What are calibrations?
Calibrations are collaborative sessions where leadership teams and HR professionals review and align performance ratings before they are shared with employees. The goal is to ensure that all managers apply the same standards and expectations when evaluating team members, preventing situations where one manager consistently rates higher or lower than others for similar performance levels. Read through our playbook for further inspiration on how to conduct a performance review calibration!
Please refer to this article to familiarize yourself with general review analytics options (heatmaps, distribution charts, box grids, radar charts, multiple-choice questions, and timelines).
Calibration tab in review templates
When setting up review templates and cycles, administrators can access a dedicated 'Calibrations' tab located between the 'Questions' and 'Timeline' tabs. This tab centralizes all calibration-related settings and provides granular control over the calibration process. This setting will be locked if managers are not included in the scope of the cycle.
Enabling calibrations
Calibrations are disabled by default for all new templates and cycles. Administrators can toggle the "Enable calibrations" setting to activate this functionality. When disabled, the system displays an information box explaining the benefits of calibration and hides all calibration-related settings.
Calibration scope
Once calibrations are enabled, administrators can select which questions will be included in the calibration process. Only questions that meet specific criteria are available for calibration:
- Questions must have score requirements (either required or optional scoring)
- Manager perspective must be included in the question scope
Creating calibration groups
Superadmins can only create and manage calibration groups, which define who can participate in calibration sessions and what data they can access. Each calibration group includes:
Calibration group participants: The reviewees whose scores will be calibrated during the session
Calibration committee members: Leadership team members or other designated individuals who have full access to reviews and calibration details for the group participants
Employee attribute access: Specific employee attributes that calibration committee members can view for participants in their group, even if their normal role-based permissions wouldn't grant this access
This gives admins the ability to set up calibration permission granularly where only specific attributes can be visible and viewed during calibration for the specified calibration committee members for each group.
Timeline
When calibrations are enabled, two dates appear in the Timeline tab:
Calibration kickoff: Must occur after the manager assessment deadline
Calibration deadline: Must fall between the calibration kickoff and discussion deadline
The system automatically sends notifications to cycle owners at key milestones: when calibration begins, three days before the deadline, and when the deadline is reached.
Calibration Timeline and Notifications
When calibrations are enabled in your review template or cycle, the Timeline tab automatically includes two additional deadline types that integrate seamlessly with your existing review process: calibration kickoff and calibration deadline.
Timeline settings
Calibration kickoff
The calibration kickoff date marks when calibration activities can begin. This date must be scheduled after the manager assessment deadline to ensure all manager evaluations are completed before calibration sessions commence. During the calibration kickoff, calibration committee members gain access to their assigned calibration groups and can begin reviewing and adjusting scores through the Review Analytics heatmap.
Calibration deadline
The calibration deadline represents the final date for completing all calibration activities. This deadline must fall between the calibration kickoff date and the discussion deadline, ensuring calibration is completed before manager-employee discussions begin. After the calibration deadline passes, access to calibration functionality is restricted to Superadmins and review cycle owners only.
Timeline flexibility
Similar to other review deadlines, calibration dates can be adjusted throughout an active cycle. However, if calibrations are enabled for the first time during an active cycle, the system automatically sets default dates where the calibration kickoff equals the manager deadline and the calibration deadline equals the discussion deadline.
Automated notifications
The system sends three automated notifications to cycle owners using the existing cycle notification framework . These notifications help ensure calibration activities stay on track and deadlines are met.
- Calibration kickoff notification
- Reminder notification (3 days before deadline)
- Deadline reached notification
Integration with existing timeline
The calibration dates integrate seamlessly with your existing review timeline structure. All calibration deadlines follow the same soft deadline approach as other review phases, meaning the system doesn't automatically restrict access when deadlines pass, but rather provides clear notification milestones to keep the process on track .
Like other review cycle elements, these timeline settings can be modified during active cycles, providing flexibility to accommodate changing business needs while maintaining the integrity of the calibration process.
Enhanced review analytics for calibration
Entering calibration mode
To access calibration functionality in Review Analytics, users navigate to 'Actions' > 'Calibrate' and must select:
- A single active review cycle with an open calibration window
- A calibration group they have access to
Once in calibration mode, a sticky notification bar appears, and the system applies specific filters automatically.
Heatmap enhancements
The heatmap view includes several features for calibration:
Employee attribute columns: Display selected employee attributes for calibration group participants, with visibility overriding normal role-based restrictions
Pre and post-calibration score views: Toggle between showing scores before and after calibration, either in the same cell or as separate columns for detailed comparison
Enhanced filtering: New calibration group filter allows committee members to focus on specific groups during calibration sessions
Export capabilities: Excel exports include employee attributes and pre/post calibration scores, mirroring what's displayed in the heatmap.
Box view integration
When entering the box view during calibration mode, the system automatically applies calibration-specific filters and selects appropriate questions for the x and y axes based on calibration scope settings.
Manager notification system
After calibration deadlines pass, managers receive notification modals in the review form summarizing any score changes made during calibration. This "Calibration Rating Update" notification can be dismissed and accessed later through 'Actions' > 'See calibration history', ensuring managers are aware of adjustments and can review their comments for consistency with updated ratings.
Access and permissions
The calibration system provides role-based access controls:
Superadmins: Can create and modify calibration groups, access all calibration data, and view pre-calibrated scores outside of calibration windows.
Review cycle owners and admins: Can access calibration analytics and view historical calibration data
Calibration committee members: Have access to assigned calibration groups and related employee attributes only during active calibration windows.
Managers: Receive notifications about calibration changes and can access calibration history for their reviews.
Please note: If a user is in the calibration committee that you are using to calibrate users(s), then their scores will not be visible to calibrate, as committee members cannot calibrate each other's scores if they are in the same calibration committee being used. The workaround would be to create a separate calibration committee for the users who are in other calibration committees, and dedicate another user (like a super admin) as being in charge of calibrating the users in the calibration committees.
Migration of existing cycles
The system automatically migrates existing review cycles and templates based on current calibration permission settings. Cycles with existing calibration permissions enabled will migrate with calibrations active, while those without will migrate with calibrations disabled. The migration process creates appropriate calibration groups for admins, managers, and HRBPs based on their current access levels.
This enhanced calibration system ensures fair and consistent performance evaluations while maintaining data security and providing the flexibility organizations need to implement effective calibration processes.