Performance review: steps, metrics, and examples

A performance review is a scheduled talk where a manager rates an employee's work against goals and agrees on next steps.

Done well, it gives the employee a clear picture of where they stand. It also gives hiring teams one of the few hard signals on whether a hire worked out.

What is a performance review?

A performance review is a formal check where a manager and an employee look back at results and plan what comes next. MIT Human Resources calls it "a crucial part of the ongoing dialogue between managers and employees". A good review confirms what both sides already discussed during the year, so nothing in it should come as news.

Plenty of managers and employees still dread the process. A SHRM piece from 2022 said reviews "are seen as time-consuming, demotivating, inaccurate, biased and unfair". Much of that pain comes from saving feedback for one meeting. When a manager rates a full year from memory, recent events can crowd out the rest of the record.

Steps in the review process

A solid review moves from the job description to a self-assessment, outside feedback, a written review, and a two-way conversation. These steps follow the MIT review process.

• Job description check: The manager and employee confirm the role still matches the work, and they update it where duties have shifted.
• Self-assessment: The employee writes a short summary of wins, misses, and goals, then sends it to the manager before the meeting.
• Multi-rater feedback: The manager gathers input from colleagues, customers, and direct reports, so the rating doesn't rest on one person's view.
• Written review: The manager drafts ratings and comments tied to the agreed goals, with a concrete example for each one.
• Conversation: Both sides talk through the draft, agree on what should change, and set goals for the next period.

If the conversation surfaces serious gaps, the manager may move the employee to a performance improvement plan with clear goals and a deadline.

Performance metrics that fit the role

Performance metrics should cover goals met, quality of work, skills growth, and behaviors, with only a few chosen for each role. Tracking everything turns the review into a checklist that nobody reads closely.

New hires need extra measures on top of these, and SHRM's onboarding guide lists examples you can borrow. They include "time-to-productivity, turnover/retention rates, retention threshold, new-hire surveys, employee satisfaction & engagement, performance measures and informal feedback". Pair those with a new hire onboarding checklist so the manager knows what a good first quarter looks like.

Performance review examples

Good review comments name a behavior, give one piece of evidence, and point to what comes next. Here are sample comments for each metric area, with a strong and a weak version.

Goals met

Strong comment: "You closed nearly all of your target accounts this quarter. Next quarter, let's add two accounts in the new region." Weak comment: "You did fine on your numbers."

Quality of work

Strong comment: "Your charting errors dropped after the spring training. Keep using the checklist on night shifts." Weak comment: "Your work is sloppy sometimes."

Skills growth

Strong comment: "You now ship code that needs only light review notes. Let's pair you with a senior engineer on the next release." Weak comment: "You're getting better."

Behaviors

Strong comment: "Several peers said you helped them hit a deadline. Let's give you a mentoring role for the next hire." Weak comment: "You're a great team player."

The weak versions aren't wrong, but they give the employee nothing to repeat or fix. A specific comment also gives the next review a clear baseline.

What not to say in a performance review

Avoid comments the employee can't act on or that judge the person instead of the work. MIT's best practices call for clarifying expectations and acknowledging personal biases, and these slips break both.

• Vague praise or criticism, such as "great job" or "needs to step up," with no example attached.
• Comparisons with coworkers, which shift the talk from the employee's goals to someone else's.
• Personality labels, such as "lazy" or "difficult," instead of the behavior you saw.
• New problems raised for the first time, which should have come up when they happened.
• Promises about pay or promotion that the manager can't approve alone.

Performance review template

Use this simple template for each review, and share it with the employee before the meeting.

• Employee, role, and review period.
• Goals from the last review, with the result for each one.
• Strengths, with one example each.
• Areas to develop, with one example each and the support you'll offer.
• Goals for the next period, with a date to check progress.
• Employee comments and both signatures.

How often to hold reviews

Hold formal feedback every quarter, and check in with new hires every month during their first stretch. SHRM guidance says "formal feedback sessions should occur quarterly". The same piece suggests checking in with new employees "in 30-day increments, asking for feedback on their experience".

Yearly reviews are still common. In a 2021 SHRM report, about 87 percent of employees said they had an annual performance review. That same report noted that ongoing career discussions produce better results than a single yearly meeting.

Use the 90-day review to measure quality of hire

The 90-day review is the best early read on whether a hire worked. Quality of hire means how well a new employee performs and fits against what the role needed. Recruiters and hiring leads can use the review to answer that question with evidence.

• Ask for the outcome: Request the rating and a few lines of comment from the hiring manager or client. Agency recruiters should set this expectation at intake.
• Compare against the intake scorecard: Line up each must-have skill you agreed on before sourcing against what the review says.
• Adjust the next search: Move weight toward the traits that predicted success, and drop the ones that didn't matter on the job.

Check the result before you start the next search

Say you placed a customer support lead whose review praised product knowledge but flagged weak coaching. Your scorecard weighted coaching lightly, so the miss traces back to intake. On the next search, you'd move coaching higher and add a coaching scenario to the screen. That change helps you spot quality candidates earlier.