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 5-step wizard. Decide on your template before launching — the wizard walks you through the rest. 

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

To do any of the below you have to be in the application. You'll find it in the left side menu. Click on Performance and then select Reviews & Check-ins in the drop down menu under Performance.

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').

Note: 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 and choose a template

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.

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 2 of 5 — set the timeline 

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 3 of 5 — set the scope 

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 4 of 5 — choose how conversations are created 

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. 

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 5 of 5 — review and launch

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

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. 

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). 

Settings — configure module options

Talent link 

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

Early access for managers 

By default, neither participant can see the other's answers until both have submitted. Turn this setting on to let the manager read the employee's submitted answers before submitting their own. This works one way only — the employee still cannot see the manager's answers until they have submitted themselves. The setting is off by default and applies immediately to all ongoing conversations.

Access without consent 

Normally, anyone outside a conversation — including admins — must request access and be approved by the employee before they can open it.
These two settings let you allow exceptions: 

• Administrator access without consent — admins and owners can open any conversation without asking the employee. 
• Manager access to conversations in their reporting line — a manager can open conversations for anyone below them in the reporting line, including indirect reports. 

Both are off by default. When a setting is on, eligible users see an 'Open without consent' option instead of having to request access. Access is read-only and only possible once the conversation is closed. 

Note: For transparency, employees can see in the conversation who can open it without approval, and every open made this way is listed in the conversation's Access Log.