👥 HR Template
Performance Review Template
Annual review template with goals, achievements, development plan.
What a review document should capture
- The period being reviewed, and the goals that were set for it
- What was achieved against each, with evidence rather than impressions
- What got in the way, including things outside the employee’s control
- Strengths demonstrated, with specific examples
- Development areas, framed as actions rather than traits
- Goals for the next period, each with a measure and a date
- Support required: training, resources, time, or a change in workload
- The employee’s own comments, recorded in their words
- Both signatures and the date
Nothing in a review should be new information
A review that introduces a criticism the employee is hearing for the first time has failed twice: the problem went unaddressed for months, and the document now records a conversation the employee had no chance to respond to. Reviews work as a summary of feedback already given. If something serious surfaces between reviews, it is dealt with then — and if it may lead to termination, it needs its own process with warnings and a chance to improve.
- Raise issues when they happen; the review records them, it does not deliver them
- Separate performance management from the review cycle entirely — they have different legal consequences
- Write specific examples with dates; “communication needs work” is not actionable or defensible
If performance is genuinely a problem
- Unfair dismissal claims frequently turn on whether the employee was told clearly and given a real opportunity to improve
- Put warnings in writing, with what must change and by when, and keep them
- Get advice before terminating — the cost of getting the process wrong is usually larger than the cost of the advice
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General information only — not legal, tax or financial advice. For contracts and tax documents, confirm your obligations with a qualified professional or the relevant authority.