Running review cycles

Who can use this: Org admins only.

A review cycle is a defined window during which managers complete a set of artifacts — typically summaries, sometimes 360 feedback, sometimes objectives close-out — for some or all employees in your organization. Performance Blocks is built for continuous performance management, so review cycles are not the only mechanism for feedback. They are the periodic, formal layer on top of the day-to-day.

This article covers the full lifecycle: configuring a cycle, launching it, monitoring progress through the Review queue, approving items, and archiving the cycle when it closes.

Cycle anatomy

A cycle has:

• Name — what people call it ("2026 Q2 Performance Review", "Mid-Year 2026").
• Window — start and close dates.
• Scope — which employees are in the cycle.
• Required artifacts — what managers must complete: summary, 360, objectives close-out, or any combination.
• Approval workflow — whether summaries require admin approval before reaching the employee.
• Notification cadence — when reminders go out.

Cycles are defined in Admin → Settings → Review Cycles.

Configuring a cycle

1. Open Admin → Settings → Review Cycles.
2. Click Add cycle (or duplicate an existing one to use as a starting point).
3. Configure the fields below.

Name

Use a name that includes the period. "Mid-Year 2026" beats "Mid-Year". Future you will be glad.

Window

Pick a start date and a close date. The cycle is scheduled until the start date passes, active between start and close, and closed after the close date. You can extend an active cycle by editing the close date.

The window does not auto-create artifacts; it sets the scope of when artifacts authored by managers count toward the cycle.

Scope

Scope determines which employees are in the cycle. Options:

• All active employees — the default for org-wide cycles.
• By department — pick one or more departments.
• By manager subtree — pick one or more managers; everyone reporting to them (transitively) is included.
• By employee type (custom field) — useful for separating full-time, contractor, intern cycles.
• By custom selection — explicit list of employees, useful for one-off cohorts.

You can combine criteria. A common pattern: "All active employees, excluding interns and contractors."

Scope is evaluated at cycle launch and refreshes nightly during the cycle. Employees added mid-cycle (e.g., new hires) are added to the cycle automatically if they match the criteria. Employees who leave mid-cycle are removed.

Required artifacts

Pick what managers must complete for each in-scope employee:

• Summary — a written performance summary.
• 360 feedback — a peer feedback round.
• Objectives close-out — review and rate any objectives that closed within the window.

Summary is the most common requirement. 360 typically only runs annually. Objectives close-out is useful when your org runs objectives on the same cadence as reviews.

You can mix: "Summary required, 360 optional."

Approval workflow

Choose:

• No approval — summaries are visible to the employee as soon as the manager publishes.
• Admin approval required — summaries enter pending status; an admin must approve before the employee sees them.

Admin approval is the safer default for most orgs. It catches mistakes (a summary written about the wrong person, a draft accidentally published) and gives People a moment to sanity-check phrasing.

If you've enabled feedbackAssignment and content flagging, an additional automated layer runs on top of approval — see Content flagging and moderation.

Notification cadence

Configure when reminder emails go out. Defaults work for most orgs:

• Kickoff — sent on the start date to all in-scope managers.
• Halfway reminder — sent at the midpoint to managers with incomplete artifacts.
• One week before close — sent to managers with incomplete artifacts.
• Three days before close — final reminder.
• At close — sent to admins with a summary of what's outstanding.

You can disable any of these per cycle, or add custom reminders.

Launching a cycle

Once configured, the cycle moves through:

1. Draft — you're still editing settings.
2. Scheduled — settings locked, waiting for start date.
3. Active — running.
4. Closed — past close date.
5. Archived — admin-archived, hidden from default views.

To move from draft to scheduled, click Schedule cycle. The system validates the configuration (scope is non-empty, dates are in order, required artifacts are picked) before scheduling.

The cycle moves to active automatically on the start date. The kickoff notification is sent. Managers see their cycle obligations on their dashboard.

You cannot edit scope or required artifacts after scheduling — these would change the cycle's semantics. You can edit name, dates, approval workflow, and notification cadence at any time before close.

The Review queue

The Review queue is the inbox for items needing admin attention. Open Admin → Review queue to see:

• Summaries in pending status (when admin approval is on).
• 360 cycles awaiting review or finalization.
• Items that have been escalated by managers (e.g., they want a second opinion).

Each row shows:

• Artifact type and a summary of contents.
• Author (manager who submitted).
• Subject (employee the artifact is about).
• Submitted date and any pending duration.
• Cycle it belongs to.

Filtering and prioritizing

The Review queue supports filters by cycle, manager, department, and aging (how long an item has been pending). For large orgs, filter by department to divide the load across multiple admins.

Items aging more than five business days are highlighted in red. Long pending durations are typically a sign of (a) admin overload, (b) ambiguity about who owns approval, or (c) summaries needing rework that hasn't been requested yet.

Review item lifecycle

Each review item moves through:

1. Draft — manager is writing.
2. Pending — manager has submitted; awaits admin (when approval is on).
3. Approved — admin has approved; visible to the employee.
4. Rejected — admin sent it back to the manager with notes.
5. Archived — admin-archived after the cycle closes.

If admin approval is off, items skip pending and go straight from draft to approved.

Approving

1. Open the item from the Review queue.
2. Read the artifact.
3. (Optional) Add an internal note visible only to admins.
4. Click Approve.

The employee is notified (per their notification preferences). The item moves to approved and exits the queue.

Rejecting

1. Open the item.
2. Click Reject.
3. Write a note explaining why. The note is visible to the manager.
4. Confirm.

The manager is notified. The item returns to draft status with your note attached. The manager can edit and resubmit.

Use rejection for substantive issues — incorrect facts, problematic phrasing, missing required content. For minor edits, use Request edits instead.

Requesting edits

1. Open the item.
2. Click Request edits.
3. Write a note describing the requested changes.
4. Confirm.

Request edits is a softer signal than rejection. The item stays in pending status (not bounced back to draft); the manager is asked to make the edits and resubmit. This keeps the artifact discoverable in your queue while the manager works on it.

Tracking progress

The cycle detail page shows real-time progress:

• Total in-scope employees versus completed artifacts.
• Per-manager status — who's done, who's behind.
• Per-artifact-type breakdown — summaries vs. 360s vs. objectives.
• Aging — how long each pending item has been waiting.

Use this view in your weekly cycle check-in. The most common interventions:

• Reach out to managers with no submissions yet by week 2.
• Triage pending items in your Review queue daily during the back half of the cycle.
• Spot managers who are submitting but consistently rejected — coach on what good looks like.

Common scenarios

A new hire joins mid-cycle

If they meet the scope criteria, they're added automatically the next nightly refresh. By default, the manager is not required to complete the artifact for that employee in this cycle (the assumption is they haven't been in role long enough). To override, pick Include new hires when configuring scope.

An employee transfers managers mid-cycle

The new manager inherits the cycle obligation. Any artifacts the previous manager already started remain assigned to the previous manager and can be completed. The new manager picks up anything not yet started.

An employee leaves mid-cycle

They're removed from scope automatically. Any in-progress artifacts about them are auto-archived (visible historically, not blocking close).

A cycle needs to be extended

Edit the close date in the cycle settings. The system reschedules the closing notifications and shifts the "this many days remaining" counters.

A cycle was misconfigured and needs restarting

You cannot edit scope after scheduling, but you can:

1. Cancel the cycle. All draft artifacts remain (managers don't lose work), but the cycle no longer counts toward completion metrics.
2. Create a new cycle with the corrected configuration.
3. Schedule.

Archiving a closed cycle

After the close date and once you've worked through the Review queue:

1. Open the cycle.
2. Click Archive.
3. Confirm.

Archived cycles:

• Disappear from the default cycle list (toggle Show archived to see them).
• Are read-only — no edits, no new artifacts.
• Remain queryable in reports and the audit log.

Archive cycles within a few weeks of close. Long lists of unclosed-out cycles make navigation noisier.

Templates

For recurring cycles (every quarter, every mid-year):

1. Configure a cycle once.
2. Click Save as template.
3. The template is available when creating future cycles, with all settings except dates pre-populated.

Templates accelerate the recurring case. You can update a template centrally; future cycles created from it inherit the updates.

Frequently asked

Can I run multiple cycles at once? Yes. A common pattern is "annual review" plus "interim check-in" overlapping. Each is independent.

Can different scopes have different artifacts? No within a cycle. Each cycle has one set of artifact requirements. Run two cycles if you need different requirements for different cohorts.

What happens to summaries that were drafted but never submitted before close? They remain as drafts indefinitely. The manager can finish them, but they're no longer counted toward cycle completion.

Can employees see what cycle a summary belongs to? Yes — the cycle name appears on the published summary.

How do I run a 360 cycle without a summary requirement? When configuring required artifacts, pick only "360 feedback." See the 360 Feedback docs for the 360 specifics.

Next steps

• Content flagging and moderation — automatic checks layered on top of admin approval.
• Audit logs — every approval and rejection is logged.
• Manager workflows — what managers see and do during a cycle.