Do it with One: "Do I have any pending performance evaluations to complete?"
Factorial sends emails and inbox tasks at each step of a performance review: when it starts, when you have evaluations or peers to handle, before the deadline, and during action plans. This article lists each notification, who receives it and when. Notifications are grouped under Performance Management in notification settings.
Inbox tasks
| Task | Who | Until |
|---|---|---|
| "You have 1 or more pending evaluations to complete in <review>" | Every reviewer with a pending evaluation | They submit, or the evaluation is deleted or reassigned |
| "You have 1 or more peer assignments to complete in <review>" | Managers who need to assign peers | All their reports have peers |
Emails and notifications
| Notification (as shown in settings) | Who receives it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Review cycle started — "New review '<name>' needs your action." | Every reviewer | The review launches |
| Employee assigned to review other employees — "You have new evaluations to complete in '<name>'" | Reviewers | People are added to an active review |
| Employee assigned as peer — "You have new peer evaluations waiting for your answer" | Peers | They are assigned as a peer (not sent if they already have a pending peer review) |
| Manager needs to assign peers to a performance review — "You have new peers to assign" | Managers | New people need peers in an active peer review |
| Pending reviews to complete — "Performance review ending soon!" | Reviewers with pending evaluations | 7 days and 1 day before the deadline, and when an admin clicks Send reminders |
| Direct report submitted a self-review | The employee's manager | A self review is submitted, only while the review is open and if managers have early access |
| Self-review edited evaluation — "<name> republished their self-review" | The employee's manager | A self review is resubmitted, if the review is active and managers have early access |
| Action plan started by the manager — "Performance action plan started" | The employee | Their action plan starts |
| Employee's action plan started | The manager | A report's action plan starts, whoever starts it |
| Action plan submitted by the employee | The manager | The employee submits |
| Action plan submitted by the manager — "Your action plan is ready to submit" | The employee | The manager submits |
| New action plan comment | The employee and the reviewer | Someone comments on the action plan |
| Action plan document generated — "Action plan PDF successfully generated" | The manager and the employee | The PDF is ready |
| Performance review exported — "<review> export is ready" | The person who exported | The export file is ready |
Step by step
Change which review notifications you receive
- Open your Factorial notification settings.
- Find the Performance Management category.
- Turn individual notifications on or off.
Rules and behavior
- If a review is Draft or Scheduled, then nobody is notified until it launches.
- If the deadline changes, then the automatic reminders move to 7 days and 1 day before the new deadline.
- If a reviewer has no pending evaluation, then they don't receive reminders.
- If someone is added as an additional reviewer, then they get the review's inbox task and notifications like the reviewer: new evaluations to complete, reminders, and the action plan notifications.
- If Grant managers early access to responses is off, then managers aren't notified when a report submits a self review.
Limitations
- You can't edit the text of review emails.
- You can't add extra automatic reminders or change their timing.
- You can't send a reminder to only one person from the review.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: "An employee didn't get the launch email." → Cause: they have nothing to fill in (for example, only a manager review about them), or they turned off Review cycle started. → Fix: check their inbox task and notification settings.
- Symptom: "Reminders weren't sent 7 days before." → Cause: the review launched less than 7 days before the deadline. → Fix: use Send reminders manually.
FAQ
1. Do evaluated employees get notified when their results are ready?
No specific email is sent when a review finishes. Employees see their results in Performance > Reviews once the review ends.
2. Do reminders go to everyone?
Only to reviewers who still have pending evaluations.