Performance review template

At the end of each performance review, human resources teams often scramble to collect feedback from multiple sources, including spreadsheets, emails, and chats. Managers might struggle to remember specific examples, and employees wait anxiously for a conversation that feels more like a formality than a dialogue.

Our performance review template centralizes evaluations, self-assessments, and development goals in one shared workspace. Whether you’re managing quarterly check-ins or annual performance appraisals, this template turns data into insights that help every team member grow.

Who benefits from performance review templates

Performance review templates help teams conduct more structured and meaningful evaluations. They give everyone a shared framework for discussing progress, setting goals, and improving future performance.

Managers

Managers get a comprehensive view of each team member’s progress, from deliverables to development needs. The template provides space for notes, ratings, and next steps, which simplifies providing balanced, evidence-based feedback.

HR teams

Human resources teams use employee performance review templates to standardize evaluations across departments. Templates create a consistent process that supports data-driven performance management and reduces administrative overhead.

Team members

Templates provide team members with feedback and self-assessment tools that promote reflection. By tracking progress and goals in one workspace, people can see how their efforts contribute to the team's and the company's success.

Executives and stakeholders

Templates also provide leadership teams with transparent data on performance trends, skill gaps, and opportunities for talent development. This type of data improves strategic workforce planning and succession management.

Why use a performance review template

Performance reviews work best when they’re well defined, consistent, and easy to reference throughout the year. Without an organized process, teams can lose important feedback, which can stall a team member’s career development.

Imagine a manager preparing for an annual review. They spend hours searching for notes, performance metrics, and emails, only to find gaps in the record. With this free employee performance review template, you can organize everything in a single Asana project.

Why use a performance review template:

• Visibility into goals, deliverables, and competencies

• A repeatable structure for quarterly and annual reviews

• Collaboration between HR teams, managers, and employees

• Simple performance tracking and rating across review periods

• Customizable sections for 90-day, self, and peer performance reviews

How to use a performance review template

Before you start, remember that the goal of this template is to make reviewing performance a conversation, rather than a chore. Each section of the template builds on the last, helping you track achievements, set new goals, and improve development plans over time.

Step 1: Employee and reviewer information

Begin by entering the basic details: employee name, ID, reviewer, and review period. Baseline performance information establishes a record for each review cycle. You can filter or search these entries by date, department, or reviewer to maintain consistency across cycles.

Add relevant performance metrics, KPIs, or OKRs to frame the discussion around measurable outcomes. If your company uses connected tools like Jira or Salesforce, link performance data directly in this section for context.

Step 2: Self-assessment

Team members begin the process by evaluating their own performance. Self-evaluation encourages honest reflection on achievements, challenges, and areas for growth.

Prompts can include questions about project outcomes, teamwork, and new skills developed. When employees take ownership of their self-performance review, they’re more likely to engage in productive goal-setting conversations.

Step 3: Key deliverables and accomplishments

List the major deliverables, milestones, or contributions during the review period. Managers and employees can attach project links, documents, or performance data to back up their evaluations.

Using the columns for goal progress and training to determine where success started and where extra support could help. This approach makes each review more forward-looking, rather than just focusing on the past.

Step 4: Goal achievement

The goal achievement section connects day-to-day work with strategic objectives. Use it to document OKRs or personal development goals, noting whether they were achieved, in progress, or delayed.

Add context around blockers or dependencies that affected progress. Over time, this creates a transparent record of how well individual goals support business objectives.

Step 5: Strengths and areas for improvement

Every team member has unique competencies and areas to develop. Use this section to document what’s going well and what might need adjustment.

You can categorize skills under problem-solving, communication, leadership, or technical expertise, depending on the role. These insights form the basis for personalized development plans.

Step 6: Manager comments and feedback

The final step is the conversation. Managers summarize overall performance ratings, highlight achievements, and outline next steps.

Use this section to co-create an action plan. Together, the reviewer and employee can define training opportunities, new responsibilities, or mentorship pairings that support ongoing growth.

Asana performance review features

Features are built-in Asana capabilities that help you customize your template. Features can transform this template into an annual performance review template, a sales performance review template, or any type of framework you need to evaluate and analyze performance metrics.

You can find more inspiration at the Asana features hub to further customize your workflow.

Custom fields

Custom fields let you track competencies, goal progress, and performance ratings consistently. Fields helps you compare results across review periods and identify trends.

Automation

Automation saves time by automatically assigning review tasks, setting reminders, and scheduling due dates. It ensures that HR teams and managers never miss a check-in or review milestone.

Dashboards

Dashboards transform individual data points into a big-picture view of team and company performance. These visual insights enable teams to monitor patterns and identify high performers.

Goals

Built-in goal tracking links reviews directly to OKRs or team objectives. Managers can align individual outcomes with broader business goals.

Portfolios

Portfolios allow HR teams to oversee multiple review cycles or departments at once. They simplify reporting for large organizations with distributed teams.

Integrations that improve performance review templates

Integrations connect your performance review template with tools your team already uses. Browse the full integrations library to find the tools and platforms you regularly use.

Google Sheets

Sync review data with Google Sheets for detailed analysis or custom charts. It’s ideal for tracking performance metrics across review periods.

Slack

Send automated reminders or feedback requests directly to Slack. Slack integrations keep reviews on schedule without adding more emails.

Jira

Link goals or accomplishments to Jira issues for teams that track project-based performance.

Google Drive

Attach documents, certificates, or feedback summaries stored in Drive. You can store all performance documentation in one workspace.

Zoom

You can easily add video call links to schedule review discussions. Integrating meeting tools reduces friction during performance review cycles.

FAQs about performance review templates