How to Set Up Employee Reviews & Check-ins - Owner & Admin Guide

Owner & Admin Guide — Reviews & Check-ins 

Owners and admins configure and oversee the Reviews & Check-ins module. Setting up a Review Round is a structured 6-step wizard. Steps 1 and 2 (template and round creation) should be completed before launching — the wizard walks you through the rest. 

Before you start — set up your template (templates tab) 

1 Decide on your template first 

Go to Templates → Simployer templates to enable/disable any of the pre-built options (1:1 Check-in, Performance review, Career development, Exit Interview, Self-awareness review, Start/Stop/Continue, What's cooking?, etc.). If you want a custom template, go to Company templates → Create a new template. 

Custom template tips: Discussion points are shown to and answered by both manager and employee — keep them neutral and non-directional. Good: 'Key challenges to discuss'. Bad: 'What goals have you achieved?' (rephrase as: 'Goals achieved since our last discussion'). 

Tip: Template changes only affect future conversations. Nothing already created is altered. Create separate templates per language if needed — custom templates have no built-in language versions. 

Wizard step 1 of 5 — name your review round 

2 Navigate to Performance → Reviews & Check-ins → Review rounds → Create review round 

Give the round a unique name (e.g. 'Q2 Employee Review 2026'). This is the named time window that groups all related conversations for reporting and statistics. 

Wizard step 2 of 5 — choose a template 

3 Select the template for this round 

Pick from your enabled Simployer templates or any custom templates you have built. The template defines the discussion points that both manager and employee will answer. 

Wizard step 3 of 5 — set the timeline 

4 Set the start and end dates for the review round 

The start date is informational only — no automatic actions are triggered on that date. After the end date, the round cannot be selected for new conversations. Existing conversations linked to it are unaffected. 

Wizard step 4 of 5 — set the scope 

5 Choose who the review round applies to 

Select which employees are in scope for this round. Employees added to the scope after the round is created will not automatically get a conversation — these need to be created manually. 

Wizard step 5 of 5 — choose how conversations are created 

6 Option A: Create conversations automatically 

Conversations between each employee and their direct manager are created automatically when you finish the wizard. Managers can still create additional conversations for employees in scope if needed. 

7 Option B: Let managers create conversations 

No conversations are created during setup. Managers decide when to start conversations and which employees in scope to include. Admins can also create conversations on behalf of managers. Note: managers are not automatically notified — you need to inform them the round is live. 

Tip: HR / admins can also create conversations directly with employees, where HR acts as the Reviewer (conversation owner). This is useful for cross-team reviews or when a manager is unavailable. 

Wizard step 6 of 5 — review and launch 

8 Review the summary and click 'Start now' 

The final screen shows a summary of your round configuration. Clicking Start now triggers the round — conversations are created (if auto-create is on) and the period becomes active. 

Ongoing — monitor progress 

9 Track period statistics from the Overview 

Each round shows: employees with no conversation, with an ongoing conversation, and with a completed conversation. These three counts always add up to the total number of active users in scope. 

10 Use the manager breakdown to follow up 

See per-manager coverage. Counts are based on each employee's current direct manager — not who is acting as Reviewer. The sum across managers may be less than the overall total (employees without a manager are excluded). 

11 Settings tab — Talent link 

If your company previously used the Talent module, toggle on the link so employees can access their historical reviews and data.