Why Your Workday Performance Cycle Feels Rushed ( And Your Checklist to Fix It Before Year-End)

If year-end performance reviews feel stressful, rushed, or heavier than they should, you are not alone. Even organizations with strong internal processes often find themselves scrambling at the end of the year. Managers are trying to recall feedback from months ago, HR teams are cleaning up goals and foundational data, and calibration discussions feel more complicated than expected.

Many HR and HRIS teams turn to Workday consulting services or experienced Workday consultants when they want to strengthen performance processes without waiting for year-end to expose gaps. The reality is that year-end Talent and Performance success is not built during review season. It is built gradually throughout the year through small, intentional actions that create clarity and consistency over time.

What happens earlier in the year directly shapes the quality of reviews, calibration conversations, and downstream compensation decisions. The more groundwork that is in place ahead of time, the calmer and more effective year-end tends to be.

This blog is not a configuration guide or a step-by-step walkthrough. Instead, it offers practical, experience-based guidance on what HR and HRIS teams can focus on now to set themselves up for a smoother year-end later.

Keep reading/scrolling to acces the checklist!

Year End Success Is Built Throughout The Year

Performance reviews, calibration, and compensation outcomes are rarely determined in December alone. They are influenced by everything that happens before then.

When year-end is treated as a one-time event, teams often end up reacting to issues they did not realize were building. Shifting to a mindset of year-round readiness helps surface gaps earlier, when there is still time to address them thoughtfully and without urgency.

In our experience supporting organizations through Workday consulting and ongoing AMS Workday support, the most successful performance cycles are the ones built quietly over time. They rely less on last-minute fixes and more on steady alignment across goals, feedback, and manager readiness.

2. Encourage Ongoing Performance Conversations Well Before Review Season

Workday is designed to support performance as an ongoing process, not just an annual event. Throughout the year, organizations can enable ongoing performance conversations through feedback, check-ins, and mid-year or periodic reviews that align with business needs.

When performance conversations happen regularly, reviews tend to feel more balanced and objective. Managers are not relying solely on memory, and employees receive clearer and more timely input.

When feedback is captured in Workday, it can be pulled directly into performance reviews. This creates continuity between everyday performance conversations and formal evaluations, and it gives managers insight into work and contributions they might not otherwise see.

Meaningful feedback cannot be recreated at the end of the year. Starting early truly makes a difference.

3. Use Goals as an Ongoing Tool,Not A One-Time Exercise

Goals are most effective when they are part of the rhythm of the year rather than a task completed once and forgotten.

Creating and tracking goals consistently in Workday helps align expectations for managers and employees alike. Goals become a shared reference point for progress check-ins, coaching conversations, and development discussions.

When review time arrives, goals and their milestones, progress, and completion status can be pulled directly into the review. This grounds evaluations in work that has been tracked over time and reduces the need for last-minute summaries.

4. Set New Hires Up for Success Early

During onboarding, it is easy for goal setting to be delayed while everyone focuses on ramp-up and immediate priorities.

A simple and effective approach is to include a to-do step that prompts goal creation for managers or employees, especially when goals are a standard part of performance expectations. Addressing this early helps new hires understand what success looks like and ensures they are evaluated fairly if they are included in the annual review cycle.

Want more Onboarding help? Check out this Onboarding Blog.

5. Prepare Managers Early

Managers should not be learning how performance reviews work at the same time they are being asked to complete them.

Providing early visibility into review templates and questions, required inputs such as goals, feedback, and competencies, and a high-level understanding of how calibration works helps managers feel more confident and prepared.

Prepared managers lead to clearer reviews, stronger coaching conversations, and fewer escalations during review season.

6. Plan for Mid-Year Manager Changes Ahead of Time

Employee movement during the year is normal, but it can create confusion if review ownership is not clearly defined.

Organizations benefit from deciding early who is responsible for completing a performance review when a manager change occurs, whether ownership sits with the manager for most of the review period or the current manager at review time, and how feedback and performance context should be shared.

Clear guidance helps managers coordinate more easily and ensures reviews reflect the employee’s full year, not just their most recent reporting line.

Before you move on, pause for a moment.

If year-end were next week, would you confidently say:

Managers have documented meaningful feedback throughout the year
Goals are current and aligned to actual work
Eligibility groups and job profiles are clean
Calibration will be based on consistent inputs
Reporting is ready….not something you’ll scramble to pull.

If you hesitated on even one of those, now is the time to act, not in December. Sign up to get started.

7. Be Intentional About Additional Reviewers

Workday allows organizations to include additional reviewers such as matrix managers or project leaders. When used thoughtfully, this can add valuable perspective to the review process.

Defining when additional reviewers are appropriate and ensuring reviewers understand their role and expectations through training and clear communication helps prevent confusion and keeps reviews moving smoothly.

8. Stay Ahead of Eligibility and Job Profile Maintenance

To avoid last-minute cleanup or discovering too late that employees are assigned to the wrong eligibility group, review template, or job profile, foundational performance data should be validated regularly.

This includes ensuring eligibility rules are accurate, employees are assigned to the correct job profiles, and job profiles are actively maintained with the appropriate competencies assigned and available in performance reviews. It also ensures that performance reviews accurately reflect the roles employees are actually performing.

Maintaining this foundational alignment ahead of time helps avoid rushed corrections during review season.

This is often an area where organizations partner with Workday consulting partners or Workday service partners to ensure foundational data stays aligned throughout the year.

9. Help Employees Understand How They Are Evaluated

Transparency plays an important role in engagement and trust.

When employees understand how performance is reviewed, which inputs are considered, when reviews occur, and how merit and bonuses connect at a high level, they are more likely to engage thoughtfully in the process and feel less anxious during review season.

10. Use Journeys to Support Clarity and Consistency

Journeys can be a powerful way to reinforce expectations and provide guidance at meaningful moments.

They can help employees understand performance expectations early in their tenure, support managers in staying aligned on responsibilities throughout the year, and reinforce what happens during reviews, calibration, and downstream processes such as compensation.

Used proactively, journeys help create shared understanding well before year-end arrives.

11. Prepare Reporting and Analytics Before Reviews Begin

Performance reviews and calibration discussions are more effective when the right data is available upfront.

Identifying meaningful data points early and ensuring embedded analytics are available during review and calibration steps allows leaders to focus on decisions rather than data gathering. Well-prepared reporting is often supported through ongoing Workday post-production support to ensure insights remain relevant year over year.

Final Thoughts

Strong year-end Talent and Performance cycles rarely come from a single configuration or last-minute effort. They are the result of steady, thoughtful preparation across the year.

Whether teams manage this work internally or lean on Workday consulting partners for guidance, the most important factor is starting early. Small actions taken throughout the year reduce stress, improve fairness, and support better conversations when it matters most.

If your last year-end cycle felt harder than it should have, now is the right time to pause, assess what is working, and identify where small adjustments could make next year smoother.