Managers: Using Reviews
How managers can fill out the Reviews for their direct reports
Christine Nathaniel avatar
Written by Christine Nathaniel
Updated over a week ago

Below is an outline of a generic performance review workflow and the stages it
typically incorporates. 

Note: this may change depending on how a Review is set up at your company!

  • Peer Nomination: opportunity to include peer feedback in the review. Managers will need to nominate peers who are best suited to provide the feedback

  • Employee Reflection: your opportunity for employees to comment and input on their accomplishments over the period of time the review is for

  • Manager Input: your opportunity to add context about the employee's efforts and outcomes they have achieved

  • Skip-level Approval: managers up the management tree have the opportunity to review and ensure equity across all Reviews

  • Admin Approval: a final stage of approval to ensure the technical part of the Review process is working correctly

  • 1-on-1 Discussion: an opportunity to debrief in person with your employee and make action plans 

  • Finalized: Once the 1-on-1 associated with the review is marked as complete, the entire review will be considered finalized. 

Employee Reflection 

Employees you will receive in-app and email prompt that a Review has been assigned to them.  

All their Objectives, Recognitions, Feedback Requests, and 1-on-1s will be pulled into the Review, if that is how the Admin has set up your Review at your company.

Employees will answer the questions throughout the Review - some will be open text, others multiple choice, rating or ranking. 

Manager Input

Step 1: Review Now

Right on the homepage, you will receive a prompt that 1 Review needs approval. Click Got to review(s) to get started!

Step 2: Complete the Manager Approval

You will see all the same questions as the Employee from the Employee Submission stage, plus the Employee’s answers. If a question is required, you will not be able to submit your review without completing it. 

If the Admin who launched the Review had chosen to add it, there may also be an additional Managers Only Section for you to add your thoughts regarding retainment strategies or long-term career planning. These comments can never be seen by your direct report.

Step 3: Save and Submit

Look for the Autosaved icon to indicate your work has been saved. When ready, click Submit review to finalize the Manager Input portion of the review.

If you would like the employee to add or edit any answers, click 'Request changes' which will notify them to make changes along with any specific comments from you. This pushes the review back one stage to Employee input and you will need to wait for them to submit their review again in order to submit the Manager input step.

When you are happy with your inputs, click Submit my responses and the Review is off to the approval stages, if applicable. 

Skip-level Approval

An optional step for admins to include as part of the Review launch. If included in the Review process, managers up the management tree then have the opportunity to review and ensure equity across all Reviews.

Admin Approval

An optional step for admins to include as part of the Review launch. If included in the Review process, there will be a final stage of approval to ensure the technical part of the Review process is working correctly.

Admins are able to send the review back to either the manager or employee input stage and add comments as to what changes they want the manager or employee to make.

1-on-1 Discussion

Step 1: Managers Book a 1-on-1

Right on the homepage, you will receive a prompt that a Review needs your approval. Click 'Review now' to get started. You will be prompted to schedule a 1-on-1. You will also see this on the Reviews Home Page – access the “Reviews” option under Main section in the main navigation, under “My Reviews” you will be prompted to “schedule 1-on-1."

Depending on how the Admin has set up the Review for your company, you may have the choice to share your answers of the Review immediately or keep them private until after the 1-on-1 meeting.

Step 2: Complete the 1-on-1, in the 1-on-1 Feature

A template is all set, ready to guide you through a debrief and closing conversation. A copy of the Review is attached in the bottom left-hand corner as a reference. 

Click “Send Notification Email”. This will notify your employee that you’ve scheduled the 1-on-1 and they can access the template and begin entering their responses to the template questions. Please ensure that you DO NOT click “Finalize 1-on-1” until after the 1-on-1 has been completed. This will lock the 1-on-1 template and neither you nor your employee will have access.

Finalized

Once the 1-on-1 associated with the review is marked as complete, the entire review will be considered finalized. 

Note: if there is no 1-on-1 stage in your Review, the review will automatically be shared with the employee after the last applicable stage (e.g. admin approval or skip-level approval)

Employees can access their own reviews at any time by going to Reviews > My Reviews and clicking on the name of the Review. 

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