What is calibration?

Calibration ensures performance ratings are fair, consistent, and aligned across teams.

It allows leaders to:

Align on performance standards
Reduce bias
Make informed decisions on compensation, promotion, and retention

How to use calibration effectively

Calibration helps you prepare for meaningful performance discussions.

Use it to:

Get a clear view of how talent is distributed across your organization
Review and validate ratings with the right context
Align with other leaders before making decisions

It gives you a shared foundation so conversations are focused, consistent, and grounded in the same data.

Note

Calibration helps you align on decisions within a review cycle. For broader analysis, data can be exported for further exploration.

Set up calibration in a review cycle

Calibration is configured during cycle creation by an HR Admin (Executive or Collaborator role in Performance)

To configure calibration:

Go to Performance
Create or edit a review cycle
Open the Calibration ratings step

Select calibration questions

You must select two questions:

Performance question
Used for performance rating (X-axis of the 9-box)
Potential question
Used for potential rating (Y-axis of the 9-box)

These questions must come from manager rating questions in the review form.

Confirm activation

Once both questions are selected:

A confirmation message appears: “9-box grid analysis will be enabled for this review cycle”
Calibration becomes available after reviews are submitted

Important:

Only the manager’s rating is used for calibration positioning
Self and peer reviews are used for context (AI), not placement
Cycle must be launched or updated for changes to be applied.

Access calibration data

Once reviews are submitted:

Open a review cycle
Go to the Calibration tab

Analyze at different levels

You can analyze data at two levels: Organization-wide or Manager-level (drill-down)

Organization-wide view

See all employees in a single 9-box
Understand overall talent distribution

Manager-level drill-down

Filter and review data manager by manager
Select one or multiple managers to analyze their populations

Explore calibration data

Explore ratings in two views

Use two complementary views depending on your need:

List view — Review individual employees and inspect detailed ratings
9-box view — Understand distribution and identify talent groups

List view

In this view, you can review employees individually.

Selecting an employee opens an inspection panel with:

Performance and Potential score cards
Includes employee score and benchmarks (department and role averages)

Note:

Averages are hidden when fewer than 4 people are included to protect individual ratings.

Compare to previous cycle
View how ratings changed over time (one cycle at a time)
AI-assisted calibration brief
Generate a concise, evidence-based summary from performance data to prepare for calibration discussions
Calibration Notes
- Notes are private to the author
- If a manager changes during the cycle, notes are automatically transferred
- If a temporary manager is assigned, notes are shared; last edit wins and all changes are timestamped

Note:

Calibration notes are only available to managers who reviewed employees.

View review
Opens the employee’s full review

Note:

Calibration is a preparation and review step — ratings are not adjusted directly in this view. To update a rating, open the employee’s review via View review.

9-box view

Use the 9-box to understand talent distribution across the organization.

Grid based on:
- Performance (Low / Med / High)
- Potential (Low / Med / High)
Each cell includes a label (e.g. Core Contributor, Top Talent)
Employees appear as avatars in their assigned cell

Interact with the 9-box