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As the year comes to an end, reviewing employee performance becomes crucial. It’s an avenue to reflect on the team’s productivity and spot improvement areas in the coming year.

However, effective performance management goes beyond giving feedback. HR leaders must structure reviews to address performance issues while promoting a company culture of continuous feedback—one that fosters job satisfaction, boosts employee morale, and supports professional growth.

In this article, we examine employee end of year review examples, showing you how to write a performance review that is specific, constructive, and tailored to each employee’s journey.

Learn more: A Guide to Mastering Performance Management

What is an employee end of year review?

An employee end-of-year review or performance appraisal is a formal annual assessment of an employee's performance. During this period, managers or HR professionals review how well employees carry out their duties and the challenges they encounter. They help identify employees' strengths and weaknesses, and align performance goals with company’s goals.

Successful employee end of year review examples have one thing in common — two-way communication. Performance reviews should allow managers and employees to ask work-related questions, share their perspectives on performance, get constructive feedback, and set goals for organizational success and professional development. Unlike weekly check-ins or 1-on-1 meetings that involve exchanging quick feedback, employee end of year review examples are more structured to ensure fair and consistent evaluations void of performance appraisal biases.

Here are some key components that employers should cover in their employee end of year review examples:

Assess performance

When drafting employee end-of-year review examples, evaluate workers' overall contribution to organizational objectives and how well they meet job expectations. By assessing performance, these reviews weigh employees’ strengths, achievements, challenges, and weaknesses while commenting on their work quality and efficiency.

Provide feedback

96% of employees believe regular feedback is good. This perception isn’t surprising, given how Zippia reports that 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week.

Employee end-of-year review examples are an excellent way to provide honest and constructive feedback to workers. When writing one, highlight specific instances where an employee excelled and where they need to improve. Also, remind workers of their job expectations and responsibilities. This reiteration emphasizes the importance of their role in the company.

Set goals

Employee end of year review examples also include new goals targeted for the coming year. Setting new performance review goals helps clarify objectives and provides a clear path toward achievement.

So, discuss career plans with employees during the year-end review. Then, assist them in setting SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Recognize achievements

Use performance review templates when recognizing employee achievements by citing examples of their successes and productive contributions throughout the year. Such accomplishments include commendations from team leads, achieved KPIs, project outcomes, ability to meet deadlines, impressive work, certifications, and awards.

This recognition validates the employee’s efforts, reminding them that the company sees and values their hard work. In return, workers feel valued and motivated to excel in their roles.

Get your free performance review template now!

Address performance issues

Employee end of year review examples are also an opportunity to address performance gaps for immediate adjustment. They spot areas where employees haven’t met expectations, such as missed deadlines or underperformance, and discuss the underlying causes. These appraisals also provide an action plan for improvement, offering guidance, resources, and training to empower employees to implement suggestions efficiently.

How to Write a Performance Review?

Writing a performance review requires clarity and transparency. Keep these tips for performance review in mind as you evaluate employee’s contributions at the end of the year:

Review all data

Evaluate certain information, such as goals set at the beginning of the year, employees' contributions and self-evaluation, key performance indicators, and feedback from peers or supervisors. Analyzing all data helps you create balanced and fair employee end-of-year review examples.

For instance, if an employee’s goal was to increase sales by 35%, review their sales performance and analyze how close they hit the target. Ensure that all reviewed data aligns with the employee's responsibilities.

Identify strengths and weaknesses

Acknowledge the employee's achievements and weaknesses based on their self-assessment and your perception as the manager. Highlight specific examples where they met or exceeded expectations—or failed to do so—and address the barriers. For example, if an employee’s strength is problem-solving, cite examples of how they positively impacted the team by handling challenges effectively.

Provide constructive feedback

Instead of using general statements when giving constructive feedback on an employee's performance, share concrete examples of where they excelled and where they should improve. Each example should be backed by dates or specific projects the employee worked on. This specificity erases misunderstandings that may arise from vague or general comments. It also presents feedback as an opportunity to improve performance rather than criticism.

Additionally, when giving feedback, be honest, start positively, and focus on specific actions and the impact on the company rather than judge an employee's character.

For example, specific and clear feedback will be, “Your regular follow-up with customers when managing their complaints brought in new orders for our products. However, we noticed that your time management could be improved as you missed deadlines during our recent product launch.”

Set future goals

Set SMART goals for the coming year, ensuring they align with the team’s objectives and key results (OKRs), the company’s overall objectives, and the employee’s professional goals.

Include career development

Discuss the employee’s ambitions and how their current role fits into their long-term goals. Then, identify more growth opportunities and training programs to facilitate their skill development and career progress.

Reward performance

Appreciate workers’ hard work and dedication during the employee end-of-year review. Recognition plays a huge role in boosting employee engagement and morale. Also, offer incentives for exceptional performances, such as merit increases, bonuses, or opportunities for skill development through mentorship and training workshops.

Employer End of Year Review Examples

Below, here are some employee end of year review examples on how to write a performance review:

Innovation and Creativity

Positive

Your ability to think outside the box has brought innovative solutions and improved our processes.
Your fresh ideas have been valuable contributions to team projects this year.

Negative

There have been a few instances where the execution of your ideas didn't match the expected outcome, especially with meeting project timelines.
Though detail-oriented, your solutions to problems are often rigid and impractical.

Communication skills

Positive

You are friendly with team members. This has helped you build great relationships.

Negative

Team members complained that you failed to include them in project planning. This lack of communication caused many misunderstandings and stalled project delivery.
During meetings, you have demonstrated a pattern of interrupting others while they’re speaking. While this may be unintentional, you should show respect for your colleagues by waiting until they have finished speaking before contributing to the conversation.

Time Management

Positive

Your ability to manage multiple responsibilities is a valuable strength.
You’re always punctual to work, never leave early, and adhere to all company rest hours.

Negative

This year, you haven’t demonstrated the ability to take on new projects and deliver work ahead of schedule without forgetting crucial details.

Collaboration and teamwork

Positive

You assist coworkers with tasks even when they are outside your direct responsibility.

Negative

Strive to collaborate with others instead of functioning independently.
You tend to be biased in some situations, which causes your colleagues to avoid involving you in other projects.

Problem-solving

Positive

Your patience when dealing with clients shows a solid commitment to the customer experience. This has increased our customer retention by 20%.
You approach problems with dedication, diligence, and a solutions-oriented mindset.

Negative

You struggle to collaborate effectively with others to solve problems.

Leadership

Positive

Your team consistently achieves its goals, usually exceeding expectations.

Negative

You make critical decisions without discussing them with team members to carry everyone along.
You’re unwilling to share information and knowledge for the growth of all staff members.

Additional resource: 200 Performance Review Phrases for Managers

Performance Review Templates

While employee end of year review examples make performance evaluations easier, you still need to personalize them; otherwise, they’ll be generic and not tailored to suit your workforce.

A good starting point is to refer to performance review templates specifically designed to handle all aspects of performance management, including mid-year reviews, performance review questions, open communication, and provide a structured path for improvement.

If you’re unsure where to start, Omni’s comprehensive Total Performance Review Kit meets these needs. Whether you’re an HR professional or a manager looking to enhance your performance review process and motivate employees to reach new heights in the coming year, this ultimate kit offers customizable performance review templates and phrases to evaluate employees’ contributions and communicate feedback effectively.

Get your free Total Performance Review Kit now!

Gain Deeper Performance Insights with Omni

When done right, employee end of year reviews can be a powerful tool to assess, motivate, and develop your team. Investing time and effort in refining your processes is key to achieving successful performance appraisal sessions that will have a positive impact on both employees and the organization as a whole.

When employees feel supported, valued, and inspired by the performance appraisal process, they can become more engaged with their work. This will lead to improved productivity and increased job satisfaction throughout your organization.

Omni’s performance appraisal module is designed to help you streamline and automate the entire process, reducing administrative burden while offering a customized and consistent performance appraisal cycle for your team. Through the power of automation and technology, Omni helps ensure a performance appraisal that mitigates bias and offers data-driven insights that maximize your employee growth and engagement. Book a product tour with our team to learn how HR automation can help perfect your performance appraisal process.

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