Run a performance review
Create reusable questions that fit your organisation, bring the reviewer’s and employee’s perspectives together, and record the agreed outcome in Smartly.
What is a Performance Review?
A Performance Review is a structured assessment where a manager or employer evaluates an employee's work performance, achievements, strengths, and areas for improvement over a specific period of time.
Smartly provides the system to help run the review. You define what constitutes performance for your people and conduct a review that helps you build a business from your people up.
Before you start
Roles:
- The Master user role administers Performance Reivews including creating a template of performance questions.
- Managers can then use those templates to run a review for thier reports
- Senior managers can run reviews for managers as well as direct or indirect reports.
- Employees complete self assessment and acknowledge the agreed review using web self-service access.
Create and publish a review template
Create a Template
A Master user is required to create reusable templates with questions for both the reviewer and employee.
- You might want to start with a generic review that works for every employee or you can create more tailored reviews for functional roles or areas to make the templates more effective.
- Reviewer and employee questions should mirror each other providing both roles the opportunity to present thier ratings, comments and persepctives.
- Keep in mind that Performance Review conversations can be challenging. Questions should provide both reviewer (manager) and employees scope to provide thier perspectives.
1. Go to Manage → Performance Reviews and click the button in the top right of the screen "View review templates".
2. Create a template from scratch or use an existing Draft or Published template as a starting point.
An Example Performance Review is provided in Draft.
3. Give the template a name and, if helpful, a description for reviewers selecting it.
4. Add up to 15 questions. Questions can be either a Rating and comment or a comment only. For each question, provide wording for the reviewer and the employee. Arrange questions in the order you want.
5. "Save as Draft "to keep working on it, or "publish" it to make it available for new reviews.
- All questions require an answer.
- Rating-plus-comment questions require both a rating and a comment.
- The fixed four-point scale is: Below standards, Meets standards, Exceeds standards and Sets new standard.
Change or archive a template
- A Master user can view, edit, duplicate, archive or republish templates.
- A duplicated template is separate becomes a new template.
- Publishing changes makes the updated version available to new reviews; reviews already created from the original template keep their original questions.
- Saving changes to a Published template as Draft makes it unavailable for new reviews until it is published again.
- Archiving also removes it from the choices for new reviews without changing existing reviews. Deleting a template hides it from template management; existing review history is retained.
- We suggest keeping reviews in draft until you are ready to hold the review when you can publish them.
Run and complete a review
A manager or senior manager (reviewer) can now begin a review using the published review template.
1. Go to Manage → Performance Reviews, this will display a list of all the employee you have perfmissions to review.
Note: employees with a warning (!) do not have web self service which is needed to complete the review steps.
2. Select an employee and "start a review" to begin a performance review.
3. Start the review and select a Published template. Check the template will work for the employee and role.
If no templates are showing your Master user needs to publish one.
4. Complete every question and submit your reviewer assessment.
Note:
- Complete each assessment in one sitting. as assessments do not save as drafts or auto-save.
- Submitted assessments and agreed responses cannot be changed.
- Employees will be able to see your ratings and comments in the agree stage.
- An employee can have only one review in progress, and incomplete reviews cannot be cancelled.
The employee will then recieve an email inviting them to complete their self-assessment.
Employee self-assessment
1. The employee will receive a notification of the performance review. They can navigate to the review from the email or from their personal hub.
2. The employee responds to the 'employee' version of the templated questions and submits their rating and comments or comment only responses.
The manager (reviewer) will then be notified that the employee has completed thier self review.
Agree the review
The manager can the review the employees ratings and responses against thier own.
The reviewer and employee should discuss their responses in person or remotely.
The reviewer then records the agreed responses as agreed in Smartly for the employee to review and acknowledge.
Submitted agreed responses cannot be changed.
Employee acknowledgement
The employee receives an email notification and can review the agreed rating and comments.
Once the employee clicks "Acknowledges review" the review is Complete.
Things to note
- Managers and Master users can access completed reviews within their employee-access permissions.
- Employees cannot browse completed reviews.
- Performance Reviews does not schedule cycles, manage goals or connect outcomes to pay changes.
- A new review can begin as soon as the last review is completed.
- Contact Smartly if a reviewer or employee leaves or loses access during a review to remove the review.