Performance Reviews That Hold Up: Documentation Strategies That Protect Your Organization
On-demand recording
60 minutes | INSTRUCTOR-LED TRAINING
Program Summary
In our interactive instructor-led 60-minute event, you will learn a practical framework for one of HR’s most overlooked sources of legal exposure: the performance review. Reviews are written once and read many times, often by an attorney or investigator after a termination, complaint, or promotion dispute. What a manager wrote months earlier can decide whether your decision is supported or contradicted.
This session moves beyond rating scales and form templates to show you how to build reviews that are accurate, consistent, and defensible. You will learn how to catch inflated ratings and vague language before they become a problem, and how to make sure today’s review supports tomorrow’s decision.
You’ll discover the following:
- How to write review language that is specific, factual, and tied to measurable expectations
- Why inflated or inconsistent ratings undermine later discipline and terminations, and how to correct them
- Specific phrases to use (and avoid) so comments reflect performance, not personality or assumptions
- Steps for documenting the review conversation and the employee’s response
Program Highlights
Preparation: Building Reviews on Facts, Not Impressions
- How to gather performance data and examples before the writing starts
- Ways to calibrate ratings across managers and departments to prevent inconsistency claims
- Techniques for catching bias and subjective language during HR’s review of drafts
The Conversation: Keeping the Written and Spoken Message Aligned
- How to make sure what is said in the meeting matches what is on paper
- Strategies for handling disagreement, rebuttals, and emotional reactions
- Ways to address performance concerns clearly without creating false expectations
Follow-Through: Records That Support Every Decision
- How to document the discussion, the employee’s comments, and agreed next steps
- Ways to connect review findings to coaching, PIPs, and promotion decisions
- Best practices for storing and retaining review records
Question & Answer Session Have your specific questions answered!
Register Now
Join us to learn how to turn performance reviews into records that support your decisions instead of challenging them. You will leave with clear language, a consistent process, and documentation that protects your organization.
About the speaker
Margie Faulk, HR Compliance Advisor and E-Learning Trainer, HR Compliance Solutions, LLC
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