Employee performance reviews are vital and help both organizations and employees spot growth opportunities, improve performance, and detect bottlenecks that prevent employees from achieving their goals. To ensure that these reviews are efficient and benefit both sides, it essential to carefully choose performance review questions that will give you the honest information you need. If you’re looking to develop your performance review questions, here’s a selection of useful questions to ask your employees. 

Performance Review Questions for Employees

It’s crucial to ask enough questions to spot any possible issues early on and get insights into the employees‘ future goals and performance. Here are some questions for employees during the self-assessment section of the review process:

• Which skills make you efficient and effective in your current role?
• What kind of work inspires you the most?
• Since the last review, what experience, project, or action are you most proud of?
• What company/personal goals did you accomplish? 
• What skill or knowledge do people on your team or at the company rely on you to provide?
• What project/goal(s) would you like to focus on in the next quarter/six months/year?
• What things will you focus on in the next six months to help you grow and develop?
• How do you prefer to receive feedback? Were you given enough valuable feedback this year?
• How would you describe your cooperation with your manager and team?
• What would you do differently if you were a manager?
• What are some hurdles that stop you or make it harder for you to accomplish goals?
• What can we do to help you professionally grow?
  

Performance Review Questions for Managers

It’s just as important to ask managers about their employees. This allows you to compare a manager’s answers to the employee’s and see whether they’re aligned. Here are some questions to ask managers about their employees:

• What are some meaningful contributions that [Name] has made since the last review?
• Which company value have you seen [Name] emulating well?
• How have you helped [Name] succeed and grow in their position?
• What types of projects does [Name] excel at?
• How has [Name] done with creating and meeting goals?
• What role does [Name] have on the team, and what impact have they had?
• What areas of focus/projects could benefit [Name]?
• In what way(s) is [Name] contributing to the company’s current goals?
• What are some positive interactions you’ve noticed between [Name] and others?
  
  
  
  

More Performance Management Assessment Questions

Here are some additional questions you can add to your performance review process. Some can be for employees or managers performing a self-assessment, while others can also be used to assess the performance of an employee or manager. Feel free to use these questions where they fit best in your performance review process. 

• Are you happy at [Company name]?
• Would you recommend working here to your friends? Why or why not?
• Do you have access to all the tools and resources you need to do your job?
• How have you met corporate goals/values this quarter/year?
• What do you enjoy most about working for [Company name]?
• What do you hope to be doing within the company one year from now? What about five years from now?
• What do you want your next position to be at this company?
• Do you feel comfortable taking risks and approaching your manager with new ideas? Why or why not?
• What are your top three priorities for the next 6-12 months?
  
  

The list of performance review questions can go on, but we hope you can use these collections of questions as guidelines to navigate your performance reviews and make the most out of them.

Amanee Hasan

Amanee Hasan is a Senior Content Writer at ZenHR, an award-winning and top-rated HR solution that offers world-class HR software services in the MENA region. Her main focuses are SEO, UX writing, copywriting, and creating content highlighting the latest HR trends, and gives organizations and individuals the tools they need to create successful work environments where people thrive.