This article is for managers or reviewers who need to complete performance reviews or self-evaluations in Gusto.
Performance reviews are included in the Plus and Premium plans. Companies that already have the Performance add-on keep it—the add-on is no longer offered to new customers. Admins can upgrade the plan at any time.
Performance reviews let you give feedback and help your employees (or coworkers) grow in their careers.
Admins—not reviewers—set up each review cycle. When they do, they choose the review questions (starting from a saved template, Gusto's recommended questions, or their own) and assign a reviewer to each employee. If you need different questions, a different template, or a different reviewer, ask an admin to update the cycle.
Note: Performance reviews are only available for US employees, not contractors.
Expand the sections to learn more. Use CMD + F (or CTRL + F) to search for words in the article.
See below for an overview of how performance reviews work for managers and reviewers.
Admins start a review cycle, choose the review questions or template, and assign a reviewer to each employee.
If you’re picked as a reviewer, you’ll get an email asking you to complete your reviews from your employee profile.
Review goals and feedback.
While filling out the review, you can check the employee’s goals and the feedback they’ve received.
Track review progress.
Go to the Performance section in your employee profile to track review progress and complete reviews (or your own self-evaluation).
Gather insights.
Review the feedback once evaluations are done, and talk with employees or teammates about it.
Share feedback with teammates.
After both the self-evaluation and review are done, you can share the feedback with the employee.
Add summaries and private notes.
Before admins finalize the review, you can add a summary for everyone to view or keep a private note for yourself and the admins.
Watch this video to learn how to complete performance reviews and self-evaluations. Your Gusto experience may look different from what is shown in this video.
To complete a review or self-evaluation:
Go to Performance.
In the Reviews tile, click View to open the review.
If your manager asked you to complete a self-evaluation (in addition to being a reviewer), you’ll land on the My performance tab. You can fill out your own evaluation now or later.
Switch to the Direct reports tab to view your team’s self-evaluations.
Review the cycle progress dashboard, and click Show breakdown to view progress for:
Self-evaluations
Manager review
Sharing
Scroll to the Participants section and under the Actions column, click Go to review.
You’ll find the evaluation here once the reviewer submits it.
Read the self-evaluation.
Click Manager review.
Review the questions, enter your responses, and click Submit.
We keep your feedback private until you or an admin shares it.
Click Submit to confirm your reviewer evaluation.
Note: You cannot edit or change the review once you submit it.
When you’re ready, click Share results.
You cannot share the review until you submit both the self-evaluation and the manager review.
Click Share review with [employee name].
We’ll email the employee to let them know their review is ready. They can find it in their Performance section the next time they sign in to Gusto.
Once you share the review, you cannot take it back. Click Share review to share it.
Admins can also share the full review with your reports.
After you share the review, you can view it in full from the Performance section of your account.
To view a shared review:
Go to Performance.
For any active reviews, click View.
Click Go to review for the employee.
You can add notes to a performance review until an admin finalizes the review cycle. You can share notes with everyone or keep them private.
To share a note that everyone can view, including the person you reviewed:
Go to Performance.
For any active reviews, click View.
Click Go to review for the employee.
Click Notes to add in-person discussion notes. Everyone, including the person you reviewed, can view these notes.
You can summarize the feedback from the review, record action items and meeting notes, and more.
Click Share note to share it with everyone.
We’ll notify the employee that you shared a note. They’ll be able to find it in the Performance section the next time they sign in to Gusto. Once you share the note, you cannot take it back.
Click Share note.
Private notes are only visible to direct managers and Gusto admins. You can add private notes until an admin finalizes the review.
To add a private note:
Go to Performance.
For any active reviews, click View.
Click Go to review for the employee.
Click Notes.
Click Add a private note.
If you already shared a note, click the three-dot Actions menu next to it and click Edit to find this option.
Note: If you do not get the answer you were hoping for, we’d like your feedback on how we can improve performance reviews in the future.
Q: As a new manager or reviewer, can I view past reviews for my current reviewees?
A: Yes. Managers can view and export reviews for their reports. If the manager changes, the new manager can access the historical reviews.