Writing performance reviews is the part of the cycle managers put off, and they put it off because they start with a blank comment box and a year to summarise. The method that works starts somewhere else: with the objectives set at the start of the period, the employee's self-appraisal against them and the notes the manager wrote through the year. From those three, how to write an employee performance review becomes a sequence rather than an essay. This page sets out the order a manager works in when writing a review for an employee, what each comment must contain so the rating can be explained, and the habits that make writing employee reviews faster and fairer with every cycle that passes.
The order of work
Read the objectives and the self-appraisal first, without writing. Then, objective by objective: decide whether the target was missed, met or exceeded from the evidence, the employee's and your own notes; write one comment that names the evidence and the judgement; give the rating for that objective. Only after every objective is rated, set the overall rating on the company's scale, and only then write the closing comment. The closing comment comes last because it summarises judgements already made; written first, it becomes the judgement and the objectives get rated to fit it.
What each comment must contain
The evidence: what was done, with a specific example, the client renewed, the module shipped, the process was documented. The judgement: whether that met the target, in the scale's own words. Where the employee's self-rating differs from yours, the reason for the difference, because that line is the one the employee will read twice. Nothing about character, nothing the employee is hearing for the first time, and nothing you cannot point to. A review is a record the employee keeps and may later contest, and a comment that can be shown to be fair is worth more than one that is kind.
The habits that make the next cycle easier
Write objectives at the start of the period that have targets and measures, so the review has something to be written against. Keep dated notes through the year in the situation, behaviour, impact shape, filed on the employee's record. Hold short check-ins so nothing in the review is new. The free final comments worksheet on this site turns the rating and the objectives met into the outcome and the new salary, with example comments beside the figures, so the arithmetic is done before the prose. Reviewvo Pro keeps the objectives, the notes, the self-appraisal and the review on one record, which is where the next one starts.
Questions people ask about writing performance reviews
How do you start writing a performance review?
Not with the comment box. Read the objectives, the self-appraisal and your own notes first, then rate and comment objective by objective, set the overall rating, and write the closing comment last.
What should every performance review comment include?
A specific example as evidence, the judgement in the rating scale's own words, and, where your rating differs from the employee's self-rating, the reason. No character judgements and nothing the employee has not heard before.
How long should writing an employee review take?
With objectives set at the start, notes kept through the year and a self-appraisal in hand, an hour per employee. Without them, it takes an afternoon and produces a weaker review.