90-Day Review Template
An end-of-probation review for a new hire. Assess how the first 90 days went across competence, quality, reliability, values and goals, confirm the hire or decide otherwise per your policy, and set the next quarter's goals.
Reviewed by Shobhit Mathur, Chief Customer Officer
- A review grid across the six areas that matter: competence, quality, reliability, values, goals and development
- A prep checklist so the review runs on evidence and input, not recency and a hunch
- A competency scorecard that makes the confirm, extend or do-not-confirm decision visible
- An outcome table that ties each decision to a when and a next step, plus next-quarter goals
What is inside
- A six-area review grid that assesses the first 90 days across role competence, work quality, reliability, behaviours and values, goals met and development needs, so the decision rests on the whole picture rather than one strong or weak moment.
- A review prep checklist that grounds the conversation in evidence and input, the goals from the 30-60-90 plan, manager and peer feedback, documented examples and the employee's own self-review, gathered before you sit down.
- A competency scorecard that rates the new hire across core tasks, quality, autonomy, collaboration and values, so the confirm, extend or do-not-confirm decision is visible and consistent from one hire to the next.
- An outcome table that ties each possible decision to a when and a next step, plus a place to set the next quarter's goals for a confirmed hire.
Who it is for
Anyone who has to plan what people learn, and answer for whether it landed.
- L&D and training teams
- People managers and team leads
- Heads of function and department
- HR business partners
- Compliance and risk teams
- Onboarding and enablement teams
- Operations and delivery leads
- COOs and HR directors
How to use this template in 4 steps
- Pick your format. Download the PDF to share, the Word file to edit, or the Excel file to work in live. All three are free.
- Make it yours. Adapt the sections, fields and wording to your team, roles and process so it fits how you actually work.
- Put it to work. Fill it in, circulate it to stakeholders for sign-off, or roll it out to your team.
- Track and improve. Review it on a set cadence and refine it as your goals, roles and priorities change.
What is inside
- A six-area review grid that assesses the first 90 days across role competence, work quality, reliability, behaviours and values, goals met and development needs, so the decision rests on the whole picture rather than one strong or weak moment.
- A review prep checklist that grounds the conversation in evidence and input, the goals from the 30-60-90 plan, manager and peer feedback, documented examples and the employee's own self-review, gathered before you sit down.
- A competency scorecard that rates the new hire across core tasks, quality, autonomy, collaboration and values, so the confirm, extend or do-not-confirm decision is visible and consistent from one hire to the next.
- An outcome table that ties each possible decision to a when and a next step, plus a place to set the next quarter's goals for a confirmed hire.
This is a review structure to adapt to your own roles and expectations, not legal advice and not a statement of your obligations. Confirming, extending or ending a hire at the end of probation is governed by your own probation policy and local employment law. Follow those, and involve HR, before you act on any decision.
The 90-day review
The core of the template. Six areas to assess, each with a prompt for what to look at, a rating and room for the evidence behind it. Work top to bottom and the decision is built on the whole of the first 90 days, not the last impression.
| Area | What to assess | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role competence | Can the person do the core work of the role to standard, with the level of support a 90-day hire should still need? | Evidence, examples, where support is still needed. | |
| Work quality | Is the output accurate, complete and reliable, or does it routinely need rework and checking? | Examples of strong and weak work, trend over the quarter. | |
| Reliability | Attendance, deadlines, follow-through and dependability. Can colleagues count on what the person commits to? | Missed or met commitments, any pattern. | |
| Behaviours and values | How the person works with others and whether they live the team's values and ways of working. | Collaboration, feedback, culture add, any concerns. | |
| Goals met | Were the goals and success measures from the 30-60-90 plan achieved? Which landed, which did not, and why? | Goal by goal against the plan. | |
| Development needs | The one or two areas to focus on next, whether the hire is confirmed, extended or not. | Specific, coachable, with a next step. |
When the first-quarter learning for a role is assigned by an LMS, the ramp leaves a record: a new joiner auto-enrols on day one, works through short mobile modules, and completion rolls up to the manager. By the 90-day review, role competence and the goals met are backed by evidence the system captured, not a memory of the last fortnight.
Before the review
A review is only as fair as its preparation. These checks make sure the conversation runs on evidence and input rather than recency and a feeling. Tick items as you prepare, it stays in this browser. The download has the same list with an owner column.
- Goals and success measures from the 30-60-90 plan to hand30-60-90 planManager
- Manager and peer input gathered on how the ramp wentColleaguesManager
- Real examples of work documented, strong and weakWork recordManager
- Employee self-review requested and receivedNew hireNew hire
- Decision criteria and probation policy clear before the conversationHR policyManager and HR
- Next-quarter goals drafted for a confirm outcomeRole planManager
- Review meeting booked with enough time to do it justiceCalendarManager
- HR looped in on the likely outcome before the reviewHR policyManager and HR
- Decision and evidence to be recorded for the fileHR recordManager and HR
The most common failure is a review driven by the last two weeks. A strong hire who stumbled recently, or a weak one who just had a good fortnight, both get misjudged. Gather the evidence across the whole 90 days before you form the decision, not after.
The competency scorecard
The review grid captures the detail. This scorecard turns it into a visible, comparable read across the competencies a confirmed hire needs. Score each area, see where the hire lands against the required level, and the confirm, extend or do-not-confirm decision becomes a conversation about evidence. In Excel the readiness and gaps calculate as you type.
| Hire | Role | Core tasks | Quality | Autonomy | Collaboration | Values | Ready |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Required bar | Confirm | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Example: confirm | Day 90 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Example: strong confirm | Day 90 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 90% |
| Example: extend | Day 90 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 80% |
| Example: do not confirm | Day 90 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30% |
| Coverage at required | 80% | 60% | 40% | 80% | 80% | 80% |
A single score of 0 is not an automatic no, and a near-perfect card is not an automatic yes. The scorecard frames the decision, it does not make it. Read it alongside the evidence, the values column especially, and follow your probation policy on what a given pattern means.
The outcome
Every 90-day review ends in one of three outcomes. This table ties each to a timing and a concrete next step, so the decision is acted on rather than left hanging. Whichever outcome you reach, record it and the evidence behind it, and confirm the detail with HR against your policy.
| Decision | When | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm | At the 90-day review | Confirm the hire in line with policy, celebrate what landed, and agree the next quarter's goals and any development focus. |
| Extend probation | At the 90-day review | Where policy allows, extend for a defined period with a clear, written set of expectations and a date to review again. Do not extend to avoid a hard conversation. |
| Do not confirm | At or before the 90-day review | Where the evidence does not support confirmation, follow your probation and employment process exactly, with HR involved. Give honest, specific reasons and handle it fairly. |
How to use it
- Prepare on evidence, not recency
Pull the goals from the 30-60-90 plan, gather manager and peer input, and document real examples before the conversation. A review built on the last two weeks is unfair in both directions.
- Ask the new hire to self-review
Have the person assess their own first 90 days against the same areas. Comparing the two reads is where the most useful conversation happens.
- Assess across all six areas
Work through competence, work quality, reliability, behaviours and values, goals met and development needs. Rate each and note the evidence, so no single impression carries the whole decision.
- Score the competencies
Use the scorecard to rate the new hire on core tasks, quality, autonomy, collaboration and values. A visible score keeps the decision honest and consistent across hires.
- Reach a decision per your policy
Confirm, extend or do not confirm, following your own probation policy and local employment law. Tie the decision to a date and a next step in the outcome table.
- Set the next quarter's goals
For a confirmed hire, close the review by agreeing goals for the next quarter, so they leave knowing exactly what good looks like next.
Time to productivity is what a fair 90-day decision rests on: a hire who was given the learning early has the better run. Wellness Forever gets new employees productive within 30 days across more than 400 stores by delivering the first-quarter learning in short mobile modules, so by the 90-day review the ramp is evidenced rather than guessed.
Common mistakes this template prevents
- A review driven by the last two weeks, so a strong hire who stumbled recently, or a weak one who just rallied, gets misjudged.
- A decision reached on a single impression, with no read across competence, quality, reliability, values and goals.
- A surprise verdict, when honest check-ins through the first 90 days should have made the outcome clear to both sides already.
- Extending probation to dodge a hard conversation, rather than because a defined extension will genuinely settle the decision.
- Confirming a hire and then leaving them without next-quarter goals, so the momentum of the first 90 days is lost.
Which format should you use?
| Format | Best for | What is inside | Editable | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharing and print | The full template, formatted to print or circulate | No | 57 KB | |
| Word | Editing the wording | Every section as editable text you can adapt | Yes | 87 KB |
| Excel | Filling it in live | The grid and fields set up as a working spreadsheet | Yes | 66 KB |
Questions people ask
What is a 90-day review?
How is a 90-day review different from a 30-60-90 day plan?
Can I use this to decide whether to confirm or end a hire?
Should the new hire see the review in advance?
Does the Excel version work in Google Sheets?
Do I have to fill the form three times?
A fair 90-day decision rests on how well the ramp was run. That is the part we run.
Bring your 90-day review to a 30-minute working session. We will show how Disprz delivers the first-quarter learning for each role in short mobile modules, auto-enrols new joiners on day one and tracks completion, so by the time you reach the review the ramp is evidenced rather than assumed, and the confirm or extend decision rests on a record both sides can see.