This is a copy-ready template for running performance calibration at a mid-market tech company, roughly 150 to 1,000 employees. It covers every artefact you need: the invite, the pre-read, the agenda, the prompts the facilitator uses, the decision log, and the follow-up checklist. Copy it into your own document or tool and replace the bracketed parts.

The template follows the quarterly review and calibration process in the performance management framework. For the reasoning behind each step, read how to run a performance calibration meeting; for a company around 500 people, see calibration for a 500-person startup.

Why a template matters in tech companies

Tech companies at this size usually have a mix of functions with very different output: engineering, product, design, sales, customer success and operations. Each has its own vocabulary for performance, and newer managers often rate against their previous employer’s standards. Without a shared format, calibration meetings drift into storytelling, and the most confident manager wins.

A template fixes the format so the discussion can focus on evidence. It also makes the meeting repeatable: the same structure every quarter means managers learn what to bring, and the People team can compare results across cycles. Research on rater effects, summarised in Harvard Business Review, suggests ratings often reveal more about the rater than the person rated; a consistent, evidence-first format is one of the few practical defences.

1. The invite

Subject: [Department] performance calibration – [Quarter]

When: [Date], [90–120 minutes]

Attendees: [Department head] (decision owner), [managers with reports in scope], [People partner] (facilitator)

Purpose: Check that ratings in [department] apply the same standard across managers before they are final. We will focus on top ratings, bottom ratings and outliers.

Before the session: Submit all scorecards with evidence notes by [deadline, at least 3 working days before]. Read the pre-read (sent [1–2 days before]). Bring evidence for any rating at the top or bottom of the scale.

Reference: [Link to talent bar and scorecards]

The rest of the template

The invite above is section 1. The full template continues with 2. The pre-read, 3. The agenda, 4. Ground rules (read aloud at the start), 5. Facilitator prompts, 6. The decision log, 7. Follow-up checklist. Unlock all six sections on this page, ready to copy, free with your work email. The guidance on adapting the template by company size and the common mistakes stays open below.

Adapting the template by company size

HeadcountSessionsAdjustments
About 150–250One or two sessions for the whole company, plus a short leadership sign-offThe executive team often attends directly; keep the pre-read to one page for the company.
About 250–600One session per department, plus a leadership sessionAdd the cross-department view in the leadership session; split any department above about 80 people.
About 600–1,000Sessions per sub-function, department roll-ups, then leadershipName a facilitator per department and standardise the pre-read format so roll-ups are comparable.

These bands are illustrative starting points. The constant across all of them is the same evidence-first format: bar, pre-read, focus on top, bottom and outliers, and a logged decision for every change. If your managers are new to calibration, run a 20-minute briefing a week before the first session that walks through the ground rules and one anonymised example.

Common mistakes when using a template

  • Filling in the template during the meeting. The pre-read only works if it is ready a day before.
  • Using the distribution as a quota. The playbook’s guideline weights are a prompt for questions, not a rule; force-fitting ratings creates new unfairness.
  • Letting the log slide. If changes are not recorded in the room, they are usually not recorded at all.
  • Never updating it. Treat the template as a living document and revise it after each cycle.

To estimate how long calibration takes your company today, and what a tighter format would save, use the review cost calculator. For the rest of the cycle, the performance review checklist for HR managers covers every step from set-up to close.

Sources: Buckingham & Goodall, Reinventing Performance Management, HBR (2015); McKinsey, In the spotlight (2024). Template structure and timings are illustrative playbook guidance.

Use with this guide