Free Performance Review Template (Excel)
A fair, ready-to-run review and 1-on-1 template for teams, agencies and growing businesses — self and manager scores side by side, a colour-coded overall, goals tracked and every catch-up logged.
- Score side by side — employee and manager rate the same ten competencies; the gaps set the agenda.
- RAG-rated overall — averages calculate live and the overall score colours itself red, amber or green.
- 1-on-1 log built in — wins, blockers and agreed actions per catch-up, with a follow-up flag.
- Goals with teeth — every goal gets a measure, a target date and a colour-coded progress %.
| Competency | Self (1–5) | Manager (1–5) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality of work | 4 | 4 | Consistently strong on the Meridian account |
| Communication | 3 | 4 | Client updates much clearer since March |
| Ownership | 4 | 3 | Owns delivery — escalate blockers sooner |
| Collaboration | 5 | 4 | |
| Client care | |||
| ＋ 5 more competencies… | |||
| Average | 4.0 | 3.8 | |
| Overall score | 3.9 | Green from 3.5 — on track | |
Preview of the actual template — both of you score the ten competencies and the averages and colour-coded overall work themselves out.
Everything you need to run a review properly
Not a blank grid — a review that's fair by design. Open it and start scoring.
Fair by design
Self and manager score the same ten competencies side by side. Disagreement isn't a problem — it's the agenda for the conversation.
A score that colours itself
Averages and the overall score calculate live. The overall cell rates itself: green from 3.5, amber below that, red under 2.5.
1-on-1 log built in
Wins, blockers and agreed actions per catch-up, with a followed-up flag that turns green or red. Nothing agreed gets lost between meetings.
Goals that get measured
Every goal has a measure, a target date and a progress % that colour-codes as it moves. Reviews stop being an annual surprise.
Run a fair review in three steps
No setup, no login, no HR consultancy required.
Download & open
Grab the .xlsx and open it in Excel (or Google Sheets / Numbers). Fill in the names and review period at the top — that's the setup done.
Score together, not at each other
Both of you rate the same ten competencies from 1–5 before you meet. The gaps between self and manager scores are the conversation — not the grade.
Goals that survive the meeting
Turn growth areas into goals with a measure, a target date and a progress % — then track them at every 1-on-1 until they're done.
Free performance review template (Excel) — questions
We build Landing — the platform teams switch to when the spreadsheet stack stops scaling. Free tools like this one are how we're useful before that day comes. No card, no trial, no catch — the file is yours.
Yes. It's a standard .xlsx file, so it opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. The drop-downs, formulas and colour-coding carry across.
Ten competencies, each scored 1–5 by the employee and the manager using drop-downs. Both averages and a combined overall calculate automatically, and the overall colour-codes itself: red below 2.5, amber below 3.5, green from 3.5 up.
For your first few, yes — that's exactly what this is for. When you're running reviews across a whole team, with salary decisions and progression paths hanging off them, that's where Landing takes over (below).
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