What is a self-evaluation?

A self-evaluation is an employee’s written reflection on their performance during a set review period, such as quarterly or annually. Strong self-evaluation answers include:

• Results achieved: Evidence of goals met or exceeded, ideally with metrics.
• Strengths and skills: Examples of behaviors or capabilities that drove success.
• Areas to improve: Honest reflection on challenges and how to address them.
• Future goals: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, or SMART goals, are tied to individual and company objectives.

For employers, these inputs help provide essential context, reduce blind spots and make performance discussions more balanced and actionable.

Why self-evaluations matter for employers

When done effectively, self-evaluations can benefit both employees and organizations. Employers gain:

• Better performance calibration: Evidence from employees helps managers validate ratings and reduce unconscious bias.
• Employee accountability: Reflecting on progress might encourage ownership and engagement.
• More meaningful reviews:Examples can provide structure for coaching and feedback conversations.
• Clear development pathways: Self-identified growth areas can help make planning easier and more targeted.

Examples of strong self-evaluation answers

Here are examples you can share with employees to model effective, evidence-based responses:

• Results and impact:“I launched a pricing pilot that increased close rates from 22% to 29% in three months, contributing $480K in revenue. My next step is to expand the model to enterprise accounts.”
• Strengths in action:“I built cross-team alignment during our mobile checkout launch by running weekly risk reviews. This prevented two API issues and reduced potential support tickets by 150+.”
• Improvement area:“I need to delegate sooner on large projects. To address this, I’ve created a Monday handoff checklist and set milestones to reduce project delays by 25% next quarter.”
• Collaboration: “By creating a shared CRM roadmap with Sales, I reduced duplicate feature requests by 40% and gave teams earlier visibility into product changes.”
• Learning and growth: “After completing an advanced Excel course, I automated weekly reporting with Power Query. This saved 3 hours per week and reduced formula errors.”

Creating a self-evaluation template

Designing a clear, consistent self-evaluation template helps ensure employees provide insights that are both relevant and actionable. A good template generally balances open-ended responses with scaled questions, so managers receive qualitative and quantitative feedback.

1. Choose a format

Employers typically use one of two formats:

• Open-ended: Employees write detailed responses in their own words. This format takes longer to review but often produces richer insights. It’s a good fit for small teams or companies that prioritize professional growth conversations.
• Scaled: Employees rate themselves on a numerical or graduated scale. This makes results easier to compare across teams and departments. Common tools include Likert scales or behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS).

Some organizations combine both formats, asking employees to rate themselves numerically and support those ratings with short explanations.

2. Identify relevant questions

The best questions align with your competencies and business goals. While general questions work for most roles, you may want to tailor them by department or function. Example prompts include:

• What are your key accomplishments from this review period?
• How did your work contribute to team or company objectives?
• What skills did you develop or strengthen?
• What goals were most challenging to achieve and why?
• What areas of development would most enhance your performance?
• How did you demonstrate company values in your work?
• How effectively did you collaborate or communicate with others?

3. Provide clear instructions

Set expectations around word count, scope and submission deadlines. Explain whether you want concise bullet-style answers, full paragraphs or both. Clarifying these details upfront can help employees complete evaluations consistently, making them easier to review and compare.

Employee self-evaluation templates

Below are two sample templates employers can use or adapt for performance reviews. Both are designed to encourage reflection, highlight accomplishments and identify areas for growth.

Open-ended evaluation template

Employee name:

Date:

Position:

Manager:

Review period:

Instructions: Assess your performance over the review period by answering the following questions. Submit to your manager by [date].

Accomplishments

• What are your key accomplishments over the past [time period]?
• What was the outcome or impact of those achievements?
• What accomplishment are you most proud of, and why?

Strengths

• What are your greatest strengths and how have they contributed to your success?
• What skills have you improved or developed during this period?
• How do you plan to continue building on these strengths in the next review period?

Areas for improvement

• What one or two areas of development would most enhance your growth and performance?
• What support, training, or resources would help you improve in these areas?

Next steps

• What immediate actions can you take to improve performance and achieve your goals?
• How will you measure progress toward these goals over the next six months?

Scaled evaluation template

Employee name:

Date:

Position:

Manager:

Review period:

Instructions: Complete the self-evaluation by rating the statements below on a scale of 1–5. Use the space provided to add comments or examples.

Scale:

1 = Needs Improvement

2 = Below Expectations

3 = Meets Expectations

4 = Exceeds Expectations

5 = Exceptional

Statements

• I met the goals and responsibilities outlined for my role.
• I produced high-quality work, paying attention to detail and accuracy.
• I communicated effectively, both in writing and verbally.
• I collaborated with colleagues and contributed to team goals.
• I managed time effectively and met deadlines.
• I adapted to changing priorities and new responsibilities.
• Overall, I delivered strong performance during this review period.

Areas for improvement

• What one or two areas should I focus on to improve overall performance?

Comments and goals

• What are your key goals for the next review period and how do you plan to achieve them?

Self-evaluations help employees reflect on impact and growth while giving managers a richer view of performance. By providing clear prompts, modeling effective self-evaluation answers and coaching employees on balance and evidence, employers can turn this exercise into a driver of engagement and development.