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Performance review template

A fair, written staff review in about ten minutes. Pick the kind of job, score the ready goals from 1 to 5, and download a PDF for you and the employee to sign. If the score is low, a short South African fair-process checklist helps you start an improvement plan properly. Nothing you type is stored.

1 Who is being reviewed

Company name

Employee

Job title

Manager doing the review

Review period

Date of the review

Kind of job

Fills in ready goals for that kind of job. Change them, take them out or add your own.

2 Goals for the job

Score each one: 1 Not meeting the standard · 2 Partly meeting · 3 Meeting the standard · 4 Above the standard · 5 Well above

3 Ways of working

The same for every job.

4 Outcome

Strengths

What to improve

Training or support offered

Employee's own comments

Next review

Overall score

–

Score the goals and ways of working

Goals (70%)

–

Average of the goal scores

Ways of working (30%)

–

Average of the five

Download the review to sign

A PDF with every score and comment, and lines for the manager and the employee to sign.

The review is used only to make the PDF. We don't keep it.

Keep every review on the employee's file

Vali HR keeps reviews with the employee's documents, leave and training, and reminds you when the next review is due.

Book a demo More people and pay tools

How to run the review

The full guide, with the law explained in plain words and a blank form to print: How to do a fair performance review in a small South African business.

Before the meeting. Fill in the goals and your scores, with an example for every score of 1, 2 or 5. A score without an example is hard to defend and hard for the employee to act on.

In the meeting. Go through each goal, ask for the employee's side and write it under "Employee's own comments". Agree what to improve, what help they will get and when you will look at it again.

Signing. Ask the employee to sign that they have seen the review, not that they agree. Each of you keeps a copy.

How the overall score works. Goals count 70% and ways of working 30%; each part is the average of its scores. Below 3.0, or when any goal scores 1, the fair-process checklist appears.

Based on the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, Government Gazette 53294, Notice 3470 of 2025 (items 17 to 20), checked 8 November 2026. A guide only, not legal advice.

FAQ

Performance review questions answered

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01 How often should I review staff?

At least once a year, and at the end of probation. A short check every three months catches problems early.

02 Does the employee have to sign?

Ask them to sign that they have seen it, not that they agree. If they refuse, write "refused to sign" and have a witness sign.

03 Can I dismiss someone because of a bad review?

Not on one review. The Code of Good Practice: Dismissal (2025) expects you to explain the standard, give training or guidance, allow reasonable time to improve, and hear the employee first.

04 What about someone on probation?

Give guidance during probation and let them respond before you decide to dismiss or extend probation. The reasons may be less compelling than after probation, but the process still applies.

05 Should a review decide increases?

It can inform them, but say so up front so staff know how scores are used.

06 Do you keep the review?

No. The PDF is made and sent to you; nothing is stored on our side.

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