How to write a performance review structure and samples

Most managers learn how to write a performance review with a blank form, a deadline and a hazy memory of the last few weeks. Here is an order of work, a structure for the document, three full samples and a check for wording that drifts from the work to the person.

Before you write: gather evidence

A review covers the whole period, not the last month. Memory won’t do that on its own: recent events crowd out earlier ones, which reviewers call recency bias. Collect the record first. MIT’s HR guide starts the same way, with last year’s review, mid-year check-ins, the job description, the employee’s self-assessment and notes from the year1.

1. Goals and expectations agreed at the start of the period, and any changes since.
2. Results. Numbers, projects delivered, deadlines met or missed, with dates.
3. Your 1:1 notes and earlier check-ins.
4. Feedback from others. Colleagues, customers and direct reports see work you don’t. 360 feedback collected before you write gives you that view in one place.
5. The employee’s self-assessment, if your process asks for one.

Write each item as a fact with a date: “Closed the Q3 migration two weeks early,” not “great work on the migration.” These notes feed every part of the document.

A five-part structure for the review document

MIT’s HR guide asks reviewers to describe four things: performance compared to agreed expectations, key accomplishments and contributions, examples of strengths and development opportunities, and key expectations for the coming year1. We add a short summary at the top: it is what the employee reads first.

If your company has a form, map these parts onto its fields; if not, start from our performance review form to download and adapt. Keep results before strengths and development areas, so every judgment rests on something already on the page.

How to write a performance review, part by part

What goes into each part, with a short example. For longer lists, see our performance review phrases by skill and rating level.

Summary

Write it last. Give the overall picture, the rating and the one thing that matters most for the next period.

Example: “A solid year. Kofi met four of five goals and became the person the team goes to for pricing questions. Rating: meets expectations. The focus for next year is forecast accuracy.”

Results against goals

Go goal by goal: what was agreed, what happened and, where it helps, why.

Example: “Goal: average first response under four hours. Result: 3.2 hours from July, after Hannah rebuilt the triage rota; the first half averaged 5.1.”

Strengths

Name the strength, then show where it appeared and what it changed.

Example: “Hannah’s handovers are the clearest on the team. During the November escalation, the night shift closed the case from her notes without calling her.”

Development areas

Pick one or two. Describe the behavior and its effect, then say what good looks like.

Goals and support

Each goal gets a measure and a date, plus what you will do to help.

Example: “By June, run the weekly client report without review from me. For the first two cycles, I’ll pair you with Ruth, who built the current version.”

Justify the rating with evidence

The rating is where the rater’s own habits show. Scullen, Mount and Goff studied developmental ratings of two large groups of managers, 2,350 and 2,142 people, each rated by two bosses, two peers, two direct reports and themselves. The raters’ own rating tendencies explained 62% and 53% of the variance in the ratings. The managers’ actual performance explained 21% and 25%2. In those data, a rating said more about who gave it than about who received it.

You cannot remove that effect, but you can make your rating easier to check:

1. Decide the rating after you write the results, not before.
2. Write one line of reasoning that links the rating to evidence: “Meets expectations: four of five goals met; the missed one depended on a vendor release that slipped.”
3. Check it against your scale. If “exceeds” means “consistently beyond the role,” point to where that happened. No definitions yet? Borrow our five-point rating scale with defined levels.
4. Check the period. If every reason comes from the last two months, go back to your notes.

Three performance review samples

Each sample follows the five parts, shortened. They are illustrative: the people and numbers are made up. Under each, three notes on what makes it work.

Sample 1: exceeds expectations

• The rating line names what lifts it above “meets”: work used beyond her team.
• Every result has a goal, a number and a period.
• Even a top performer gets a development area, tied to a specific quarter.

Sample 2: meets expectations

• “Meets expectations” reads as a good result, with the reason in one line.
• The missed goal is explained with a fact, without excuses or blame.
• The development area is narrow and has a measurable goal attached.

Sample 3: below expectations

• The rating is stated plainly in the first lines. Elena does not have to hunt for it.
• The criticism is about two projects and one behavior, not about her as a person.
• The plan has a measure, a date and support, so the next review can check it.

Words to check before you send

Feedback about the person instead of the work is hard to act on, and it is not spread evenly. Kieran Snyder collected 248 performance reviews from 180 people in tech who agreed to share them. Among reviews with critical feedback, criticism of personality (“watch your tone,” “stop being so judgmental”) appeared in 71 of 94 reviews received by women and in 2 of 83 received by men3. It is a small, voluntary sample, not a representative study.

Textio, a company that sells software for checking the wording of feedback, analyzed written performance feedback received by more than 25,000 people. Women got 22% more feedback about their personality than men, positive and negative combined4. In a separate internet survey of 500 people in the same report, women were 7 times more likely than men to say they had been described as “opinionated” and 11 times more likely to say “abrasive.” These are what people recall hearing, not counts from documents.

Before you send a review, search it for words that describe the person and replace each with what they did.

After the meeting: the final write-up

The meeting often changes the review: the employee adds context, or you agree on different goals. Update the document so it records what was actually agreed. MIT’s HR guide lists the same steps after the conversation: record notes from the meeting and plan follow-up on open issues and goals1. For the meeting itself, see how to conduct the review meeting step by step.

What comments to write after a performance review?

Add a closing note of three or four sentences: what you discussed, what changed in the document, the goals you agreed on and the date of the next check-in. If your form has a field for the employee’s comments, ask them to fill it in. Their view belongs in the record even when you disagree with it. Follow your company’s HR policy on who signs and when.

Using AI to draft a performance review

An AI tool can turn your notes into a first draft quickly. The review is still yours, so check four things before you use it:

1. Facts. Every result, date and example comes from your notes for this period. Delete anything the tool filled in on its own.
2. The rating matches the evidence. If the text says “exceeds” and the results say “meets,” one of them is wrong.
3. No judgments about personality. Run the word check above. Generated text is not exempt.
4. It sounds like you. If you would not say a sentence to this person’s face, rewrite it. Before you paste in notes, check your company’s policy on putting employee information into AI tools.

The Reflection does not write reviews. It helps with the other half: rehearsing the conversation in which the review is discussed.

Practice delivering what you wrote

A review that reads well can still go wrong in the room. “Your communication needs work” looks fine on paper; said to someone who disagrees, it invites “What does that mean?” You need the example ready.

You can practice the review conversation with an AI employee before the real one. In one scenario, Omar · AI warehouse supervisor asks exactly that question, then disputes an example from March. A run takes 5 to 20 minutes and ends with a score for each review skill, such as using specific examples and separating facts from opinion, plus timestamped comments. Another one is open to read in full: a review for an account lead whose year went off track after an acquisition, with Nia · AI account lead.

If your managers are facing their first review cycle, start with new manager training for a first review cycle. It covers the talks new managers face first, including first feedback and a missed target.

Questions about writing reviews

How long should a performance review be?

Long enough to cover every goal with evidence, short enough for the employee to read before the meeting. A line per goal and a few sentences per part is usually enough.

Should the employee see it before the meeting?

It depends on your process, so follow your company’s HR policy. Sharing it shortly before the meeting gives the employee time to read it and come with questions. Some managers prefer to share it in the meeting, so the rating is never read without a conversation. Either way, the review should not be the first time they hear about a problem.