Employee review template
- Overall review score, percent
- 76
- Competency score, percent of scale
- 76
- Ratings to fill in
- 9
- Merit increase on this salary
- $1,134
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. The only constants HeadcountDesk supplies are the published federal payroll tax rates and the overtime multiplier, each cited where it is used. The defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
The figures above start from a worked example (76). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Employee review template worked example (CSV)
This scores a performance review in the open. It takes the rating scale, the number of competencies rated and the average rating given, the number of goals set 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.
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.
Employee review template: common questions
Is this a free employee review template?
Yes: the scoring, the overall rating and the merit increase are computed on this page for free with no account, and you can print the completed sheet. HeadcountDesk Pro saves each review against the employee so the next one starts from the last, prints it under your company name and reminds managers when a review is due.
What weight should goals carry?
That is your decision and the page asks for it. The worked example puts 40% on goals and 60 on competencies, which suits roles where how the work is done matters as much as what was delivered. Sales roles usually weight goals higher; support roles lower.
Should the employee see the scoring?
Yes, and before the period starts. A review the employee could have predicted from the form is one they can act on during the year. Sharing the weights, the scale and the goals at the start is what turns the form from a verdict into a plan.
HeadcountDesk Pro
Keeping what you make
The answers are free forever. Pro turns them into your paperwork: your logo on the handbook and the contract, no watermark, every employee's documents saved against their record, reminders to the people who need to sign, and clean exports.
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- Save and reopen later
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Where the constants in this tool come from
BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2026 (released 12 June 2026). The merit increase the page derives lands on wages, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures as about seven-tenths of total employer compensation cost; the true-cost calculator on this site shows what the rest adds.
Cite or embed this figure
Employee review template (Overall review score, percent): 76, HeadcountDesk, worked example.
Cite as: "Employee review template, HeadcountDesk", updated 2026-09-02, https://headcountdesk.com/tools/employee-review-template/.