Article Overview: Employee evaluations can be time-consuming and inconsistent, frustrating managers and employees. Our listicle offers effective templates to make the process efficient and ensure fair assessments.
If you generally feel like you’re fumbling your way through employee reviews and wish there was a better way to take charge of performance evaluations, this article is for you!
We took a dive into the deep end to find the best employee evaluation templates to help you streamline the performance evaluation process, so you’re armed with the right tools to turn your employees into high-performance ninjas.
These employee evaluation templates can help you breeze through reviews like a veteran while making your employees feel genuinely heard, validated, and motivated to aim higher and do better.
How We Chose the Best Employee Evaluation Templates
At SnackNation, we believe that collaboration and transparency are two key components to the modern workplace experience. Our teams harness the power of the best online collaboration tools to help increase productivity and efficiency.
✅ Why trust us? The SnackNation team has been testing and reviewing 1,000’s of templates for more than a decade. We’re dedicated to the cause of finding the fastest, easiest, and most efficient ways of working.
🔎 Our selection process: We’ve hand-picked the [KW] templates included in this article using the following criteria:
- Can be shared with team
- User-friendly interface
- Visually Appealing
- Customizable
- Great for collaboration
- Save Time
- Value added
Pro-Tip: Use “Command + D” to bookmark this list – we update it often with the latest and most useful [KW templates]!
Best Employee Employee Evaluation Templates
1 Self-Assessment Template by monday.com
🏅Best For: Employee self assessment
👉 Try This monday.com Template
This template is designed as an employee self evaluation form for executives who want to take ownership of their career development through frequent self-analysis and introspection. Its core focus is on critical work behaviors with a rating scale, and space to jot down goals and next steps.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: It’s a comprehensive self assessment form that covers all the critical areas relevant for career progression.
✅ Pros:
Performance rating – Employees can use the rating system to give themselves a rating based on how they see their performance.
Add context – Employees can add context to support their views in terms of examples and other evidentiary material.
Supports self goal-setting – Employees can brainstorm the ways they want to set goals for further discussion with their direct reports.
❌ Cons:
Self-assessment measures are best deployed when there’s objectivity and a willingness to change things for the better.
2 Employee Review Template by monday.com
🏅Best For: List and individual views
👉 Try This monday.com Template
The employee review template has a lot of features that make it super-effective for performance evaluations. The color-coding adds to its visual appeal, so it’s easy to understand what’s going on with each employee’s review at any point in time.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: We especially love that you can get bird’s eye views into the specifics of the reviews on the list view. At the same time, you can pull up each review individually for detailed insights.
✅ Pros:
Real-time collaboration – Both the employee and the manager can edit the template in real time while in the middle of the review discussion.
Add media elements of your choice – The template allows for you to add images, videos, and tables, to make for an engaging experience.
Update and notifications – You can track changes to the document and you also get notifications everytime someone else makes a change to it.
❌ Cons:
You need to sign up to monday.com to use this template.
3 Self-Evaluation Template by Miro
🏅Best For: Employee self evaluation or self assessment
Self evaluations are an underrated performance development tool. It’s a great idea to take time out to self assess your job performance prior to a formal employee performance evaluation. You can analyze the plus and minus points of your own performance and jot down comprehensive feedback to take with you to the performance review.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: It’s a fantastic tool to use for introspection and to gather supporting material prior to all your formal reviews throughout the year.
✅ Pros:
Thoughtfully developed – While it doesn’t cover everything, it does cover critical areas, such as ability to work independently, ability to foster positive relationships, major accomplishments for the review period, and so on.
Editable and expandable – The sections can be edited as per your needs. You can also expand sections but still maintain the structure and continuity.
Ability to add artifacts – You can add artifacts to the template to help support any information you’d like to bring forward to the formal review.
❌ Cons:
While it can’t be used as a stand-alone template for a formal review, it’s a great supplementary tool to help with preparing for a formal evaluation.
4 Simple Performance Review by Smartsheet
🏅Best For: Small teams who don’t need the bells and whistles
👉 Try This Smartsheet Template
This editable PDF version of a review template offers a simple yet effective way to assess an employee’s performance based on the most common competency criteria, for example, quality of work, work consistency, productivity, communication skills, and so on. Employees are graded against four levels, namely –unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good, and excellent. The template also incorporates sections for setting performance expectations for the next performance review.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: It’s a basic, no-frills template with a pre-populated list of basic characteristics (competencies) to evaluate.
✅ Pros:
Great for small teams – Simply print out or fill up online and save.
Simple yet effective – Grade the employee against a pre-listed set of basic work competencies (communication skills, honesty, etc.) and you’re done.
Includes a section for goal setting – This section allows you to record the results of the previous review’s goal setting and decide new goals.
❌ Cons:
The core competencies fields are not changeable.
5 Performance Review Template by Miro
🏅Best For: Mentorship and leadership development
The performance review template offers a slightly different take on the traditional performance review structure. The template goes beyond supporting linear input to facilitating full-fledged discussions designed not just for performance improvement but continuous improvement and professional development.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: This layout of the template supports mentorship by facilitating in-depth discussions on various KPIs.
✅ Pros:
In-depth – Think of this performance tool as an in-depth version of the traditional performance review that digs deeper and promotes deeper understanding.
Comprehensive – While the template is laser-focused on project performance, it’s still comprehensive enough to create an objective and in-depth job performance assessment.
Collaborative input – The template allows for multiple stakeholders to share input.
❌ Cons:
Its best use-case scenario is as a mentorship tool for senior executives.
6 Quarterly Performance Review by ClickUp
🏅Best For: Quarterly-focused performance evaluations
The templates that we’ve shared in this list are applicable for reviews throughout the year, however if you’re looking for a quarterly-focused review template, you may find this template a good choice. One of the biggest benefits of having quarterly reviews is that you can provide timely coaching and feedback, resulting in improved employee performance outcomes over time.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: We love how it’s purpose-built for the inbetween review periods which matter the most for building positive relationships and staying engaged.
✅ Pros:
Great for beginners – It’s ready-to-use, customizable, and you can get started in seconds.
Track different metrics – The template can be used to track goals, OKRs, performance metrics, and more.
Structured feedback mechanism – This template makes it easy for you to share constructive feedback in a structured manner.
❌ Cons:
You do need to sign up to ClickUp to use this template.
7 Performance Evaluation by Notion
🏅Best For: Organizing your performance reviews in a centralized location
The performance evaluation template is ideal when you have a long list of employee performance reviews to get on top of and need a simple organization system. It offers a bird’s eye view of employee names, reviewer names, review dates, goals for the next review period, and notes.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: Aside from getting the overview, you can also drill down further to get the details. By looking at this template, you’ll instantly identify the reviews that are done, and the reviews that are left to do.
✅ Pros:
Scheduling features – Aside from viewing the status of reviews, you can also schedule reviews using the same template.
Adaptable – You can use the same template for all the key performance reviews – quarterly, bi-annual, or annual performance reviews, for example.
Add detailed feedback – Detailed feedback can be added to important sections, such as positive comments, and areas for improvement.
❌ Cons:
It’s not a free template, however, it’s available for a nominal cost of just $7.
8 Employee Evaluation Template by Smartsheet
🏅Best For: Excel-based performance evaluation
👉 Try This Smartsheet Template
This employee evaluation template is an excel-based done-for-you template. Simply customize the fields and organize the sheet to your specific needs. The pre-done fields include employee identification, objectives, success metrics, weightage, ratings, and commentary.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: If you’re an Excel loyalist, this template will be right up your alley!
✅ Pros:
Ideal for Excel fans – The template is perfect for executives who prefer Excel-based worksheets to evaluate employee performance.
Pre-done and customizable – The template is already set up with all the key fields but you can customize the template to your specific needs, and rinse and repeat
Employee self assessment – The template also includes sections that incorporate employee feedback from their own self assessment.
❌ Cons:
Given it’s an Excel-based template, it’s not as easily integrated into software tools.
9 Employee Evaluation Form by ClickUp
🏅Best For: Beginners who want easy performance review templates that can be set up quickly
This employee performance evaluation form provides a clear and user-friendly structure for employee evaluations with customizable fields for common sub-sections like job titles, employee’s job description, and skills assessments. The design of this form makes it easy to schedule review meetings, track progress, and also analyze employee evaluation data.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: It’s ready-to-use, with fully customizable sub-categories, so newbies can get off the ground with minimal fuss. It also helps you establish a consistent and fair evaluation process across the organization.
✅ Pros:
Beginner-friendly – Facilitates quick set-up and implementation.
Customizable – Can be adapted to meet the needs of different departments and varying evaluation criteria.
Exhaustive – Covers all the key aspects of evaluating job performance, so there’s no need for guesswork!
❌ Cons:
You need to be part of the ClickUp ecosystem to use this template effectively.
10 Performance Review by ClickUp
🏅Best For: Simple and effective 360-degree evaluations
This template makes the performance review process a breeze, especially if you’re looking for a template that fits a 360-degree evaluation framework. Use it to set clear and well-defined goals, provide actionable feedback, and track employee progress.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: This performance review template a beginner-friendly, easy-to-use, and fully customizable employee performance review template. You can get started in as little as seconds.
✅ Pros:
Review scheduling features – Use the template together with ClickUp’s Calendar View to schedule reviews.
Interactive visual representation – Incorporate the Board View to create an engaging visual view of the performance review.
Collaboration features – Collaborate with other stakeholders to gather feedback for an effective employee evaluation process.
❌ Cons:
You need a ClickUp account to use this template.
11 Employee Self Evaluation by Notion
🏅Best For: Employee self assessment with assessor input
This template is unique in that unlike other self-assessment employee performance review templates, it allows for assessor input. Employees typically use self-assessment templates to introspect and prepare supplementary material for formal reviews. In this case, you can have an assessor provide detailed feedback and commentary, creating a two-way feedback loop that’s beneficial for both personal and professional development.
❤️ Why we love this employee evaluation template: The ability to add a reviewer is hands-down one of the best features of this self-assessment template.
✅ Pros:
Include a reviewer – Although it’s a self-assessment tool, you can add an assessor to share feedback and for mentorship.
Evaluation criteria – The employee can evaluate their performance against the specific job’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and performance objectives.
Easy-to-use – It’s a basic, no-frills template that’s easy to use and set up.
❌ Cons:
It’s not a free template, however you can purchase it for a nominal cost of $7.
Benefits of Employee Evaluation Templates
Employee evaluation templates make it easy for you to streamline the process of employee evaluations, especially when you have large teams. They provide a number of benefits, such as:
👍 Consistency of application
With templates, you can implement an evaluation system that’s consistent, and therefore fair, across the board. Team members performing the same job are assessed against the same criteria and the same objectives. Using templates also makes it easy to compare performance across individuals.
👍 Time-saving
Employee evaluation templates help team leaders and managers save a considerable amount of time. There is no need to set up review parameters from scratch. The templates can be customizable as well, so you can adapt them to your needs. Last but not least, they can be rinsed and repeated for every review cycle.
👍 Enhanced performance tracking
Many of the templates we’ve featured in this list are one of the many tools available in project management software. When used as part of the software, it’s easy to get data, analyze trends, and track employee progress over time.
Tips on How To Use Employee Evaluation Templates
Think of employee evaluation templates as your basic framework. Consider using the following tips to maximize their efficiency:
✅ Customize the template
Before you start using the templates, look over them and identify how you can customize them to meet your organizational objectives. More specifically, adapt goals, competencies, and performance metrics, to ensure that the performance evaluations are relevant and meaningful.
✅ Train reviewers
Templates are only as good as the people who use them. Provide training for both reviewers and employees on the salient features of the review templates so they can use the templates effectively. This helps to ensure fairness and consistency of application.
✅ Use templates for ongoing feedback
Templates are best deployed as a tool for ongoing feedback and coaching. Meeting your employees once a year can be demotivating for your employees because it feels like you’re not prioritizing them enough. Make time to schedule quarterly check ins, if not weekly ones, so you’re constantly touching base with your employees.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Employee Evaluation Templates
❗️Making it a rushed process
Employee evaluation forms are powerful tools when used correctly. Make time to evaluate your employee over the course of the year, as opposed to putting together the review at the last minute to get over a to-do task. Use the time to build up a portfolio of examples and feedback (both internal and external) to provide meaningful feedback.
❗️Avoid recency bias
It’s a mistake that ties in neatly with the mistake we mentioned earlier. With recency bias, you’re only focused on the employee’s most recent performance making you look ill-informed and under-prepared. Ensure you’re checking in with your employees throughout the year and observing the impact of ongoing feedback and coaching.
❗️Not sharing specific examples
Without sharing specific examples or providing evidentiary content, your feedback can appear unhelpful. It can also appear unfair, as your employee will want concrete examples, in case there are areas for improvement.
People Also Ask These Questions About Employee Evaluation Templates
Q: What is an employee evaluation template?
- A: Employee evaluation templates are structured frameworks that serve as guideposts for the purpose of carrying out a comprehensive and effective performance evaluations. They’re a significant time saver and efficiency booster because you only need to populate the pre-done fields and sections with employee-specific information. We’ve shared some of the most popular employee evaluation templates in this article. Evaluate them against your needs before narrowing down on your final pick or picks!
Q: What elements are typically included in an employee evaluation template?
- A: Employee evaluation templates typically contain the following elements, although the exact headings can be modified to a reviewer’s specific needs: Employee information, such as the employee’s name, ID number, job title, department, and evaluation period; Performance criteria, which involves the specific competencies required for the job, such as job knowledge, teamwork, and communication skills; Objectives and goals, allowing the setting of goals and objectives for the next review period while assessing performance for the current period; Strengths and areas for improvement, which helps in recording these aspects to motivate the employee and monitor progress; and Development plans, which identify plans and action steps to enable employee development or career progression.
Q: Can an employee evaluation template be customized?
- A: Employee evaluation forms and templates can be customized depending on the specific template you’re using. Most of the templates we’ve shared here in this list are customizable to some degree. Customizable templates make it easy for you to evaluate your employee’s performance based on your specific departmental needs.
