A recent Gallup survey reveals a surprising insight: only 14% of employees strongly agree that their performance reviews inspire them to improve.
Clearly, it’s time for a more strategic approach to continuous performance management.
When done right, performance reviews can boost morale, drive employee growth, and fuel business success. This blog shares ten simple and effective performance review templates designed to inspire development and help your team thrive.
Top 10 Performance Review Templates
- What Are Performance Reviews?
- How to Write a Performance Review
- Types of Performance Reviews
- Performance Review Examples
- What Are Performance Review Templates?
- What Makes a Good Performance Review Template?
- 10 Best Performance Review Templates
- Performance Review Best Practices
- Challenges of Performance Reviews
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Are Performance Reviews?
Performance reviews are formal assessments of an employee’s work. They’re structured conversations between a manager and an employee that discuss past performance, set future goals, and create performance improvement plans.
Performance reviews provide a structured platform for open and honest dialogue between managers and employees. This platform enables the identification of strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
Importance of performance reviews
Performance reviews allow employees to develop their skills, enhance performance, and align their goals with the organization’s strategic objectives by setting clear expectations and providing constructive feedback.
Effective team performance reviews enhance employee productivity and create a more engaged, high-performing workforce, driving organizational growth and innovation.
✨Fun Fact: By the mid-1950s, performance appraisals became widespread, with businesses adopting personality-based methods to evaluate employee performance.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Write a Performance Review
Writing a comprehensive and practical performance review requires careful planning and execution.
Here are some key steps to consider:
1. Gather information for the performance review
Review the employee’s job performance expectations. Collect relevant performance data, such as project deliverables, client feedback, and performance metrics. Document specific examples of the employee’s achievements and areas for improvement.
2. Structure the review
Briefly summarize the employee’s role and responsibilities. Provide a concise overview of the employee’s overall performance, highlighting key achievements and areas for improvement.
You can also detail the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, providing specific examples to illustrate each point. Discuss development opportunities, such as training programs or mentorship.
Additionally, outline specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the employee. Provide constructive feedback, offering specific suggestions for improvement. Discuss coaching strategies to help the employee achieve their goals.
3. Use clear and specific language
When writing a performance review, avoid vague or generic statements. Use specific examples to illustrate your points. Be honest and direct but also positive and encouraging.
4. Focus on the employee’s behavior alone, not personality
Describe the employee’s specific behaviors and actions rather than making judgments about their personality traits. Use ‘I’ statements to convey your perspective, such as, ‘I noticed that you consistently…’
5. Provide actionable feedback
Offer suggestions for improvement and discuss how employees can address their weaknesses and build on their strengths.
6. Seek employee input
Encourage employees to share their self-assessments and discuss their goals and development needs. Use this opportunity to address any concerns or questions the employee may have.
7. Conclude positively
End the review on a positive note, emphasizing the employee’s potential and future growth, and express your confidence in their ability to achieve their goals.
🥪Food for Thought: A good performance review is like a well-crafted sandwich: it needs a strong beginning (positive feedback), a hearty middle (constructive criticism), and a satisfying ending (positive reinforcement).
Summarize this article for me pleaseTypes of Performance Reviews
This table provides a comparative overview to help understand the different types of performance reviews—from traditional to 360-degree performance reviews—and their specific applications:
| Type of review | Review period | Characteristics | Pros | Cons | Example |
| Traditional annual performance review | Annually | Comprehensive yearly performance evaluation | Broad overview of performance | Feedback may be too infrequent | Yearly appraisal discussing key achievements and challenges |
| Quarterly semi-annual reviews | Every 3–6 months | More regular assessments | Keeps employees motivated and on track | More time-consuming for managers | Fast-paced industry reviews conducted quarterly |
| Continuous/ ongoing reviews | Throughout the year | Informal, real-time coaching | Immediate feedback and continuous improvement | May lack structure | Weekly feedback during team meetings |
| Self-assessment reviews | Typically, before the review by the reporting officer | Employees evaluate their performance | Promotes self-reflection and ownership | Employees may overestimate/ underestimate themselves | Employee self-evaluation highlighting accomplishments |
| Peer reviews | Project-based or periodic | Feedback from colleagues | Strengthens team dynamics | The potential risk of individual biases | Team feedback on member contributions during group projects |
| Project-based reviews | At project completion | Specific to project performance | Timely, project-specific feedback | May overlook ongoing work | Evaluation post-product launch |
| Competency-based review | Periodic | Assesses job-specific core competencies | Aligns skills with job requirements | May miss qualitative aspects | Evaluating software developers on coding, creativity, teamwork |
| Goal-oriented review | Periodic | Progress on goals (e.g., OKRs, KPIs) | Ties performance to company objectives | It can be rigid if goals change | Assessing sales team based on new clients secured or revenue targets achieved |
| 360-degree performance reviews | Varies | Multi-source feedback | Well-rounded perspective | Time-intensive, potential biases | Executive feedback from peers, subordinates, and supervisors |
Summarize this article for me pleasePerformance Review Examples
Effective performance reviews can take various forms, depending on the goals of the employee feedback session.
Here are three impactful styles to consider:
📌Goal-oriented review
A goal-oriented review is ideal for assessing progress against specific targets and setting new, achievable objectives. This approach allows the employee and manager to track achievements and identify areas for growth.
Some sample phrases you can use are:
- “Exceeded expectations by achieving [specific goal or outcome].”
- “Consistently made progress in [specific area], contributing to [team objective].”
- “For the next quarter, we’ll focus on [new goal or skill].”
📌Behavioral review
This review style highlights behaviors that shape team culture and productivity, such as collaboration, adaptability, and initiative. By focusing on these qualities, managers can offer feedback that encourages positive interpersonal skills and alignment with company values.
For example, you can say:
- “Consistently takes the initiative by [specific action], boosting team performance”
- “Effectively collaborates with team members to achieve [shared goal]”
- “Could enhance impact by focusing on [specific behavior]”
📌Quantitative review
A quantitative review leverages data and measurable outcomes, providing an objective view of performance. Ideal for roles with defined KPIs, this approach enables employees to understand their contributions concretely.
Some sample phrases you can use are:
- “Achieved a [percentage]% improvement in [specific metric], exceeding targets”
- “Met or surpassed benchmarks consistently in [specific area]”
- “Maintained productivity levels, directly contributing to [team or company goal]”
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Are Performance Review Templates?
Performance review templates are pre-designed documents that provide a structured framework for employee performance reviews. They typically include sections for rating performance against specific criteria, giving feedback, and setting goals.
Templates can vary in format and content, but they generally aim to simplify the review process, ensure consistency, and improve the quality of feedback.
An employee performance review template can save time and effort by providing a ready-made structure. It ensures consistency in the evaluation process and helps to avoid bias.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Makes a Good Performance Review Template?
A good performance review template should be:
- Specific and measurable: Uses clear metrics and examples to evaluate performance
- Action-oriented: Encourages goal-setting and development planning
- Fair and consistent: Applies the same standards to all employees
- Balanced: Highlights both strengths and areas for improvement
- Future-focused: Aligns with organizational goals and individual career aspirations
- Flexible: Adapts to different roles, performance levels, and company cultures
- Clear and concise: Has easy-to-understand language and is focused on key performance areas
- Confidential: Protects employee privacy and encourages open communication
- User-friendly: Is simple to complete and easy to navigate for both managers and employees
- Visually appealing: Has a clean layout and professional design to enhance readability
Summarize this article for me please10 Best Performance Review Templates
Finding the right structure for performance reviews can be challenging. That’s why this curated list of 10 of ClickUp’s top job performance review templates can make the process easier for you.
1. The ClickUp Yearly Employee Evaluation Performance Review Template
Facilitate your year-end performance reviews with the ClickUp Yearly Employee Evaluation Performance Review Template.
This template, designed to capture and assess employee performance data meticulously, allows managers to conduct structured, comprehensive evaluations.
Here are some key features of this template:
- Custom Statuses: Easily track review progress with statuses like ‘Evaluation Scheduled’ and ‘Evaluation Completed’
- Custom Fields: Document crucial annual metrics, including goal achievement rates, performance ratings, and growth milestones
- Visual clarity: Utilize Gantt and Calendar views to visualize timelines, objectives, and milestones
- In-depth performance insights: Gain deep insights into yearly performance, fostering long-term development and strategic goal-setting
So, why should you choose this template?
Built on ClickUp’s Human Resources Platform, this template allows you to:
- Enhance efficiency: Simplify the review process and save time
- Improve accuracy: Ensure consistent and objective evaluations
- Foster growth: Identify strengths, weaknesses, and development opportunities
- Align performance with goals: Measure progress against strategic objectives
✨Ideal for: Organizations that value data-driven insights and want to use data to inform performance decisions and identify areas for improvement
2. The ClickUp Comprehensive Performance Review Template
The ClickUp Comprehensive Performance Review Template offers everything you need for in-depth, multi-perspective performance reviews.
Designed to capture a complete picture of employee performance, this ClickUp template combines self-evaluation, manager reviews, and career conversations in one place.
It’s ideal for teams who want to go beyond the basics and make reviews meaningful to career growth.
With seven detailed Custom Fields, you can document essential performance details, from skills and achievements to development goals. Plus, multiple views—including List and Board views—allow you to track each review step according to your workflow.
This template is an efficient tool for organizing feedback, providing employees with clear insights, and setting actionable goals that inspire growth.
✨Ideal for: Teams that prioritize employee development and want to foster a culture of continuous learning and growth
3. The ClickUp Quarterly Performance Review Template
Keep your team focused and on track with the ClickUp Quarterly Performance Review Template.
Designed to simplify your quarterly check-ins, this ClickUp template allows managers to:
- Track progress: Monitor employee progress towards goals and objectives
- Set new directions: Establish clear, actionable goals for the upcoming quarter
- Provide timely feedback: Offer regular, constructive feedback to drive improvement
- Identify opportunities: Pinpoint strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development
Here are some key features of this template:
- Customizable tracking: Use Custom Fields to monitor key performance metrics like goal achievements, skills development, and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
- Organized feedback: Leverage Table and List views to efficiently gather and analyze feedback from managers and team members
- Automated reminders: Set up automated milestones and reminders to maintain a consistent review cadence
✨Ideal for: Managers seeking to simplify quarterly reviews and enhance team performance
4. The ClickUp Corrective Action Plan Template
The ClickUp Corrective Action Plan Template is a powerful tool for efficiently addressing and resolving performance or process issues.
It helps you turn problems into solutions by guiding you through each step of creating a corrective action plan.
With features for root cause analysis, action planning, and progress tracking, it’s ideal for teams needing a structured approach to address specific issues.
You can use the Whiteboard view to map out potential solutions visually and organize corrective actions using custom statuses like ‘In Progress’ and ‘Resolved.’ Custom Fields lets you categorize each step in the action plan, making it easy to follow and measure progress.
From identifying the problem to monitoring results, this template ensures accountability and consistency, providing a clear path to prevent issues from recurring.
✨Ideal for: Companies that want to foster a culture of learning and growth
5. The ClickUp Employee Evaluation Form Template
Conduct thorough and consistent performance evaluations with the user-friendly ClickUp Employee Evaluation Form Template.
This template enables:
- Comprehensive data capture: Use ten Custom Fields to gather essential information, including job titles, awards, hours worked, and areas for improvement
- Organized feedback: Access and organize all evaluations in one place with dedicated views for easy navigation
- Automated efficiency: Streamline your workflow with automation features to reduce manual tasks and ensure timely completion
- Actionable insights: Gain valuable insights to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development
✨Ideal for: HR professionals responsible for managing performance review processes
6. The ClickUp 30-60-90 Day Plan Template
The ClickUp 30-60-90 Day Plan Template is designed to guide new hires through a structured onboarding process, ensuring they gain momentum and confidence in their first three months.
This template breaks the onboarding journey into actionable steps for each 30-day phase. It comes equipped with built-in task dependencies to help prioritize tasks in a logical order so new hires can tackle the most critical actions first without feeling overwhelmed.
With the Onboarding Board view explicitly tailored for organizing and tracking every onboarding task, managers and new hires can see progress at a glance, making it easy to prioritize and manage each step in the onboarding journey.
This board layout visualizes the tasks for each 30-day phase, keeping everyone aligned on critical priorities.
Additionally, collaborative tools like comment threads and automation enable seamless communication, keeping everyone on the same page and fostering a supportive onboarding environment.
✨Ideal for: Teams looking to establish clear expectations and goals
7. The ClickUp Career Path Template
Create a clear path for employee growth and development with the comprehensive ClickUp Career Path Template. This powerful tool enables managers and employees to:
This template can help you with:
- Collaborative goal setting: Work together to define clear, achievable career goals
- Milestone tracking: Monitor progress and celebrate achievements along the way
- Regular check-ins: Schedule meetings to discuss goals, provide feedback, and adjust as needed
- Transparent career paths: Visualize career progression and identify opportunities for advancement
✨Ideal for: Organizations invested in developing talent
8. The ClickUp Employee and Manager 1-on-1 Template
The ClickUp Employee & Manager 1-on-1 Template is designed to make recurring check-ins effective and productive, keeping communication between employees and managers open.
This performance review template helps structure weekly or monthly 1-on-1 meetings with pre-set agenda prompts for discussing career goals, project updates, challenges, and more.
Using these prompts, managers and employees ensure that every important topic is covered, from work progress to personal and professional development, promoting a well-rounded conversation.
With the ability to track action items discussed during each meeting, this template helps keep everyone accountable.
Managers and employees can add follow-up tasks during the meeting, track their progress over time, and maintain a documented history of discussions.
✨Ideal for: Creating a positive feedback loop and ensuring that goals and challenges are addressed consistently
9. The ClickUp Performance Report Template
Empower your team to achieve peak performance with the intuitive ClickUp Performance Report Template.
This powerful tool streamlines data collection, analysis, and reporting, enabling you to:
This annual performance review template provides the following:
- Automated data collection: Automatically gather and track key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time
- Intuitive dashboard: Visualize an employee’s performance metrics with easy-to-understand charts and graphs
- Actionable insights: Identify trends, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement
- Automated reporting: Generate comprehensive reports with a single click
✨Ideal for: Leaders focused on accountability and transparency to create comprehensive reports highlighting achievements and providing actionable insights for continuous improvement
10. The ClickUp Employee Weekly Report Template
The ClickUp Employee Weekly Report Template is excellent for maintaining team transparency and accountability.
This simple performance review template allows employees to document weekly progress, challenges, and accomplishments in a simple and consistent format, making it easy for managers to stay updated without micromanaging.
This template simplifies weekly reporting, encouraging employees to take ownership of their tasks and goals and reinforcing accountability.
Additionally, ClickUp’s automated reminders help ensure reports are submitted on time, keeping team leaders informed of each member’s contributions and areas for improvement.
This template is perfect for fostering open communication. It provides a snapshot of weekly performance, supporting more effective goal setting and team alignment.
✨Ideal for: Teams looking to organize weekly reporting, enhance transparency, and foster accountability
Summarize this article for me pleasePerformance Review Best Practices
Performance reviews don’t have to be stressful. Follow these tips to make the most of them.
Employee performance review best practices
- Prepare in advance: Review your work, accomplishments, and challenges.
- Be honest and specific: Provide concrete examples of your work and its impact.
- Ask questions: Seek clarification on feedback and discuss your career goals.
- Be open-minded: Listen actively to feedback and consider suggestions for improvement.
- Follow-up: After the review, schedule follow-up meetings to discuss action plans.
Manager performance review best practices
- Set clear expectations: Ensure employees understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Provide regular feedback: Offer timely feedback, both positive and constructive.
- Document performance: Keep records of employee performance throughout the year.
- Be objective and fair: Base evaluations on performance data and specific examples.
- Create a positive environment: Foster open communication and trust during the review process.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChallenges of Performance Reviews
Despite their importance, performance reviews often need help with their effectiveness.
Here are some common challenges:
1. Subjectivity bias
Managers may unconsciously favor certain direct reports or have biases that influence their assessments. For example, a manager might rate an employee higher if they have a similar personality or work style.
✅ Solution: Use standardized performance metrics and a rating system to minimize bias.
2. Lack of time and resources
Busy managers may struggle to allocate sufficient time for regular performance reviews and feedback sessions. Additionally, organizations may lack the necessary human resources to conduct effective reviews.
Solution: Implement regular, brief check-ins and use technology to mitigate this.
3. Fear of negative feedback
Both managers and employees may be hesitant to provide or receive negative feedback, fearing it may damage relationships or morale. This can lead to superficial reviews that avoid addressing real performance issues.
✅ Solution: Create an open, honest communication culture, focusing on constructive feedback and actionable improvement plans.
4. Ineffective feedback
Poorly delivered or vague feedback can be unhelpful and demotivating. For instance, saying, “You need to improve your communication skills,” without providing specific examples or actionable advice, is ineffective.
✅ Solution: Provide concrete examples of performance using the “STAR” method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
5. Lack of follow-through
Even the best-intentioned performance reviews can be ineffective if the agreed-upon action plans are not followed. Employees may struggle to implement changes and achieve their goals without regular check-ins and support.
✅ Solution: Set clear goals, establish regular check-ins, and provide ongoing support to help employees achieve their objectives.
Summarize this article for me pleaseElevate Your Performance Review Process with ClickUp
Performance reviews drive employee growth and organizational success. By implementing effective performance review practices, organizations can foster a culture of continuous improvement, boost employee morale, and achieve strategic goals.
Use ClickUp’s free performance review templates, real-time collaboration, and automated workflows to streamline your process and make reviews more impactful.
Ace your performance reviews by signing up for a free trial of ClickUp today!
Summarize this article for me pleaseFAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. How often should performance reviews be conducted?
Performance reviews can be conducted annually, semi-annually, or quarterly, depending on the organization’s specific needs and goals.
2. What if an employee disagrees with their review?
Employees who disagree with their review should express their concerns calmly and professionally, providing specific examples to support their viewpoints.
3. How can performance reviews be used for career development?
Performance reviews can identify strengths, weaknesses, and development needs, allowing employees to set career goals and create personalized development plans.
4. How do you handle performance issues that arise during the review?
Performance issues should be addressed openly and honestly. Focus on specific behaviors and provide actionable feedback. Create a plan to address the issue and monitor progress.
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
