90 day performance review

This scores a 90 day performance review in the open, the first review with goals to rate against and, in many small businesses, the one that documents the probation decision. It takes the rating scale, the number of competencies rated and the average rating given, the number of goals set at thirty days and the percentage achieved, the weight placed on goals against competencies, the employee's salary and the merit budget a fully met review earns, and returns the competency score, the overall score as a percentage and on the scale, the number of ratings on the form, and the merit increase in percent and dollars. The weights are decided before the period; the score is what falls out at the end.

What the 90 day performance review records

Rated against what was agreed, with the occasion. If the thirty-day review set no goals, the ninety-day rates against the onboarding plan and says so; the lesson goes into the next thirty-day review. It is the first time the review rates against something agreed in advance. The job description's standards, in full, each met or not with an occasion. Strengths and areas to develop follow from them, with the support the employer will give for the next period. The template's heading for this section says the allowance for being new has ended, so both people know what is being rated. Confirmed, extended with stated goals for a stated period, or ended, with the reasons on the page. The decision is defensible because the review is on the page; without it, a good decision reads as an arbitrary one.

Competencies and goals are scored differently on purpose

A competency is a judgement on a scale: reliability, quality of work, communication, teamwork, initiative, job knowledge. A goal is achieved or it is not. Averaging six competency ratings and then converting to a percentage of the scale puts them on the same footing as a percentage of goals achieved, and the weight you set decides how much each contributes. The page shows the competency score on its own before the weighted total, so the employee can see which half moved the result.

Merit follows the score, pro rata

If the budget for a fully met review is three percent, the page pays that at a score of 100 and pro-rates below it: a 76% review earns 2.28%. Whether you round, band or floor that is a policy choice to write into the form; the point is that the raise is a consequence of the score, stated on the same sheet, rather than a separate conversation the employee cannot see the basis of.

Keep the last review where the next one starts

A review form is also a record, and the most useful line on this year's form is last year's score next to it. Printing this one and filing it against the employee, with the weights and goals that were set, is what makes next year's conversation start from evidence.