Quarterly Review
A performance evaluation conducted every three months that enables faster goal adjustment, more timely feedback, and shorter cycles between setting expectations and measuring results.
- What Is a Quarterly Review?
- Review Cadence Comparison: Annual vs Semi-Annual vs Quarterly
- How to Structure a Quarterly Review
- Quarterly Review Template
- Benefits and Challenges of Quarterly Reviews
- How to Transition from Annual to Quarterly Reviews
- Quarterly Reviews and OKRs
- Quarterly Review Statistics [2026]
- Frequently Asked Questions About Quarterly Reviews
What Is a Quarterly Review?
Key Takeaways
- ✓A quarterly review is a performance evaluation conducted every three months, breaking the annual cycle into four shorter feedback loops.
- ✓Companies using quarterly reviews see 31% higher goal attainment compared to those relying on annual-only evaluations (Betterworks, 2024).
- ✓The quarterly cadence aligns naturally with business quarters, OKR cycles, and financial reporting periods.
- ✓Quarterly reviews catch performance issues in weeks rather than months, allowing managers to intervene before small problems become big ones.
- ✓They're shorter and less formal than annual reviews, typically lasting 30-45 minutes with a focused agenda.
A quarterly review happens every 90 days. Four times a year, you stop, assess, adjust, and go again. That's the core idea. The appeal is obvious: waiting 12 months to tell someone how they're doing is too slow. Markets change. Projects pivot. Teams restructure. By the time the annual review arrives, half the goals are outdated and the other half have lost context. The quarterly review solves this by shortening the feedback cycle. Employees know where they stand every 90 days. Managers address issues before they compound. Goals stay aligned with business reality. Companies like Google, Intel, and LinkedIn popularized this cadence through their use of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which reset every quarter. But you don't need OKRs to benefit from quarterly reviews. Any goal-setting framework works on a 90-day cycle. The trade-off is time. Four reviews per year per employee is four times the effort of one annual review. But each quarterly review is shorter (30-45 minutes vs 60+ minutes) and requires less preparation because the period under review is compressed. Organizations that make the switch consistently report that the total time investment is comparable to the annual model, with significantly better outcomes.
Review Cadence Comparison: Annual vs Semi-Annual vs Quarterly
Choosing the right review frequency involves balancing thoroughness, manageability, and business speed.
| Factor | Annual | Semi-Annual (with mid-year) | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews per year | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Goal-setting opportunities | 1 | 1-2 | 4 |
| Time to course-correct | Up to 12 months | Up to 6 months | Up to 3 months |
| Manager time per cycle | 3-5 hours per employee | 2-3 hours per employee per cycle | 1-2 hours per employee per cycle |
| Total annual manager time | 3-5 hours per employee | 4-6 hours per employee | 4-8 hours per employee |
| Recency bias risk | Very high | High | Moderate |
| Employee anxiety level | High | Moderate | Low (normalized) |
| Best for industries | Government, academia, utilities | Financial services, healthcare | Tech, startups, consulting, retail |
| Alignment with OKRs | Poor | Moderate | Strong |
How to Structure a Quarterly Review
Keep quarterly reviews focused and efficient. They should take 30-45 minutes, not the 60-90 minutes of an annual review.
Part 1: Results review (10-15 minutes)
Walk through each goal or OKR from the previous quarter. What was the target? What was the actual result? Why? This should be data-driven when possible. "We targeted 150 qualified leads and generated 142" is more useful than "lead generation was pretty good." For each goal, categorize the outcome: achieved, partially achieved, missed, or no longer applicable. Keep the discussion brief. The point is to establish facts, not to debate them extensively.
Part 2: Behavioral feedback (10 minutes)
Share 1-2 specific observations about how the employee worked during the quarter, not just what they produced. Did they step up during a crisis? Collaborate effectively with a new team? Handle a difficult client situation well? Struggle with communication in cross-functional meetings? Use the SBI framework (Situation, Behavior, Impact) to keep feedback concrete and actionable. One well-articulated piece of behavioral feedback is worth more than a dozen vague comments.
Part 3: Next quarter planning (10-15 minutes)
Set 3-5 goals or OKRs for the upcoming quarter. These should align with team and company priorities for the next 90 days. For each goal, define the metric, target, and deadline. Discuss any resources, support, or training the employee needs. If the employee has development goals (learning a new tool, improving a skill), include at least one of those alongside performance goals. End with a clear, shared understanding of priorities.
Part 4: Open discussion (5-10 minutes)
Leave space for topics the employee wants to raise: career aspirations, team dynamics, workload concerns, or ideas for improvement. This is often where the most valuable information surfaces. Managers who skip this part miss early signals of disengagement, burnout, or interest in new opportunities.
Quarterly Review Template
A practical template for managers conducting quarterly reviews. Keep it to one page.
| Section | Content | Time Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Employee name, role, quarter under review, date | N/A |
| Goal/OKR Review | List each goal with target vs actual, status (achieved/partial/missed/N/A), brief notes | 10-15 min |
| Key Accomplishments | Top 2-3 contributions beyond formal goals | 5 min |
| Behavioral Observations | 1-2 specific SBI feedback points | 5-10 min |
| Development Progress | Status of any learning or growth objectives | 5 min |
| Next Quarter Goals | 3-5 goals with metrics, targets, and deadlines | 10-15 min |
| Employee Comments | Space for employee input, questions, or concerns | 5-10 min |
| Action Items | Specific next steps with owners and deadlines | 5 min |
Benefits and Challenges of Quarterly Reviews
The quarterly cadence isn't universally better than annual reviews. It has clear advantages and real trade-offs.
Benefits
Faster course correction: problems get addressed in weeks, not months. Better goal relevance: goals reset every 90 days to match current business priorities. Reduced recency bias: managers evaluate 3 months of work instead of 12, making recall more accurate. Lower stakes per review: quarterly reviews feel less like "judgment day" because there's another one coming in 90 days. Stronger manager-employee relationships: four structured conversations per year build deeper trust than one. Higher engagement: Gallup (2023) found employees who receive quarterly feedback are 3.5x more likely to be engaged than those who receive annual-only feedback.
Challenges
Manager time commitment: even though each review is shorter, four per year per employee adds up. For a manager with 8 direct reports, that's 32 quarterly reviews annually. Administrative overhead: tracking goals, documenting reviews, and managing the cadence requires organizational discipline and good tooling. Not all work is measurable in 90 days: long-term projects, relationship building, and strategic initiatives don't always produce quarterly results. Risk of checkbox syndrome: if managers rush through reviews to meet the cadence, the quality drops. A perfunctory quarterly review is worse than a thorough annual one.
How to Transition from Annual to Quarterly Reviews
Moving from one review per year to four requires changes in process, tools, and manager behavior.
- Start with a pilot. Run quarterly reviews with 2-3 teams for two cycles before rolling out company-wide. Use pilot feedback to refine the process and template.
- Simplify the template. A quarterly review form should be half the length of your annual review form (or less). If managers dread the paperwork, they'll resist the new cadence.
- Decouple compensation. If your annual review drives raises and bonuses, keep that linkage at year-end. Use Q1-Q3 reviews purely for development and course correction. Only the Q4 review feeds into compensation decisions.
- Train managers on the difference. Quarterly reviews aren't shorter annual reviews. They're forward-looking coaching conversations. Train managers on the distinct purpose and tone.
- Invest in tooling. Spreadsheets don't scale for quarterly reviews. Platforms like Lattice, Culture Amp, and 15Five are built for this cadence and make tracking painless.
- Communicate the "why" to employees. Frame it as more support, faster feedback, and better goal alignment, not more bureaucracy or more chances to be evaluated.
Quarterly Reviews and OKRs
OKRs and quarterly reviews are natural partners. Both operate on 90-day cycles and share a focus on measurable outcomes.
How they work together
At the start of each quarter, employees set 3-5 OKRs aligned to team and company objectives. Throughout the quarter, they track progress on key results. At the quarterly review, the manager and employee assess each OKR's completion percentage, discuss what drove or hindered progress, and set new OKRs for the next quarter. The OKR score (typically 0.0-1.0 or 0%-100%) provides an objective starting point for the conversation. A score of 0.7 (70%) is generally considered successful in the OKR methodology, since OKRs are meant to be ambitious.
Common pitfalls when combining OKRs and reviews
Treating OKR scores as performance ratings. An OKR score of 0.5 doesn't mean the employee performed at 50%. OKRs are intentionally set as stretch goals, so 60-70% achievement is considered strong. Using quarterly OKR reviews as the sole input for compensation decisions without considering other factors. Setting too many OKRs per quarter (more than 5 objectives), which dilutes focus and makes the review conversation too long. Not distinguishing between committed OKRs (must achieve) and aspirational OKRs (stretch targets) when evaluating results.
Quarterly Review Statistics [2026]
Data supporting the shift toward more frequent performance evaluations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are quarterly reviews right for every organization?
Do quarterly reviews replace the annual review?
How do you prevent quarterly review fatigue?
Should quarterly reviews include self-assessments?
What metrics should be tracked in quarterly reviews?
Written by Adithyan RK