You're in the right place if you're tired of outdated performance reviews that feel more like paperwork than progress tracking.
It's time to upgrade to performance review software that saves you time and drives employee growth, helping you achieve your organizational objectives.
Whether your goal is to improve employee productivity and engagement, prevent turnover, or simply track progress, we'll help you find the right tool.
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What is performance review software?
Performance review software is a tool that allows you to do structured employee assessments quickly and easily.
It can be used to automate the employee evaluation process, collect feedback, and analyze performance data. Also, it often has 360-degree feedback that provides unbiased employee performance evaluations.
Employee performance reviews give you insight into:
- Employee's progress
- Work quality
- Productivity levels
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Engagement levels
- Turnover risks
- Training and development needs
Before we go further, click here if you want to learn how to conduct a performance review properly.
Key features of performance review software
Here are the performance management features to look for in an employee performance software:
- Customizable review templates: The tool should come with pre-made, editable templates for self, peer, manager, and 360-degree reviews.
- Automated review cycles: You should be able to schedule recurring or one-time review cycles and send automated notifications to employees.
- Multi-rater feedback (360° reviews): The tool should allow you to collect feedback from multiple sources, such as peers, managers, and direct reports.
- Self-assessments: It should provide templates for self-assessments so that employees can reflect on their development.
- Rating scales and qualitative feedback: It supports different formats, such as numeric scores, Likert scales, and open-ended feedback.
- Competency and goal-based evaluations: You should be able to do employee skills assessment and evaluate performance based on individual or team goals.
- Employee development plans: You should be able to create career growth and performance improvement plans. Here are some examples of employee development plans to inspire you.
- AI-powered insights: Choose a tool with built-in AI that can analyze data and generate actionable insights.
- AI-based trends and predictions: Some tools can spot trends and identify high performers and disengaged employees who are at risk of turnover.
Benefits of using performance review software
Here are the biggest benefits you can expect when you start using employee performance review software:
- Increasing efficiency: Performance review software allows you to automate review cycles and sometimes even the analyses of the performance reports, which can save you a lot of time compared to manual reviews.
- Improving employee development: It gives you insights into employees' strengths and weaknesses and helps align employee goals with your company's objectives. Some tools can even generate custom learning and development plans for you.
- Implementing continuous feedback: It's the easiest way to start meaningful conversations with your employees and implement continuous feedback.
- Getting data-driven insights: Performance review tools use AI and machine learning to analyze large volumes of employee data and spot patterns that you may not notice. They can provide you with actionable tips and predictive insights into employee engagement and performance.
- Reducing bias in evaluations: As we already mentioned, performance review software often comes with 360-degree feedback that allows you to collect insights from multiple perspectives and get more objective feedback.
How we evaluated and chose the best software
When choosing the best employee performance management software, we analyzed reviews from the past year on SaaS platforms like G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot. Here are the key criteria we used for our evaluation:
- Functionality – We focused on performance management tools with a wide range of features (performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, engagement surveys, etc) to save you both time and money so that you don't have to purchase multiple tools separately and figure out how to use them.
- Main purpose – Each tool is created for a particular purpose, such as improving productivity, identifying issues in a timely manner, tracking progress, etc. It's important to define the main goal you want to achieve with performance reviews and choose a tool accordingly.
- Ease of use – Let's face it, not all your employees are tech gurus, especially if they don't work in the IT department. Therefore, you need a user-friendly and intuitive tool that doesn't require months of training before you can use it.
- Value for money – It's essential to find the balance between the features and price. We've included different types of tools, from simple performance management systems for small businesses to complex enterprise-level tools, so that everyone can find the right performance review software that fits their budget.
Top 10 performance review software
Here are the best performance review tools we've chosen for you.
Effy AI
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Effy AI is a user-friendly performance review software that uses AI to help you conduct and analyze performance reviews. What makes it unique from other tools is how fast and easy it is to use.
With it, you can run different types of reviews, from comprehensive annual reviews and 360-degree feedback to quick employee check-ins on Slack.
Strengths:
- Effy AI uses artificial intelligence to generate feedback and performance reviews, making it a smart choice for those who don't have time to do everything manually. Our built-in AI can quickly summarize and analyze a large volume of responses, providing you with actionable insights.
- Our tool makes it easy to run 360-degree reviews and analyze multi-source feedback. There are various templates to collect feedback from managers, peers, subordinates, etc. The best part is that you don't have to stick to a pre-made template, but you can generate custom templates by answering a few quick questions about your company and your goals. Click here to see some of the 360 feedback examples.
- Our free plan is simple and affordable for small teams but scalable as your company grows. You can create unlimited reviews for up to five team members with no time limits or hidden fees.
Limitations:
- Effy AI may have fewer integrations compared to some other tools, but it has a valuable integration with Slack that allows you to run your performance reviews and surveys directly in Slack.
- Although great for small and mid-size teams, it may lack some advanced features for large organizations with complex procedures. However, we're constantly working on improving our tool and adding new features.
Lattice
Lattice is a user-friendly people management software that can be used for the employee review process and broader purposes like HR and payroll. It's popular in tech and financial service companies.
Strengths:
- This platform not only covers all aspects of the performance management process, but it can also be used for HR operations.
- Lattice uses AI to analyze performance data. You can get an alert when an employee's performance drops.
- You can customize performance review templates to fit your company's needs. There are various types of templates, from project-based to annual reviews. It even has 1:1 meeting agenda templates.
Limitations:
- Lattice is on the pricier side, and many features require purchasing add-ons, which may not be accessible for smaller companies with tighter budgets.
- It has a lot of features, which can be overwhelming for smaller teams that may not need such a complex platform.
15Five
If you want to implement quick and simple performance reviews, 15Five might be the tool for you. It's based on the idea that employees shouldn't spend more than 15 minutes per week writing a brief report of their work, and managers should be able to review the structured feedback in less than five minutes, saving everyone's time.
Strengths:
- 15Five focuses on improving relationships between managers and employees and boosting managers' effectiveness as they can analyze reviews in less than five minutes.
- It has employee engagement tools, and it can predict what actions can make the biggest impact on improving engagement.
- Its interface is intuitive and easy to use, even for people who have never used a similar tool before.
Limitations:
- It may take some time to fully implement 15Five's processes, especially if your team has complex needs or specific goals.
- While it's great for providing managerial feedback, it doesn't have many features dedicated to peer-to-peer reviews and 360-degree feedback.
Profit.co
Profit.co is a continuous performance management software mostly used by companies that operate on OKR frameworks. You can use it to create tasks and to-do lists and track employee performance.
Strengths:
- Profit.co uses AI to provide real-time insights into employee performance. It can also create projections based on performance trends and historical data.
- Its performance reviews come with 360-degree feedback, providing you with more holistic evaluations.
- Dashboards are collecting data in real time. You may keep reports updated and respond accordingly.
Limitations:
- New users may find the platform difficult to use as it has many advanced features and extensive customization options.
- While it's a good option for larger companies, small teams may find the platform too complex, and some of the features may not be necessary.
PerformYard
PerformYard is a performance appraisal software. You may use it to review your employees and send props in case they’re doing a good job. It's used in industries like IT, finance, and healthcare.
Strengths:
- PerformYard simplifies the performance review process, making it easier to track feedback and performance on a team level.
- It can be used for different types of reviews, such as project-based reviews, multi-manager reviews, or upward reviews. You can also use it to generate a structured staff meeting agenda.
- Review cycles are flexible, and you can customize them to suit your needs. It depends on whether you prefer quarterly or annual reviews or want to implement continuous feedback.
Limitations:
- The analytics is limited, and the depth and strategic insights aren’t comparable to some other tools.
- It may require some time to properly set up and customize this tool. But once set up, it's user-friendly and easy to use.
AssessTeam
AssessTeam is a performance evaluation software that stands out for its database with over 3,000 KPIs for different industries, from customer service to healthcare.
It can also be used for time tracking.
Strengths:
- AssessTeam goes beyond performance reviews and offers other performance management tools. These include 360-degree reviews, self-assessments, and evaluations based on competency.
- The platform is flexible, and you can customize templates, review cycles, and even KPIs.
- It has a lot of integrations, and it works well with tools like Slack, Google Workspace, and various HRIS systems.
Limitations:
- It can be a bit overwhelming for new users due to a large number of features. It may take some time to set up and configure the system.
- The price may be too high for small businesses and startups.
ClearCompany
ClearCompany is one of the talent management tools that can be used throughout the whole employee lifecycle, from hiring and sourcing to improving employee retention. It has built-in performance management and employee engagement features.
Strengths:
- The tool is intuitive and easy to use, both for collecting feedback and rating employee performance.
- It speeds up and simplifies the performance review cycle by automating some tasks that would take up the time of your HR teams. For example, its AI can draft messages and emails that you want to send to employees and new candidates.
- The platform focuses on continuous development rather than just annual reviews. It comes with a large training library, including courses for various soft and hard skills.
Limitations:
- It may not be as flexible and customizable as some other tools.
- Its performance management report lacks some advanced metrics and insights.
Quantum Workplace
Quantum Workplace is an employee experience software that focuses on creating a healthy company culture and strengthening relationships in your team. It has excellent performance management and engagement features.
Strengths:
- Quantum Workplace focuses on team alignment and development, with features like team surveys and peer recognition.
- It tracks performance throughout the whole employee lifecycle, providing you with AI insights to improve your team's performance.
- It also has plenty of tools for measuring employee engagement and satisfaction, such as pulse surveys and retention radar.
Limitations:
- Its features may be unnecessarily complex for smaller teams or companies without HR professionals who can manage performance reviews.
- The initial setup requires some time, especially for larger companies that might need a lot of customization.
BambooHR performance
BambooHR is a comprehensive workforce management software that can replace multiple other tools you use daily. You can use it for performance reviews and gathering employee feedback, as well as for things like hiring, onboarding, and time tracking.
Strengths:
- The interface is very intuitive and easy to navigate, which makes this HR software accessible to small companies without dedicated HR teams.
- You can customize performance review templates and the frequency of review cycles.
- Since BambooHR is an all-in-one HR software, you can easily integrate performance management with other HR functions like time tracking and payroll and sync employee data effortlessly.
Limitations:
- Although BambooHR has solid reporting tools, it doesn't have in-depth performance analytics like some dedicated performance management tools.
- BambooHR's performance reviews might be too basic for large companies or those that want to do complex evaluations.
Leapsome
Leapsome is an all-in-one performance and learning platform that uses AI to help you automate your work. It has a performance management system, but it can also be used as employee development software, as you can access their course library or create your own learning content.
Strengths:
- You can create automated workflows to simplify tasks that are repetitive.
- Its review templates are highly customizable, and you can build your own performance review using the drag-and-drop principle.
- It has many integrations, and it works well with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and many HR tools like Workday and Workable.
Limitations:
- For small businesses, pricing is less budget-friendly compared to similar tools. You might need to purchase different modules and add-ons to access all the features you need.
- Creating custom workflows and review cycles may initially require a lot of effort and time.
How to implement performance review software
If this is your first time using performance review software, we've got you covered. Here's a quick guide to help you get started, along with some of the best practices for performance management.
- Define your goals and KPIs: First, you have to identify what you want to achieve and what metrics you want to track. Some of the common metrics include task completion rate, productivity and engagement levels, eNPS, etc.
- Create/customize review templates: Second, it's time to create templates you'll use for performance reviews. If you don't want to do it from scratch, you can choose one of the tools that come with pre-made templates. However, it's still a good idea to customize them by adding your performance criteria or custom questions.
- Train the employees: If you're implementing a new tool, make sure to provide adequate training resources to your employees. If the tool is complex, you might need to organize hands-on training, but if you've chosen a user-friendly tool, quick video tutorials will be enough. Also, you may want to provide them with some constructive feedback examples that can help them come up with their own.
- Launch a performance review: Send review forms to your employees and make sure to clearly communicate the deadline. It's even better if you can add automated reminders.
- Analyze the results: A good performance review software will provide you with insights and reports so that you don't have to analyze the results manually.
- Optimize and repeat: Ask your employees for feedback on how the performance review went and use insights to optimize your performance appraisal process. The frequency may vary based on your needs, but it's a good idea to do it quarterly or every six months.
Conclusion
If you're looking for a tool that combines performance reviews and 360-degree feedback and uses AI to create and analyze feedback forms, you're in the right place.
With Effy AI, you can create custom templates and run your first performance reviews in minutes. When you're done, you can sit back and let our AI analyze responses for you and give you actionable insights.
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