GUIDE · REVIEW SEASON
Year-end performance reviews: a 6-week checklist for managers
Year-end reviews go wrong when they are written in one late night from memory. The result is vague, recent-biased reviews and surprised employees.
Spread the work over six weeks instead. Each week has one or two small jobs, and every step links to a free tool or example that does the heavy lifting.
Week 6 before: gather the evidence
- List each person’s goals for the year and what happened to each one.
- Pull notes from your one-on-ones. Look for examples from the whole year, not just the last month.
- Ask two or three colleagues who worked closely with each person for a short note on what went well and what could be better.
Week 5: ask for self-reviews
- Send everyone the self-review with a clear deadline, two weeks away.
- Explain how it will be used: as input to your review, not as the review itself.
- Share a few examples of what a useful self-review looks like, so people write specifics rather than adjectives.
Week 4: draft the reviews
- Rate each competency against what good looks like for the role, not against other people.
- Back every rating with one real example. If you can’t find one, the rating is a guess.
- Write areas to improve as what good looks like and the support you will give.
- Check for recency bias: does the review reflect January as much as November?
Week 3: calibrate
If your company calibrates, bring your evidence, not just ratings. If it doesn’t, compare your own ratings across the team: are your standards the same for everyone, including people you like working with?
- Look for clusters: if everyone is “meets expectations”, the reviews aren’t telling people much.
- Check that pay and bonus recommendations match the ratings and the budget.
Week 2: the conversations
- Book 45 to 60 minutes with each person, in a private room or on video.
- Start by asking how they think the year went, then share your view.
- Spend more time on next year than on the score.
- Nothing in the review should be a surprise. If it is, raise it in one-on-ones during the year next time.
Week 1: close the loop
- Send the final review and any pay or bonus letters.
- Agree two or three goals for next year with each person.
- Put a mid-year check-in in the calendar now, so next year’s review writes itself.
Free tools for this
Frequently asked questions
How long before the deadline should I start year-end reviews?
About six weeks. That leaves time to gather evidence, get self-reviews back, calibrate, and hold the conversations without rushing.
What should I avoid in a year-end review?
Surprises, ratings without examples, judging the whole year on the last month, and comparing people with each other instead of with what good looks like for the role.
Should pay be discussed in the same meeting as the review?
Many companies separate them so people focus on the feedback. If you combine them, cover the feedback first and the pay last, and explain how the pay decision was made.
One-minute lessons on this
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