it comes to creating and using employee performance review templates, PDFs offer several benefits. Some of these include —
Formatting stability.
When you send and share PDF documents, your original formatting and layout will be retained. Your employees, managers and supervisors can all open and complete PDF employee performance review forms that are going to look the same on any device or system. You can create PDF performance fillable forms with set fields for your staff to fill in and complete.
Accessible documents.
PDFs can be easily accessed and viewed on various devices. This makes it convenient for both managers and employees to open and review performance review documents any time, anywhere. Your PDF review form can be opened in browsers and Adobe Acrobat applications, including the free Adobe Acrobat Reader for mobile and computers.
Convertible files.
You can start an employee review template PDF from scratch in Adobe Acrobat. Or it’s easy to convert various document formats to and from PDF format. PDFs can also be integrated with other HR software systems or document management platforms. This helps to streamline your performance review process and manage data seamlessly.
Secure data and documentation.
PDFs can be encrypted and password-protected to ensure sensitive and confidential employee performance data is kept confidential and secure. You can protect a PDF from unauthorised access and unauthorised edits or changes.
Electronic approval and agreement.
Managers and employees can request signatures in PDFs and sign PDFs electronically that can be validated and authenticated as genuine.
Customisable templates.
Along with customising the content of performance review templates to fit with your organisational and employee goals, employee performance review templates can be customised with your branding elements.
Are you ready to create and customise a performance review template for your organisation?
Download our free performance review PDF template to get started.
