how to write a review for a direct report

Workplace training

11 minute read

28 Performance Review Summary Examples - Phrases & Expert Tips

Kat Boogaard

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You’re pretty sure that your direct reports dread the performance review process. You get it — it’s nerve-racking to sit there and be evaluated and critiqued.

But here’s the thing. You might be the manager, but you get nervous too. Dishing out constructive criticism is tough, and you want to make sure you’re delivering valuable feedback in the most effective way possible.

Take some comfort in the fact that you aren’t alone. A whopping 96 percent of managers are dissatisfied with their organization’s performance management practices (which includes performance reviews). 

Yikes! Needless to say, there’s some room for improvement when it comes to performance reviews.

While there are undoubtedly some company-wide rules you need to abide by, the good news is that you have quite a bit of control over your employees’ performance summary experience. 

In this guide, we’ll share some performance review summary examples for managers to ensure that your performance conversations and evaluations are productive rather than anxiety-inducing wastes of time.

What is a performance review?

A performance review (also called a performance evaluation or a performance appraisal) is a formal conversation where a manager will offer feedback to an employee. 

During this appraisal, a manager will discuss the employee’s recent achievements, how they’re fulfilling their responsibilities, their progress toward goals, and areas of improvement — with the objective of helping that employee perform even better moving forward. 

Effective performance reviews are intentional, scheduled conversations and not sporadic, random chats. These conversations typically happen every six months or every year. 

What are the benefits of performance reviews?

Your employees might not cartwheel into their appraisal interview, and nerves are normal on both ends. 

However, these conversations are still well worth having for a number of different reasons. Regular performance reviews can improve:

• Performance: Your employees will struggle to perform at their best level if they don’t get honest feedback about how they can do better. When you deliver feedback effectively, you can get the best work out of your direct reports. One study found that 72 percent of respondents thought their performance would improve if their managers would provide more corrective feedback.  
• Engagement: Employees want feedback. In fact, one study found that nearly 34 percent of full-time employees said they’d prefer to receive more feedback from their supervisors. While the employee evaluation interview shouldn’t be the only time you’re offering feedback, it’s a great opportunity to show them that you’re invested in their growth and success.  
• Retention: It makes sense that satisfied employees stick around longer. Data from Gallup shows that frequent, strengths-based feedback can reduce turnover by nearly 15 percent .  
• Career Development: A performance review is a chance for managers and direct reports to connect about career goals, and how the company can support employees in pursuing those ambitions. When 48 percent of employees say they’d leave their jobs in favor of new learning opportunities, these conversations are important. They make your employees feel supported and encouraged, as well as allow you to collaboratively hash out action items to pursue their career goals. 

One of the best ways to support career development is to provide your employees with access to plenty of learning opportunities. 

What to say

When done right, your performance reviews offer plenty of advantages for both you and your staff. But, uhh...how do you do them right? 

Delivering honest remarks about an employee’s performance can have you tripping over your words and wiping your sweaty palms on your pants. We’re here to help. In this section, we’re breaking down some helpful templates and phrases in several different categories. 

You should insert relevant details to provide specific, helpful, and meaningful feedback to your employees. You’ll need to expand beyond these templates, but they’ll help you get the conversation started — and sometimes that’s the hardest part.

🏅Performance review comments about leadership

If your employee is meeting expectations… 

1. "You stepped up to the plate to lead [team/project] to [result]."

2. "Your team has exceeded their goal to [objective] by [metric]."

3. "You took ownership when [problem/challenge] could’ve [undesirable result]. You turned things around to [desirable result]."

4. "Your team provided positive feedback about your ability to [responsibility] and [responsibility]."

5. "You’re always willing to speak up and contribute fresh ideas in team meetings. Your suggestion to [action] helped us [result]."

If your employee needs improvement… 

6. "Your team could benefit from more [responsibility/quality]."

7. "Over the next [time period], I’d like to see you step up and lead [project/task/objective]."

🤝Performance review comments about teamwork and collaboration 

If your employee is meeting expectations…

8. "You did an excellent job collaborating with [person/department] to [result]."

9. "You stepped in to help [person/department] when [problem]."

10. "You bring [valuable skill/trait] to our team, and your contributions don’t go unnoticed." 

Phrases to use if your employee needs improvement…

11. "I’ve noticed you struggle to collaborate when [situation]."

12. "You tend to be [closed-minded/critical/disengaged/etc.] when presented with opinions that are different from your own, like when [specific example]." 

Effective performance reviews are intentional, scheduled conversations and not sporadic, random chats.

📞Performance review comments about communication

13. "You did a great job of keeping all of the necessary stakeholders in the loop when [situation]."

14. "I’ve noticed that you’re particularly skilled at [specific communication competency]."

15. "You’re never afraid to ask thoughtful questions, like you did when [situation]."

16. "Our entire team benefits from your ability to [specific communication competency], which was especially helpful when [situation]."

17. "I think your messages would be better received if you focused on [area of improvement]."

18. "You tend to [communication habit or pet peeve] which can [negative result]." 

🕵️Performance review comments about problem solving

19. "You’re persistent about solving problems, and you were able to [unique solution] when we struggled to [problem]."

20. "[Specific project] made it evident that you consider numerous solutions before choosing a way forward."

21. "You treat problems as learning opportunities, which has empowered our entire team to [positive result]."

If your employee needs improvement…

22. "When presented with an unexpected roadblock, I’d like to see you [area of improvement]."

23. "You could benefit from [necessary problem-solving competency] before [result]." 

🪴Performance review comments about growth and development

24. "In our previous review, we set a goal of [specific goal] and you surpassed that objective by [metric]."

25. "I’ve seen you stretch yourself in new ways this past [timeframe], like when you [task or achievement] and [task or achievement]."

26. "You’ve expanded [skillset], as demonstrated when [situation]." 

27. "I think it would serve you well to step outside of your comfort zone by [actionable task, goal, or expectation]."

28. "In the next [timeframe], I want to see you refine a new skill, such as [new skill]." 

The objective of a performance review is to help the employee perform even better moving forward. 

6 more tips for top-notch performance reviews

Knowing how to get a performance conversation started is a huge piece of the puzzle. But, while the above templates and phrases are helpful, they won’t make for a successful review session on their own.

Here are six more tips to equip your employees with meaningful feedback and actually empower them to improve. 

1. Collect peer feedback

Honest criticisms and recognition from a manager is important. But, to truly give employees a holistic view of how they’re doing, collect feedback (this can be done anonymously) from an employee’s peers as well. As Gartner research shows , peer feedback can boost performance.

2. Avoid ganging up

Delivering peer feedback leads to a more well-rounded review, but be mindful of your language to avoid seeming like the entire team is ganging up on that employee. Phrases like, “Everybody says that…” or “The team has noticed…” can make your employee feel singled out.

3. Provide specific examples

You’ll notice that a lot of the templates and phrases above include spots where you should lean on specific examples. Those anecdotes will help support your point. Something like, “You stepped up to cover Sasha’s responsibilities when she needed to be out for a family emergency,” carries a lot more impact than a generic statement like, “You’re always willing to help team members.”

4. Don’t skip the positives

When the goal of the discussion is to help employees improve, it’s easy to place way too much emphasis on constructive criticism. But, employees also want to hear what they’re doing well. That’s why many of the phrases above help you deliver positive feedback to your direct reports. When only 26 percent of workers feel highly valued, keep in mind that they need to hear the good stuff too. 

5. Remember to listen

Performance reviews should be a conversation — not your chance to dole out directions and criticisms to your employees without pausing. Make sure you ask questions about how they feel about their performance, what things they think they need to work on, and what goals they’d like to set moving forward. Keep those lines of communication open, so your employees don’t become one of the 67 percent of employees who don’t feel heard during reviews. 

6. Check in frequently

Think a performance review is a good time to dump a bunch of feedback onto employees and send them on their way? Think again. The things you discuss during the appraisal shouldn’t be a surprise, as you should be providing constructive feedback to employees frequently. Make sure that you discuss performance regularly in your one-on-ones. That’s far more effective than overwhelming them with feedback once or twice per year. 

Stressed about performance reviews? Take a deep breath

Performance reviews inspire nerves for both sides — the employee and the manager. That’s perfectly normal.

Fortunately, things become at least a little bit easier once you get the conversation rolling, and this guide can help. Use some of the templated phrases we outlined here with your own direct reports, and you’ll open up an honest discussion that helps your employees do their best work.

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Kat is a writer specializing in career, self-development, and productivity topics. When she escapes her computer, she enjoys reading, hiking, golfing, and dishing out tips for prospective freelancers on her website.

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The Ultimate Guide to Managing Direct Reports

Managing direct reports can be both rewarding and challenging. As a manager, supervisor, or team leader, it's your responsibility to guide and support your direct reports to achieve their full potential. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the basics of managing direct reports, building strong relationships, setting clear expectations, developing skills, and dealing with challenges along the way.

Understanding the Basics of Managing Your Direct Reports

Before diving into the intricacies of managing direct reports, it's important to define what we mean by direct reports . Simply put, direct reports are the individuals who report directly to you within an organizational structure. They rely on your guidance, feedback, and leadership to excel in their roles.

Now, let's delve deeper into the world of management – basics first! As a manager – regardless of whether you're a sales manager or an engineering management – your role extends beyond just assigning tasks and monitoring progress. It involves building strong relationships with your direct reports, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and providing the necessary support to help them thrive.

Effective Communication for Managers

One key aspect of effective direct reports management is communication . Open and transparent communication channels are essential for establishing trust and clarity within your team. Regular one-on-one meetings, team huddles, and even informal catch-ups can provide opportunities for you to listen to your direct reports' concerns, share constructive feedback, and align their goals with the overall objectives of the organization.

Appreciating Your Direct Reports’ Contributions

Now more than ever, effective communication is really just the bare minimum. Direct reports want to feel seen and heard, so as a manager it's important to recognize and appreciate the individual contributions of your direct reports. Everyone has unique skills and talents that can be harnessed to drive success. By acknowledging their efforts and providing recognition , you not only boost their morale but also create a culture of appreciation and motivation within your team.

Deepening Your Relationship with Your Direct Reports

A strong relationship with your direct reports forms the foundation of effective management. If you’re already establishing strong communication with your direct reports, showing appreciation and emphasizing professional development, you’re probably ready to start deepening your professional relationships . This involves taking the time to connect with your team members on a personal level.

Go Beyond the Basics of Effective Communication

While you don’t have to be best friends with your team, forming strong personal connections with one another will make your team stronger and more productive.

The first and best way to communicate effectively and promote deeper relationships is to “put your money where your mouth is” when it comes to communication. Vulnerability is a great place to start! Expressing vulnerability with your direct reports and showing your humanity will encourage them to do the same. Candor is a great tool to help you prompt authenticity with your direct reports. Candor helps you express vulnerability in a way that’s work-appropriate and organic by using prompts to encourage you to share relevant things with your team.

Another tip is to create structured time and spaces to deepen your relationships with your direct reports. While it may happen this way, you can’t expect your direct reports to share personal details about themselves with you organically. It’s helpful to organize team happy hours or off-sites where you can get to know one another better both professionally and personally.

While there’s a lot you can do to encourage the type of communication that will deepen your relationship, it’s also critical to keep boundaries in mind and adapt your style to fit the needs and personalities of your direct reports. Some people love sharing, others don’t – make sure to leave space for both styles on your team.

Trust and Respect in the Workplace

Establishing trust and respect is essential for a successful working relationship. While learning more about one another will naturally deepen your relationship, none of that is possible without a baseline of trust.

One way to build trust is by being transparent and honest in your interactions. Share relevant information with your direct reports and involve them in key decision-making processes whenever possible. Trust them with critical information if they’ve earned that trust, and try and avoid micro-managing when possible. Like we mentioned in the previous section, being vulnerable is a version of transparency and honesty that can be applied both professionally and personally to your relationship with your direct reports.

Respect is another crucial aspect of building a strong relationship with your direct reports. Treat them with dignity, actively listen to their ideas, and give credit where it's due. As a manager, one philosophy that will undoubtedly earn you respect with your team is to give credit to your direct reports when things go well and shoulder the blame when things don’t. While this might feel uncomfortable to you at the beginning, you’ll earn respect quickly with your team and across the organization.

Setting Clear Expectations for Your Direct Reports

Clear expectations lay the groundwork for success. When your direct reports have a clear understanding of what is expected from them, they can align their efforts accordingly. And conversely, if they don’t know what’s expected, they’re destined for failure. Setting goals and objectives provides a roadmap for their work and helps them prioritize tasks effectively.

The Role of Goals and Objectives

Collaborate with your direct reports to set goals that are challenging yet attainable. This collaborative approach not only empowers your team members but also fosters a sense of ownership and commitment towards their work. Regularly review their progress and provide constructive feedback to help them grow professionally. By setting clear objectives, you can ensure focus and encourage accountability.

Some people navigate ambiguity better than others, so it’s important to always start with a very structured approach to goal and objective-setting and then adjust from there based on the working styles of your direct reports.

Providing Constructive Feedback

Feedback is a powerful tool for growth and development. As a leader, it’s crucial to offer specific feedback to your direct reports, highlighting their strengths and areas for improvement. By focusing on their strengths, you can reinforce positive behaviors and boost their confidence. At the same time, addressing areas for improvement in a constructive manner helps your team members identify areas where they can enhance their skills and performance.

All forms of feedback, both positive and constructive, should always be normalized. Set a cadence – perhaps weekly or monthly during 1:1s – where you always share feedback . That way feedback doesn’t feel as intimidating or random. Also, always make sure feedback is bidirectional. Whenever you share feedback with your direct report, always leave space for them to share feedback with you.

Constructive feedback should always be actionable. Instead of simply pointing out flaws, provide your direct reports with practical steps they can take to enhance their performance. Using concrete examples of where they didn’t meet expectation is key. This approach not only empowers them to take ownership of their development but also demonstrates your commitment to their growth.

On the flip side, celebrating small wins is equally important. Recognizing and acknowledging your team members' achievements, no matter how small, fosters a positive work environment and reinforces their motivation. It also encourages a growth mindset within your team, where continuous improvement and learning are valued and embraced.

Developing Your Direct Reports' Skills and Abilities

Investing in the development of your direct reports' skills and abilities boosts their potential and benefits the entire team. It also shows you care about them as a whole person and want them to win in their career.

The Power of Professional Development

Encourage your direct reports to pursue continuous learning. Support their attendance at relevant workshops, conferences, or training programs. If possible, get them a subsidy for these kinds of activities through your company’s learning and development budget.

Also, assign them projects that stretch their capabilities and allow them to acquire new skills. By investing in their development, you not only strengthen their capabilities but also enhance your team's overall performance.

These learning and development initiatives can also be used as perks to sell future hires on the benefits of joining your company and team. Who wouldn’t want to work for a manager that cares about developing their direct reports?

Encouraging Autonomy and Initiative

Empower your direct reports to take ownership of their work by encouraging autonomy and initiative. Give them the freedom to make decisions and offer guidance rather than micromanaging. This not only boosts their confidence but also paves the way for innovation and creative problem-solving within your team (plus, it frees up your time to do other, higher-leverage things).

When individuals are given the autonomy to make decisions and take initiative, they feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for their work. This leads to increased motivation and a higher level of engagement. Your direct reports will get more comfortable taking risks and thinking outside the box, opening up new possibilities and opportunities for growth.

You have to keep in mind, though, that this autonomy might come with some challenges. Your direct reports might take risks that don’t pan out or make decisions in ways that might not fully align with your style. This is ok! You want your direct reports to experiment; with your guidance, they’ll end up creating more value than you ever thought possible.

Dealing with Challenges in Managing Direct Reports

Managing direct reports inevitably presents challenges that require careful navigation. Whether it's resolving conflicts or addressing performance issues, effective conflict resolution strategies can help you overcome these obstacles.

Conflict Resolution Strategies

Conflicts are bound to arise in any dynamic environment. As a manager, it's crucial to address conflicts promptly and impartially. Encourage open conversation and mediate conflicts, helping your direct reports find common ground. Make sure to encourage direct reports to resolve conflicts on their own when appropriate, but also know when it’s time to mediate or even escalate to your higher ups. Every type of conflict requires a nuanced approach.

Navigating Performance Issues

When faced with performance issues, approach the situation with empathy and objectivity. Ideally you’ve set clear goals and objectives together, and established a strong relationship based in trust and mutual respect. All of that that will make things easier if and when performance issues arise.

You should be conducting regular performance evaluations and providing feedback that highlights areas for improvement. If relevant, you should work closely with your direct reports to create action plans that address performance gaps and offer the necessary support. Doing this early, when issues first arise, is key. Waiting too long could reinforce negative behaviors and create confusion.

That’s a Wrap!

Managing direct reports is no joke! It requires dedication, empathy, and effective communication that goes beyond the basics. You’ll want to take baby steps, first nailing the basics of managing direct reports, then slowly deepening your relationships, setting effective goals, and helping develop your team. With this toolkit, you can undoubtedly guide your direct reports to new heights of success.

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Direct Reports: Who Are They? + Best Ways To Manage Them – 2024

Direct reports are employees who work under a manager and report to them. To make this definition more memorable, let’s give an example from TV.

Just think back to those lovable paper people from Scranton Pensylvania! While Dunder Mifflin from The Office may not be a perfect representation of a typical workplace and the relationship between managers and direct reports, it is still a useful one to revisit. In that particular scenario all the members of the Scranton branch like Jim Halpert or Dwight Schrute are great examples of direct reports.

We are not saying that you need direct reports like the beet-crazy Dwight but he does have some positive qualities that you would need from your direct reports such as hard work, loyalty, and creativity.

Below you can find detailed information on how to build a positive relationship with your direct reports, how to manage them, how to assign tasks to them, and more! So, without further ado, let’s discuss these topics and provide you with everything you need to know about direct reports!

Table of Contents

Manage Your Direct Reports Effectively

Realistically speaking, managing direct reports will be easier if you are using the right performance management software. But we are not talking about a run-of-the-mill tool. While there are plenty of great options when it comes to performance management systems, if your organization uses Microsoft Teams on a daily basis then the best option for you would be Teamflect.

As a software built specifically for Microsoft Teams users, you can bring all your management needs from tasks and goals, to feedback and reviews, into the platform where your team already does all their work.

You can try Teamflect for free, without signing up by clicking the button below.

What Is A Direct Report?

Let’s first provide an answer for the question “What is a direct report?”. A direct report plays an important role in the hierarchical structure of a business.

Often interchangeably referred to as subordinates, reportees, or simply direct reports, these employees operate directly under the guidance of a superior within your organization.

A direct report is a term used for an employee who is directly managed and supervised by another individual in a higher position within an organization. This term is often used in the context of hierarchical work structures where employees report their progress, challenges, and needs to their immediate supervisor or manager.

The relationship between a direct report and their superiors is characterized by a clear top-down flow of instructions. A direct report receives tasks, directives, and performance expectations from their superiors.

A significant aspect of managing direct reports involves overseeing their overall performance and providing regular feedback . This feedback loop is integral to the professional development of direct reports, and it help them refine their skills and contributes to the attainment of broader organizational goals .

In essence, managing direct reports requires a delicate balance of leadership, communication, and performance evaluation. However, the size, structure, and performance goals of your organization will determine if having a hierarchical system is the best for you. 

We have talked about the direct reports definition, now let’s discuss the best practices of managing direct reports!

How To Manage Direct Reports?

We answered the question “What are direct reports?” and now it’s time to talk about how to manage them. Managing direct reports is not an easy task but with these strategies, you can guide them in a way that both benefits your company and allows your direct reports to grow professionally.

1. Have regular meetings

The first step to effective management is making sure that you and your subordinates are communicating well. To achieve this, you need to conduct regular meetings with them.

Talking about current projects and keeping them on track will allow your direct reports to have a feeling of ownership. As a result, they will try to contribute more and exceed performance expectations .

2. Be clear with your instructions

It’s important to avoid ambiguity while managing subordinates. Managers should be clear about their expectations from their direct reports so that they can perform well. Both organizational goals and the personal targets expected from the subordinates should be clearly stated.

3. Be honest with your feedback

Providing honest feedback involves talking about both strengths and weaknesses because nothing is black or white, including employee performance. Therefore your feedback should address areas for improvement while also recognizing their contributions and efforts.

In addition to that, you should be as objective and honest as possible so that your direct reports can develop professionally.

4. Provide the necessary training

The success of the subordinates can be positively correlated with the training they receive from their managers. Subordinates can train themselves, and attend courses and workshops but the managers also must train their direct reports well.

5. Mentor your direct reports

Employee mentoring can be beneficial in various ways. It will help you build a relationship based on support and it will allow your direct reports to acquire new skills and positive attitudes. Lastly, it can boost productivity and contribute to the bottom line of your organization.

6. Include them in decision-making

They will understand that you value their thoughts if you ask for their input and include them in the decision-making process. As a result, they will become more confident in their ability to make decisions.

Furthermore, they will develop a sense of ownership in the success of their team because they will feel more responsible.

7. Invite them to share their opinions

Not everyone will feel at ease when expressing their thoughts. You could ask them to express their ideas and thoughts during meetings to solve this issue. Your direct reports will feel included, and you’ll convey your confidence in their capacity to come up with good ideas.

Assigning Tasks To Your Direct Reports

Managers should be able to effectively assign tasks to their subordinates. And to be effective at task delegation, you should know your employees well. Here are three ways to achieve this:

1. Assign the right task

Everyone has unique skills, so the tasks they are assigned should match   these skills. When giving tasks to direct reports, managers should consider ways to bring out the best in each of them. By doing this, you will also   save time and effort.

2. Discuss the benefits of doing the task

Giving employees a sense of purpose is one of the great employee motivation ideas . They also have to understand why they are performing a certain task because it will give them a sense of direction.

While talking about the importance and benefits of these tasks, you can add that their work supports the organization’s vision and they are contributing to the success of their team. As a result, your direct reports will be more enthusiastic to complete their tasks with precision.

3. Give them the resources

Your subordinates will need the resources to complete their tasks. You should also provide them with authority because you may not always be around and they might need to take the initiative.

Building A Positive Relationship With Your Direct Reports

To be an effective manager, you should build a healthy relationship with your direct reports. This will lead to increased productivity and your employees feeling supported.

Below you can find the best ways to build a positive working relationship with your subordinates.

1. Have a clear outline of your goals

You should have an organizational chart template to establish who your direct reports are and to identify their roles within your organization. After doing this, you can communicate your goals, priorities, and performance expectations with your subordinates.

You should also have a clear understanding of your direct reports’ goals and establish a path for development based on short-term and long-term goals.

2. Have one-on-ones regularly

One-on-one meetings have a number of benefits, including building your relationship with your direct reports and assessing their performance. One-on-one meetings can help you come across as more approachable, which will encourage your staff to ask questions and share their ideas with confidence.

It will eliminate the awkwardness for you and your direct reports if you ask them more personal questions during these meetings. You can ask them about their interests and aspirations. Your working relationship will be more enjoyable and productive as a result.

3. Consistently communicate with them

Direct reports can not always reach out to their superiors because they can be worried about disturbing their managers. So managers should make sure that they are consistently communicating with their subordinates and providing them with the support they need.

Performance Evaluation Of Direct Reports

Performance evaluation of direct reports should focus on rewarding high performance and addressing weaknesses through a future-oriented lens. By future-oriented lens, we mean that you should tell them how they can improve their skills and contribute more in the future.

You should also mention how their strengths will continue to benefit the organization so that they can be more enthusiastic about doing their best. Below you can find three ways to conduct effective performance evaluations.

1. Be specific and include examples

You should be unbiased and avoid dishonesty during your performance reviews . To be as exact as possible about the performance of your direct reports, you need to give examples.

Since concrete examples improve our ability to understand and remember information, including them will also help your subordinates understand your criticism and praise. Your direct reports will be more careful next time if they can recall the instances in which they delivered poor performance.

2. Include their career goals

People sometimes need reminders to focus on their overall career goals because they may be too busy with daily tasks and they might forget what they are trying to accomplish in a broader sense. So, if you remind them of these professional goals, it will help them channel their energy into improving their skills to excel in their careers.

Furthermore, when you talk about your direct reports’ career goals during performance appraisals , you are sending the message that your company cares about their professional development .

3. Pair positive feedback with constructive

If you are always focused on the negative, you will miss out on good things in life because positive things will not be on your radar. The same thing applies to performance evaluations of your direct reports because being critical all the time will not motivate them.

However, being optimistic all the time is not realistic and it will negatively affect your direct report’s performance in the long run. They might become complacent and avoid bettering the areas that need improvement.

So, try to pair positive feedback with negative because it will provide them with a more realistic and accurate perspective of their performance and will be more helpful in the long run.

Closing Words

We have provided you with direct reports definition, a comprehensive guide on managing direct reports as well as tips on building a positive relationship with them.

We also highlighted the fact that effective performance management starts with seeing the value of your direct reports and using their skills and expertise in the best way possible. To see the value of your direct report, you need to look closer and know them on a more personal level.

When we define direct report relationships with superiors, we should be able to say that it includes support and respect because you can unlock the potential of your direct reports when you display these fundamental attitudes.

As reportees who are passionate about serving their companies, you need to make sure that you effectively manage your subordinates. Thankfully there is performance management software you can use to facilitate your management and the best one for Microsoft Teams is Teamflect!

Using Teamflect, you will easily communicate with your employees and you will be able to support them better if you facilitate your communication with them.

So, click the button below to use Teamflect to manage your direct reports in the best way possible!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a direct report.

The meaning of direct report is that it is an employee who works under a superior. Another word for direct report is subordinate and subordinates can have employees who report to them as well.

For example, the marketing lead of a company supervises the content manager but the content manager also has a team that they lead. Usually, managers have multiple direct reports who work under their supervision. 

How to manage direct reports?

• Have regular meetings
• Be clear with your instructions
• Be honest with your feedback
• Provide the necessary training
• Mentor your direct reports
• Include them in decision-making
• Invite them to share their opinions

How to build a positive relationship with your direct reports?

• Have a clear outline of your goals
• Have one-on-ones regularly
• Consistently communicate with them

What are the benefits of having one-on-ones with your direct reports?

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Written by Duygu Soysanli

Duygu is a content writer who enthusiastically writes useful content about the dynamic world of HR.

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How to Write an Effective Performance Review as Quickly as Possible

By Becky Simon | March 15, 2018

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Writing performance reviews might often come in last on your list of management duties, but with the right practices, you can make that tendency a thing of the past. Instead of reviewing an entire year in a single document and session, learn how periodic check-ups can speed up the entire process. 

Actually, there are several ways to approach performance reviews that can make all the difference in the feedback you provide. In this article, nine experts share best practices, latest thinking, language tips, and templates and checklists that will take the pain out of conducting and writing performance reviews. We also take a look into the future of performance reviews: Will they be around 10 years from now or will there be a better solution?

What Is a Performance Review?

“A performance review is documentation and an interactive process with many facets,” says Christopher J. Collins, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced HR Studies at the ILR School Cornell University. “They are a venue for employees to share and assess their own work experience, discuss goals, and obtain feedback on how well they are doing and how to improve. They’re a mutual look with management into how things are going now, where things could go in the future, and where the employee can go within the company. Performance reviews are also used for compensation purposes.”

Performance appraisals consist of regular reviews of employee performance and are an important component of career development and performance management overall. The cadence of reviews can vary from department to department and company to company. They also look different from organization to organization because roles and goals vary, and should be customized to meet the culture and business targets.

Despite the fact that performance reviews are key to moving ahead in a company or getting a raise, they are relatively unpopular: According to a Taleo survey , 78 percent of U.S. workers want to change some aspect of the performance review process.

“People hate traditional performance reviews because they try to do too much in one go,” says Collins. “Are they a good fit for modern organizations? Things change so fast now that a five year plan is truly a thing of the past — business cycles change in three months, even every month — so doing these reviews yearly makes no sense in today’s work environments. Companies are moving to a place where they try to have these conversations more frequently to search out touchpoints around what is needed, what has changed, and what barriers need to be overcome. With more frequent conversations, you can focus on different things at varying points – you can focus on goals early, then challenges, then growth and opportunity — you can take on different points easier, into a one hour sit down. Moving to this more frequent sharing helps reduce the hate factor. Many of the successful companies we research at the Center for Advanced HR Studies now have standardized quarterly reviews with informal conversations in between.”

In response, many companies are changing the ‘traditional’ performance review format. But before we look at how to conduct interviews, let’s take a look at the origins of the practice.

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A (Brief) History of Performance Reviews and Management

During the Industrial Revolution, workers were plentiful. Most jobs were divided into simple tasks, and the average laborer (including children) spent long hours doing monotonous piecework under unsafe conditions without any expectations in place except meeting production levels. In the 20th century, more methodical approaches were applied to measure performance and what drives employee motivation:

Evaluating the Ranks : The roots of performance appraisals are in the U.S. military. During World War I, merit ratings were used to pinpoint inadequate performers for discharge or transfer by assigning numerical ratings to individual soldiers. In World War II, the U.S. Army began applying forced rankings to identify officer potential from the ranks of enlisted men. Inspired by the approach, Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, used the ‘Rank and Yank’ or the ‘vitality curve’ which encouraged firing and replacing poor performers. Many other companies followed suit. By the 1960s, approximately 90 percent of companies used merit ranking. Numerical scores persist at some organizations today, even though research has found that there tends to be an underlying unconscious bias in scoring.

Theory X and Theory Y : Created and developed by Douglas McGregor of MIT’s Sloan School of Management during the 1960s, these two theories offer deeply contrasting models of workforce motivation which also form the basis for two different managerial styles. Theory X assumes that people dislike work and must be heavily managed to work in alignment with organizational goals. Theory Y emphasizes the average person’s innate interest in her or his work, desire for accountability and self-direction, and creative approach to business challenges. McGregor concluded that the latter reflects most workers characteristics and is the more desirable way to manage. Many forward-thinking or technology companies like Apple and Google run their companies using Theory Y.

Employee Development and Performance Management : During the 1960s, companies began paying more attention to employees’ professional development because talent was in shorter supply (as it is now in certain technical and managerial jobs). In the late 1970s, Aubrey Daniels coined the term performance management to manage both behavior and results, and improve job satisfaction and productivity. In the 1980s, management by objectives (MBO) became a trend. Managers and employees worked together to set measurable goals with a definite timeline. In the 1990s, a shortage of capable executives created an emphasis on assessment and rewards for performance. In the 2000s, organizations flattened and the number of direct reports to managers increased, which made employee assessment and development more difficult. In the later 2000s, performance management went online using automation, software, and applications.

The type of management style being used and the type of worker being appraised set the direction for what kind of performance review to use.

Types of Performance Reviews

As Julie Blomsterberg SPHR, SHRM-SCP, HR Strategist, Speaker and Writer and Principal of Fluid HR Solutions , explains, “Performance reviews are traditionally viewed as a painful process for both employers and employees, when they don’t have to be painful or uncomfortable at all. I encourage those I work with to shift their perspective, and view performance reviews as an opportunity to have an open discussion centered around professional growth and development. There shouldn’t be any surprises at a performance review, as ongoing feedback should be communicated to celebrate victories, and to make adjustments as any learning opportunities arise throughout the year.”

The style of review depends on company culture and the employee’s role and duties. Different types of reviews are often used in combination to assess performance. Here are a few performance review styles:

Objective Production : This type of performance review looks at measures like the electronic performance monitoring of data entry workers, production numbers, or sales figures. The measures for performance appraisals depend on the position and related duties. While measures reflect unambiguous criteria, the information isn’t a complete reflection of job performance and managers often look at objective production along with other factors.

Personnel : The personnel method records absences from work. Most companies find unexcused absences unacceptable, although the quantity of an employee’s absences may not necessarily be a reflection of insufficient job dedication. In blue-collar jobs in particular, accidents can sometimes be an indicator of inadequate job performance, but this is also subject to the situational factors that may contribute to those accidents. Personnel data is not a complete picture of an employee’s performance.

Judgemental Evaluation : This option is useful for evaluating positions without tangible metrics, such as creative jobs that require a subjective methodology. This type of evaluation should use multiple measurable objectives that can include teamwork, dedication, attitude, meeting deadlines, and creative approaches to problems. These types of metrics make it easier for an employee to understand what they have done well and what areas need improvement. The manager should use as many attributes as they can and be clear about what types of improvements are necessary.

Peer Reviews and 360-Degree Assessments :

Dr. Elliott B. Jaffa is a behavioral and management psychologist who focuses on results and solutions for Fortune 500 and government clients. His program, How to Conduct a Performance Review...Painlessly , focuses on practical training for managers and 360-degree feedback. “Many organizations are removing layers of management and putting more emphasis on teamwork, empowerment, continuous learning, and self-management,” says Jaffa. “Cutting-edge organizations are experimenting with multi-source assessment procedures often referred to as 360-degree feedback — a powerful tool to achieve even better performance information and motivate behavioral change. The 360-degree feedback tool combines the multi-source feedback from work associates such as the supervisor, peers, and colleagues, subordinates, and even internal and external customers — a win-win-win situation for the employee, manager, and organization.”

Dimensions examined in peer and 360-degree reviews usually focus on teamwork and leadership, and are sometimes linked to the individual's self-assessment. The advantage is that each reviewer is likely to be able to observe different facets of the employee's job achievement. In high-autonomy positions, managers may may not have many opportunities to see the employee work, while colleagues and customers see the process and result of work assignments. The amount of 360-degree data can create challenges because different groups of reviewers (or raters, if numbers are used as part of the assessment) have different perspectives on both the role and performance. In a 2008 study , researchers found that when evaluating others' performance, peers tended to place more value on corporate citizenship behavior than on task performance. Despite any problems or bias, having another view into employee performance can help create a fuller picture of what is working and what needs to change to benefit the individual and the company.

Steve Cadigan, Founder of Cadigan Talent Ventures , Talent Advisor, and Co-Founder ISDI Digital University, has another perspective. “I think many people feel soured by 360s because they’ve had them used against them as a punishment as opposed to as a vehicle to promote improvement. If you are going to have 360-degree reviews, make sure it’s for improvement only and not for compensation.”

Self Assessments :  Employee self-assessment or self appraisals ask the employee to review her or his own job performance. Usually a manager asks the employee to independently complete a self-evaluation that they will use as a mutual basis for evaluation during a quarterly, semi-annual, or yearly performance review meeting. At an in-person meeting, the manager and employee discuss the written self-assessment, and mediate final evaluations based on both the employee and manager perceptions. Self-evaluations can be used to assess predetermined performance standards, goals, and objectives, and use the same rating the manager uses.

Collins isn’t a fan of self assessments. “Research tells us that it has never been effective. Some people always overstate to manipulate for bonuses; overachievers tend to under-report. It is a good touchpoint to help people think through their own challenges, their own personal goals, where they want to go in their career. Managers can help by asking, How can I help you think through how to get to your goal? When having employees self-assess, the manager shouldn’t tell them about their career path. Everyone wants to control their own work life, career and performance perspective,” explains Collins.

Matt Stephens, Founder of Quest management consultancy and author of Revolution in a Heartbeat: Using Emotional Insights to Drive Better Business Performance, explains that success relies on learning how to conduct reviews properly. “Innovative organizations have also recognized that there are two distinct parts to a performance review. One is the leader being clear about what needs to happen and ensuring that his or her team can make the connection between their work and the organization’s objectives. The other is helping the individual hone their skills and behavior so they can deliver it. The latter is a continual process and one which does not rely solely on the team leader. Self assessment can be powerful, provided [that people] have a clear framework to measure themselves against (such as a role or competency profile) — otherwise, they may focus on what is important to them and not necessarily the role. Also, many of us can be heavily self-critical, so we have found that self-assessment is a potent part of the review process if it is tempered by a boss or peer who can provide an external take.”

Performance Reviews Pros and Cons

Over the past 70 years, there has been extensive research into whether happy workers are more productive workers — also known as the happy-worker hypothesis . Research conducted in 2008, The Happy-Productive Worker Thesis Revisited , found that happiness (or positive affect) does indeed affect productivity. What makes workers happy is a confluence of different factors, but for many it’s a feeling of being appreciated, supported, and connected to their workplace and the people in it.

“Well prepared and executed, performance reviews offer unrivalled opportunity for line managers to find out more about the individual’s skills and preferences, as well as to help employees understand where the organization is headed and their role in achieving it,” says Stephens. “The aim is to arm leaders with dialogue skills — to ask the questions to help individuals open up, to listen and act upon what they say, and to get a fix on messages so employees can clearly see what they mean to them. Listening is the key to success and it can often be hard for managers to do — the more senior they become, the more such behavior is squeezed out and replaced by the instinct to tell and move on.”

Performance reviews all share some basic components and goals:

Facilitate Two-way Communication and Trust-building : You want to foster easy-flowing, mutual communication.

Enhance Employee Focus : It may sound simple, but people want to know that they are appreciated.

Support Goal Setting : Most employees have professional goals that they want to achieve. Managers can help clarify, support, and facilitate their employee’s realization of those goals.

Support Performance Improvement : Noting areas that could be improved and being clear about how that can happen can move employee performance in a positive direction.

Help Determine Training and Development Needs : If an employee needs additional technical or other types of training, use the performance review to discuss options that are available during or after working hours.

Provide Compensation : Some companies award base pay and merit raises based on performance reviews, although linking them has fallen out of favor.

Offer Promotions : If an employee is proven to be working toward company goals and performing well, they may get a promotion.

Provide Validation : Demonstrate how well a company’s employee selection system predicts future job performance. Essentially, the stronger the relationship between assessment and performance, the more likely the selection system predicts productive employees.

Legally Terminate Employee : Terminating employees for unsatisfactory job performance is difficult, but it is legal so long as companies take mandated precautionary measures, including meticulous record keeping. Work performance that is unsatisfactory includes a variety of actions, such as being unable or unwilling to learn new skills or tasks, an inability to work collaboratively, unwillingness to work to established goals, poor judgement, inability to complete work assignments, and sexual or other types of harassment.

Performance Reviews Cons

Just as many positives exist in providing performance reviews, there’s a downside to many management approaches and techniques, including performance reviews. Here are some potential negatives of performance reviews and how to overcome them:

De-Motivating : If reviews overwhelmingly focus on what what needs to be fixed rather than what has been done well, employees can leave their review in a negative frame of mind that affects future performance. Accentuating the positive is a much better pathway to positive employee performance and relationships.

Inaccurate or Subjective : Do your legwork before the review and check your notes, self-assessments, peer reviews, and previous reviews to make sure you have a complete picture before you meet your employee. Keep an open dialogue during and after the review to get an accurate picture of performance and behavior.

Fear Generating : Negative, hostile, uninformed, too brief, and one-way reviews can be gut wrenchers for managers and employees alike. Being prepared, positive, and mentoring can make all the difference. Tying performance reviews too closely to compensation can also create anxiety and lack of honesty for employees.

Detrimental to Quality Improvement : If performance quality is the goal, then performance review quality should also be a standard. As our experts mention, employees need to understand expectations, how they are being judged, and the purpose of the review. Make quality the goal in all of your employee interactions — and ask for performance review management training if it isn’t provided.

Generate Legal Issues : Know the federal and state laws that govern performance appraisal. Managers should be trained in interpersonal dynamics, appropriate word choice, and the legal issues that impact the review process, including intentional and unintentional discrimination. Keep detailed records of all interactions, have a transparent system, and hold frequent process audits to keep legal problems at bay.

Derail Merit or Performance Based Pay : Some researchers contend that the deficit in merit- and performance-based pay is linked to the fundamental problems in performance assessment systems, either by rating all employees at the high end of the scale, or allowing personal bias to skew reviews and resulting pay — or lack of it.

Unrealistic Performance Goals : Setting goals that are overly challenging or overemphasized may affect ethics, legal requirements, or quality. Performance goals can interfere with the individual’s ability to acquire needed skills and knowledge. Therefore, it can be more beneficial to focus on outcomes, especially in the early stages of training.

Union Opposition : Labor unions represent 11 percent of all workers in the U.S., and often require seniority as the principal promotion criteria. However, length of job experience isn’t always a reliable indicator of performance or promotability. Performance appraisals may provide a basis for assessment of employee merit as a component of these decisions.

Poor Appraisal Program Design and Leery Managers : Once burned, managers who’ve had negative experiences with poorly designed or inadequate company appraisal approaches may become skeptical about their benefits. Some issues are emotional: Managers may simply not like judging and having responsibility for their subordinate’s futures, or they may be uncomfortable with writing or delivering negative feedback in person. Without training, these emotional hurdles can lead managers to inflate employee’s job performance rather than confronting the issues that need to be resolved.

Stephens offers his experience: “In our work with clients, we hear many horror stories about performance reviews: about the line managers who put them off until they are irrelevant, the leaders who give broad platitudes which neither motivate nor help development, the shell-shocked supervisors staring vacantly as they try to summon the energy to conduct their tenth session of the day, the bosses who use judgmental language (you’re not brilliant at this…) with no evidence or data to back it up and help people improve.”

Indira Jerez, Executive Coach and CEO at INNERtia Project, explains the common mistakes she sees in performance reviews. “One pitall is focusing on the weaknesses of the employee. While it’s important to clearly communicate areas that require growth, it’s also important to celebrate the employee’s accomplishments and what is working well. The second pitfall is not developing a plan for further development. The manager should work with the employee to develop an action plan to tackle weaknesses and continue to enhance strengths, otherwise the review serves no purpose other than to evaluate an employee for salary negotiations. The third pitfall is when the manager doesn’t follow through with an accountability plan for the action plan proposed and the employee doesn’t implement the action plan.”

Take It from the Top: Leadership Positively Affects Performance Reviews

Behavioral and management psychologist Jaffa says the first and most important step is having senior leadership that drives more effective performance management strategies. Then, the human resources department needs to reinforce standards and communications, and provide training to emphasize more consistent, ongoing feedback and a willingness to let go of the annual performance review model. “No one is born knowing how to do reviews, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted that just because you’re a manager, you know best practices or the most effective ways to communicate with subordinates,” adds Jaffa.

In both written and in-person formats, conducting beneficial performance reviews is a skill. Stephens explains, “The challenge is that the key skills needed for meaningful and effective performance reviews – asking questions and listening – are ones that leaders often feel they are good at and can resent being coached to improve upon. In my experience, this is a shame: Many of them may know what to do, but don’t do it in practice. They can really benefit from tools, techniques, and most importantly practice in real one-to-one dialogue, both in performance review discussions and day-to-day interactions. Those that do invest the time to do this will find they have stronger relationships, more motivated and focused people, and that for themselves, the task of performance review becomes quite rewarding.”

Performance reviews should be oriented toward strengths and positive positioning, transparency throughout the organization about the process and purpose of reviews. “Most importantly, every interaction, including reviews, should fuel performance that benefits the employee and the organization,” Jaffa emphasizes.

How Do You Evaluate Employee Performance?

To help you prepare for meaningful performance reviews, here is a checklist you can use as is or modify based on your needs:

Download Cheatsheet Checklist: Performance Review Preparation for Managers

Support for 360-Degree and Self Assessments

Dr. Orin Davis is Principal Investigator of the Quality of Life Laboratory and Startup Advisor to early-stage companies. Dr. Davis also serves as a Science Advisor to Happify and Happy Brain Science and is an adjunct professor of business, psychology, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Davis suggests that managers need to help employees prepare for assessments.

“Ask employees to self assess before your meeting,” suggests Davis. “Have employees provide a list of people they worked with the most during the period being reviewed so you can talk to them. Assess how they work in a team, not just as an individual.”

Davis adds that 360-degree participants should be carefully selected. “Feedback should come from anyone in a position to provide helpful guidance on doing better.”

Peer Review Template

Colleagues’ feedback can add additional perspective for performance reviews. If your organization adds 360-degree feedback as part of your performance management mix, this easy-to-edit template can include the competencies you and your organization have deemed relevant for the role being assessed. Using a numbered scale can provide an at-a-glance view of performance.

‌ Download Peer Review Template

Employee Self-Evaluation and Focusing on Outcomes

“The key to self-assessment is not assessing yourself, but rather the outcome and what the product looks like versus what you understood it was supposed to look like,” says Davis. “The primary value of self-evaluation is enabling the manager to see how employees take the task parameters/specs and run with them. This can help to identify both hidden talents of employees and miscommunications. Write down answers to the following questions:

How was the deliverable supposed to look?

How is your deliverable even better than it was supposed to be?

How else could the deliverable have been better than it was supposed to be?

Are there any ways in which the deliverable may have fallen short of expectations?

”This is all meant to open up discussion, not to be the final answer. No Q/A set is going to do anything more than start the right conversations,” continues Davis. “It is not the last word — [this] is one of the biggest misuses of evaluation tools/techniques — they are worthless without the in-depth conversation.”

Employee Self-Evaluation Form Template

Providing your employees with an easy-to-use form is a great first step in a meaningful performance appraisal. A self-evaluation provides a point for introspection on job performance and a basis for honest discussion. It also serves as a good reminder of past achievements, and can help ensure that future goals that are in alignment with company targets and overall career plans. This self-evaluation form is customizable, easy to use, and can help you identify responsibilities, assess performance, and plan performance objectives.

Download Employee Self-Evaluation Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Rebecca Reott , Director of HR for Hanapin Marketing , has some ideas you can suggest to your employees before they write their self-evaluations that also provide guidance for managers:

Take Responsibility : If you did a terrible job with something, say it. If you are procrastinating on a project, say it. Your supervisor can only help you and mentor you on the things that you share as issues. A performance review is an opportunity to form a growth and development plan and not just a look in the rear view mirror.

Use Data : Back up your statements with data and examples. Focus on the time period of the review and keep examples relevant.

Cover Progress : It is okay to talk about improvements and employees should, but they should also remember to relate it to current expectations, and recognize if they still have work to do.

Don't Be Shy : If you crushed a project, own it. Don't underestimate your abilities. Know your strengths and what you did that was great for you and for the company, and don't shy away from proudly sharing the impactful results you drove for the business.”

If you want to offer more performance review advice to your employees, suggest they read “ Prepare for Success: How to Write a Stellar Performance Review Self-Assessment .” The article provides guidelines, templates, expert information, and tips so you and your team can make the most of written and in-person reviews.

How Do You Conduct a Performance Review In Person?

Gina Abudi , President of Abudi Consulting Group , LLC, advises limiting the size of the written performance review to allow more time for interaction during the in-person meeting. “Keep it simple,” says Abudi. “The performance review does not need to be a five page document. I suggest no more than two pages that enables collaboration and goal setting between the employee and the manager.”

Here are some more tips for acing the in-person review:

Inspiration and Motivation : Keep the conversation positive, build personal connections, encourage proactivity, trust, and two-way conversations. “Make performance conversations a regular occurrence,” says Abudi. “While some organizations may never move away from the formal once-a-year performance review, it should be supplemented with regular conversations (one-on-ones) between the employee and manager. If done well, nothing on the annual formal performance review is a surprise; discussions have already occurred between employee and manager. I recommend implementing quarterly formal performance reviews and feed into that process information from regular one-on-one meetings.”

Criticism and Coaching : Asking questions is the best way to open the dialogue. Ask your employee how they think they’re doing. Encourage discussion about the written review and have conversations in between reviews about issues that may arise in the moment to avoid a ‘feedback firehose’ during a once- or twice-a-year appraisal. When necessary, provide honest constructive criticism in the most positive terms possible. Take care to outline behaviors that may need to shift and don’t focus on personality traits, since behavior can change but personalities rarely do. Avoid the halo/horns effect: the cognitive bias where a person’s impression of another individual can influence feelings and thoughts about that person. For example, the effect is when a highly rated employee in one area tends to receive high ratings in all areas (even if that’s not the case). The opposite is also true. You can avoid that trap by being diligent about keeping notes throughout the year and considering peer evaluations.

Goal Setting : “Ensure performance is tied to goals,” says Abudi. “General performance review forms are meaningless. Ensure that you are evaluating performance based on goals needed to be achieved, competencies required in the role, and expectations of the employee. This means that the performance review is likely not a static document. It may have to change based on what is important to the organization in any given year. As strategies change and there are new goals to achieve, what employees are evaluated on will also likely have to change.”

Career Development : Effective performance appraisals include an employee’s career aspirations. Employees should be involved in their own goal setting and at the review, the manager should discuss progress toward professional goals and matching career paths within the organization.

Following Up : Recap performance reviews with regular information and feedback. Many companies use apps to more easily connect with employees, encourage dialogue, and make recaps available for review.

It’s How You Say It: Preferred Performance Review Language Tips

“One of the things I emphasize is that writing performance appraisals is a skill that needs to be taught — you simply must have some training,” says Jaffa. “Performance reviews are feedback, but of a special kind. You want to frame things positively as much as you can. I am a behaviorist: The hardest language to learn is the language of the positive, and yet it’s the most important communication tool we have. You also need to know how to deliver feedback that’s not so good. People often give good reviews when they shouldn’t because they are afraid of legal issues.”

There is some advice that’s helpful to keep in mind when writing performance reviews and while conducting the in-person interview. “Making huge sweeping statements should be avoided,” advises Davis. “Saying you always…. is not a good idea. The best approach here is to have an employee write their own summary first and use that as a starting point. This way you can see if they are self aware or not, or if your comments are likely to be unwelcome.”

Other things to watch out for are talking about an employee’s attitude, which can make people defensive. Managers should also sidestep inflating employee performance in verbal or written assessments. If performance is underpar, that should be noted — you could be setting yourself up for legal issues down the road if an employee is fired for poor performance that hasn’t been acknowledged and recorded.

Here are some resources with advice on how to communicate positive and negative performance with the right words::

Performance Evaluation Phrases

Manager Toolkit Writing Resources

Helpful Phrases from Bowdoin University

Word Choice Reference for Describing Performance

What to Include in the Written Review

Performance reviews should be comprehensive and adhere to your company culture, job expectations, and specific metrics that are known and understood by all personnel. To get started, here are general areas to help you design performance review forms:

Download Checklist: What to Include in a Written Performance Review

Templates and Examples of Written Performance Reviews

Most of our experts recommended using templates to standardize, track, and share performance review information and data. Templates should be specific to your company’s needs and culture.

Here are some free, customizable templates that can make the process easier. Take a look at the templates below, and find more options in the article “ Free Employee Performance Review Templates .”

Basic Performance Review Template

This snapshot-style performance review template keeps things simple: a rating system from poor to excellent that you use to assess an employee’s skills and qualities that don’t require detailed written feedback. While not a deep dive, this document can help guide productive conversations between you and your employee. There’s a section for additional notes and comments where you can include significant accomplishments or future goals.

Download Basic Performance Review Template

Employee Objectives & Performance Review Template

Set employee objectives, track progress, and collect feedback for upcoming performance reviews with this customizable template. You’ll find an outline of topics for evaluation, best practice guidelines, instructions for each element in the process, and sample information.

Create Employee Objectives & Performance Review in Smartsheet

Employee Review Checklist Template

Coordinate all the moving parts of the review process with this straightforward checklist. You can adjust permission levels and share the checklist with appropriate managers or HR professionals. View the revision history of any cell, and request updated performance evaluations from peers, employees, and managers and track each item to completion.

Create Employee Review Checklist Template in Smartsheet

Common Performance Review Mistakes

Sharon Armstrong, SHRM-CP, PHR, CMF , and principal of Sharon Armstrong and Associates, is the author of The Essential Performance Review Handbook, Stress-Free Performance Appraisals: Turn Your Most Painful Management Duty Into a Powerful Motivational Tool, and The Essential HR Handbook. Armstrong says there are several performance review pitfalls to note: “Failure to plan for the meeting in details (on both sides — manager and employees). Failure to make reviews a shared responsibility. Failure to make reviews motivating. Failure to look forward with the employee.”

Another key item Armstrong notes is that feedback should be ongoing and not held back for an annual or semi-annual review. There should never be any surprises at these meetings. “Telling employees about work issues at the performance review meeting — not when it happened [— isn’t good],” says Armstrong. “When you see it, say it!”

Armstrong adds that reviews are an opportunity to have an honest conversation (not a lecture by the manager), to look ahead to the next time period, and to reinforce alignment between individual and company goals. One final action she warns against: “Directly connecting pay raise with appraisals and ratings.” Tying performance reviews to compensation undermines collegiality, reinforces hierarchy, discourages honest discourse, and works against team cooperation and problem solving.

What Is the Future of Performance Reviews?

Depending on the source, between six and 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies have eliminated employee rankings and traditional, annual performance reviews. The thinking is that with their stress on remuneration, punitive measures, and their year-end structure, annual performance reviews can be far too backward-looking and damage the individual and team momentum that is crucial to companies’ long-term survival.

Many companies — even GE, the grandfather of performance reviews and ratings — has shifted to a less regimented model and is opting for more frequent feedback via an app for it’s 300,000 workers. Microsoft, Medtronic, Accenture, and Adobe have also done away with formal annual reviews and have adopted other feedback methods. As Lean and Agile project management become more common, the same types of flexible, continuous improvement processes are being used for more efficient performance management.

A New Approach for Deloitte

Some companies have created a hybrid approach with more frequent communication but have maintained some form of rating system, like Deloitte.

Mike Preston , Chief Talent Officer for the Deloitte U.S. Firms, is responsible for delivering on Deloitte’s value proposition to its 65,000+ professionals. Preston completely overhauled the performance review system at Deloitte. When Deloitte announced a redesign of its performance management system in the April 2015 issue of HBR , the new approach was being piloted by 10 percent (about 7,000) of its people. There are now 42,000+ people using the new system in Deloitte’s Advisory, Audit, Tax, and Federal Consulting practices and professional staff.

The company rolled out the redesign and tested it in 2015. Along the way, Deloitte adjusted its model and added more elements to strengthen engagement and performance, and to improve its professionals’ experiences based on feedback and key learnings from the pilots. Preston explains that the new model now includes the following elements:

Check-ins : Frequent conversations about the work and the future, including work priorities, performance, learning opportunities, and career path

Performance Snapshots : Leaders assess individual team member's performance, at a current point in time, based on first-hand experience. Team leaders answer future-focused statements to evaluate performance at the end of every project or once a quarter. A five-point scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree or yes or no is used. Here’s an example:

• If it were my money, would I award this person the highest possible compensation increase and bonus (five point scale).
• I would always want him or her on my team (five point scale).
• This person is at risk for low performance (yes or no).
• Based on what I know of this person’s performance, he/she is currently operating at the next level (yes or no).

Transparency : Performance snapshot data is aggregated a few times annually into scatter plots that allow people to see how they compare with their peers. The scatterplot promotes trust, provides honest performance insight, fuels more transparent check-in conversations, and equips Deloitte professionals with data they need to become effective leaders on their projects and within Deloitte.

Pulse Surveys : Leaders use a survey tool to measure the conditions on their teams that internal and external research indicate lead to high performance and engagement. The tool is an anonymous, 10 question survey that helps leaders see their teams through the eyes of the individuals, to better understand and shape the team environment.

Compensation : Each of our four businesses is defining its own compensation approach that combines performance snapshot data, firm contributions, and leadership discretion to drive compensation and promotion decisions.

Firm Contribution Snapshot : An additional data collection tool that – along with the performance snapshot – helps to create a complete view of all the ways our people contribute to Deloitte. The firm contribution snapshot measures how our people contribute beyond client work – through marketing, recruiting, etc.

Deloitte is collecting data from the pilot populations and analyzing it over time to better understand how the elements of the new model link to better performance and engagement.

Here are some of the initial key learnings:

Engagement is higher in the pilot populations and increases over time.

Higher engagement maps to higher performance snapshot scores.

Check-in conversations drive engagement; The more frequent, the better.

These new forms of performance reviews are music to Associate Professor Collins’ ears. “I do hope the annual performance review will go away. More frequent conversations that help the trajectory of performance increase faster make more sense. More frequent conversations also increase engagement, particularly with millennials. The result is a stronger bond, better future, and improved retention and performance. Doing more, even if it takes more time from day to day, is worthwhile.”

Performance Review Resources for Managers

Take a look at these links to organizations, books, articles, and websites that provide techniques and the latest thinking about performance reviews and performance management — many of them are free.

Organizations

Society for Human Resource Management

World at Work

Nonprofit HR

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

The Essential Performance Review Handbook by Sharon Armstrong

Get Rid of the Performance Review!: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing--and Focus on What Really Matters by Samuel A. Culbert

Implementing Positive Organizational Change: A Strategic Project Management Approach by Gina Abudi

Performance Appraisal Phrase Book: The Best Words, Phrases and Techniques for Performance Reviews by Corey Sandler

Revolution in a Heartbeat: Using Emotional Insights to Drive Better Business Performance by Matt Stephens

Stress-free Performance Appraisals by Sharon Armstrong

3000 Power Words for and Phrases for Effective Performance Reviews: Ready-to-Use Language for Successful Employee Evaluations by Sandra E. Lamb

Websites for Resources and Research

Center for Advanced HR Studies at the ILR School Cornell University

Human Resources by Entrepreneur.com

Articles/Blogs

Addressing the Challenge of Performance Reviews by Gina Abudi

Changing Your Mindset Around Performance Reviews by Gina Abudi

4 Steps To Painless (And Effective) Performance Evaluations by Victor Lipman

How to Make Performance Review Relevant by Lisa Quast

Is the Annual Performance Review Dead? by Dana Wilkie

Latest Assessing Performance Articles a compendium of all Harvard Business Review Articles

Preparing for an Employee Performance Review by Gina Abudi

Track Employee Work Achievements with Smartsheet for Painless Performance Reviews

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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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What is a Direct Report? In-Depth Guide for Employers

A direct report is an employee that works directly below another person in an organization, often referred to as a subordinate. Most managers have at least a few direct reports under their command, and this can often be a full-time job in itself. And this number is growing. In fact, a survey by Deloitte reported that U.S. managers now average 9.7 direct reports , and at large enterprises, this figure increases to 11.4.

Are managers taking on more than they can handle? Is this preventing optimum performance?

In today’s post, we will answer questions including “What is direct reporting?” and “How many direct reports is too many?” . We will look at the difference between direct and indirect reporting and share a few tips to help you effectively manage your direct reports so that your company performs at its best at every level.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Direct Report Meaning

So, what is a direct report? What does direct report mean in reality?

As we mentioned above, direct reports, commonly referred to as subordinates, are employees that work directly beneath superiors in a workplace. They take orders and receive assignments from someone above them in the hierarchical organizational structure of a business. Managers also monitor the overall performance of direct reports and provide regular feedback to help them develop. This helps organizations meet overall performance goals and objectives.

Direct reports are most commonly found in companies with larger, more traditional organizational structures. Reporting can work top-down. For example, a team leader might have a number of direct reportees, but then report to their department head or directors. You are less likely to find direct reporters in more agile organizations with flatter hierarchical structures.

Benefits of assigning direct reports include the creation of an established feedback system, improved communication, and the aligning of hierarchies within a business structure. Whether or not this structure is best for your business will depend on the size and structure of your organization (your organizational chart ), as well as your overall performance objectives.

What are Direct and Indirect Reports?

Before we go on, it’s important that you understand the difference between direct and indirect reporting. In other words, what are direct reports in management, and how do they differ from indirect reports?

Let’s break it down.

A direct report is an employee who formally reports to you. You are directly responsible for assigning them work, monitoring their performance, and providing them with regular feedback. Your organization formally recognizes your authority as their direct manager.

An indirect report, in contrast, reports to your own direct report. In other words, indirect reports are employees who work under you but report directly to your own direct report. You are charged with overseeing their performance and activities, but you are not formally responsible for managing them.

For example, if you are the CEO of an organization, you might have 20 direct reports (those directly under your command, such as department heads and directors) but thousands of indirect reports (all other employees within the organization who are managed by their own team leaders).

How Many Direct Reports Is Too Many?

Research conducted by Forbes into C-level roles over the past two decades has revealed that the average number of direct reports of a CEO has doubled , rising from about five in the mid-1980s to almost 10 in the mid-2000s. If this average continues to rise, then it will not be manageable. In fact, some might argue that traditional organizational structures are already centered around too many direct reports.

According to McKinsey , the organizations of the future will require more dynamic and flexible structures. With a traditional hierarchical organizational structure, power flows vertically, and employees are departmentalized. In other words, each employee has a clearly defined role and position, and there is a rigid chain of command. In contrast, agile organizations are built on a network of empowered teams that operate with high standards of alignment, accountability, expertise, transparency, and collaboration.

As a result of this changing dynamic, the ideal number of direct reports is now up for debate. Many HR professionals now argue that “less is more”. This is because, the more direct reports a manager has, the more time they need to spend monitoring, motivating, and mentoring them. And this takes up a lot of valuable time.

It’s obviously not a good idea to jump straight into a flatter hierarchical structure, but there are a number of things you can do to improve your direct reporting process. It’s all about defining the right best practices in order to get to know your direct reports so that you understand how to get the most from them, whilst reducing the time you spend micromanaging them.

How to Get to Know Your Direct Report

In order to be an effective direct reportee, you need to get to know your direct reports. This will help you understand how best to motivate and manage them so that they perform to the best of their abilities, with minimum supervision.

Let’s take a look at a few best practices to help you do this.

Clearly Outline Your Goals

Firstly, make sure you are clear about who your direct reports are, and what your role is . If you don’t already have one, use an organizational chart template to define a clear structure in your organization.

Once you’ve done that, make sure your direct report knows what your goals and priorities are, and what you expect from them. And find out what their goals for the future are too. That will help you understand each other. You should then establish short-term and long-term goals so that they have a clear path for development.

Arrange Regular one-on-ones

One of the best ways to get to know your direct report is to meet regularly with them. Arrange regular one-on-ones so that you can check in with them and see how they are doing. This will help you monitor how they are performing and determine if they are on track to meet their goals. It will also make you seem more approachable, which will help to improve your relationship.

Don’t just limit your check-ins to work either. Try to get to know your direct reports on a personal level too. Ask them about their interests and their plans for the future.

Earn Their Trust

Another benefit of meeting regularly is that it will help you build trust, and this is key to developing a healthy relationship with your direct reports. The more you get to know them, the more they will trust you. And this sense of trust will help them feel valued and validated.

Another great way to build trust is to encourage your direct reports to take ownership of their own work. This will help them feel that you believe in them and that you rely on them.

Maintain Consistent Communication

Finally, the most effective way to get to know your direct report is to maintain consistent communication. Don’t just limit communication to appraisals – encourage them to reach out any time they feel they need support or have questions or concerns. The more open and approachable they feel you are, the easier it will be for them to communicate with you, and the better you will get to know them.

How to Deal with Difficult Direct Reports

It’s also important to know how to manage difficult direct reports. By creating the best possible relationship with them, you will help to increase overall performance levels, without having to dedicate all your time to micromanaging them.

The best way to create a positive direct report relationship is by taking an interest in your direct reports. You also need to create development plans and offer learning opportunities to help your direct reports feel invested in their position.

Let’s finish by taking a look at these points in a bit more detail.

Provide Continuous Direct Report Feedback

Continuous feedback is the key to managing difficult direct reports. It will help them understand how they can improve and what you expect of them. You should also encourage your direct reports to conduct regular self-assessments so that they can communicate how they feel they are doing. Get them to share feedback on how they think you are doing too. This will help you determine where they are struggling and what you can do to help them improve. Constructive feedback is the key.

Create a Direct Report Development Plan

As a manager, it is your responsibility to create a development plan for your direct reports. By designing a clear roadmap, you will show potentially difficult direct reports that you care about their development , and want to help them improve.

Ask them what new skills they would like to develop and where they think they need to improve. This will help them feel that you are invested in their development; that you are open to offering them learning opportunities. Ultimately, it will help your direct report feel that you believe in them and that you want your direct reports to succeed. Not just for the good of the business, but because you care about their own goals and expectations, too.

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5 ways to get honest feedback from direct reports

Editor's note: This popular story from the Daily Briefing's archives was republished on May 3, 2023.

Writing for the Harvard Business Review , Deborah Grayson Riegel, who teaches leadership communication at Duke University 's Fuqua School of Business , shares five common obstacles that make direct reports reluctant to provide honest upward feedback—and offers tips to help managers overcome them.

Obstacle 1: Not realizing upward feedback is welcome

Workers typically expect to receive feedback from their managers. However, unless they are specifically asked, many will not provide upward feedback. "[T]hey won't know that's even on the table," Riegel writes.

To overcome this obstacle, mangers should tell their direct reports that they are open to feedback, emphasizing that they "want and expect it," she adds. 

"One way to frame it is to share that self-improvement is a personal and professional commitment you've made to yourself — and ask for help meeting your commitment," Riegel suggests. "Ask, 'Would you please help me keep the commitment I've made to myself?' That way, your direct report can view their feedback as helping you make good on a promise you've made to yourself."

Obstacle 2: Worry over delivering feedback the 'right' way

Most people do not naturally excel at delivering feedback. "Giving feedback adeptly is a skill that needs to be learned," Riegel writes. "If your employees haven't learned how to do it well — perhaps because they haven't had access to training, practice, or role models — then they may resist doing it at all."

To overcome this obstacle, managers should explain that feedback is a skill that can be learned through practice. Managers can provide a development opportunity by allowing team members to practice delivering feedback to them. "Assure them that they don't have to do it 'right,'" she suggests. "They just have to show a willingness to try, and to try to get better over time."

Obstacle 3: Anxiety over potential retaliation

Because managers can access important resources, some employees may worry that honest feedback could have a negative impact on their future opportunities. According to Riegel, certain cultural norms may regard upward feedback as "disrespectful and insubordinate," which can create a significant barrier.

To address this obstacle, managers should "[d]emonstrate empathy and humility," she advises. Managers could say, "I know that it can feel uncomfortable to give feedback to someone who has a say in what you work on, your career advancement, etc. I have had the same concerns in giving feedback to  my  boss. Let me reassure you that I see your willingness to give me helpful feedback — even if it's negative — as one of your professional assets. I know that I can get better, and I want to," Riegel writes.

Obstacle 4: Trying to avoid hurt feelings

In particular, feedback that is "not delivered skillfully" can lead to "feelings of social rejection," Riegel writes. "Your direct report may be understandably worried about hurting you and the relationship."

To combat this obstacle, Riegel suggests demonstrating self-awareness by delivering constructive feedback to yourself first—a strategy that can help mitigate direct reports' concerns.

Obstacle 5: The belief that feedback will not lead to change 

"Giving feedback is hard, but giving feedback that doesn't result in anything improving is even harder," Riegel writes. When a manager asks for feedback but does not address it or quickly take action, their team members often lose trust in them. This mistake can undermine a manager's "sincerity and reliability," she adds.

To overcome this obstacle, Riegel suggests that mangers explain how they plan to address the feedback they receive from their direct reports.

"This might range from, 'I appreciate you telling me this — and I'm not sure I can address it right now. Here's why…' to 'This is very helpful, and I am going to take action to change this behavior. Here's my plan…' And in both cases, keep actively, openly, and assertively inviting them to give you feedback," she adds.

While some managers might believe they have created an ideal environment that encourages direct reports to provide feedback, they should refrain from penalizing them if they do not do so.

"The complexity of the power imbalances, the differences between what you and they might consider 'safe and welcoming,' as well as prior negative experiences they may have had giving feedback in the past (that may have nothing to do with you) may make this harder for them than you've imagined," Riegel writes.

Ultimately, managers must do what they can to ensure that they are receiving feedback that will help them grow and succeed. (Riegel, Harvard Business Review , 10/28)

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Team Management Direct Reports Unveiled: Navigating Organizational Structures with Precision

Daily Jobs › Team Management

Direct Reports Unveiled: Navigating Organizational Structures with Precision

Direct reports form a cornerstone in organizational hierarchies, crucial for effective leadership. But what are direct reports exactly, and why do they play such a crucial role in corporate structures? To understand what direct reports are we must understand interpersonal dynamics, leadership responsibilities, and the intricate interplay that defines the professional ecosystem. In this article, we’ll define direct reports and unveil the intricate layers that comprise this fundamental facet of organizational synergy.

What Is a Direct Report?

A direct report refers to an employee who is directly under the supervision and management of a particular individual, typically a manager or team leader. In simpler terms, it signifies the professional relationship between a superior and their subordinate.

This arrangement establishes a direct line of responsibility, with the direct report looking to their manager for guidance, feedback, and task assignments.

Direct reports can include a range of positions, such as team members, subordinates, or individuals within a specific department or unit. The scope may vary based on the organization’s size, structure, and operational requirements. Typically, anyone within the reporting line of a manager, with the manager having a direct influence on their day-to-day activities, is considered a direct report.

In essence, a direct report is an integral part of a manager’s team, representing a crucial link in the chain of command. This dynamic fosters a structured and organized work environment, where each individual’s roles and responsibilities are clearly defined within the broader framework of the company’s objectives. Understanding what a direct report is, therefore, becomes indispensable for effective leadership and the cultivation of a collaborative and efficient workplace culture.

Everhour, a powerful time tracker , streamlines the management of direct reports and employees. With intuitive tracking features, it enables precise monitoring of tasks, facilitates effective delegation, and provides valuable insights for resource allocation . This tool enhances transparency, fosters accountability, and empowers managers to make data-driven decisions, ultimately elevating overall team productivity.

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What Are the Benefits of Having Direct Reports

The utilization of direct reports in organizational structures serves as a strategic imperative, offering a myriad of benefits that contribute to the efficiency, productivity, and overall success of a team or department. Here are compelling reasons why incorporating direct reports is integral to effective leadership and organizational functionality.

⛓️ Clear chain of command

The concept of direct reports establishes a structured hierarchy, providing a clear and defined chain of command. This clarity is essential for efficient decision-making, accountability, and streamlined communication within the organization.

⬇️ Effective delegation

With direct reports, managers can delegate tasks and responsibilities with precision. This facilitates the distribution of work according to individual strengths and expertise, maximizing the overall efficiency of the team.

🤝 Personalized guidance and development

Direct reports benefit from personalized guidance and mentorship from their immediate supervisors. This one-on-one interaction fosters professional development, skill enhancement, and a deeper understanding of individual career goals.

📈 Performance management

Direct reports serve as focal points for performance evaluation. Managers can assess the progress, achievements, and challenges of each team member, enabling targeted feedback and strategic planning for continuous improvement. When cultivating strong relationships with direct reports, building referent power —grounded in trust and respect—becomes a valuable tool, enabling effective influence and collaboration within the team.

🗣️ Enhanced communication

The direct report structure promotes effective communication channels. Managers can convey expectations, provide feedback, and address concerns directly, minimizing misunderstandings and fostering a transparent work environment.

👥 Team cohesion

By having a set of direct reports, managers can cultivate a sense of team cohesion. This structure facilitates collaboration and encourages a shared commitment to common goals, creating a more unified and harmonious work atmosphere.

🧠 Strategic alignment

Direct reports enable managers to align individual and team objectives with broader organizational goals. This alignment ensures that every team member’s efforts contribute to the overarching mission and vision of the company.

💪 Adaptability and responsiveness

The direct report model allows for swift adaptation to changes and challenges. Managers can quickly reallocate tasks, redistribute responsibilities, and address issues promptly, enhancing the team’s overall responsiveness.

In essence, the strategic use of direct reports optimizes people management practices, promoting a cohesive, efficient, and adaptable work environment that is well-positioned for sustained success.

What Is the Difference Between Direct and Indirect Reports?

To fully comprehend the dynamics of organizational structures, it’s essential to distinguish between direct/indirect reports. Let’s delve into the definitions and nuances that differentiate these two concepts.

Direct report definition

A direct report, as previously outlined, is an employee who reports directly to a specific manager or supervisor. This relationship establishes a clear and immediate line of authority, with the manager directly overseeing the work, progress, and performance of the individual. The direct report is typically within the same department or team, forming an integral part of the manager’s immediate workforce.

Indirect report definition

On the other hand, an indirect report refers to an employee who does not report directly to a particular manager but may still be influenced by or connected to that manager’s team or projects. Indirect reports often fall under a different department or may work on separate initiatives. While the manager may not have direct oversight, they can still exert influence, offer guidance, or collaborate with these individuals on shared objectives.

Key differences

The primary distinction lies in the directness of the reporting relationship. Direct reports have a formal reporting structure directly tied to a specific manager, whereas indirect reports may have a more loosely connected or shared reporting relationship. Direct reports are typically more integrated into the day-to-day operations of a manager’s team, while indirect reports may work across different teams or functions within the organization.

Understanding the difference between direct and indirect reports is crucial for effective management, communication, and organizational coordination. Managers must navigate both structures adeptly to ensure optimal collaboration and productivity across the broader spectrum of their responsibilities.

7 Tips on How to Manage Your Direct Reports

❗ establish clear expectations.

Clearly articulate the responsibilities and expectations for each direct report. Develop job descriptions that outline key tasks, goals, and performance metrics. Regularly revisit and communicate any changes to ensure everyone is on the same page. This clarity promotes accountability and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings.

❗ Encourage open communication

Create an atmosphere where open communication is valued. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings to discuss progress, challenges, and career aspirations. Actively listen to your direct reports, provide a platform for them to express their ideas and concerns, and be receptive to feedback. Open communication fosters trust and a positive working relationship.

❗ Provide constructive feedback

Feedback is a powerful tool for professional development. Provide feedback that is specific, actionable, and focused on both achievements and areas for improvement. Aim for a balance between positive reinforcement and constructive criticism, creating an environment where direct reports feel supported in their growth.

❗ Facilitate skill development

Identify opportunities for skill development based on both individual and organizational needs. Offer training programs, and mentorship opportunities, and encourage continuous learning. By investing in the professional growth of your direct reports, you not only enhance their capabilities but also contribute to the overall resilience and adaptability of the team.

❗ Delegate wisely

Effective delegation involves understanding the strengths and capabilities of each direct report. Assign tasks that align with their skills and developmental goals. Provide clear instructions, set expectations, and establish check-in points. Avoid micromanaging to empower your direct reports, allowing them to take ownership of their work.

❗ Promote team collaboration

Create an environment that fosters collaboration among direct reports. Encourage cross-functional communication, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative problem-solving. Team cohesion enhances creativity and productivity, leading to a more dynamic and resilient work environment.

❗ Recognize and reward achievements

Acknowledge the accomplishments of your direct reports regularly. Recognition can take various forms, including public praise, awards, or small gestures of appreciation. Celebrating achievements not only boosts morale but also reinforces positive behavior, motivating your team to consistently excel.

❓ How to ask direct reports to do something

When requesting tasks from direct reports, it’s crucial to communicate clearly and respectfully. Clearly outline the task, its importance, and any relevant deadlines. Use a collaborative tone, inviting questions and input. Effective communication builds trust and ensures that expectations are understood.

❓ How many direct reports to have

The optimal number of direct reports can vary based on factors such as the complexity of tasks, the manager’s experience, and the organization’s structure. As a general guideline, it’s recommended to balance workload and maintain effective communication. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, most experts suggest that a manager can effectively oversee 5 to 10 direct reports, allowing for personalized attention and effective management without becoming overwhelmed. However, the specific circumstances of each role and organization should be considered when determining the ideal number of direct reports. Regular assessments and adjustments can help optimize managerial effectiveness.

In summary, effective management (of any management style ) of direct reports is crucial for cultivating a thriving workplace. By setting clear expectations, fostering open communication, and providing constructive feedback, leaders can build a dynamic and resilient team. Encouraging skill development, wise delegation, and promoting collaboration contribute to a positive work culture.

As you can see, recognizing achievements, understanding how to communicate tasks, and determining an optimal number of direct reports further refine managerial skills. In essence, adept management of direct reports ensures individual and collective success, fostering a workplace that excels in innovation, adaptability, and sustained excellence.

Maria Kharlantseva

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16 constructive feedback examples — and tips for how to use them

Giving constructive feedback is nerve-wracking for many people. But feedback is also necessary for thriving in the workplace. 

It helps people flex and grow into new skills, capabilities, and roles. It creates more positive and productive relationships between employees. And it helps to reach goals and drive business value.

But feedback is a two-way street. More often than not, it’s likely every employee will have to give constructive feedback in their careers. That’s why it’s helpful to have constructive feedback examples to leverage for the right situation. 

We know employees want feedback. But one study found that people want feedback if they’re on the receiving end . In fact, in every case, participants rated their desire for feedback higher as the receiver. While the fear of feedback is very real, it’s important to not shy away from constructive feedback opportunities. After all, it could be the difference between a flailing and thriving team. 

If you’re trying to overcome your fear of providing feedback, we’ve compiled a list of 16 constructive feedback examples for you to use. We’ll also share some best practices on how to give effective feedback . 

What is constructive feedback? 

When you hear the word feedback, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? What feelings do you have associated with feedback? Oftentimes, feedback conversations are anxiety-ridden because it’s assumed to be negative feedback. Unfortunately, feedback has this binary stigma, it’s either good or bad.

But in reality, there are plenty of types of feedback leveraged in both personal and professional relationships. They don’t all fall into one camp or the other. And each type of feedback is serving a purpose to ultimately better an individual, team, or work environment. 

For example, positive feedback can be used to reinforce desired behaviors or big accomplishments. Real-time feedback is reserved for those “in the moment” situations. Like if I’ve made a mistake or a typo in a blog, I’d want my teammates to give me real-time feedback . 

However, constructive feedback is its own ball game. 

What is constructive feedback?

Constructive feedback is a supportive way to improve areas of opportunity for an individual person, team, relationship, or environment. In many ways, constructive feedback is a combination of constructive criticism paired with coaching skills. 

16 constructive feedback examples to use 

To truly invest in building a feedback culture , your employees need to feel comfortable giving feedback. After all, organizations are people, which means we’re all human. We make mistakes but we’re all capable of growth and development. And most importantly, everyone everywhere should be able to live with more purpose, clarity, and passion. 

But we won’t unlock everyone’s full potential unless your people are comfortable giving feedback. Some employee feedback might be easier to give than others, like ways to improve a presentation. 

But sometimes, constructive feedback can be tricky, like managing conflict between team members or addressing negative behavior. As any leader will tell you, it’s critical to address negative behaviors and redirect them to positive outcomes. Letting toxic behavior go unchecked can lead to issues with employee engagement , company culture, and overall, your business’s bottom line. 

Regardless of where on the feedback spectrum your organization falls, having concrete examples will help set up your people for success. Let’s talk through some examples of constructive feedback. For any of these themes, it’s always good to have specific examples handy to help reinforce the feedback you’re giving. We’ll also give some sample scenarios of when these phrases might be most impactful and appropriate. 

Constructive feedback examples about communication skills  

An employee speaks over others and interrupts in team meetings.

“I’ve noticed you can cut off team members or interrupt others. You share plenty of good ideas and do good work. To share some communication feedback , I’d love to see how you can support others in voicing their own ideas in our team meetings.” 

An employee who doesn’t speak up or share ideas in team meetings.

“I’ve noticed that you don’t often share ideas in big meetings. But in our one-on-one meetings , you come up with plenty of meaningful and creative ideas to help solve problems. What can I do to help make you more comfortable speaking up in front of the team?” 

An employee who is brutally honest and blunt.

“Last week, I noticed you told a teammate that their work wasn’t useful to you. It might be true that their work isn’t contributing to your work, but there’s other work being spread across the team that will help us reach our organizational goals. I’d love to work with you on ways to improve your communication skills to help build your feedback skills, too. Would you be interested in pursuing some professional development opportunities?”  

An employee who has trouble building rapport because of poor communication skills in customer and prospect meetings.

“I’ve noticed you dive right into the presentation with our customer and prospect meetings. To build a relationship and rapport, it’s good to make sure we’re getting to know everyone as people. Why don’t you try learning more about their work, priorities, and life outside of the office in our next meeting?” 

Constructive feedback examples about collaboration 

An employee who doesn’t hold to their commitments on group or team projects.

“I noticed I asked you for a deliverable on this key project by the end of last week. I still haven’t received this deliverable and wanted to follow up. If a deadline doesn’t work well with your bandwidth, would you be able to check in with me? I’d love to get a good idea of what you can commit to without overloading your workload.”  

An employee who likes to gatekeep or protect their work, which hurts productivity and teamwork .

“Our teams have been working together on this cross-functional project for a couple of months. But yesterday, we learned that your team came across a roadblock last month that hasn’t been resolved. I’d love to be a partner to you if you hit any issues in reaching our goals. Would you be willing to share your project plan or help provide some more visibility into your team’s work? I think it would help us with problem-solving and preventing problems down the line.” 

An employee who dominates a cross-functional project and doesn’t often accept new ways of doing things.

“I’ve noticed that two team members have voiced ideas that you have shut down. In the spirit of giving honest feedback, it feels like ideas or new solutions to problems aren’t welcome. Is there a way we could explore some of these ideas? I think it would help to show that we’re team players and want to encourage everyone’s contributions to this project.” 

Constructive feedback examples about time management 

An employee who is always late to morning meetings or one-on-ones.

“I’ve noticed that you’re often late to our morning meetings with the rest of the team. Sometimes, you’re late to our one-on-ones, too. Is there a way I can help you with building better time management skills ? Sometimes, the tardiness can come off like you don’t care about the meeting or the person you’re meeting with, which I know you don’t mean.” 

A direct report who struggles to meet deadlines.

“Thanks for letting me know you’re running behind schedule and need an extension. I’ve noticed this is the third time you’ve asked for an extension in the past two weeks. In our next one-on-one, can you come up with a list of projects and the amount of time that you’re spending on each project? I wonder if we can see how you’re managing your time and identify efficiencies.” 

An employee who continuously misses team meetings.

“I’ve noticed you haven’t been present at the last few team meetings. I wanted to check in to see how things are going. What do you have on your plate right now? I’m concerned you’re missing critical information that can help you in your role and your career.” 

Constructive feedback examples about boundaries 

A manager who expects the entire team to work on weekends.

“I’ve noticed you send us emails and project plans over the weekends. I put in a lot of hard work during the week, and won’t be able to answer your emails until the work week starts again. It’s important that I maintain my work-life balance to be able to perform my best.” 

An employee who delegates work to other team members.

“I’ve noticed you’ve delegated some aspects of this project that fall into your scope of work. I have a full plate with my responsibilities in XYZ right now. But if you need assistance, it might be worth bringing up your workload to our manager.” 

A direct report who is stressed about employee performance but is at risk of burning out.

“I know we have performance reviews coming up and I’ve noticed an increase in working hours for you. I hope you know that I recognize your work ethic but it’s important that you prioritize your work-life balance, too. We don’t want you to burn out.”  

Constructive feedback examples about managing 

A leader who is struggling with team members working together well in group settings.

“I’ve noticed your team’s scores on our employee engagement surveys. It seems like they don’t collaborate well or work well in group settings, given their feedback. Let’s work on building some leadership skills to help build trust within your team.” 

A leader who is struggling to engage their remote team.

“In my last skip-levels with your team, I heard some feedback about the lack of connections . It sounds like some of your team members feel isolated, especially in this remote environment. Let’s work on ways we can put some virtual team-building activities together.” 

A leader who is micromanaging , damaging employee morale.

“In the last employee engagement pulse survey, I took a look at the leadership feedback. It sounds like some of your employees feel that you micromanage them, which can damage trust and employee engagement. In our next one-on-one, let’s talk through some projects that you can step back from and delegate to one of your direct reports. We want to make sure employees on your team feel ownership and autonomy over their work.” 

8 tips for providing constructive feedback 

Asking for and receiving feedback isn’t an easy task. 

But as we know, more people would prefer to receive feedback than give it. If giving constructive feedback feels daunting, we’ve rounded up eight tips to help ease your nerves. These best practices can help make sure you’re nailing your feedback delivery for optimal results, too.

Be clear and direct (without being brutally honest). Make sure you’re clear, concise, and direct. Dancing around the topic isn’t helpful for you or the person you’re giving feedback to. 

Provide specific examples. Get really specific and cite recent examples. If you’re vague and high-level, the employee might not connect feedback with their actions.

Set goals for the behavior you’d like to see changed. If there’s a behavior that’s consistent, try setting a goal with your employee. For example, let’s say a team member dominates the conversation in team meetings. Could you set a goal for how many times they encourage other team members to speak and share their ideas? 

Give time and space for clarifying questions. Constructive feedback can be hard to hear. It can also take some time to process. Make sure you give the person the time and space for questions and follow-up. 

Know when to give feedback in person versus written communication. Some constructive feedback simply shouldn’t be put in an email or a Slack message. Know the right communication forum to deliver your feedback.   

Check-in. Make an intentional effort to check in with the person on how they’re doing in the respective area of feedback. For example, let’s say you’ve given a teammate feedback on their presentation skills . Follow up on how they’ve invested in building their public speaking skills . Ask if you can help them practice before a big meeting or presentation. 

Ask for feedback in return. Feedback can feel hierarchical and top-down sometimes. Make sure that you open the door to gather feedback in return from your employees. 

Start giving effective constructive feedback 

Meaningful feedback can be the difference between a flailing and thriving team. To create a feedback culture in your organization, constructive feedback is a necessary ingredient. 

Think about the role of coaching to help build feedback muscles with your employees. With access to virtual coaching , you can make sure your employees are set up for success. BetterUp can help your workforce reach its full potential.

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Boost your team's performance and engagement with tailored coaching strategies.

Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

5 types of feedback that make a difference (and how to use them)

Are you receptive to feedback follow this step-by-step guide, handle feedback like a boss and make it work for you, how to give constructive feedback as a manager, should you use the feedback sandwich 7 pros and cons, how to get feedback from your employees, why coworker feedback is so important and 5 ways to give it, how managers get upward feedback from their team, feedback in communication: 5 areas to become a better communicator, similar articles, 15 tips for your end-of-year reviews, how to give negative feedback to a manager, with examples, how to embrace constructive conflict, 25 performance review questions (and how to use them), how to give feedback to your boss: tips for getting started, how to give kudos at work. try these 5 examples to show appreciation, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Communicating Strategically with Direct Reports

• Harvard Management Update

by Judith A. Ross

The best leaders inspire their direct reports to carry out their organization’s goals enthusiastically. Indeed, with adept leadership, employees not only share these goals, but they also make them their own. But galvanizing speeches, cogent e-mails, and meticulously prepared PowerPoint presentations go only so far in mobilizing a diversely talented group of people.

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An overview of the Performance Review Cycle process for Managers

The Performance Review Process (Managers)

Hey there, managers! When it comes to managing your team's performance reviews, there are a few things you might be asked to do, depending on how your People team have set the review cycle up:

Request feedback : You might need to ask others for feedback about your direct reports.

Review feedback : You'll look at feedback requests about your direct reports.

Write reviews : You'll write a review for each of your direct reports based on their performance during the review period.

Share feedback: You might be asked to share any feedback given about your direct reports from their own team and peers.

Share your review : You'll share the review you wrote with your direct reports.

Once the performance review cycle launches, you can handle tasks by clicking on them from your Performance > Tasks section or by going to the Performance > Reviews tab. From there, just click into the current cycle to action any tasks.

Feedback Request Types

There are two types of feedback: Peer and Upward. Which one you are prompted to request will depend on how the review process was set up by your People Team.

Upward feedback goes to those below the manager being reviewed (like direct and indirect reports).

Peer feedback goes to people who aren't direct or indirect reports.

The platform decides whether to send a peer or upward feedback request based on where each user sits in your hierarchy. This is determined by who they are assigned to under the manager email demographic.

Requesting Feedback About Your Direct Reports

When it's time to collect feedback about your direct reports, here's what you'll do:

You'll receive an email and see a task in your Performance Task list.

If your People Team has allowed nominations for this cycle, you can review those requests by clicking into the task.

If your direct reports have already nominated reviewers, you can send feedback requests to those nominated.

You can also change the reviewers by clicking the X to remove them and add new reviewers by searching their name.

You'll see how many nominations your team members made in the Nomination column of the cycle.

If there are no nominations, you can add your own reviewers by searching their name in the text field.

Click Send Requests to finish. Your requests might go out right away or be scheduled for later dependant on your cycle settings.

You can send more requests until the feedback stage of the cycle ends.

If nominations are enabled, your People Team may limit how many people employees can nominate for feedback.

If a nominations limit is set, as a Manager, you can still send out as many feedback requests as necessary, but consider not overwhelming employees with too many requests. Ask those who know your team well or worked closely with them for feedback.

If your direct report is a manager, consider asking for feedback from their own direct reports' as well. Just remember, you can only request feedback from their direct reports' if your Performance Admin has enabled both peer and upward feedback during the review cycle setup. If you can't ask for feedback from your direct report's team, it may be because upward feedback wasn't enabled during setup or automated upward feedback requests are enabled. Learn more .

Consider diverse perspectives from individuals your direct reports have collaborated with on projects.

Even if your direct report doesn't nominate anyone, both you and your People Team can still request feedback.

Reviewing Upward Feedback Requests in a Cycle With Automation

If the review cycle involves upward feedback and automated requests, you'll be able to view, edit and track these requests within the cycle.

Triggering Automated Requests:

Automated requests are Scheduled when a cycle is launched and are sent automatically during the Provide Feedback stage of the cycle (if not withdrawn prior).

Withdrawal Process:

You can withdraw feedback requests by clicking into the cycle from your Performance > Reviews tab. Click the X beside the reviewer to remove them.

If you change your mind, you can manually re-select a reviewer to provide feedback after they've been withdrawn.

Tracking Feedback Requests:

During the Provide Feedback phase of the cycle, when reviewers will be prompted to fill out feedback for your direct reports, the requests will be marked as either Complete or Incomplete , depending on the progress of the feedback provider.

You can view these updates under the Status column in the cycle.

Write Reviews About Your Direct Reports

Depending on your cycle set up, once you've gathered feedback about your team from peers, their direct reports (if applicable), and their own self-reflection, typically it's time to write your Manager Review.

Go to your Performance Tasks list and click View and Complete.

Your direct reports will be listed on the right side of your screen, where you can view their profiles and previous feedback, self-reflections, goals, reviews and your private notes about them.

Your responses are automatically saved as you write. You can jump between reviews and respond in any order.

You can edit your Manager Review responses, even if you've already submitted the form, right up until your People Team close the overall review cycle.

Questions marked May Be Shared will be seen by your direct report when you or your administrator decide to share reviews.

After reviewing your team, you can see everyone reporting to you, both direct and indirect reports. Just go to the Manager Review section of the cycle and use the Groups filter. Check the box for Indirect Reports to view their reviews along with your direct reports.

Note: If the cycle only includes indirect reports (no direct reports), you will be able to view the Manager Reviews from the Employee Directory instead, but only after the cycle has closed.

💡 Tip: Watch these video lessons to learn how to prepare for your review, how to avoid the biases that can affect them and tips for delivering your review live.

Adding Collaborators

If you need a hand with a review, you can team up with someone else in Culture Amp. This helps ensure feedback is helpful and timely. Both Admins and Managers can add collaborators to a review once the Manager Review component launches.

Here's how to add a collaborator:

Go to Performance > Reviews and pick the current cycle.

Under Your Direct Reports , choose View and Complete Manager Reviews .

Find the review you want to add a collaborator to, click the ellipsis (...) icon, and choose Manage Collaborators . Alternatively, you can access the Manage Collaborators option from inside your direct report's review form.

Here, you can see current collaborators and add new users.

Finally, click Update Collaborators to save.

Collaborator Notifications and Tasks

Notifications are received by email and will appear on their Culture Amp Tasks list.

They can access the manager's review by clicking into the open task and from there, they can comment on each question. Once they click Share Comments, their comments become visible.

Permissions and Visibility

Any comments shared are only visible to the manager, skip-level managers and your Performance Admin. Direct reports won't see these comments if the review is shared with them.

In the Employee Profile view, collaborators can see sections based on their permissions only, like goals the owner has allowed them visibility to and feedback they've left for that employee.

They can't see or comment on the employee's self-reflections.

They don't get extra access to view the full employee profile unless they're the employee's manager.

As a Manager, you can add or remove collaborators until the cycle has closed. When removed, collaborator comments stay, but their review access stops.

To make sure collaborator notes are seen by the manager and admin, the collaborator needs to click Share Comments at the bottom of the review form.

Exporting Manager Reviews to PDF

As a manager, you can easily export your direct or indirect report's review to PDF. Here's how:

Navigate to the current cycle from your Performance > Reviews tab > Manager Review section.

From the list of direct reports click on the ellipsis (...) icon and choose the Export PDF option for the corresponding entry.

Alternatively, when viewing the details of a direct report’s Manager Review, simply select the Export PDF option available on the review form itself.

Employee Preview

Managers can use the Employee Preview mode within Manager Reviews to facilitate discussions with their direct reports by sharing their screen.

When you click on Employee Preview , a new page will open (usually in a new tab) just for previewing important responses with your direct report.

Here's what you can expect:

Only the responses meant to be shared will be visible, excluding anything else.

This view remains accessible regardless of whether your review is complete or not.

Your direct reports won't have access to this page.

Both Managers and Admins can access it.

If the Performance Rating question is set to be shared, you won't find it in the Employee Preview . This is intentional, as ratings may change during calibrations. But don't worry, once the review is shared, the employee will see it.

Share Manager Reviews and Feedback With Your Direct Reports

You can share your Manager Reviews and feedback with your team after they've been submitted and when your Account Admin, usually someone from your People Team, turns on the sharing feature. If you don't see the option to share, it's likely that sharing has not been activated yet. If you need more information, just contact your People Team internally or wait for their instructions. Usually, you can start sharing after a calibration session when final ratings are decided. You can share by clicking on the sharing task on your Performance Tasks page or by clicking into the cycle from your Performance > Reviews tab. Here's how:

To Share Peer and/or Upward Feedback:

Go to Performance > Reviews .

Click into the relevant performance review cycle.

If sharing is activated, you'll see a Share Feedback tile. Click to open.

Share feedback per direct report by selecting Share Feedback .

Or share all feedback in bulk by choosing Share All Feedback .

After sharing, your direct report will receive an email with shared questions.

To Share Manager Reviews:

If sharing is activated, you'll see a Share Manager Review tile. Click to open.

Share reviews per direct report by selecting Share Review .

Or share all reviews in bulk by choosing Share All Reviews.

Note: You may notice a yellow icon under the shared column of your cycle. This indicates that feedback has already been shared with the individual but there are still pending feedback requests. All of the users with the yellow icons are able to see the shared feedback and may receive more feedback if the pending feedback requests are answered by reviewers.

Review Acknowledgements

If Review Acknowledgements were included in the cycle:

Your direct report can mark their review as acknowledged after discussing it with you.

This option is available only if the review has been shared.

There are no notifications for when your direct report marks the review as acknowledged; it shows as Complete in the Review Acknowledged column on the Manager Review section of the cycle.

Why aren't my direct reports' team members available to select for feedback requests?

During performance review setup, your Performance Admin can choose to enable peer feedback, upward feedback, or both. If only peer feedback is enabled, you won't see your direct reports' team members as options for feedback.

Additionally, admins can enable automated requests for upward feedback. This means feedback requests to your direct reports' team members are automatically scheduled and sent during the review cycle, saving you from manually selecting them.

To check if automated requests are enabled, click on the task to request feedback about your direct reports'. You should see upward feedback requests for their own direct reports' already scheduled.

Why is the submit button greyed out for my feedback and/or reviews?

If you can't click the Submit button, it means you left a question blank. Review your page, fill in any unanswered questions, or use 'N/A' or 'No Comment' if you don't have a specific answer.

Why can’t I see my direct reports’ reviews?

If you can't see your direct reports' reviews, you might not be assigned as their manager in Culture Amp or they may not be included in the review cycle. If you're missing someone, contact your internal People Team/Performance Admin to update their demographic information or confirm their participation.

Why can't I see my direct reports' Development plan's in the employee profile view?

Unfortunately development plans are not yet available in this view.

How can I view my indirect reports' Performance Reviews?

To view your indirect reports' Performance Reviews, go to the Performance > Reviews tab and click into the relevant cycle's Manager Review section. Use the Groups filter and check the box for Indirect Reports to see their reviews along with your direct reports. You'll find completed Manager Reviews for your reporting line, but you won't be able to edit them.

If the cycle only includes indirect reports (no direct reports), you can view their Manager Reviews from the Employee Directory view instead, but only after the cycle has closed.

How can I edit a Manager Review if it is already submitted?

You can edit a Manager Review even after it's submitted, as long as the overall review cycle is still live. Here's how:

Go to the Performance > Reviews tab.

Click into the Manager Review section.

Find the review of your direct report that you want to edit.

Make your changes.

Click Save to update.

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41 performance review phrases for managers, peers & yourself

Are you feeling a little lost in the wilderness of performance review season? Don't worry, we've got you covered!

Performance reviews are a crucial part of the working world, but let's be honest, they can be daunting.

However, they can't be overlooked. Highly engaged employees have an  87% lower likelihood  of leaving their positions, and getting performance reviews right plays an important role in the employee experience.

That's why we've put together this list of performance review phrases to help you navigate the maze of peer, self, and managerial performance reviews. 

We'll share a range of example phrases to use in your performance reviews, so you can give feedback that will motivate and inspire your team.

What is a performance review?

Think of your employees as plants in a garden. Just like plants need sun, water, and fertilizer to thrive, your employees need feedback, support, and recognition to grow and succeed. 

That's where performance reviews come in. 

They're your chance to nourish your employees and help them reach their full potential. 

During a performance review, you get to talk to your employees about what they're doing well, where they could improve, and how you can help them get there. 

It's not about criticising or micromanaging - it's about working together to create a healthy, happy, and productive garden. 

💡Pro tip: You don’t have to wait till review time to give and get employee feedback. The Eletive Platform allows you to keep a pulse on your employees year-round with Employee Pulse Surveys …

The Eletive platform allows HR and managers to streamline and automate the entire performance review process.

Performance review phrases for managers

Performance review phrases can help managers evaluate employees accurately and fairly. While also providing meaningful feedback that will help employees improve their work in the future.

When evaluating direct reports, it is important to use positive performance review phrases that focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. 

For example…

“You have a strong work ethic and consistently deliver results”

“You take initiative when completing tasks and often exceed expectations”. 

These types of comments will encourage employees to continue performing at a high level.

It is imperative to use constructive performance review phrases when addressing areas of improvement, as opposed to being overly critical or negative. 

Instead of saying “you need to do better at time management”, try something like… 

“Planning ahead more effectively would be a great way for you to get tasks done faster and smoother” or

“Regular attendance at team meetings could help us all stay in the loop with projects”. 

By taking this approach, clear direction can be provided while maintaining an upbeat attitude overall.

Managers should look out for specific examples where employees demonstrate key skills such as problem solving ability or creativity; they should also note instances where improvements need to be made regarding attitude towards colleagues or adherence/compliance with company policies etc. 

By using specific language throughout the entire process - both praise and criticism - managers create an environment that encourages open communication between them and their direct reports which fosters trust, leading to increased engagement levels across teams.

Positive performance review phrases for managers

“John has consistently outdone expectations, meeting deadlines ahead of schedule”

“Jane's attitude towards her job is admirable as she always goes the extra mile”

“Susan achieved all tasks assigned within budget and Joe dealt with customer complaints expeditiously”

“John shows excellent initiative when problem-solving” 

“Jane demonstrates strong organizational skills when managing projects".

Negative performance review phrases for managers

"Let's work on delegating tasks and giving team members the autonomy they need to complete their work effectively."

"I've noticed that there have been some misunderstandings lately. Let's work on improving your communication skills to ensure everyone is on the same page."

"We need to prioritize our tasks to meet our goals. Let's work together on improving your time management skills to ensure we're meeting our deadlines."

"Let's work on developing a leadership style that is more collaborative and supportive of the team, to create a more positive work environment."

"Your presentations could be clearer. Let's work on improving your public speaking skills to ensure your message is getting across effectively."

Situational examples

Corrective action.

Ella, a marketing executive, has consistently missed deadlines and has been producing low-quality work. 

She’s been given opportunity after opportunity to address this. 

But despite that Ella continues to falter. 

After discussing the issue with her, her manager decides to take corrective action to improve her performance.

Performance review phrases for this situation:

"Your performance has fallen below expectations. Let's work together to identify the reasons why and create a plan to improve."

"I have noticed that your work has not been meeting the standards we expect. Let's discuss how we can work together to address this issue."

"It is important to us that our team members meet deadlines and produce high-quality work. Let's work together to get you back on track."

Promotion or transfer

Sarah has been working as a customer service representative for two years and has consistently exceeded expectations in her role. 

She blows her colleagues out of the water. Because she cares about her customers and has taken extra care in learning about them.

That allows her to handle potential issues with ease. 

Her manager believes she is ready for a promotion or transfer to a higher-level position.

"You have consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic and exceeded expectations in your role. I believe you are ready for a new challenge."

"You have shown excellent performance in your current role and have the skills and potential to take on a more senior position."

"Your dedication and hard work have not gone unnoticed. I believe you have the potential to excel in a new role."

Eletive makes the performance review process smoother, easier and faster.

For example, you can use our 1on1 meeting templates to steer managers in the right direction. Saving hours of time, frustration and testing.

To learn more about Eletive's 1:1 and performance management features, contact sales for a quick demo.

Peer performance review phrases

Peers should also provide honest but respectful feedback on one another's performances during team presentations, meetings, etc. To get an accurate assessment from multiple perspectives within the organization. 

For instance, Wilfred could be commended for his stellar leadership in running the meeting and Violette could be acknowledged for her preparedness when giving her presentations. This type of peer evaluation helps ensure everyone has equal opportunities for success within the company culture by fostering collaboration among colleagues.

When evaluating peer performance, it’s best to focus on specific examples of behaviour rather than general statements about their overall job performance. 

Positive phrases should highlight strengths and achievements, while negative ones should point out weaknesses and areas for improvement without being overly critical or harsh. 

Positive peer performance review phrases

“Cristobal has consistently demonstrated excellent teamwork skills by helping his peers complete tasks efficiently and effectively.”

“Jill has been an invaluable asset to our team with her strong communication skills and willingness to help others succeed."

“Sam is always willing to lend a hand when needed, which has made him an integral part of the team dynamic."

Negative peer performance review phrases

"John often fails to take initiative on projects despite being given multiple opportunities."

"Jill does not demonstrate enough enthusiasm for her work which impacts the morale of the entire team." • "Sam needs to improve his communication skills as he frequently misunderstands instructions from management."

Situational Examples

Team-based work.

Bernard is part of a cross-functional team that has been working on a project for the past six months. As the project nears completion, Bernard's team members have recognised his outstanding contributions to the team's success.

His team members used the following phrases to recognize his contributions to the team:

"Bernard’s natural ability to connect with team members and build strong relationships has been essential to the team's success."

"Bernard’s creative problem-solving skills have been instrumental in overcoming the challenges we've faced as a team."

"Bernard’s attention to detail and organisation skills have helped keep the team on track and ensure we meet our deadlines."

360° performance reviews

A 360° approach helps provide a holistic view of an employee's professional performance and behaviour. However, it is essential to regard the 360-degree feedback as a complement to the performance review process, and not use it as a performance appraisal on its own..

Eletive's 360° feedback surveys contain both closed questions, where the reviewers gets to the accuracy of statements on a scale from 1-5, and open-ended questions where they can provide feedback in their own words. Integrating 360° feedback in the performance process helps increase self-awareness, encourages self-reflection from team members, and provides invaluable insights into any blind spots management may have overlooked previously that can still be acted upon. When implementing 360-degree feedback in an organisation, it's important to communicate clearly what is expected of the reviewers, and what the purpose is. Everyone needs to understand that this feedback is for the benefit of the person being reviewed, and the purpose is to help them grow and develop. Therefore the tone and content of 360° feedback scould always be helpful and constructive.

Example of performance review phrases that peers can use when in a 360 review situation:

"Tanya's creative problem-solving skills have been a game-changer for our team, and her unique perspective has led to some truly innovative solutions."

"Jake's positive attitude and infectious energy have not only lifted the morale of our team but have also inspired us to go above and beyond in our work."

"Maria's unwavering dedication to quality has resulted in some of the best work our team has produced, and her attention to detail is second to none."

Related reading: 360-degree feedback questions [with examples]

Self-performance review phrases

Self-performance review phrases can help individuals reflect on their own performances objectively by asking themselves questions such as: What have I done well? What areas could I improve on for future performances? How am I progressing towards my professional goals? 

Answering these questions honestly can lead to greater self-awareness which ultimately leads to improved job satisfaction and career development over time.

When writing self-performance review phrases, it is important to be specific about what was done well and where improvement could be made. 

Positive self-performance review phrases 

“I successfully completed all tasks assigned within the given timeframe” 

“I handled customer complaints professionally and efficiently”. 

Negative self-performance review phrases 

Constructive feedback should address any issues that need improvement such as… 

“I could have been more proactive in addressing customer concerns”

“I need to work on my communication skills when dealing with difficult customers”.

If there is a particular skill that needs developing such as public speaking then this should be noted down alongside other achievements like receiving recognition for completing projects early or exceeding sales targets month after month. 

This kind of reflection will help managers evaluate each employee's progress accurately come evaluation time.

Mid-year review

You're halfway through the year, and it's time for a mid-year review. You've had some successes and challenges, and you want to take stock of where you are and what you need to do to achieve your goals for the rest of the year.

Performance review phrases for a self-review:

"I've shown resilience and resourcefulness in tackling unexpected challenges, and have demonstrated an ability to adapt and find creative solutions."

"My strong work ethic has allowed me to consistently meet deadlines and exceed expectations, even when faced with competing priorities."

"I've taken the initiative to seek out new opportunities for professional development and growth, and have actively pursued learning opportunities outside of my comfort zone."

"I've demonstrated effective communication skills by clearly articulating my ideas and actively listening to feedback, resulting in improved collaboration and teamwork."

Performance review writing tips

Composing successful appraisals can be a daunting task, yet there are several key strategies HR administrators should remember when constructing them.

Provide specific feedback on the employee’s performance 

Avoid general statements like “you did a good job” or “you need to do better next time." Instead focus on what the employee has done well and how they could improve going forward. This will give the employee clear direction and help them understand exactly where they stand with their manager.

Use positive language when possible

Performance reviews don't have to be all negative; instead focus on highlighting areas where employees excel or have improved over time as well as areas that need further development or improvement. By emphasizing both successes and opportunities for growth it encourages employees to strive towards their goals while also giving them recognition for their achievements thus far.

Constructive criticism should always be phrased positively as well; rather than pointing out what someone has done wrong, emphasize how they could do it better next time. 

“If you plan ahead more carefully, you will be able to complete tasks faster”

“By taking extra care when preparing reports you will ensure accuracy every time”.

As a HR Manager, it is important to use performance review phrases in order to accurately measure and increase employee engagement and performance. 

By using the right words during reviews, managers can provide clear feedback on an employee's progress while also inspiring them to reach their goals. 

Additionally, self-reviews allow employees to reflect upon their own work which further contributes towards bettering themselves as well as the team or organization they are part of.

Take the guesswork out of employee performance reviews with Eletive . Our easy-to-use tools help you measure and improve engagement for better results in your organisation. Contact sales today for more information. 

FAQs in relation to performance review examples

What should i write in a performance review example.

Employee performance reviews are an important tool for measuring and increasing employee engagement and performance. When evaluating an employee, it is essential to be precise regarding their accomplishments, capabilities, shortcomings, areas needing development and overall contribution to the team or company.

For example: "James has consistently demonstrated strong communication skills in his role as Sales Manager. He regularly exceeds expectations with customer service initiatives and has been instrumental in driving sales growth over the past year."

By providing clear feedback that focuses on both successes and areas of development opportunities, managers can help employees reach their fullest potential while also encouraging them to continue striving for excellence.

How do you start a performance review essay?

A performance review essay should begin by outlining the objectives of the review, such as identifying areas for improvement and recognising accomplishments. It is essential to outline what will be expected of the individual going forward and how these criteria will be assessed.

The essay should also include an evaluation of past performance against established goals or standards, with specific examples where applicable. Finally, it should conclude with suggestions on how to improve employee engagement and productivity in the future.

How do you write a performance review statement?

A performance review statement should be an objective assessment of the employee's work. It should detail their accomplishments as well as any areas for improvement. A performance review statement should also provide clear examples to demonstrate the points being made, and offer helpful feedback on how the employee can progress. The performance review statement should always focus on tangible results and SMART goals to motivate employees towards further success.

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How to Write a Peer Review

When you write a peer review for a manuscript, what should you include in your comments? What should you leave out? And how should the review be formatted?

This guide provides quick tips for writing and organizing your reviewer report.

Review Outline

Use an outline for your reviewer report so it’s easy for the editors and author to follow. This will also help you keep your comments organized.

Think about structuring your review like an inverted pyramid. Put the most important information at the top, followed by details and examples in the center, and any additional points at the very bottom.

Here’s how your outline might look:

1. Summary of the research and your overall impression

In your own words, summarize what the manuscript claims to report. This shows the editor how you interpreted the manuscript and will highlight any major differences in perspective between you and the other reviewers. Give an overview of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. Think about this as your “take-home” message for the editors. End this section with your recommended course of action.

2. Discussion of specific areas for improvement

It’s helpful to divide this section into two parts: one for major issues and one for minor issues. Within each section, you can talk about the biggest issues first or go systematically figure-by-figure or claim-by-claim. Number each item so that your points are easy to follow (this will also make it easier for the authors to respond to each point). Refer to specific lines, pages, sections, or figure and table numbers so the authors (and editors) know exactly what you’re talking about.

Major vs. minor issues

What’s the difference between a major and minor issue? Major issues should consist of the essential points the authors need to address before the manuscript can proceed. Make sure you focus on what is  fundamental for the current study . In other words, it’s not helpful to recommend additional work that would be considered the “next step” in the study. Minor issues are still important but typically will not affect the overall conclusions of the manuscript. Here are some examples of what would might go in the “minor” category:

• Missing references (but depending on what is missing, this could also be a major issue)
• Technical clarifications (e.g., the authors should clarify how a reagent works)
• Data presentation (e.g., the authors should present p-values differently)
• Typos, spelling, grammar, and phrasing issues

3. Any other points

Confidential comments for the editors.

Some journals have a space for reviewers to enter confidential comments about the manuscript. Use this space to mention concerns about the submission that you’d want the editors to consider before sharing your feedback with the authors, such as concerns about ethical guidelines or language quality. Any serious issues should be raised directly and immediately with the journal as well.

This section is also where you will disclose any potentially competing interests, and mention whether you’re willing to look at a revised version of the manuscript.

Do not use this space to critique the manuscript, since comments entered here will not be passed along to the authors.  If you’re not sure what should go in the confidential comments, read the reviewer instructions or check with the journal first before submitting your review. If you are reviewing for a journal that does not offer a space for confidential comments, consider writing to the editorial office directly with your concerns.

Get this outline in a template

Giving Feedback

Giving feedback is hard. Giving effective feedback can be even more challenging. Remember that your ultimate goal is to discuss what the authors would need to do in order to qualify for publication. The point is not to nitpick every piece of the manuscript. Your focus should be on providing constructive and critical feedback that the authors can use to improve their study.

If you’ve ever had your own work reviewed, you already know that it’s not always easy to receive feedback. Follow the golden rule: Write the type of review you’d want to receive if you were the author. Even if you decide not to identify yourself in the review, you should write comments that you would be comfortable signing your name to.

In your comments, use phrases like “ the authors’ discussion of X” instead of “ your discussion of X .” This will depersonalize the feedback and keep the focus on the manuscript instead of the authors.

General guidelines for effective feedback

• Justify your recommendation with concrete evidence and specific examples.
• Be specific so the authors know what they need to do to improve.
• Be thorough. This might be the only time you read the manuscript.
• Be professional and respectful. The authors will be reading these comments too.
• Remember to say what you liked about the manuscript!

Don’t

• Recommend additional experiments or  unnecessary elements that are out of scope for the study or for the journal criteria.
• Tell the authors exactly how to revise their manuscript—you don’t need to do their work for them.
• Use the review to promote your own research or hypotheses.
• Focus on typos and grammar. If the manuscript needs significant editing for language and writing quality, just mention this in your comments.
• Submit your review without proofreading it and checking everything one more time.

Before and After: Sample Reviewer Comments

Keeping in mind the guidelines above, how do you put your thoughts into words? Here are some sample “before” and “after” reviewer comments

✗ Before

“The authors appear to have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t think they have read any of the literature on this topic.”

✓ After

“The study fails to address how the findings relate to previous research in this area. The authors should rewrite their Introduction and Discussion to reference the related literature, especially recently published work such as Darwin et al.”

“The writing is so bad, it is practically unreadable. I could barely bring myself to finish it.”

“While the study appears to be sound, the language is unclear, making it difficult to follow. I advise the authors work with a writing coach or copyeditor to improve the flow and readability of the text.”

“It’s obvious that this type of experiment should have been included. I have no idea why the authors didn’t use it. This is a big mistake.”

“The authors are off to a good start, however, this study requires additional experiments, particularly [type of experiment]. Alternatively, the authors should include more information that clarifies and justifies their choice of methods.”

Suggested Language for Tricky Situations

You might find yourself in a situation where you’re not sure how to explain the problem or provide feedback in a constructive and respectful way. Here is some suggested language for common issues you might experience.

What you think : The manuscript is fatally flawed. What you could say: “The study does not appear to be sound” or “the authors have missed something crucial”.

What you think : You don’t completely understand the manuscript. What you could say : “The authors should clarify the following sections to avoid confusion…”

What you think : The technical details don’t make sense. What you could say : “The technical details should be expanded and clarified to ensure that readers understand exactly what the researchers studied.”

What you think: The writing is terrible. What you could say : “The authors should revise the language to improve readability.”

What you think : The authors have over-interpreted the findings. What you could say : “The authors aim to demonstrate [XYZ], however, the data does not fully support this conclusion. Specifically…”

What does a good review look like?

Check out the peer review examples at F1000 Research to see how other reviewers write up their reports and give constructive feedback to authors.

Time to Submit the Review!

Be sure you turn in your report on time. Need an extension? Tell the journal so that they know what to expect. If you need a lot of extra time, the journal might need to contact other reviewers or notify the author about the delay.

Tip: Building a relationship with an editor

You’ll be more likely to be asked to review again if you provide high-quality feedback and if you turn in the review on time. Especially if it’s your first review for a journal, it’s important to show that you are reliable. Prove yourself once and you’ll get asked to review again!

• Getting started as a reviewer
• Responding to an invitation
• Reading a manuscript
• Writing a peer review

The contents of the Peer Review Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

The contents of the Writing Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

There’s a lot to consider when deciding where to submit your work. Learn how to choose a journal that will help your study reach its audience, while reflecting your values as a researcher…

Page Content

Overview of the review report format, the first read-through, first read considerations, spotting potential major flaws, concluding the first reading, rejection after the first reading, before starting the second read-through, doing the second read-through, the second read-through: section by section guidance, how to structure your report, on presentation and style, criticisms & confidential comments to editors, the recommendation, when recommending rejection, additional resources, step by step guide to reviewing a manuscript.

When you receive an invitation to peer review, you should be sent a copy of the paper's abstract to help you decide whether you wish to do the review. Try to respond to invitations promptly - it will prevent delays. It is also important at this stage to declare any potential Conflict of Interest.

The structure of the review report varies between journals. Some follow an informal structure, while others have a more formal approach.

" Number your comments!!! " (Jonathon Halbesleben, former Editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology)

Informal Structure

Many journals don't provide criteria for reviews beyond asking for your 'analysis of merits'. In this case, you may wish to familiarize yourself with examples of other reviews done for the journal, which the editor should be able to provide or, as you gain experience, rely on your own evolving style.

Formal Structure

Other journals require a more formal approach. Sometimes they will ask you to address specific questions in your review via a questionnaire. Or they might want you to rate the manuscript on various attributes using a scorecard. Often you can't see these until you log in to submit your review. So when you agree to the work, it's worth checking for any journal-specific guidelines and requirements. If there are formal guidelines, let them direct the structure of your review.

In Both Cases

Whether specifically required by the reporting format or not, you should expect to compile comments to authors and possibly confidential ones to editors only.

Following the invitation to review, when you'll have received the article abstract, you should already understand the aims, key data and conclusions of the manuscript. If you don't, make a note now that you need to feedback on how to improve those sections.

The first read-through is a skim-read. It will help you form an initial impression of the paper and get a sense of whether your eventual recommendation will be to accept or reject the paper.

Keep a pen and paper handy when skim-reading.

Try to bear in mind the following questions - they'll help you form your overall impression:

• What is the main question addressed by the research? Is it relevant and interesting?
• How original is the topic? What does it add to the subject area compared with other published material?
• Is the paper well written? Is the text clear and easy to read?
• Are the conclusions consistent with the evidence and arguments presented? Do they address the main question posed?
• If the author is disagreeing significantly with the current academic consensus, do they have a substantial case? If not, what would be required to make their case credible?
• If the paper includes tables or figures, what do they add to the paper? Do they aid understanding or are they superfluous?

While you should read the whole paper, making the right choice of what to read first can save time by flagging major problems early on.

Editors say, " Specific recommendations for remedying flaws are VERY welcome ."

Examples of possibly major flaws include:

• Drawing a conclusion that is contradicted by the author's own statistical or qualitative evidence
• The use of a discredited method
• Ignoring a process that is known to have a strong influence on the area under study

If experimental design features prominently in the paper, first check that the methodology is sound - if not, this is likely to be a major flaw.

You might examine:

• The sampling in analytical papers
• The sufficient use of control experiments
• The precision of process data
• The regularity of sampling in time-dependent studies
• The validity of questions, the use of a detailed methodology and the data analysis being done systematically (in qualitative research)
• That qualitative research extends beyond the author's opinions, with sufficient descriptive elements and appropriate quotes from interviews or focus groups

Major Flaws in Information

If methodology is less of an issue, it's often a good idea to look at the data tables, figures or images first. Especially in science research, it's all about the information gathered. If there are critical flaws in this, it's very likely the manuscript will need to be rejected. Such issues include:

• Insufficient data
• Unclear data tables
• Contradictory data that either are not self-consistent or disagree with the conclusions
• Confirmatory data that adds little, if anything, to current understanding - unless strong arguments for such repetition are made

If you find a major problem, note your reasoning and clear supporting evidence (including citations).

After the initial read and using your notes, including those of any major flaws you found, draft the first two paragraphs of your review - the first summarizing the research question addressed and the second the contribution of the work. If the journal has a prescribed reporting format, this draft will still help you compose your thoughts.

The First Paragraph

This should state the main question addressed by the research and summarize the goals, approaches, and conclusions of the paper. It should:

• Help the editor properly contextualize the research and add weight to your judgement
• Show the author what key messages are conveyed to the reader, so they can be sure they are achieving what they set out to do
• Focus on successful aspects of the paper so the author gets a sense of what they've done well

The Second Paragraph

This should provide a conceptual overview of the contribution of the research. So consider:

• Is the paper's premise interesting and important?
• Are the methods used appropriate?
• Do the data support the conclusions?

After drafting these two paragraphs, you should be in a position to decide whether this manuscript is seriously flawed and should be rejected (see the next section). Or whether it is publishable in principle and merits a detailed, careful read through.

Even if you are coming to the opinion that an article has serious flaws, make sure you read the whole paper. This is very important because you may find some really positive aspects that can be communicated to the author. This could help them with future submissions.

A full read-through will also make sure that any initial concerns are indeed correct and fair. After all, you need the context of the whole paper before deciding to reject. If you still intend to recommend rejection, see the section "When recommending rejection."

Once the paper has passed your first read and you've decided the article is publishable in principle, one purpose of the second, detailed read-through is to help prepare the manuscript for publication. You may still decide to recommend rejection following a second reading.

" Offer clear suggestions for how the authors can address the concerns raised. In other words, if you're going to raise a problem, provide a solution ." (Jonathon Halbesleben, Editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology)

Preparation

To save time and simplify the review:

• Don't rely solely upon inserting comments on the manuscript document - make separate notes
• Try to group similar concerns or praise together
• If using a review program to note directly onto the manuscript, still try grouping the concerns and praise in separate notes - it helps later
• Note line numbers of text upon which your notes are based - this helps you find items again and also aids those reading your review

Now that you have completed your preparations, you're ready to spend an hour or so reading carefully through the manuscript.

As you're reading through the manuscript for a second time, you'll need to keep in mind the argument's construction, the clarity of the language and content.

With regard to the argument’s construction, you should identify:

• Any places where the meaning is unclear or ambiguous
• Any factual errors
• Any invalid arguments

You may also wish to consider:

• Does the title properly reflect the subject of the paper?
• Does the abstract provide an accessible summary of the paper?
• Do the keywords accurately reflect the content?
• Is the paper an appropriate length?
• Are the key messages short, accurate and clear?

Not every submission is well written. Part of your role is to make sure that the text’s meaning is clear.

Editors say, " If a manuscript has many English language and editing issues, please do not try and fix it. If it is too bad, note that in your review and it should be up to the authors to have the manuscript edited ."

If the article is difficult to understand, you should have rejected it already. However, if the language is poor but you understand the core message, see if you can suggest improvements to fix the problem:

• Are there certain aspects that could be communicated better, such as parts of the discussion?
• Should the authors consider resubmitting to the same journal after language improvements?
• Would you consider looking at the paper again once these issues are dealt with?

On Grammar and Punctuation

Your primary role is judging the research content. Don't spend time polishing grammar or spelling. Editors will make sure that the text is at a high standard before publication. However, if you spot grammatical errors that affect clarity of meaning, then it's important to highlight these. Expect to suggest such amendments - it's rare for a manuscript to pass review with no corrections.

A 2010 study of nursing journals found that 79% of recommendations by reviewers were influenced by grammar and writing style (Shattel, et al., 2010).

1. The Introduction

A well-written introduction:

• Sets out the argument
• Summarizes recent research related to the topic
• Highlights gaps in current understanding or conflicts in current knowledge
• Establishes the originality of the research aims by demonstrating the need for investigations in the topic area
• Gives a clear idea of the target readership, why the research was carried out and the novelty and topicality of the manuscript

Originality and Topicality

Originality and topicality can only be established in the light of recent authoritative research. For example, it's impossible to argue that there is a conflict in current understanding by referencing articles that are 10 years old.

Authors may make the case that a topic hasn't been investigated in several years and that new research is required. This point is only valid if researchers can point to recent developments in data gathering techniques or to research in indirectly related fields that suggest the topic needs revisiting. Clearly, authors can only do this by referencing recent literature. Obviously, where older research is seminal or where aspects of the methodology rely upon it, then it is perfectly appropriate for authors to cite some older papers.

Editors say, "Is the report providing new information; is it novel or just confirmatory of well-known outcomes ?"

It's common for the introduction to end by stating the research aims. By this point you should already have a good impression of them - if the explicit aims come as a surprise, then the introduction needs improvement.

2. Materials and Methods

Academic research should be replicable, repeatable and robust - and follow best practice.

Replicable Research

This makes sufficient use of:

• Control experiments
• Repeated analyses
• Repeated experiments

These are used to make sure observed trends are not due to chance and that the same experiment could be repeated by other researchers - and result in the same outcome. Statistical analyses will not be sound if methods are not replicable. Where research is not replicable, the paper should be recommended for rejection.

Repeatable Methods

These give enough detail so that other researchers are able to carry out the same research. For example, equipment used or sampling methods should all be described in detail so that others could follow the same steps. Where methods are not detailed enough, it's usual to ask for the methods section to be revised.

Robust Research

This has enough data points to make sure the data are reliable. If there are insufficient data, it might be appropriate to recommend revision. You should also consider whether there is any in-built bias not nullified by the control experiments.

Best Practice

During these checks you should keep in mind best practice:

• Standard guidelines were followed (e.g. the CONSORT Statement for reporting randomized trials)
• The health and safety of all participants in the study was not compromised
• Ethical standards were maintained

If the research fails to reach relevant best practice standards, it's usual to recommend rejection. What's more, you don't then need to read any further.

3. Results and Discussion

This section should tell a coherent story - What happened? What was discovered or confirmed?

Certain patterns of good reporting need to be followed by the author:

• They should start by describing in simple terms what the data show
• They should make reference to statistical analyses, such as significance or goodness of fit
• Once described, they should evaluate the trends observed and explain the significance of the results to wider understanding. This can only be done by referencing published research
• The outcome should be a critical analysis of the data collected

Discussion should always, at some point, gather all the information together into a single whole. Authors should describe and discuss the overall story formed. If there are gaps or inconsistencies in the story, they should address these and suggest ways future research might confirm the findings or take the research forward.

4. Conclusions

This section is usually no more than a few paragraphs and may be presented as part of the results and discussion, or in a separate section. The conclusions should reflect upon the aims - whether they were achieved or not - and, just like the aims, should not be surprising. If the conclusions are not evidence-based, it's appropriate to ask for them to be re-written.

5. Information Gathered: Images, Graphs and Data Tables

If you find yourself looking at a piece of information from which you cannot discern a story, then you should ask for improvements in presentation. This could be an issue with titles, labels, statistical notation or image quality.

Where information is clear, you should check that:

• The results seem plausible, in case there is an error in data gathering
• The trends you can see support the paper's discussion and conclusions
• There are sufficient data. For example, in studies carried out over time are there sufficient data points to support the trends described by the author?

You should also check whether images have been edited or manipulated to emphasize the story they tell. This may be appropriate but only if authors report on how the image has been edited (e.g. by highlighting certain parts of an image). Where you feel that an image has been edited or manipulated without explanation, you should highlight this in a confidential comment to the editor in your report.

6. List of References

You will need to check referencing for accuracy, adequacy and balance.

Where a cited article is central to the author's argument, you should check the accuracy and format of the reference - and bear in mind different subject areas may use citations differently. Otherwise, it's the editor’s role to exhaustively check the reference section for accuracy and format.

You should consider if the referencing is adequate:

• Are important parts of the argument poorly supported?
• Are there published studies that show similar or dissimilar trends that should be discussed?
• If a manuscript only uses half the citations typical in its field, this may be an indicator that referencing should be improved - but don't be guided solely by quantity
• References should be relevant, recent and readily retrievable

Check for a well-balanced list of references that is:

• Helpful to the reader
• Fair to competing authors
• Not over-reliant on self-citation
• Gives due recognition to the initial discoveries and related work that led to the work under assessment

You should be able to evaluate whether the article meets the criteria for balanced referencing without looking up every reference.

7. Plagiarism

By now you will have a deep understanding of the paper's content - and you may have some concerns about plagiarism.

Identified Concern

If you find - or already knew of - a very similar paper, this may be because the author overlooked it in their own literature search. Or it may be because it is very recent or published in a journal slightly outside their usual field.

You may feel you can advise the author how to emphasize the novel aspects of their own study, so as to better differentiate it from similar research. If so, you may ask the author to discuss their aims and results, or modify their conclusions, in light of the similar article. Of course, the research similarities may be so great that they render the work unoriginal and you have no choice but to recommend rejection.

"It's very helpful when a reviewer can point out recent similar publications on the same topic by other groups, or that the authors have already published some data elsewhere ." (Editor feedback)

Suspected Concern

If you suspect plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, but cannot recall or locate exactly what is being plagiarized, notify the editor of your suspicion and ask for guidance.

Most editors have access to software that can check for plagiarism.

Editors are not out to police every paper, but when plagiarism is discovered during peer review it can be properly addressed ahead of publication. If plagiarism is discovered only after publication, the consequences are worse for both authors and readers, because a retraction may be necessary.

For detailed guidelines see COPE's Ethical guidelines for reviewers and Wiley's Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics .

8. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

After the detailed read-through, you will be in a position to advise whether the title, abstract and key words are optimized for search purposes. In order to be effective, good SEO terms will reflect the aims of the research.

A clear title and abstract will improve the paper's search engine rankings and will influence whether the user finds and then decides to navigate to the main article. The title should contain the relevant SEO terms early on. This has a major effect on the impact of a paper, since it helps it appear in search results. A poor abstract can then lose the reader's interest and undo the benefit of an effective title - whilst the paper's abstract may appear in search results, the potential reader may go no further.

So ask yourself, while the abstract may have seemed adequate during earlier checks, does it:

• Do justice to the manuscript in this context?
• Highlight important findings sufficiently?
• Present the most interesting data?

Editors say, " Does the Abstract highlight the important findings of the study ?"

If there is a formal report format, remember to follow it. This will often comprise a range of questions followed by comment sections. Try to answer all the questions. They are there because the editor felt that they are important. If you're following an informal report format you could structure your report in three sections: summary, major issues, minor issues.

• Give positive feedback first. Authors are more likely to read your review if you do so. But don't overdo it if you will be recommending rejection
• Briefly summarize what the paper is about and what the findings are
• Try to put the findings of the paper into the context of the existing literature and current knowledge
• Indicate the significance of the work and if it is novel or mainly confirmatory
• Indicate the work's strengths, its quality and completeness
• State any major flaws or weaknesses and note any special considerations. For example, if previously held theories are being overlooked

Major Issues

• Are there any major flaws? State what they are and what the severity of their impact is on the paper
• Has similar work already been published without the authors acknowledging this?
• Are the authors presenting findings that challenge current thinking? Is the evidence they present strong enough to prove their case? Have they cited all the relevant work that would contradict their thinking and addressed it appropriately?
• If major revisions are required, try to indicate clearly what they are
• Are there any major presentational problems? Are figures & tables, language and manuscript structure all clear enough for you to accurately assess the work?
• Are there any ethical issues? If you are unsure it may be better to disclose these in the confidential comments section

Minor Issues

• Are there places where meaning is ambiguous? How can this be corrected?
• Are the correct references cited? If not, which should be cited instead/also? Are citations excessive, limited, or biased?
• Are there any factual, numerical or unit errors? If so, what are they?
• Are all tables and figures appropriate, sufficient, and correctly labelled? If not, say which are not

Your review should ultimately help the author improve their article. So be polite, honest and clear. You should also try to be objective and constructive, not subjective and destructive.

You should also:

• Write clearly and so you can be understood by people whose first language is not English
• Avoid complex or unusual words, especially ones that would even confuse native speakers
• Number your points and refer to page and line numbers in the manuscript when making specific comments
• If you have been asked to only comment on specific parts or aspects of the manuscript, you should indicate clearly which these are
• Treat the author's work the way you would like your own to be treated

Most journals give reviewers the option to provide some confidential comments to editors. Often this is where editors will want reviewers to state their recommendation - see the next section - but otherwise this area is best reserved for communicating malpractice such as suspected plagiarism, fraud, unattributed work, unethical procedures, duplicate publication, bias or other conflicts of interest.

However, this doesn't give reviewers permission to 'backstab' the author. Authors can't see this feedback and are unable to give their side of the story unless the editor asks them to. So in the spirit of fairness, write comments to editors as though authors might read them too.

Reviewers should check the preferences of individual journals as to where they want review decisions to be stated. In particular, bear in mind that some journals will not want the recommendation included in any comments to authors, as this can cause editors difficulty later - see Section 11 for more advice about working with editors.

You will normally be asked to indicate your recommendation (e.g. accept, reject, revise and resubmit, etc.) from a fixed-choice list and then to enter your comments into a separate text box.

Recommending Acceptance

If you're recommending acceptance, give details outlining why, and if there are any areas that could be improved. Don't just give a short, cursory remark such as 'great, accept'. See Improving the Manuscript

Recommending Revision

Where improvements are needed, a recommendation for major or minor revision is typical. You may also choose to state whether you opt in or out of the post-revision review too. If recommending revision, state specific changes you feel need to be made. The author can then reply to each point in turn.

Some journals offer the option to recommend rejection with the possibility of resubmission – this is most relevant where substantial, major revision is necessary.

What can reviewers do to help? " Be clear in their comments to the author (or editor) which points are absolutely critical if the paper is given an opportunity for revisio n." (Jonathon Halbesleben, Editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology)

Recommending Rejection

If recommending rejection or major revision, state this clearly in your review (and see the next section, 'When recommending rejection').

Where manuscripts have serious flaws you should not spend any time polishing the review you've drafted or give detailed advice on presentation.

Editors say, " If a reviewer suggests a rejection, but her/his comments are not detailed or helpful, it does not help the editor in making a decision ."

In your recommendations for the author, you should:

• Give constructive feedback describing ways that they could improve the research
• Keep the focus on the research and not the author. This is an extremely important part of your job as a reviewer
• Avoid making critical confidential comments to the editor while being polite and encouraging to the author - the latter may not understand why their manuscript has been rejected. Also, they won't get feedback on how to improve their research and it could trigger an appeal

Remember to give constructive criticism even if recommending rejection. This helps developing researchers improve their work and explains to the editor why you felt the manuscript should not be published.

" When the comments seem really positive, but the recommendation is rejection…it puts the editor in a tough position of having to reject a paper when the comments make it sound like a great paper ." (Jonathon Halbesleben, Editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology)

Visit our Wiley Author Learning and Training Channel for expert advice on peer review.

Watch the video, Ethical considerations of Peer Review

• SpringerLink shop

Writing a reviewer report

Whether you recommend accepting or rejecting the manuscript, keep in mind that one of your goals is to help the authors improve this and future manuscripts—not to make them give up in despair. Avoid overly negative wording or personal comments, point out the main strengths of the manuscript as well as its weaknesses, and suggest specific ways to fix the problems you identify. Also, avoid making overly brief and direct comments, as these can give your report an unfriendly tone. Reviewers for most journals are anonymous, so if anonymity is important to you, avoid comments that could make your identity obvious to the authors.

If the editor sent specific instructions for the reviewer report, or a form to fill out as part of the review, you should write your report in the requested format. If you received no specific instructions, the reviewer report should be divided into two parts:

• comments to be read only by the editor, and
• comments to be read by both the editor and the authors.

Comments for only the editor:

In this section, give the editor your recommendation for the manuscript and, more importantly, your reasons behind it. These usually have to do with the manuscript’s scientific soundness, novelty, quality, importance, and suitability for the journal. Editors take many factors into consideration when deciding whether a paper is right for their journal so providing evidence or reasoning for your recommendation is extremely helpful.

TIP: Recommendations are usually one of the following: accept manuscript in its current form, publish with minor changes, publish only if major improvements are made, or to reject the paper.

Comments for both the editor and authors:

In this section, write a detailed report reviewing the different parts of the manuscript. Start with the short summary of the manuscript you wrote after your first reading. Then, in a numbered list, explain each of the issues you found that need to be addressed. Divide the list into two sections: major issues and minor issues. First, write about the major issues, including problems with the study’s method or analysis. Next, write about the minor issues, which might include tables or figures that are difficult to read, parts that need more explanation, and suggestions to delete unnecessary text. If you think the English language of the manuscript is not suitable for publication, try to give specific examples so that the authors know what and how to address the problems. Be as specific as you can about the manuscript’s weaknesses and how to address them. If the manuscript has line numbers, include the page and line number(s) specific to the part of the study you are discussing. This will help both the authors and the editor, who may later need to judge if the authors have fixed the problems in their revised manuscript. For example, instead of, “ The explanation of the proposed mechanism is not clear. ” You might write,  “The explanation of the proposed mechanism should be more detailed. Consider referring to the work of Li and Smith, et al. (2008) and Stein and Burdak, et al. (2010). ”

Keep in mind that the authors – and even the editor – may not be native English speakers. Read over your comments after you finish writing them to check that you’ve used clear, simple wording, and that the reasons for your proposed changes are clear.

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How to Write Effective Employee Performance Reviews

What is an employee performance review.

Touching base. Checking in. Looking forward. These are all terms that should describe the ideal employee performance review . Best case scenario? A manager accurately communicates an employee’s performance in a way that encourages them to improve on their weaknesses while having a better sense of how they can rely on their strengths. No miscommunication, no misunderstandings.

It doesn’t always go that way.

Employee performance reviews can be annual or quarterly, though many organizations use both:

• Annual performance reviews are often tied directly to compensation, promotion, and benefits. The purpose is to get an accurate, common understanding of how far along an employee is on their path to their next goal, whether that’s a raise or a promotion.
• Quarterly performance reviews might address compensation, but they’re generally more about building up an employee’s strengths and addressing weaknesses. They’re used to set and review quarterly goals, usually to improve performance ahead of annual reviews.

An employee performance review can be formal or informal. The former is more structured, following a pre-defined process that’s standardized across the organization, the department, or a specific team. Any performance review that seriously discusses questions around compensation or promotion will usually be more formal.

On the other hand, an informal review can happen as needed, and both its frequency and structure are up to individual managers. It’s meant more as a check-in so managers and employees are on the same page.

Here’s how you can write effective employee performance reviews of every kind.

How to write employee performance reviews

Most organizations have a pre-established process for writing employee performance reviews, and it’s especially important that you follow it for formal reviews. That said, performance reviews generally follow the same steps.

Step 1: Review the employee’s current job description

This might seem unnecessary at first brush, but you’d be surprised how many performance issues can be solved by regularly reviewing an employee’s job description. Whether it’s responsibilities falling by the wayside or a workload that would make Atlas buckle, taking time to go over what an employee should actually be doing with their time can be the first step to finding a solution—making it an essential part of writing an employee performance review.

Step 2: Review past employee performance reviews

Whether you’re dealing with an annual or quarterly performance review, getting a sense of an employee’s past performance is essential before you move forward. If conversations about raises and promotions are happening, it’s essential to know where an employee is coming from before jumping in.

Consider this part of the homework you should do before a performance review. You should also include a few lines about historical reviews in each new review.

Step 3: Highlight areas of improvement

While employees might shudder at the thought of a performance review, readying themselves for a deluge of negative comments, in practice it should rarely happen this way. Leading the performance review with not just positive feedback, but by covering any improvements your employee made, can be extremely rewarding for them. It will motivate them to keep working on any areas of improvement you highlight in future performance reviews.

Step 4: Identify strengths and weaknesses (and chart progress)

Managers should have a strong grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of every team member, and every team member should know their own. One of the best ways to do this is to identify and track them in employee performance reviews.

When you write a performance review, spend time listing strengths and weaknesses and covering the progress an employee has made on them. Are their strengths stagnating or improving? Are they working to improve on their weaknesses (or find ways to work around them)?

Step 5: Provide actionable goals

An employee performance review shouldn’t be a static, passive document that begins and ends at the end of the manager’s pen. It should help employees forge a path forward for the next quarter, the next year, and even their career as a whole. After reviewing strengths, weaknesses, and performance, craft concrete goals your employee can follow. The best way to create strong goals? Make them SMART:

• S pecific: Identify the specific actions an employee should pursue and the results they should create.
• M easurable: Use metrics and numbers to quantify progress for each goal.
• A chievable: Keep each goal realistic, or you’ll only demotivate your employees.
• R elevant: Make each goal relevant to an employee’s personal objectives and the organization’s broader goals.
• T ime-bound: Set a timeline for each goal, like the next quarterly or annual review.

Step 6: Include 360-degree feedback

360-degree feedback involves gathering feedback from a variety of sources, representing just about everyone an employee might work with. That includes managers and other superiors, but feedback is sourced from peers, subordinates, and colleagues, too.

Instead of the more traditional top-down employee performance review, 360-degree feedback helps build a more complete portrait of an employee and their performance. It can take a bit more work, unless you use a performance management platform with this sort of review built in— like 15Five.

Step 7: Ask for input

The best employee performance reviews are a two-way street. Not only should you ask an employee for their perspective on anything and everything you’ve covered in the review, but you should ask for feedback on the process itself, too. This is especially important if your organization is still hammering out the performance review process.

You have to strike the right balance between keeping the performance review from turning into an open forum where an employee voices all their grievances and giving them enough room to speak their mind. This balance comes from an established process and regular practice.

21 examples of questions and action items for performance reviews

Two elements are too often absent from employee performance reviews: questions and action items.

Questions allow managers to get input directly from the party involved in the review (i.e., the employee). What better way is there to know what’s really going on behind the numbers?

Action items are how you set performance goals for employees and help them take agency when it comes to improving their performance, working on their weaknesses, and making their strengths into superpowers.

Here are a few examples of each to help you integrate them into your performance reviews.

14 questions for employee performance reviews

Questions should surface the information you either have no real access to or that can confirm/debunk assumptions made in your initial review.

Performance review questions about communication

• Do you feel like you’re communicating effectively with team members and other departments?
• What is your ideal communication method or style? Do you think it works well with the rest of the team?
• Are there any issues around communication you’ve noticed in your own work?

Quality of work questions

• Would you say the quality of your work has increased, decreased, or stayed the same since your last performance review?
• Were there any tasks or projects where you believe you performed especially well?
• Was there a task or project you felt was a bit beyond your current ability?

Teamwork and collaboration

• What were some highlights of your work with the rest of the team over the past quarter (or year)?
• If you collaborated with other departments, how did it go?
• Were there some recurring problems you noticed in your collaboration with other teams or departments?

Problem-solving and decision-making

• Describe a situation where you ran into a particularly thorny problem and how you solved it.
• Have you been involved in particularly important decisions this past quarter (or year)? How did you contribute to them?

Time management and prioritization

• Can you walk me through how you prioritize your work?
• Do you feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to do all your work?
• Were there tasks or projects you worked on that were delayed or postponed? Why?

7 action items for employee performance reviews

Action items should give employees clear guidelines for what they should do post-performance review, in the hopes of demonstrating marked improvement the next time you meet with them.

For building up strengths

• Offer to mentor colleagues, peers, or contacts in [employee’s strength.]
• Seek out and consume resources in [employee’s strength], like courses, books, or seminars. Share learnings with the team.

For improving on weaknesses

• Build, pitch, and follow through on a plan to improve on [employee’s weakness].
• Seek out mentorship from a peer, a manager, or a contact for whom [employee’s weakness] is a strength.

For demonstrating raise or promotion potential

• Make your work more visible in the appropriate channels.
• Offer to take on responsibilities that demonstrate you have the right skills for the role you’re shooting for.

4 things to avoid during an employee performance review

Writing an employee performance review can be a stressful event, both for managers and employees. That makes it a perfect time for something to go wrong. Here are some things to avoid if you want to keep your performance reviews productive.

Harsh language

As a manager, you need to realize that it’s all too easy for what you see as productive feedback to sound harsh. You need to be mindful of the language you use to communicate any potentially negative topics, from an employee’s weaknesses to situations where their performance has been sup-bar.

You don’t want to diminish the point you’re trying to make or the feedback you’re sharing, but be considerate of an employee’s feelings. Work on strategies to communicate what you’re saying accurately while treating them like a person.

Making it a one-way conversation

Too many organizations still treat employee performance reviews as a monologue, with the occasional question thrown in just to make sure the recipient is still listening.

While there are definitely points you’ll need to get across in a performance review, you’ll benefit more from treating it like a conversation than just reading off a script at your employees. By asking questions—real questions—and offering space for employees to share their perspectives, you’ll reveal situations and solutions that would otherwise go completely unnoticed.

Focusing too much on the negative

If you’re writing a performance review for an employee who is struggling in their day-to-day, you need to address it. There’s no doubt of that. You’ll do no favors to them by trying to downplay their weaknesses just to make them feel better.

But unless you’re dealing with this kind of situation, you need to be mindful of giving too much space to weaknesses and areas of improvement. This could lead you to ignore important strengths that can motivate employees to take the next step in their career, be more productive, and find their best selves at work.

Even employees who are struggling need to hear about the things they’re doing right. Nothing is more demotivating for someone who knows they’re having a hard time than to hear their manager confirm their fears without providing any positive feedback—or avenues for improvement.

Not giving actionable feedback

An employee performance review that goes over that employee’s strengths, weaknesses, and avenues for growth might be useful for the organization and manager giving it. Is it as useful for the employee, though? Or are they just getting a report on their performance with no way to know what they should do?

Actionable feedback, whether positive or negative, gives them a logical next step. In the same way you wouldn’t end a meeting without any action items—otherwise what’s the point—you shouldn’t end a performance review without anything your employee can act on.

It takes a bit more time and forethought, but why write an employee performance review at all if you’re not giving them a path forward?

Get high-performers across the board with the right review process

When managers write an employee performance review, they’re distilling inputs from that employee, their teammates, and the projects they worked on into a single document that’s a snapshot of how they perform. But it shouldn’t just be a static report that you complete and ship off to a higher-up. At its best, the performance review can chart a course for everyone on your team to reach their fullest potential—and contribute more to the organization overall.

Need to improve your performance reviews? If you want a platform that turns your ad-hoc performance review process into a living, dynamic workflow with up-to-date data, find out what 15Five can do here.

Meet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry

Remember that ai company behind sports illustrated's fake writers we did some digging — and it's got tendrils into other surprisingly prominent publications..

A few years back, a writer in a developing country started doing contract work for a company called AdVon Commerce, getting a few pennies per word to write online product reviews.

But the writer — who like other AdVon sources interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity — recalls that the gig's responsibilities soon shifted. Instead of writing, they were now tasked with polishing drafts generated using an AI system the company was developing, internally dubbed MEL.

"They started using AI for content generation," the former AdVon worker told us, "and paid even less than what they were paying before."

The former writer was asked to leave detailed notes on MEL's work — feedback they believe was used to fine-tune the AI which would eventually replace their role entirely.

The situation continued until MEL "got trained enough to write on its own," they said. "Soon after, we were released from our positions as writers."

"I suffered quite a lot," they added. "They were exploitative."

We first heard of AdVon last year, after staff at Gannett noticed product reviews getting published on the website of USA Today with bylines that didn't seem to correspond to real people. The articles were stilted and formulaic, leading the writers' union to accuse them of being "shoddy AI."

When Gannett blamed the strange articles on AdVon , we started digging. We soon found AdVon had been running a similar operation at the magazine Sports Illustrated , publishing product reviews using bylines of fake writers with fictional biographies and AI-generated profile pictures. The response was explosive: the magazine's union wrote that it was "horrified," while its publisher cut ties with AdVon and subsequently fired its CEO before losing  the rights to Sports Illustrated entirely .

AdVon disputed neither that the bylines were fake nor that their profile pictures had been generated using AI. But it insisted, at both USA Today and Sports Illustrated , that the actual articles had been written by actual humans.

We wanted to learn more. What kind of a company creates fake authors for a famous newspaper or magazine and operates them like sock puppets? Did AdVon have other clients? And was it being truthful that the reviews had been created by humans rather than AI?

So we spent months investigating AdVon by interviewing its current and former workers, obtaining its internal documentation, and searching for more of its fake writers across the web.

What we found should alarm anyone who cares about a trustworthy and ethical media industry. Basically, AdVon engages in what Google calls "site reputation abuse": it strikes deals with publishers in which it provides huge numbers of extremely low-quality product reviews — often for surprisingly prominent publications — intended to pull in traffic from people Googling things like "best ab roller." The idea seems to be that these visitors will be fooled into thinking the recommendations were made by the publication's actual journalists and click one of the articles' affiliate links, kicking back a little money if they make a purchase.

It's a practice that blurs the line between journalism and advertising to the breaking point, makes the web worse for everybody, and renders basic questions like "is this writer a real person?" fuzzier and fuzzier.

And sources say yes, the content is frequently produced using AI.

"It's completely AI-generated at this point," a different AdVon insider told us, explaining that staff essentially "generate an AI-written article and polish it."

Behind the scenes, AdVon responded to our reporting with a fusillade of denials and legal threats. At one point, its attorneys gave us seven days to issue a retraction on our Sports Illustrated story to avoid "protracted litigation" — but after the deadline came and went, no legal action materialized.

"Advon [sic] is proud to use AI responsibly in combination with human writers and editors for partners who want increased productivity and accuracy in their commerce departments," the company wrote in a statement. " Sport Illustrated [sic] was not one of those AI partners. We always give explicit ethical control to our publishing partners to decide the level of AI tooling they want in the content creation process — including none if they so choose, which has been part of our business since founding."

It's possible this is true. Maybe AdVon used AI-generated headshots to create fictional writers and stopped there, only using the fake authors' bylines to publish content produced by flesh-and-blood humans.

But looking at the evidence, it's hard to believe.

Consider a training video provided to us by an insider at the company. In it, an AdVon manager shares her screen, showing a content management system hosted on the company's website, AdVonCommerce.com. In the video, the manager uses the CMS to open and edit a list of product recommendations, titled "Best Yoga Mats" and bylined by one of the fake Sports Illustrated writers , Damon Ward.

The article's "source," according to a field in the CMS, is "AI."

Like the other fake writers at Sports Illustrated , we found Ward's profile picture listed for sale on a site that sells AI-generated headshots, where he's described as "joyful black young-adult male with short black hair and brown eyes."

Often, we found, AdVon would reuse a single fake writer across multiple publications. In the training video, for instance, the Damon Ward article the manager edits in the CMS wasn't for Sports Illustrated , but for another outlet, Yoga Journal .

A spokesperson for Yoga Journal owner Outside Inc — the portfolio of which also includes the acclaimed magazine Outside — confirmed to us that AdVon had previously published content for several of its titles including Yoga Journal , Backpacker , and Clean Eating . But it ended up terminating the relationship in 2023, the spokesperson told us, due to the poor quality of AdVon's work.

In spite of the article being labeled as "AI" in AdVon's CMS, the Outside Inc spokesperson said the company had no knowledge of the use of AI by AdVon — seemingly contradicting AdVon’s claim that automation was only used with publishers' knowledge. 

When we asked AdVon about that discrepancy, it didn't respond.

As we traced AdVon's web of fake bylines like Damon Ward, it quickly became clear that the company had been publishing content well beyond Sports Illustrated and USA Today .

We found the company's phony authors and their work everywhere from celebrity gossip outlets like Hollywood Life and Us Weekly to venerable newspapers like the Los Angeles Times , the latter of which also told us that it had broken off its relationship with AdVon after finding its work unsatisfactory.

And after we sent detailed questions about this story to McClatchy, a large publisher of regional newspapers, it also ended its relationship with AdVon and deleted hundreds of its pieces — bylined by at least 14 fake authors — from more than 20 of its papers, ranging from the Miami Herald to the Sacramento Bee .

"As a result of our review we have begun removing Advon [sic] content from our sites," a McClatchy spokesperson told us in a statement, "and are in the process of terminating our business relationship."

[Do you know of other publications where AdVon content has appeared? Email us at [email protected] — we can keep you anonymous.]

AdVon's reach may be even larger. An earlier, archived version of its site bragged that its publishing clients included the Ziff Davis titles PC Magazine, Mashable and AskMen (Ziff Davis didn't respond to questions about this story) as well as Hearst's Good Housekeeping (Hearst didn't respond to questions either) and IAC's Dotdash Meredith publications People, Parents, Food & Wine, InStyle , Real Simple , Travel + Leisure, Better Homes & Gardens and Southern Living (IAC confirmed that Meredith had a relationship with AdVon prior to its 2021 acquisition by Dotdash, but said it'd since ended the partnership.)

The archived version of AdVon's site — from which it removed the publisher list following the outcry over its fake writers — also claimed that it worked with "many more" clients. This may well be true: the video of AdVon's CMS in action appears to show that the company had produced tens of thousands of articles for more than 150 publishers.

In fact, we learned while reporting, AdVon even has business ties to Futurism 's parent company, Recurrent Ventures — which you can read more about in the disclosure at the bottom of this piece — though it's never had any involvement with Futurism itself .

Despite those ties, we continued investigating AdVon, and experienced zero interference from anyone at Recurrent. That said, AdVon's cofounder responded to questions about this story by pointedly informing us of his business and personal connections with Recurrent's CEO and the executive chairman of Recurrent's board, in what felt like an effort to hamper our reporting by implying access to a corridor of power over our jobs. As you're about to read: didn't work.

Another AdVon training video we obtained shows how the AI sausage is made.

In it, the same manager demonstrates how to use the company's MEL AI software to generate an entire review. Strikingly, the only text the manager actually inputs herself is the headline — "Best Bicycles for Kids" — and a series of links to Amazon products.

Then the AI generates every single word of the article — "riding a bike is a right of passage that every child should experience," MEL advises, adding that biking teaches children important "life skills" like "how to balance and how to be responsible for their actions" — as the manager clicks buttons like "Generate Intro Paragraph" and "Generate Product Awards."

The result is that MEL's work is often stilted and vague. At one point in the video, the manager enters an Amazon link to a vacuum cleaner and clicks "Generate Product Pros." MEL spits out a list of bona fides that are true of any desirable vacuum, like "picks up a lot of dirt and debris" and "lightweight and maneuverable." But MEL also sometimes contradicts itself: moments later, when the manager clicks "Generate Product Cons," the bot suggests that the same "lightweight and maneuverable" vacuum is now "top heavy and can feel unwieldy at first."

If an output doesn't make sense, the manager explains in the video, workers should simply generate a new version.

"Just keep regenerating," she says, "until you’ve got something you can work with."

By the end of the video, the manager has produced an article identical in structure to the AdVon content we found at Sports Illustrated and other AdVon-affiliated publications: an intro, followed by a string of generically-described products with affiliate links to Amazon, a "buying guide" packed with SEO keywords, and finally an FAQ.

"Our goal is not for it to sound like a robot has written it," the manager instructs, "but that a writer, a human writer, has written it."

That's a tall order, AdVon insiders say, because the AI's outputs are frequently incomprehensible. 

"I'm editing this stuff where there's no quality control," one former AdVon worker griped about the AI. "I'm just editing garbage."

The quality of AdVon's work is often so dismal that it's jarring to see it published by respected publications like USA Today , Sports Illustrated or McClatchy's many local newspapers. Its reviews are packed with filler and truisms, and sometimes include bizarre mistakes that make it difficult to believe a human ever seriously reviewed the draft before publication.

Take a piece AdVon published in Washington's Tacoma News Tribune . The review is for a weight lifting belt, which is a fitness device you strap on outside your clothes to offer back and core support when lifting weights at the gym. But when the author — who calls themselves a "belt expert" in the piece — arrives at the SEO-laden "buying guide" section, the review abruptly switches to talking about regular belts for clothing, advising that their "primary purpose is to hold up your trousers or jeans" and that they serve "as an important part of your overall outfit, adding style and a personal touch."

Even stranger is a separate AdVon review for lifting belts, by the same author and published in the same newspaper, that makes exactly the same weird mistake. At first, it says a lifting belt "provides the necessary back support to prevent injuries and enhance your lifting capabilities" — before again veering into the world of fashion with no explanation, musing that "Gucci, Hermes, and Salvatore Ferragamo are well-known for their high-quality belts." 

Or consider an AdVon review of a microwave oven published in South Carolina's Rock Hill Herald, which made a similarly peculiar error. The first portion of the article is indeed about microwaves, but then inexplicably changes gears to conventional ovens, with no explanation for the shift. 

In the FAQ — remember, the piece is titled "Amazon Basics Microwave Review" — it even assures readers that "yes, you can use aluminum foil in your oven."

If that wasn't bizarre enough, four other reviews of different microwaves — all for the same newspaper and credited to the same author — make exactly the same perplexing mistake: partway through, they each switch to discussing regular ovens with no explanation, as though a prompt to an AI had been insufficiently precise.

All five of the microwave reviews include an FAQ entry saying it's okay to put aluminum foil in your prospective new purchase.

Once they were done working on an article for AdVon, insiders say, it was time to slap the name of a fake writer onto it.

"Let's say if I was editing an article about a basketball product, that would have a different 'writer' than maybe like a yard games product," said one AdVon source. "They had all of those discrete bios written up already, and they had the pictures as well."

Because this person grew up reading Sports Illustrated , producing content for the publication in this way yielded mixed emotions.

"I'm not, like, editing for Sports Illustrated ," the AdVon source said, "but like, editing for articles on Sports Illustrated . That's kinda cool." But, they added, "it was weird whenever I got to the bottom, and I would have to, you know, add in that [nonexistent writer's] fake description."

After the Gannett staff called out AdVon's work at USA Today — allegations that garnered scrutiny everywhere from the Washington Post to the New York Times — the fictional names on the company's reviews started disappearing. They were replaced with the names of people who did seem to be real — and who, we noticed, frequently had close personal ties to AdVon's CEO, a serial media entrepreneur named Ben Faw. 

Take the byline of Julia Yoo. Yoo's name started to appear on articles — including the ones about microwave ovens and aluminum foil — that had previously been attributed to a seemingly fake writer named Breanna Miller, whose reviews had run at publications including California's Modesto Bee , Texas' Fort Worth Star-Telegram , and celebrity news site Hollywood Life . On some of the pieces, a strange correction appeared: "This article was updated to correct the author’s byline and contact information."

Compared to AdVon's other production workers, who are often either recent college graduates or contractors in the developing world, Yoo seems wildly overqualified. Her LinkedIn page boasts a business degree from MIT, a director position at Autodesk, and even a stint as an economic consultant to the White House during the Obama administration.

But there's something about Yoo's byline that rings hollow. According to a wedding registry and a Harvard donor web page , Ben Faw — the CEO of AdVon — is married to someone named Julia Yoo.

In an emailed message in response to questions, Yoo said she had used a "pen-name [sic] to protect my privacy" in her reviews. Asked if she was married to Ben Faw, she didn't reply.

Or consider Denise Faw, whose name started to appear on articles — including those that confused lifting belts with Gucci belts — that had previously been attributed to a seemingly fake writer named Gary Lecompte at California's Merced Sun-Star , Georgia's Ledger-Enquirer , and Missouri's Kansas City Star .

Denise Faw, you may notice, shares a last name with Ben Faw, the CEO of AdVon who's married to Julia Yoo. Denise didn't reply to a request for comment, but according to a 1993 article in the Greensboro News & Record , Ben Faw — then a third grader who garnered the coverage by earning a "God and Me" pin as a Cub Scout — has a mother whose first name is Denise. We also reviewed an online invite for Ben Faw's birthday party, to which a Denise Faw responded that she couldn’t make it, signing off on behalf of "Mom and Dad."

Given how Denise's and Julia's names suddenly appeared on articles by fake AdVon writers, it's hard not to wonder whether they actually wrote the pieces — or if AdVon simply started slapping their names onto AI-generated product reviews to deflect criticism after the outcry over its fake writers.

Asked about its relationship to Julia Yoo and Denise Faw, and whether they'd actually written the articles later attributed to them, AdVon didn't respond.

If AdVon is using AI to produce product reviews, it raises an interesting question: do its human employees actually try the products being recommended?

"No," laughed one AdVon source. "No. One hundred percent no."

"I didn't touch a single one," another recalled.

In fact, it seems that many products only appear in AdVon's reviews in the first place because their sellers paid AdVon for the publicity.

That's because the founding duo behind AdVon, CEO Ben Faw and president Eric Spurling, also quietly operate another company called SellerRocket, which charges the sellers of Amazon products for coverage in the same publications where AdVon publishes product reviews.

In a series of promotional YouTube videos, SellerRocket employees lay out how the scheme works in strikingly candid terms.

"We have what's called a curation fee, which is only charged when an article goes live — so SellerRocket advocates for your brands and if we can't get an article live, you would never pay a dime," said a former SellerRocket general manager named Eric Suddarth during one such video . "But if the articles do go live, you'd be charged a curation fee." After that, he said, clients are charged recurring fees every month.

In another video , SellerRocket's general manager at the time Kris Weissman shares his screen to demonstrate how searching "best ab roller" on Google will lead to an article on "one of our publishers here, Sports Illustrated ." He clicks the link on Google and it pulls up a Sports Illustrated product review by Damon Ward, the same fake writer whose Yoga Journal article the AdVon training video showed as being sourced via AI.

People searching Google to buy a product, Weissman explains, are easily swayed by reviews in authoritative publications.

"If they came across your product featured in the editorial, they know it's a third-party publisher that's validating the legitimacy of the product," he says, with Ward's ab roller recommendations on Sports Illustrated still visible on his screen, "and they're going to gravitate more towards that versus maybe a typical consumer."

Paying for this coverage can be invaluable for publicizing a new product, Weissman explains in another video featuring the same ab roller article.

"If you have a newer product that you're looking to launch, get those reviews," says Weissman, now a vice president at the company. "We usually recommend, have it out for at least a month or so, then you want to try to highlight it and get some traction to it, let us know. We can get you into one of these Google search articles as well."

In yet another video , a SellerRocket client gushes on behalf of the service.

"Oh my gosh, that Sports Illustrated article is just, man it's driving some conversions," she says.

AdVon and SellerRocket are so intertwined that AdVon's CMS includes a "cute little rocket icon" next to SellerRocket's clients' products, one former AdVon worker recalled, adding that SellerRocket clients "always took priority."

In fact, in the training video in which the AdVon manager pulls up the article bylined by the fake Sports Illustrated writer Damon Ward, you can see links that say "Seller Rocket [sic] Throughput" and "Seller Rocket [sic] Reports" in AdVon's CMS.

Neither Faw's nor Spurling's names appear anywhere on SellerRocket's website. But Weissman, in a LinkedIn post celebrating his promotion to general manager, thanked "Eric Spurling and Ben Faw for giving me this opportunity."

Asked about AdVon's relationship with SellerRocket — and whether it was ethical for the seller of a product to pay for placement in a "product guide" or "product review" sans disclosure — AdVon had no reply.

[Do you know more about AdVon's work with SellerRocket? Email us at [email protected] . We can keep you anonymous.]

Ben Faw — the CEO of AdVon whose mom and wife's names were added to so many of its articles — maintains a polished LinkedIn page describing an illustrious career: a stint in the US Army, degrees from West Point and Harvard Business School, and positions at companies ranging from Tesla to LinkedIn itself.

While still working at LinkedIn, Faw moved into the world of online product recommendations by starting a company called BestReviews in 2014. The business model at BestReviews was simple: publish large numbers of product reviews, each loaded with affiliate links that provide revenue when readers click through and buy stuff.

That's now a fairly standard way to make money in digital media. When done well — take the New York Times -owned Wirecutter or New York Magazine 's The Strategist — it can be a win-win, providing valuable guidance to readers while funding media businesses producing quality editorial work.

A former colleague of Faw, however, recalled that he could be relentless in trying to squeeze more money out of lower-quality material. Though BestReviews' staff did the best job they could, the former coworker said, Faw pushed the site to be more of a "content farm" — one that ran large quantities of junky content by "terrible writers."

"He has total disdain for the consumer," the former colleague said, adding that Faw would seize on "any way he could do it fast and cheap to make himself more money. I mean, he just cared about revenue. That's all he cared about."

In 2018, Faw got a significant windfall when Tribune Publishing — then called Tronc, in a disastrous rebranding it later reversed, and also then the owner of the LA Times , where AdVon content was later published — acquired a majority stake in BestReviews for $66 million.

The next year, he left his executive position at BestReviews and founded AdVon.

When we first contacted Faw, he responded by repeatedly emphasizing personal and business connections to people high up at Futurism 's parent company, writing in an email that he had "legal obligations with the predecessor entity to Recurrent Ventures" that "drastically reduce where all I [sic] or entities I am involved with can engage with Recurrent."

The next day, Faw followed up with another message that was even more blunt about his connections to the leadership at Futurism 's parent company.

"Have a long-standing personal relationship with new [R]ecurrent [CEO] Andrew Perlman (realized / confirmed he became CEO today while catching up with [Recurrent Executive Chair] Mark Lieberman), and a financial arrangement with him as well," he cautioned us.

"Know the new Exec [C]hairman of [R]ecurrent (Mark Lieberman)," he added. "Have on-going [sic] financial ties with [R]ecurrent as both business actions and via related parties ownership of a stake in the company."

According to the former colleague of Faw, this isn't surprising behavior.

"He's a huge name-dropper," they said. "He will always try to pull that on you."

"Ben loved to brag about how he is 100 percent sure every journalist in the world is for sale, as long as you pay enough money," they added.

We checked in with Recurrent's leadership about what Faw told us. They acknowledged the business ties and provided the disclosure at the bottom of this story, but reaffirmed their commitment to editorial independence, and didn't interfere with our reporting in any way.

As our reporting progressed, AdVon's claims evolved.

When we first reached out to the company after the fake writers at Gannett emerged, its president Eric Spurling firmly denied that the company was using AI for any publisher clients.

"We use AI in a variety of retailer specific product offerings for our customers," he wrote. "That is a completely separate division from our publisher focused services, and an exciting / large part of our company that is and has been siloed apart," adding that "any editorial content efforts with publisher partners we have involved a staff of both full-time and non full-time writers and researchers who curate content and follow a strict policy that also involves using both counter plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content."

But after we alerted AdVon to the video we obtained of the manager using AI to generate an entire review guide, its story seemed to shift, acknowledging that AI was in the mix for at least some of its publishing clients.

"Advon [sic] has and continues to use AI responsibly in combination with human writers and editors for partners who want increased productivity and accuracy in their commerce departments," Spurling wrote in a "declaration" provided to us by one of the company's attorneys. " Sport Illustrated [sic] was never a publishing partner that requested or was provided content produced by Advon’s [sic] AI tools."

After this point, the only communications we received from AdVon were through a series of its attorneys. Though they didn't dispute that the Sports Illustrated authors were fake, nor that their profile pictures had been generated using AI, the lawyers pushed back strongly against the idea that the Sports Illustrated articles’ text had been produced using AI.

As evidence, one of AdVon's attorneys provided screenshots of what he said were the Google Docs edit histories of several AdVon articles.

In theory, these edit histories could be compelling evidence against the notion that the articles were generated using AI. If they showed drafts being typed out over a reasonable period of time, it'd make a strong case that a human writer had written them instead of pasting in an entire piece generated by AI.

But that's not what the screenshots show. For example, one of the edit histories is for a Sports Illustrated review of various volleyballs. The article is about 2,200 words long, but the edit history shows its author producing the whole draft in just five minutes, between 5:04 am and 5:09 am on the same morning. 

Banging out 2,200 words in five minutes would require a typing speed of 440 words per minute, which is substantially faster than the current world record for speed typing, which stands at just 300 words per minute.

Another edit history provided by AdVon shows that the entire piece — "The Best Golf Mats to Help You Up Your Game" — was produced in just two minutes, between 7:16 am and 7:18 am on the same morning. 

Asked how a human writer could have created the articles so quickly, AdVon's attorney proffered a new suggestion: they had been copied and pasted from somewhere else, writing that "its [sic] common practice for a writer to draft an article in a particular word processor (MS Word, WordPerfect) and import (cut and paste) the text into another word processor (such as Google Docs) or CMS."

Of course, it's also possible to generate an article using AI and then paste it into Google Docs.

Asked whether it could provide the edit histories to the original drafts of the articles, AdVon didn't reply.

The company also insisted that MEL wasn’t operational until 2023.

"More important, Advon [sic] stands by its statement that all of the articles provided to Sports Illustrated were authored and edited by human writers," AdVon's attorney wrote. "Advon's [sic] MEL AI tool was not used in content processes until 2023."

But it very much looks as though the company was using AI before then. For one thing, several of the company's current and former workers say on LinkedIn that they were working on AI content long before 2023.

One former AdVon freelancer recalled on LinkedIn that he "revised over 300 e-commerce articles written by Artificial Intelligence for spelling, syntax, and plagiarism errors" during a two-month period in 2021.

A former AdVon intern's LinkedIn profile recalls how she "edited AI-generated content to encourage machine learning and improve the automated product description writing process" the same year, in 2021.

And an AdVon machine learning engineer who started working for AdVon in 2021 also claims on LinkedIn to have "led the way in enhancing content with advanced AI like GPT-2, GPT-3, and GPT-4." (OpenAI released GPT-2 in 2019, GPT-3 in 2020 and GPT-4 in 2023.)

There's also the matter of that video where the AdVon employee opens an already-published article marked as "AI" in the company's CMS. The video was published in December 2022, before Spurling or AdVon's attorneys claimed the company had been using MEL.

Asked about the apparent discrepancies, AdVon had no reply.

When we asked AdVon whether it terminated any human writing staff as it made its AI shift, Spurling issued a vehement denial, declaring over email that "the basis" of our question was "not accurate."

"We work with and pay many freelance writers," he wrote.

Again, LinkedIn seems to dispute this claim. As of 2022, dozens of AdVon workers say on their profiles that they were writing for the company — but that figure declined to approximately 18 in 2023 and just five currently.

Asked to explain where the writers had gone, AdVon didn't reply.

AdVon insiders concur that the company let go of a large number of writers in its move to automate.

"They were like, alright, we're gonna roll out the AI writing," said another former AdVon worker, this one based in the United States. This source recalled that AdVon's instructions were "when you edit these, make sure you give really extensive feedback — be very detailed and in-depth about what the issues are so we can tweak it."

Like others, they said the work was frustrating due to the AI copy's incoherence. "The further you got down into the article, the blog, it just would not, like, make any sense at all," they continued, adding that the AI would repeat nonsensical phrases or SEO "buzzwords," or inexplicably launch into first-person anecdotes.

"The AI would use quote-unquote 'personal experience,'" they recalled, "and you're just like, 'where did they pull this from?'"

Watching vulnerable contractors in overseas countries get let go as the AI matured, the former worker said, was gutting.

"I remember when I was a kid, my dad got laid off," they said. "It was horrid — terrible. And I just think about that with [the AdVon writers] living overseas. I obviously don't know the rest of their situation, but that's scary no matter what your circumstances are. I just felt so bad."

It's hard to say where AdVon's prospects stand these days.

It seems to still have some clients. While publishers ranging from McClatchy to the LA Times told us they'd stopped working with AdVon altogether, others including USA Today , Hollywood Life and Us Weekly appear to still be publishing its work (neither Hollywood Life nor Us Weekly responded to requests for comment, while Gannett referred to the content as "arbitrage marketing efforts," saying they involved "buying search keywords and monetizing these clicks by preparing curated marketing landing pages to accommodate keyword buying campaigns.")

Lately, AdVon seems to be trying to rebrand as a creator of AI tech that generates product listings automatically for retailers. In a recent press release announcing the launch of an AI tool on Google Cloud, the company touted what it described as a "close working partnership" with Google (which didn't respond to questions about the relationship).

What is clear is that readers don't like AI-generated content published under fake bylines. Shortly after our initial Sports Illustrated story, 80 percent of respondents in a poll by the AI Policy Institute said that what the magazine had done should be illegal.

At the end of the day, journalism is an industry built on trust. But d escending into AdVon's miasma of fake writers and legal threats, it quickly becomes hard to trust anything connected to the company, from its word salad reviews to basic questions about which writers are even real people and whether AI was used to produce the articles attributed to them.

That's a lesson learned the hard way by Sports Illustrated , which became an internet-wide punchline after its fake writers came to light last year. (Its publisher at the time, The Arena Group, is now in chaos after firing the magazine's staff, losing rights to the title entirely, and seeing its stock price lose about two-thirds of its value in the wake of the scandal.)

Whether the rest of the publishing industry will heed that warning is an open question.

Some outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post , have debuted new teams tasked with finding highbrow, honest uses for AI in journalism. 

For the most part, though, AI experiments in the publishing world have been embarrassing debacles. CNET got lambasted for publishing dozens of AI-generated articles about personal finance before discovering they were riddled with errors and plagiarism . Gannett was forced to stop publishing nonsensical AI-spun sports summaries. And BuzzFeed used the tech to grind out widely-derided travel guides that repeated the same phrases ad nauseam. 

At its worst, AI lets unscrupulous profiteers pollute the internet with low-quality work produced at unprecedented scale. It’s a phenomenon which — if platforms like Google and Facebook can't figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff — threatens to flood the whole web in an unstoppable deluge of spam.

In other words, it's not surprising to see a company like AdVon turn to AI as a mechanism to churn out lousy content while cutting loose actual writers. But watching trusted publications help distribute that chum is a unique tragedy of the AI era.

Disclosure: Futurism's parent company, Recurrent Ventures, previously worked with AdVon in 2022 via its partnership to distribute select content on third-party e-commerce platforms. This content was written by Recurrent’s contributors. Presently, Recurrent maintains a business relationship with them to test Commerce content internationally for select brands (of which Futurism is not one). AdVon content has never been published on Futurism or any of Recurrent's websites.

More on AI: Microsoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically Deceased NBA Player "Useless"

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Money blog: 600 new skyscrapers 'on way' for London, report finds

A reader seeks help as her employer of 24 years is bringing in a new clock-in system to pay her by the minute. Read this and all the latest personal finance and consumer news in the Money blog - and share your own problem or dispute below.

Monday 13 May 2024 19:57, UK

• Gen Z would rather deliver parcels than work in restaurants, Michel Roux Jr claims
• 600 new skyscrapers on way for London, report finds
• Money Problem: My workplace is bringing in new clock-in system to pay us by the minute - is this allowed?
• Free childcare applications open for new age band

Essential reads

• How to make sure your car passes its MOT
• 'Loud budgeting': The money-saving trend that has nothing to do with giving up your daily coffee
• How to avoid a holiday data roaming charge (while still using the internet)
• Best of the Money blog - an archive

Ask a question or make a comment

Young homebuyers are being forced to gamble with their retirement prospects by taking on ultra-long mortgages, according to a former pensions minister.

Sir Steve Webb described data - supplied by the Financial Conduct Authority to the Bank of England - as "shocking".

It suggests that more than one million new mortgages have been issued over the past three years with end dates beyond the state pension age.

The ex-Liberal Democrat MP, who is now a partner at the consultancy firm LCP, voiced fears that borrowers could be forced to raid their pension savings to clear their mortgage in a worst-case scenario.

Sir Steve saw the potential for harm in any case, as longer-term mortgages deprive people of a period running up to retirement when they could be mortgage-free and boosting their pension.

What does the data say? 

• 42% of new mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2023 - or 91,394 - had terms going beyond the state pension age;
• In the final quarter of last year, people aged 30 to 39 accounted for 30,943 new mortgages lasting beyond state pension age;
• People aged 40 to 49 accounted for 32,305;
• Under-30s made up 3,676 of these mortgages;
• People aged 50 to 59 accounted for 18,854, and there were 661 who were over 70.

Mortgage rates have been rising since the end of 2021 when the Bank of England began action to tackle rising inflation.

Taking home loans with longer maturity dates tends to be more attractive when interest rates are high, as monthly repayments are lower.

You can read more on this story below...

Waitrose has become the only supermarket to receive a royal warrant from the King. 

The recognition means the company has regularly provided the royal household with products for at least five years. 

It also means it can use the King's coat of arms on packaging, as part of advertising or on any stationary it creates. 

Waitrose was first granted a royal warrant in 1928 for supplying King George V with groceries and cleaning materials.

"We are honoured and proud that His Majesty has granted us his warrant," James Bailey, executive director of Waitrose, said. 

"It means the world to all of us, and our farmers and suppliers. There couldn’t be a more powerful symbol of our commitment to service and quality, and our determination to have the highest environmental and animal welfare standards." 

Waitrose was previously granted a royal warrant by the late Queen in 2002 and the King when he was Prince of Wales in 2010.

The Queen has also granted her first royal warrants, picking seven companies, including luxury department store Fortnum & Mason and the florist that supplied her coronation flowers, Shane Connolly & Company. 

The royal nod could be bad news for customers, however, with a brand finance expert telling Sky News that having a royal warrant allows firms to charge a price premium.

David Haigh said his company's research estimated this to be "between 10% and 25%".

A royal warrant says a company or a product is luxurious, high quality and sustainable, he explained. 

He estimates the scheme is "worth billions to UK companies and… therefore it's a very high value to the UK economy".

"And one of the reasons for that is that a lot of foreign tourists and buyers have a preference for royal warrant holder products. We found that 100% of Chinese buyers would pay in excess of 10% for a royal warrant holder product."

Read more on the Queen's choices here :

Gordon Ramsay's restaurants tripled losses to £3.4m last year, as the chef warned businesses in the industry were facing a "challenging" climate. 

The chef's group spent millions opening five new restaurants in 2023, including a Lucky Cat in Manchester, a Bread Street Kitchen in Battersea Power Station and a Street Pizza in Edinburgh. 

Sales at his wide-ranging establishments rose, however, by 21% to £95.6m in the year to August, according to The Telegraph. 

"It's been a really hard-fought year, but at the same time an exciting year, and in tough times it amazes me how strong and vibrant our industry is," Ramsay told the news outlet. 

"It's challenging out there and businesses are battling to stay afloat, rising costs, rent and food costs, multiple strikes. It's a battle" 

He was optimistic, however, saying there hasn't been "so much passion and vibrancy" in the industry since he opened his first restaurant in 1998.

"We've still got something wonderful to celebrate, and I truly believe the industry has never been so exciting."

Once the UK's favourite alcoholic beverage, beer's popularity seems to be fading among the younger drinking generation... 

In fact, only 30% of people aged 18 to 24 ever drink it, according to a study commissioned by the Society of Independent Brewers. 

Instead, younger drinkers say they prefer drinking spirits, wine and cider. 

Pub visits appear to be suffering as well, with almost a quarter of the 2,000 people surveyed saying they have never visited their local. 

SIBA's 2024 Craft Beer Report paints a more positive picture for small and independent brewers, however, with more than 55% of beer consumers saying they now drink "local craft beer". 

It also found average beer production volumes among independent breweries has risen by 14% since last year - a return to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in 4 years. 

"Demand for local, independently brewed beer in the UK is strong, with independent brewers reporting production volumes up by 14%, meaning they have returned to 2019 volumes again," Andy Slee, SIBA's chief executive, said. 

But, he said, it's time for "cautious optimism" only, with the industry still plagued with a number of issues. 

"The short-term issue for small independent breweries isn't demand; it's profitability, rising costs and financial pressures such as lingering COVID debt," he said. 

"Far too many breweries are simply trying to survive rather than thrive, so while there are many positives signs highlighted in the report, for now it's cautious optimism."

Earlier this year, our Money reporter Emily Mee explored whether the UK's big night out culture was dying out. 

Nightlife experts warned we're losing one club every two days at the moment - and if we stay on this trajectory, we will have none left by 2030.

You can read more about her findings here...

A total of 583 skyscrapers are "queuing up in the pipeline" to be built across central London, a development thinktank has said. 

That is more than double the 270 built in the past decade. 

In the eastern borough of Tower Hamlets alone, 71 tall buildings were completed in that time that time, the report by New London Architecture found. 

A further 24 were in the City of London and 27 in Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs. 

The report said the rapid change has been fuelled by a "burgeoning demand" for office and residential space, overseas investment and a supporting planning environment. 

"Tall buildings have changed the face of London substantially over the last 20 years and will continue to do so - the pipeline that NLA has tracked means there is at least 10 years' supply that has already been defined," Peter Murray, the organisation's co-founder, said. 

"London's population continues to grow, passing the 10 million mark at the end of this decade.

"We'll still need tall buildings; and NLA will continue to keep a close watch on what's going on." 

Restaurants might only be able to open three or four days a week due to staffing problems, Michel Roux Jr has warned. 

Speaking to The Telegraph as he gears up to open his new restaurant Chez Rouz, the Michelin starred chef admitted the industry needs to change to accommodate flexible working hours. 

"Just because I worked 80 hours a week or more doesn't mean the next generation should," he said. 

"Quite the contrary. That is something that we have to address in our industry."

But, he warned that the move will come at a cost... 

"It will mean ultimately that going out is going to be more expensive, and that maybe your favourite restaurant is no longer open seven days a week - it's only open three or four days a week," he said. 

The industry is known for its long, unsociable working hours, and Roux Jr explained that the real issue hit after the pandemic, with people no longer wanting to work weekends. 

"People don't want to work unsociable hours and would rather work delivering parcels as and when they want to. It's as simple as that," he added. 

Earlier this year, Roux Jr said goodbye to his famous restaurant Le Gavroche in London. 

It had been opened by his father Albert Roux and uncle Michel Roux in 1967. 

Now, he said it's "brave" to open a new restaurant, with the market "very, very tough". 

"I really feel for anyone that is brave enough to open up a restaurant now. It's incredibly difficult," he added. 

Chez Rouz at The Langham in Marylebone, central London, is due to open on 22 May. 

By James Sillars , business news reporter

A pause for breath on the FTSE 100 after a 3% gain over the course of past week that took the index to a fresh record closing high.

The rally of recent weeks - significant for London's standing and pension pots alike - has been broad based and reflects several factors.

A major driver has been sterling's weakness versus the US dollar.

The US currency has been strong as the Federal Reserve, its central bank, has hinted it will be some time yet before it begins to cut interest rates.

Language out of the Bank of England last week sparked a flurry of bets that UK rates could be cut as early as next month.

A weaker pound boosts dollar-earning constituents on the FTSE 100 because they get more for their money when dollars are converted to pounds.

Also at play is the view that UK stocks represent good value, as they are cheaper compared to many of their international peers.

A few moments ago, the FTSE 100 was trading 6 points lower at 8,423.

A major talking point is the possibility of the Chinese fast fashion firm Shein listing in London.

According to Reuters, the company has shifted its focus to the UK after receiving a lukewarm reception in the United States.

The news agency, citing two sources, reported that Shein was stepping up its preparations for an initial public offering in London that would be expected to be one of the biggest carried out globally this year.

By Emily Mee , Money team

No one likes the date in their calendar when their MOT rolls around. 

But to make things a little less stressful, consumer expert Scott Dixon - known as The Complaints Resolver - has given us some tips on what to look out for to help your vehicle pass with flying colours. 

Some of the most common failures are faulty steering, brakes, suspension, worn or damaged tyres, cracked windscreens and faulty lights. 

Mr Dixon recommends you get your car serviced a couple of weeks before your MOT, in case there are any complex or costly issues. 

This will give you time to get them fixed and get your car through first time without any advisories. 

Aside from taking your car for a service, there are also some easy checks you can run yourself... 

Listen for unusual clunks while you're driving - this could be a sign of a damaged suspension. 

You could also check by pushing the car down on each corner. It should return to normal without bouncing a few times. 

Another option is to look with a torch under the wheel arch, as this should reveal any obvious defects. 

Blown bulbs are a common MOT failure, but they're cheap to fix. 

Walk around your car and check all the bulbs are working - this includes the headlights, sidelights, brake lights, indicators and the number plate bulb.

Mr Dixon says it's "not an easy job" to change the lightbulbs yourself on most modern cars, as the MOT will also check the positioning of the light. Therefore he recommends getting this done professionally. 

Squealing or grinding noises may be a sign your brake pads need replacing. 

You should also check whether your car stops in a straight line, or whether it pulls in different directions. 

Don't forget about the handbrake, too. Test it out on a slope and see if it securely holds the car. If it doesn't, you should get it adjusted. 

It's easy to check if your wipers work okay, but you should also make sure to inspect the blades for tears and rips. 

They should be able to clean the windows with no smears. 

Mr Dixon says you don't need to pay Halfords to change your wiper blade as you can "do it yourself in seconds". All you need to do is look for a YouTube tutorial. 

He also recommends buying the Bosch wiper blades, as he says these are good quality and will also be a sign you've looked after your car well when you come to sell it. 

One thing to look out for is tread depth. You can do this by looking for the "wear bar" that sits between the tread. 

If it's close to 1.6mm and is low, you should get the tyre replaced so it's not flagged as an advisory. 

Also check for perished tyre walls, which can happen when a vehicle is standing for any length of time. 

Uneven tyre wear is another potential issue, and if there are signs of this you should get the tyre replaced and tracking and suspension checked. 

These must be in good condition and working order, with no tears or knots. 

Registration plates

Your number plates should be clean and visible with a working light bulb at the rear. You may need to give them a wipe and replace the bulb if necessary. 

This should be in good condition, without damage such as loose bumpers or sharp edges. 

Mr Dixon advises against using automatic car washes during your car's lifetime, saying they "wreck your car". 

"It's not just your paintwork but they can also damage the wiper blades and the bodywork," he says. 

Check for warning lights

You'll need to take your vehicle to a trusted garage or mechanic for this. 

Exhaust emissions

Some diesel vehicles can fail their MOTs based on emissions. To avoid this, you can buy a fuel treatment pack and take your car for a good run to clear the fuel lines and tank.

Driving for at least 30 to 50 minutes at a sustained speed on a motorway or A-road should help to clear the filter. 

You should make sure the driver's view of the road isn't obstructed, so check for stone chips at eye level and remove any obstructions such as air fresheners and mobile phone cradles. 

What else should you think about? 

Make sure your car is clean beforehand, as a tester can refuse to do your MOT if the vehicle is filthy and full of rubbish. 

Giving your car a clean can also give you a chance to inspect it, Mr Dixon says. 

Another thing to do is to check last year's MOT for any advisories that might crop up this time. 

These potential issues will still be there - so it's best not to ignore them. 

You can check your vehicle's MOT history using  https://car-check.co.uk . 

Every Monday we get an expert to answer your money problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

I have worked at a bank for 24 years - the facilities are outsourced. This new company is bringing in a system where the staff have to click in and out and are then paid by the minute? Is this allowed? Amber

Ian Jones, director and principal solicitor at Spencer Shaw Solicitors, has picked this one up...

Your rights depend on your contract and what it says about payment. Does it specify an annual salary, or payment by time? Does it allow for changes to how payment is calculated?

If the contract does not allow for this type of payment, your employer may be trying to vary the contract of employment unlawfully.

If you're directly employed by the bank, and your pay arrangements are changing because of a new monitoring system, this would be an internal contract variation. If you work in the facilities department and the new contractor is taking over as your employer, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) 2006 may apply. 

In this case, your current terms, conditions and previous service will transfer to the new employer.

TUPE may make the issue sound more complicated but, in practice, either way the changes will be valid only if the employee agrees to them.

If you have not agreed to the change, then this could be a breach of contract. This could give rise to a successful claim in the civil courts or the employment tribunal. 

If the breach is serious (for example, you're paid less than agreed in the original contract) and you resign in response, this could amount to constructive dismissal for which a claim can be made in the employment tribunal. 

It would be sensible to get the contract reviewed by a solicitor for advice. But act swiftly - if you continue working for the employer, you are effectively waiving the breach and accepting the change to your contract.

To make it possible to pay by the minute, employees may be monitored while at work. When collecting and processing data and using it to make a decision, the employer must comply with data protection laws. If not, the employee could be entitled to compensation, depending on the breach, or the employer could be at risk of a sanction by the regulator the Information Commissioner's Office.

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.  Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• The form above - make sure you leave a phone number or email address
• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog"
• WhatsApp us  here .

Please make sure you leave your contact details as we cannot follow up consumer disputes without them.

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