A review cycle is a structured process for evaluating employee performance over a specific period. It involves setting goals, monitoring progress, providing feedback, and assessing achievements to support development and improvement.
This article explains how to create and launch a review cycle in Engage. For a step-by-step guide on how to launch a review cycle on Deel, please see our tutorial.
In this article
- Before you begin
- Create a review cycle
- Types of Feedback That Can Be Set Up in A Review Cycle
- Next Steps
- Frequently Asked Questions
Before you begin
To successfully create a review cycle in Engage, you:
- Must be an Engage admin
- Must have Engage enabled on the organization
- Must have Reviews turned on under Engage
Create and Launch a Review Cycle
Follow these steps to create and launch a performance review cycle in Engage.
Step 1: Open Reviews and start a new cycle
Go to Engage > Reviews.
Under Review cycles, click Create new cycle.
Step 2: Add cycle details and select feedback types
Enter a cycle name and brief description.
Select the feedback type(s) you want to enable for this cycle.
Step 3: Set visibility and peer-selection preferences
Configure how feedback will be shared and whether it’s anonymous:
Choose who can view feedback and when results are shared.
Results are always visible to company admins, but you can enable anonymity if needed.
Decide whether managers and/or reviewees receive feedback once it’s submitted.
If Peer Feedback is enabled, define how peers will be selected:
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For participants without managers:
They will nominate peers, and nominations are auto-approved.
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For participants with managers: choose one option:
Participants nominate peers → manager approves nominations
Managers pre-select peers → participants receive assigned reviewers
You can also set a limit on how many peers each participant can nominate.
Step 4: Design the reviewer experience
Customize what reviewers see while giving feedback:
a. Toggle whether reviewers can see who will view their responses and whether their feedback is anonymous.
b. Decide if reviewers can view additional context about reviewees (such as career paths or growth plans).
c. Choose whether managers can share feedback immediately after submissions, instead of waiting until the cycle ends.
Step 5: Set assignments and automation
Define who will be reviewed and when the cycle should be assigned.
Select the group(s) or worker population included in the cycle.
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Choose when the reviews should start:
Launch immediately
Schedule for a future date/time (select date, time, AM/PM, and timezone)
Assign based on start date
Assign once a worker joins a group
If scheduling, make sure to select the correct notification group so participants are informed when the cycle begins.
Step 6: Establish timelines
Set how long participants have to complete each stage—these appear in the order they must be completed.
Peer nomination and confirmation window
Feedback submission window
Step 7: Review forms, add questions, and launch
Before launching, ensure all required forms are created.
Create or confirm the required forms for the enabled feedback types (for example: self-review, manager review, peer, or team feedback).
Add questions to each form.
- Open-ended
- Rating
You can add as many questions as needed — there’s no limit.
Use the preview arrow to see the participant experience.
Use the three dots next to a question to change its type or settings.
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If using a rating question, expand it to:
set the range
name the labels for each rating point
Once everything looks correct, click Launch Cycle Now.
Types of Feedback That Can Be Set Up in A Review Cycle
Feedback types help you collect structured input from the right people during a performance cycle. In Engage Reviews, you can enable one or more feedback types depending on the experience you want to run.
[DROPDOWN] Available feedback types
[DROPDOWN-OPTION] Self review
Workers complete a self-reflection on their job performance.
Best for: encouraging ownership, reflection, and alignment before manager feedback.
[DROPDOWN-OPTION] Downward feedback
Reviewer(s) provide feedback to the workers assigned to them in the org structure (for example, Manager → Direct Report).
Best for: collecting manager evaluations and performance guidance.
[DROPDOWN-OPTION] Upward feedback
Reviewer(s) provide feedback to the people they report to in the org structure (for example, Direct Report → Manager).
Best for: giving managers insight into leadership impact and team experience.
[DROPDOWN-OPTION] Peer feedback
Workers receive feedback from their nominated peers.
Best for: capturing collaboration, teamwork, and cross-functional input.
[/DROPDOWN]
Next Steps
After successfully creating and launching a performance review cycle for an organization, there's now a need to visualize results and calibrate answers. Check out our article on How to Visualise Results and Calibrate Answers on Deel
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
[ACCORDION] How to add a Peer for a performance review?
To nominate a peer for a performance review, select an active performance review cycle. From there, you’ll be able to find the task to nominate your peers.
If feedback has already been submitted, an admin or manager can reopen the task for you.
[ACCORDION] Why are some peer nominations not saved?
If the peer nomination task is shown as completed, then ask an admin to reopen the peer nomination task.
[ACCORDION] When submitting a performance review, does the submitter send all current reviews or only the currently selected one?
When one review is submitted, it is submitted only for the current person being written for. This means that submission is always individual and not collective.
[ACCORDION] Can the self-review be hidden from a manager?
No, visibility and anonymity are set by the admin during performance cycle creation.
[ACCORDION] Who else can see the downward feedback of an employee?
Downward feedback can only be shared with:
1. The manager who writes the feedback
2. An Indirect manager
3. Admin
4. Employees themselves.