Performance Review Prep Workbook

Help both people arrive at a performance review prepared, with evidence from the whole period, a fair view of the work and clear ideas for what comes next.

Who it is for

• Employees who want to show the full picture of their work at their next review.

• Managers and supervisors who want reviews to be fair, specific and useful.

• Small-business owners who run reviews without an HR department.

• Shift leads and team leads holding their first reviews.

• HR and training professionals who want a ready-made preparation pack to share with staff.

The problem it solves

Most reviews cover only the last few weeks, because that is what people remember. Strong work earlier in the year is forgotten, ratings rest on impressions, and disagreements turn into arguments about who remembers what. This workbook gives the employee and the manager a simple way to gather evidence from the whole period, check it for fairness, plan the conversation and record what was agreed.

What is inside

• How to use this workbook (page 1; 1 page)

• Copyright and License (page 2; 1 page)

• Part 1: How a review works (pages 3 to 4; 2 pages)

• Part 2: Employee preparation (pages 5 to 8; 4 pages)

• Part 3: Manager preparation (pages 9 to 12; 4 pages)

• Part 4: The meeting and after (pages 13 to 14; 2 pages)

• Editable Word version of everything above (15 pages)

The filled-in examples follow one employee and her manager at an animal clinic, with evidence ideas for retail, restaurant, trades, office and warehouse roles.

How to use it

1. Two to three weeks before the review, both people read Part 1.

2. The employee completes Part 2: evidence log, self-assessment and goals for the next period.

3. The manager completes Part 3: evidence review, fairness check and conversation plan.

4. Use the agenda in Part 4 during the meeting, then complete the agreement record and set a follow-up date.

Formats and file types

• Printable PDF (14 pages), US Letter.

• Editable Word file (.docx, 15 pages) with every worksheet as tables you can type into.

Frequently asked questions