How to Set Up Templates - Reviews & Check-ins

What this article covers 

Templates in Reviews & Check-ins give managers and employees a shared set of discussion points to reflect on and discuss together. This is a free-text, reflection-based format — both participants write open-ended answers to each discussion point independently, then compare responses once both have submitted. 

Good to know

There are no question types, rating scales, or scored answers in this module. Every discussion point is open-ended text. If you're looking for a scale-based or scored review format, that lives in a different part of Simployer One — this guide covers discussion-point templates only. 

The three template types 

As an administrator, you manage Simployer templates and Company templates. Personal templates are private to whoever created them — including your own, if you've made any — and aren't visible to other admins. 

Simployer's template library 

Found under Templates → Simployer templates. As of now, the library includes: 

• 1:1 Check-in 
• Career development discussion 
• Exit Interview 
• Follow-up Meeting at the End of the Probationary Period 
• Growth & development planning 
• Impact-Based Conversation 
• Performance and Development Dialogue 
• Performance review 
• Self-awareness review 
• Start / Stop / Continue 
• What's cooking? 

Each Simployer template can be toggled Enabled or Disabled. Disabled templates are hidden from everyone who creates conversations — owners, admins, and managers alike — and can't be selected for new conversations or rounds, but this never affects conversations or rounds that already use it. You can also enable or disable individual discussion points within a Simployer template, useful when most of it fits your needs but a few points don't. 

Creating a company template 

Go to Templates → Company templates → Create a new template. A template has three sections: 

Basic information 

1 Template name (required) 

Must be unique. E.g. “Growth & development planning.” 

2 Template description (required) 

Explains the template's purpose. Shown when browsing templates, not inside the conversation itself. E.g. “This template is used to define learning and development areas.” 

Conversation user guidelines (optional) 

3 Select “Write guideline” if needed 

Rich-text content — supports headings, bold, lists, and links. Shown to both participants inside the conversation via a “Show guidelines” button. Use it for instructions, mindset guidance, or procedures on how to use the template effectively. 

Discussion points 

4 Add each discussion point 

This is the actual prompt both participants will reflect on and answer independently, e.g. “What's going well,” “Blockers & friction,” “Support needed,” “Anything else.” Use Add discussion point to add more. 

5 Add instructions per point (optional) 

Short guidance shown below that specific discussion point inside the conversation, to clarify or steer the reflection. E.g. under “Blockers & friction”: “Describe any recent blockers or friction — anything that feels stuck, unclear, or frustrating since the last check-in.” 

6 Reorder or remove points as needed 

Use the up/down arrows to reorder, or the trash icon to delete a discussion point. 

7 Select Save 

The template is now available to everyone who creates conversations — owners, admins, and managers — under Company templates, if enabled. 

Tips for writing good discussion points 

Both the employee and the manager see and answer the same discussion points, so phrase them neutrally — not directed at just one participant. 

Copying a template 

You can copy any template — Simployer or company — to use as a starting point for your own. Select Create copy next to the template. 

1 Choose where to save the copy 

A dialog asks you to choose: Personal templates (private to you) or Company template (available to everyone who creates conversations — owners, admins, and managers — once enabled). This choice appears every time you copy a template, regardless of whether the original was a Simployer or company template. 

2 Edit your copy 

The copy is pre-populated with all fields from the original, with “(Copy)” appended to the name. For Simployer templates, the copy uses whichever language was displayed at the time. The copy is fully independent — changes to either the copy or the original afterward won't affect the other. 

Good to know 

You can only edit templates you own — your own company templates, personal templates, or copies you've made. The original Simployer templates themselves can never be edited directly, only copied and then edited. 

Editing and deleting templates 

You can edit or delete any company template (or your own copies) at any time from the Company templates tab. 

Important 

Template changes only affect conversations created after the change. Conversations that already exist keep the exact template content they were created with — discussion points, guidelines, and instructions included. The same applies if you delete a template entirely: existing conversations built from it are not affected. This preserves the historical accuracy of past conversations — what participants actually saw and responded to stays intact. 

Assigning a template to a Conversation Round 

Templates are assigned when creating a Conversation Round, not managed separately. In Step 1 of the round-creation wizard (Name and template), you give the round a name and select which template all conversations in that round will use. See the Round-setup guide for the full wizard walkthrough.