Staff Annual Performance Appraisals

Purpose:

To provide information on the policy and procedures related to annual staff performance evaluations in the College of Liberal Arts.

Relevant Definitions:

Employee: For this article, specifically refers to benefits-eligible, Classified and Administrative and Professional (A&P) staff employees in COLA. (A bit more info about these employee types can be found here.)

Supervisor: The person to whom the Employee reports. This person should also be the Manager of the employee in Workday. Note: If the employee's supervisor is Not the Manager to whom they report in Workday, please contact COLA HR.

HR Contact: Person who is responsible for HR-related duties for the COLA unit (department/center/institute/program/etc.) to which the Employee belongs. Usually the Department Manager, and/or "Senior Staff" member who liaises with the Dean's Office. Holds the HR Partner role in Workday.

Sup Org: Supervisory organization within Workday; ideally should reflect accurate reporting structure within a unit. 

COLA HR: The College of Liberal Arts Human Resources team, led by Tamela Walker, Director.  Contact Us

Process:

Key Dates:

Before You Start

1. Supervisors should review their employees' job responsibilities listed in Workday, as these will load into the performance review upon launch. (See Workday Guide (WIG) on How to View Position Responsibilities for assistance.)

   1. Any Supervisor who believes the listed responsibilities are inaccurate should send correction requests to COLA HR via their HR Contact.

      1. To expedite corrections, please include the current employee’s name and UT EID, job profile, and proposed updates to the listed responsibilities.

      2. COLA HR will follow up as needed.

2. The HR Contact for each unit has been given access to a UT Box folder with a spreadsheet listing employees (as of March 3, 2026) required to have performance appraisals. The HR Contact is responsible for reviewing this list and ensuring completion of the unit’s appraisals.

   1. If any employees are missing from the spreadsheet, contact COLA HR.

   2. The HR Contact is also responsible for providing written justification for any appraisal not completed from their list.

Launching Performance Reviews in Workday

Who: HR Contact

1. Once you have ensured the positions in your org have accurate responsibilities, you are ready to launch the reviews.

2. Log into Workday, and type “start performance review” in the search bar (you won’t have to type the entire phrase) to pull up the “Start Performance Review for Organization” Task. (For additional assistance, refer to the Start Performance Review WIG)

3. When you choose the task, a pop-up screen will ask for Run Frequency: select “Run Now.”

4. The next screen has several prompts to fill. (See screenshot)

   Open

   

   1. Organizations: Choose from “My Organizations”, selecting the top level available (or select all, as needed). You might want to review in Workday Qual to see your options before trying.

   2. Check “Include Subordinate Organizations”

   3. Review Template: "Condensed Annual Review with Self-Evaluation”

   4. Period Start/End Dates: 5/1/2025-4/30/2026 

5. Click "Okay".

6. This should lead you to the confirmation page. Follow the Start Performance Review WIG from step 8 to view all launched reviews.

   1. If you launch an unintended review by mistake, you are able to cancel. (See the WIG step 8.c) Cancellations must be done individually by worker, which is why a Qual test run is recommended if you oversee many orgs.

7. Once the reviews have been launched, they route to employees first, for the self-evaluation step.

   1. The HR Contact and Supervisor(s) in the management chain can view, but not edit, in-progress reviews for their organizations.

Employee Self-Evaluation

Who: Employee

1. Complete the Self-Evaluation step of the Annual Review BP in your Workday Inbox. ( Please refer to the Complete Staff Evaluation: Condensed Annual Review with Self-Evaluation WIG for more guidance.)

2. You can navigate the review via the Guided Editor or Summary Editor. Instructions appear at the top of each screen. Remember to click on the “edit” icon (looks like a pencil) to be able to type comments.

   1. “Save for Later” on the Summary Page allows you to complete the review in stages, if desired, without losing your progress.

3. The Summary page has the “Submit” button at the bottom. When you have completed your portion, review your answers on the Summary page before hitting “Submit”. Once submitted, the BP routes to the Supervisor.

Manager Evaluation

Who: Supervisor

1. Complete the Manager Evaluation step of the Employee’s Annual Review BP in your Workday inbox. (Complete Manager Evaluation: Condensed Annual Review WIG)

   1. Select “Go to Guided Editor" or "Continue where I left off" to complete the appraisal step-by-step; instructions appear at the top of the screen.

      1. Note - Supervisors are strongly encouraged to consult Tamela Walker if they plan to provide an overall rating below "Meets". 

2. When you reach Summary Page: DO NOT SUBMIT. Select Save for Later.

   1. Leave the review in your Inbox until you have met with the Employee to discuss the appraisal.

Meeting

Who: Employee and Supervisor

1. The Supervisor should scheduled a meeting with Employee to discuss the review (~15-30 minutes) prior to submitting the employee’s Review BP in Workday. The Supervisor can print the Workday evaluation-in-process for the Employee to read prior to (or during) the meeting. (Please see WIG, step 16.) 

   1. For appraisal meeting tips, please check out central HR’s Staff Performance Appraisal Guide.

Final Review and Submission of a Review

Who: Supervisor, then Employee

1. Following the meeting, Supervisor will finalize the review in Workday:

   1. If applicable, update any sections.

   2. If the employee wishes to make any changes to their self-evaluation, the Supervisor can "Send Back" the review BP to the Employee, who will need to Submit after making desired changes.

2. When the Supervisor has completed their review, they should “Submit.” This should launch a "To Do" within Workday for the supervisor to confirm that the meeting with the employee has taken place.

3. After submission, the evaluation will route one last time to Employee to acknowledge the review.

   1. Employee can acknowledge review with or without additional comments. 

4. After Employee acknowledgment, the review is complete and viewable within the Performance section of Employee's worker profile.

Verification of All Reviews for Unit

Who: HR Contact

1. HR Contact should monitor their organization(s) periodically--following launch but prior to COLA’s deadline--to confirm that reviews are getting completed in Workday.

   1. Run "Performance Appraisal and Probationary Review Summary for an Organization - RPT1066" in Workday to confirm the status of in-process reviews.

      1. Follow up with Supervisor(s), as necessary, to ensure completion of all required reviews in Workday prior to the deadline. (This year, the deadline is June 26, 2026.)

2. Once all appraisals have been completed, please uploaded the final copy of RPT1066 to your unit's Box folder using the requested naming convention for each file:

   1. YY-YY_DEPT_RPT1066.pdf

      1. "YY-YY" = the fiscal year of the eval; ex. "25-26"

         "DEPT" = 4-character UT Department code for your unit; ex. "ECON" (Department of Economics), or CLASP Department Code, if part of "COLA"; ex. "LAIT" (Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services; LAITS)

   2. Save a copy to your departmental personnel files.

3. COLA HR will review and reach out if any other information is needed.

Tips for Employees:

• Check out the UT HR "Staff Performance Appraisal Guide", especially Expectations of Employees, before starting your evaluation.

• Workday users may also want to read Why Do a Self-Appraisal.

Tips for Supervisors:

• Review the UT HR "Staff Performance Appraisal Guide", especially on Expectations of Managers and Tips for Writing Appraisals prior to completing "Manager" portion of evaluation in Workday. 

• If the Supervisor is not the employee's Manager within Workday, please work with your HR Contact to get this corrected prior to launching evaluations.

Policy:

Performance Evaluation Policy for Classified Personnel and Non-Faculty Professional Staff (HOP 5-2310)

Why do performance evaluations for staff?

Beyond the benefits of reflecting on and providing feedback on employee performance:

• It’s required by University policy (HOP 5-2310).

• The University System Board of Regents requires the President to certify each August that annual appraisals have been given to eligible employees.

• It is a pre-requisite for eligibility for a potential merit increase as part of the university’s salary adjustment process, if and when a merit policy has been approved and issued by the university president.

Other Related Links:

Performance Management  (UT HR webpage) 

Performance Appraisals (UT HR webpage)

Staff Performance Appraisal Guide (UT HR webpage)

Performance Documentation (Workday Sharepoint help webpage)