Creating a talent review template

Talent Review is a Performance Management feature that brings talent calibration into the platform. Instead of exporting performance data into spreadsheets and holding calibration meetings outside the application, your organization can run a structured talent review cycle in which workers are assessed on two axes, such as performance and potential, and placed automatically in a 9-box grid. A template can also include a second grid, so that the same cycle assesses a further dimension, for example, retention risk.

Talent Review functions as a process in its own right. It is separate from Reviews, Goals, Feedback, and Career Development. Line managers rate their direct reports first, Talent HRBPs then calibrate those ratings across teams, and the template owner closes the process. At this point, the system calculates and locks one final rating for every worker. Manager ratings are kept alongside HR ratings rather than overwritten, and a cycle advances on submissions instead of dates, so it closes when the work is done, not when a deadline passes.

This article explains how administrators and template owners enable the feature and build and publish a talent review template.

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Talent review templates are available under Workbench > Performance Management > Talent Review > Talent Review Templates. Users with the Talent Review professional role can create and publish templates. For an overview of all the roles involved in a talent review, see Roles involved in a talent review below.

Getting started

Enabling Talent Review

Talent Review is listed in Workbench > Platform Setup > Feature Enablement. The feature is off by default and can only be turned on or off by the beqom team.

To enable Talent Review for your organization, please contact your beqom representative.

Roles involved in a talent review

A talent review cycle involves several roles, each with a distinct part to play:

Professional roles like Talent Review or Talent HRBP are assigned in Workbench. For more information, refer to Managing professional roles.

Understanding a talent review cycle

A talent review moves through the following stages:

1. A template owner creates a talent review template in Workbench, defining its details, population, grids, and questionnaire. While it is a draft, the template is visible only to its owners.

2. The owner publishes the template. Its status changes from Draft to In progress, a review is created for every eligible worker in the population, and the Talent Review tab appears in the Planner for the managers and Talent HRBPs concerned.

3. Managers rate their direct reports, answer the questionnaire, and submit their evaluations.

4. Talent HRBPs calibrate the ratings of the workers within their scope and submit HR ratings. They can do so at any time, independently of where managers have reached.

5. While the review is in progress, the owner can still adjust the template and republish it.

6. The owner closes the review. The system calculates one final rating per worker, and the review becomes read-only for everyone.

Starting a new template

To create a template, click Create talent review template in the top-right corner of the Talent Review Templates page. The Create talent review template form opens. A guided wizard on the right takes you through four steps:

1. Talent review details, where you enter the basic information for the talent review.

2. Population, where you define the populations for the talent review.

3. Axis configuration, where you configure the axes and levels for the 9-box grid.

4. Questionnaire, where you create questions for managers and, if needed, Talent HRBPs.

Use the Next and Back buttons below the wizard to move between steps. A check mark indicates each step you have completed. In the top-right corner of the page, the Save as draft button saves your progress, and Cancel exits the wizard.

Translating template content

Every piece of template text can be translated. For that, the relevant wizard steps include a Translations drop-down list, which shows your default language, for instance, English (United States) (Default).

To provide a translated version of the content of a step, select a language in the Translations drop-down, and then enter the text in that language. Switch back to the default language at any time to continue editing the original content.

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The default language is mandatory. Its content must be complete before you can move on to the next step or publish the template. Translations into other languages are optional.

Step 1 – Talent review details

In the Details section, provide the following information:

• Name: The name of the talent review, as it will appear to managers and Talent HRBPs in the Planner.

• Description: A description of the talent review and its purpose. It will be displayed in the Details tab of the review in the Planner.

• Owners: The users who can manage the template. As the creator, you are added automatically. To add co-owners, type a name in the search field and select the relevant person. You can only add users who fall within your own scope. At least one owner is required.

The figure below shows the first step of the wizard for a new template, with the creator already listed as its owner:

Talent review details step

Click Next to continue.

Step 2 – Population

The Population step specifies which workers are reviewed. This step is mandatory, and the population you can select is limited to your own scope. To define the population, proceed as follows:

1. In the Population section, select one or more populations in the Population drop-down list. The list shows the populations defined in your organization.

2. If needed, use the Role drop-down list to narrow the selected populations down by role. By default, All roles is selected. You can also select Worker or Manager.

3. If needed, adjust the population manually in the Manual worker selections section, which lets you apply individual inclusions and exclusions:

   • To add workers who are not part of the selected populations, click Manage workers and select Include worker. In the Include worker window that will appear, search for workers by name or worker ID in the search field, select the relevant workers using the checkboxes, and click Include selected.

   • To leave specific workers out of the selected populations, click Manage workers and select Exclude worker. Select the workers in the same way, and click Exclude selected.

4. Review the manual selections in the table, which lists each worker with their Worker, Worker ID, Organization, Country, and Status (Included or Excluded). Use the Search field above the table to locate a specific worker. To undo your manual selection, click the three-dot icon at the far right of a worker's row and select Delete.

Adding workers by hand is done in the window shown below:

Include worker window

Click Next to continue.

Step 3 – Axis configuration

The Axis configuration step sets up the 9-box grid on which workers are rated and placed. The step opens on a default grid called Talent review, with Performance on the X-axis and Potential on the Y-axis, three levels on each axis, and nine named cells. Every default can be adapted to the vocabulary your organization already uses. The grid always consists of three levels by three, that is, nine cells.

Configuring the grid and its axes

In the Talent review grid section, provide the following information:

• Grid name: The name of the grid that will be used as the name of the grid tab and column group in the Planner.

• Description: The purpose of the grid. It will be displayed in the Details tab of the review in the Planner.

• X-axis and Y-axis: The names of the horizontal and vertical axes. These names will also be used as column headers in the rating table in the Planner.

In the Level names section, enter the names of the three levels of each axis. Levels are numbered from 1, the lowest level, to 3, the highest. Managers select these levels when rating workers.

Here is how the grid, axis, and level fields look with the default values already filled in:

Grid, axis, and level configuration

The following table shows the default values of the Talent review grid:

Customizing the grid cells

The Talent review grid preview section shows the grid as managers and Talent HRBPs will see it. Each cell has a number, a header (for example, Star), and a label displayed as a badge (for instance, Retain). To customize a cell, proceed as follows:

1. Select a cell in the grid preview. The section below the grid reads You are currently editing cell ..., followed by the cell number.

2. Edit the Header and Label of the cell.

3. In Color theme, keep Default to use the default color of the cell, or select Custom and choose one of the colors in the palette.

4. Repeat for any other cell you want to customize. The preview updates immediately with each change.

In the example below, the first cell is selected in the preview, and its header, label, and color theme can be edited in the section underneath:

Grid preview with the cell editor

The default cells of the Talent review grid are arranged as follows, with the highest Potential level in the top row and the highest Performance level in the right-hand column:

To restore the default cell headers and labels, click Reset to default in the top-right corner of the grid preview and confirm in the dialog. Resetting affects only the cell content, not the grid name, description, axis names, or level names you entered.

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If you reset a grid, it will permanently replace all the data entered in the cells. This action cannot be undone.

Adding a second grid

A template can assess workers on another dimension within the same talent review cycle. To add a second grid, turn on the Enable second grid toggle, which is off by default. This will reveal the following second configuration panel, pre-filled with Retention risk defaults:

Second grid enabled with Retention risk defaults

You can configure the second grid in the same way as the first one, with its own grid name, description, axes, level names, cells, live preview, and reset option.

See the default values for Retention risk grid fields:

The following table presents the default cells of the Retention risk grid:

The preview of the second grid works just like the first one, as presented by the image below:

Retention risk grid preview

When a template has two grids, managers and Talent HRBPs rate workers on both of them, and a worker can only be submitted once both grids are rated. The questionnaire, which we describe below, is shared by both grids.

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Once a template with a second grid has been published, the second grid cannot be turned off again, since managers may already be rating workers against it. However, its names, labels, and colors can still be adjusted and republished.

Click Next to continue.

Step 4 – Questionnaire

The Questionnaire step lets you add custom questions that complement the grid ratings, for example, on a worker's readiness for a broader role or development priorities. Each question is targeted at a specific role through its response permission, so that managers and Talent HRBPs are presented with the scope relevant to them.

To add a question, proceed as follows:

1. Click the Add question button. The Add question drawer will slide from the right side of your screen:

   

   Drawer for adding questions

2. If needed, select a language in the Translations drop-down list. Remember that the question must be complete in the default language.

3. Enter the question text in the Question field.

4. Select who answers the question in the Response permission drop-down list. The default value is Manager. The options are described in the table below:

5. Select the Answer type:

   • Text input: The respondent enters a free-text answer.

   • Checkboxes: The respondent selects one or more options from a list. At least one option is required.

   • Radio buttons: The respondent selects exactly one option from a list. At least two options are required.

6. For checkboxes and radio buttons, define the answer options in the List of options section. Enter the text of each option, click + Add answer option to add another one, drag options to reorder them, and use the x button to remove an option.

7. Check the Mandatory answer box if an answer is required before the worker can be submitted.

8. Click Add in the bottom-right corner of the drawer. The question is added to the questionnaire table.

Once added, the questions are listed in the Questionnaire section in a table with the following columns: Question, Answer type, and Response permission.

See an example of a questionnaire that includes questions for all three response permissions:

Questionnaire step

To change the order in which questions are displayed, drag a question by the handle on the left of its row. To edit a question, click the three-dot icon at the far right of its row and select Edit, make your changes in the drawer, and click Apply. You can also delete this question by clicking the icon in the bottom-left corner of the same drawer or by going back to the table, clicking the three-dot icon at the far right of this question's row, and selecting Delete.

Publishing the template

The Questionnaire step is the last step of the wizard, and it is where you publish the template. To publish, click Publish, and then confirm in the dialog.

Once your template is published, the following happens:

• The template status changes from Draft to In progress, and the publication date appears in the Published date column on the Talent Review Templates page.

• A review is created for every worker in the population who has a manager and falls within the creator's scope.

• The Talent Review tab appears in the Planner for every manager with at least one direct report in the review, and for every Talent HRBP with at least one worker of the review within their scope. For details on how managers and Talent HRBPs rate and calibrate workers in the Planner, refer to Talent Review for managers and Talent Review for HRBPs.

You can then follow the review's progress from the Talent Review Templates page, edit and republish the template while the review is in progress, and close the review when calibration completes. For step-by-step instructions, see Working with talent review templates.