Employee self-evaluation examples

Write four lines for each thing you report:

1. The result. What changed because of your work.
2. The proof. A document, a figure or a person who can confirm it.
3. The limit. What it does not show.
4. What comes next.

"I consistently exceed expectations" could be written by anyone. Your manager reads your self-evaluation against their own notes. A sentence anyone could have written adds nothing to that comparison. A dated result with proof does.

1. Delivering a project

• Result: delivered the supplier review on 28 February, the agreed date.
• Proof: the review document and the sign-off email.
• Limit: two suppliers were left out because their data arrived late.
• Next: add them in the June update.

2. Quality of work

• Result: the monthly forecast was within 3% of actual in five of six months.
• Proof: the forecast file, with actuals beside it.
• Limit: March was off by 9% after a pricing change I had not been told about.
• Next: I now check with sales before each forecast.

3. Meeting deadlines

• Result: closed the month-end report by day three in every month since October.
• Proof: the dates on the reports.
• Limit: I did it by working late twice. That will not last.
• Next: automate the two manual steps.

4. Working with other teams

• Result: sales now sends pricing questions to me directly.
• Proof: eleven requests since January, in the shared inbox.
• Limit: this depends on two people in sales. The rest still go through my manager.
• Next: present at the full sales meeting.

5. Helping colleagues

• Result: trained the two new analysts on the weekly report. Both now run it alone.
• Proof: the last six reports carry their names.
• Limit: I have not yet written the steps down.
• Next: write the guide in July.

6. Solving a problem

• Result: found why the data arrived two days late each month, and had the export moved.
• Proof: my note of 3 March and the new schedule.
• Limit: the fix depends on one person in IT.
• Next: ask for the export to be scheduled automatically.

7. Learning a skill

• Result: took the statistics course and used it to rebuild the forecast.
• Proof: the certificate and the new model.
• Limit: I have applied one method of the five taught.
• Next: test a second method on the autumn data.

8. Raising a risk

• Result: in April I flagged that only one person could run payroll checks, and proposed a second.
• Proof: my email of 9 April.
• Limit: the second person is not trained yet.
• Next: training is booked for June.

9. A customer result

• Result: handled the renewal questions from our largest account, and they renewed.
• Proof: the account manager's note of thanks.
• Limit: several people worked on the renewal. My part was the pricing answers.
• Next: write those answers up for other accounts.

10. Taking on new scope

• Result: took over the supplier review when a colleague left in February.
• Proof: the handover note and two completed reviews.
• Limit: I dropped the weekly dashboard to make room.
• Next: agree with my manager who owns the dashboard.

11. A goal you missed

• Result: the reporting project is not finished. The first version went out two months late.
• Proof: the project plan and the release note.
• Limit: I planned it as if I had no other work.
• Next: the remaining parts are cut into monthly pieces, and the next one is due on 30 June.

12. An area to improve

• Result: I still present too much detail. Two meetings ran over because of it.
• Proof: my manager's feedback in March and April.
• Limit: I have changed the slides, but I have presented only once since.
• Next: one page a meeting, and I will ask for feedback after each.

You can rebuild a good part of the year in an hour or two.

1. Read your sent email, month by month. Note anything you delivered, fixed or were thanked for.
2. Read your calendar. Note the meetings where something was decided.
3. Open your documents and tickets, sorted by date.
4. Ask two colleagues what they remember you doing.
5. Choose three results for each objective. Give each one its four lines.

Say where your proof is thin.

Use the same four lines. Say what happened, show that you know why, and say what is different now. Do not excuse it and do not punish yourself. Examples 11 and 12 show the tone.

• Adjectives about yourself: hard-working, proactive, passionate.
• Other people's faults.
• Anything you cannot show.

Choose the rating your evidence supports, and say why in one line. Before the form is final, ask your manager how they would rate the same item. A gap is easier to close in a conversation than after the review is written.

The self-evaluation is hard because it is written in December about things that happened in February. Start next year's on its first day, and the review becomes a matter of assembling what you already have.

How long should a self-evaluation be? Four lines for each result, and three results for each objective. Use less if the form is short.

Should I mention the raise or promotion I want? State your objective for next year in the goals section. The request itself has its own date. See how to ask for a raise.

I manage a team. What changes? Nothing in the format. The results are your team's, and you name your own part in them.

Can I use these performance review self-assessment examples as they are? Use the format. The content has to be yours, or it will not match your manager's notes.

The self-evaluation is the last step of a year-long routine. The full method is free: Start your annual review on day one. The free workbook keeps the record that makes this page easy.

If you would rather have it kept for you, a coach that runs it is planned.