20 Thoughtful Performance Review Questions to Ask Your Employees
Performance reviews offer managers the opportunity to exchange feedback with employees and gain valuable insight into their teams. While every organization conducts their reviews differently, the overall objective is usually to provide constructive feedback.
Are the questions you are asking employees helping you to understand their work challenges?
If you’re looking to start an open and respectful dialogue with your employees, we have curated a list of 20 thoughtful questions to ask during your next performance review.
Performance Review Questions: Overall Performance
Gauge your employees’ performance by asking them if they need help meeting any goals and how they view their overall performance. This type of employee feedback can help you understand what your team members are proud of, enjoy doing and if they are struggling with any tasks.
- How do you think you’ve been doing over the last six months?
- Do you enjoy the responsibilities of your current role?
- Are you struggling to meet any goals?
- What’s your ideal working environment and how can the company help you get the most out of your day?
Performance Review Questions: Employee Skills & Strengths
Use this time to get to know your employees better by asking questions that lead to thoughtful dialogue about what motivates them to show up to work day after day. Questions about employees’ perceived strengths may help you gain insight into additional skills and interests your team members possess.
- Which projects are you most excited to work on?
- What part of your job are you best at?
- How can we make better use of your skills to achieve the team’s goals?
- Are there any tasks you would like to take on?
Performance Review Questions: Areas of Improvement
There is always room for improvement. This is a performance review afterall. But you don’t have to be brash to get your point across. Ask questions that invite employees to lead the discussion on ways they can increase productivity.
- What short-term goals can we set to help you better meet your goals?
- From your perspective, where is there room for improvement?
- How could you structure your work day to increase productivity?
- Which deliverable were you least proud of and how could you improve on a similar project in the future?
Performance Review Questions: Company Culture
Company culture impacts employee retention1which makes a performance review the perfect time to zero in on how your team members feel about the way the business functions. It’s a touchy topic but asking your employees about shared values is likely to be less costly than employee turnover.2
- Do you have any concerns about our company culture, and are there any specific areas that need improvement?
- What’s your favorite part about working for this organization?
- Do you have any suggestions for ways we can improve diversity and inclusion?
- What do you think it takes to be successful at this organization?
Performance Review Questions: Future Outlook
Start a conversation about employees’ future goals by asking about how they see themselves growing at the company. When you gain insight about employees’ aspirations, you begin to understand what motivates them and how they view their career trajectory.
- Are there any new skills that you would like to learn?
- Do you aspire to work in a different capacity within this organization in the future?
- What are your long-term career goals?
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
References
- Gleeson, B. (2017, April 6). How important is culture fit for employee retention? Forbes. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2017/04/03/how-important-is-culture-fit-for-employee-retention/
- Hall, J. (2019, May 9). The cost of turnover can kill your business and make things less fun. Forbes. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2019/05/09/the-cost-of-turnover-can-kill-your-business-and-make-things-less-fun/