How to conduct an employee review: preparation and follow-up

An employee review needs a clear purpose, specific examples and time for both perspectives. This guide takes you from preparation and opening the conversation through to follow-up. It is for managers, employees and HR teams organising annual reviews, feedback or development conversations.

Use the free employee review template in PDF and Word as a working document. The steps below are practical recommendations, not a fixed script. Adapt them to the purpose and the people involved.

First clarify the type of conversation

An annual review covers a defined period. A feedback conversation addresses a specific situation. A development conversation focuses on learning, responsibilities and support. One meeting can combine several purposes; both people should know which is the focus today.

If a formal assessment is planned, explain its criteria and decision process in advance. An open development conversation should not unexpectedly become an assessment. Pay or a change of role may need their own part of the discussion. Agree an appropriate setting rather than squeezing them between other items.

Prepare as a manager

• Share the purpose and topics. State the review period and invite the other person to add their own topics.
• Gather specific examples. Consider contributions and difficulties from across the period. Separate what you observed from what you inferred.
• Review expectations. Which goals and responsibilities were agreed? Which priorities or working conditions have changed?
• Consider your own contribution. How have decisions, missing information or unavailable support affected the work?
• Prepare open questions. Think about what you do not yet understand. Choose a few relevant prompts from the questions for employee and development conversations.
• Arrange an uninterrupted setting. Allow enough time for questions and choose a place where people can speak confidentially.

A possible invitation: “I would like to review the past three months, hear your perspective on our collaboration and discuss a next development step. Which topics would you like to add?”

Prepare as an employee

• Make your contributions visible. Gather two or three examples: what did you do, what resulted, and under what conditions?
• Describe obstacles. Be specific about missing information or decisions. Include what you have already tried.
• Prepare feedback for your manager. What helps you? What should change? An example makes your request easier to understand.
• Choose a development topic. Which responsibility or skill would you like to develop? What learning opportunity and support do you need?
• Ask about unclear expectations. If the purpose, assessment criteria or process are unclear, ask in advance.

You do not need perfect model answers. “I do not yet have enough information to assess that” can be a useful response. If a question is unexpected, you can ask for time to provide specific examples afterward.

A conversation sequence in five steps

1. Agree on the focus together

Start with the purpose and compare topics: “I have prepared a review of the period, collaboration and development. What matters most to you today?” Also agree how you will record the outcomes. An agenda provides orientation; it can change when a relevant topic emerges.

2. Hear both perspectives on the period

Invite the employee to describe their experience, then add your own examples. Ask about conditions you were not aware of. Summarise what you understood before making an assessment.

Participation in appraisal is associated with more positive reactions, particularly satisfaction. It does not guarantee better performance (Cawley et al., 1998). Giving both perspectives space is a practical recommendation here, not a conversation model tested in that study.

3. Discuss specific feedback as a dialogue

Describe the situation, what you observed and its significance for the work. Avoid general labels such as “always unreliable”. Then ask for the other person's perspective.

A fictional opening: “In our last two coordination meetings, the updated project status was missing. That meant we could not decide on the next task. What made the update difficult?” This invites clarification without assuming the explanation.

Feedback does not improve performance under all conditions; research also reports negative effects (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). This warrants care but does not establish a universally effective wording formula. Our article on giving constructive feedback in difficult situations provides further examples and research limitations.

4. Agree on a next development step

Translate a broad concern into a specific work situation. For example, “communicate better” could become: “At the end of the next two project meetings, I will summarise the outstanding decisions and ask whether anything is missing.”

Add who will provide support and how you will recognise progress together. Also consider whether an organisational condition needs to change first. An unclear assignment cannot be resolved through a personal learning goal alone.

5. Record the outcomes and follow-up

Summarise the main agreements. Ask: “What will we record together? What remains open? When will we review our experience?” Use the shared-notes page of the employee review template.

Record an owner, support, a due date and a follow-up conversation for each step. Include only what was actually agreed. Personal preparation notes do not need to be copied in full into the shared record.

When assessments differ

Disagreement does not need to be resolved immediately. First check whether you are discussing the same situation, expectation and period.

A possible manager response: “I saw the sequence differently. Could we look at the two specific situations separately?” A possible employee response: “The deadline did change. When assessing my contribution, I would like to include the change in priority.”

Then distinguish three things: what is observable, how it is interpreted, and who needs to make which decision. Record different perspectives separately when necessary and agree what further information to obtain. A manager's decision should remain recognisable as a decision rather than being presented as shared agreement.

If the conversation stalls, another meeting with a clear question to resolve may be more useful than forcing agreement.

Follow up in everyday work

Follow-up begins with the promised actions. The employee and manager each take responsibility for their agreements. At the next conversation, discuss specific experience: what was tried, what support was available, and what needs adjusting?

A meta-analysis of multisource feedback found generally small improvements in subsequent ratings by others. It did not test this guide or the effects of individual annual reviews (Smither et al., 2005). Regular follow-up is a practical recommendation here, not a performance promise.

For HR, there is also a process question: how do templates, formal assessments, approvals and development goals stay connected? riteful supports employee reviews and subsequent development, connecting them to shared development plans and one-on-ones based on conversation needs. Our article on annual reviews versus continuous feedback explains the different purposes of these conversations.

References

Cawley, B. D., Keeping, L. M., & Levy, P. E. (1998). Participation in the performance appraisal process and employee reactions: A meta-analytic review of field investigations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4), 615–633.

Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254–284.

Smither, J. W., London, M., & Reilly, R. R. (2005). Does performance improve following multisource feedback? A theoretical model, meta-analysis, and review of empirical findings. Personnel Psychology, 58(1), 33–66.