Upward Review is a review type in Workleap Performance that lets direct reports — or members of a manager's reporting line — provide structured feedback on their manager during a performance cycle. Use it to inform leadership coaching and development conversations.
How to set up Upward Review in a review cycle
Upward Review is configured the same way as Self Review, Peer Review, or Manager Review — it's a review type you add to a cycle. It has its own due date, visibility setting, and nomination mode.
Log in to Workleap and go to Performance.
Open Cycles, then create a new cycle or edit an existing one that hasn't been launched.
In the Review types section, enable Upward Review alongside any other review types you want in the cycle.
Set the Upward Review due date.
Add or rephrase Upward Review questions in the cycle's questions section. You can rephrase the same question per audience (Self / Manager / Peer / Upward).
Configure Upward Review Visibility and Nomination Mode (see below).
Save and launch the cycle.
Note
Review types cannot be changed after a cycle is launched. Visibility and the Upward Review due date can still be edited on a launched cycle, but Nomination Mode is frozen — you cannot switch from Direct Reports to Manual mid-cycle. If you need a different nomination mode, launch a new cycle.
Upward Review Visibility
Visibility controls whether and how upward feedback is shared with the manager being reviewed. Three options:
Not Shared (default) — Upward reviews remain private. The manager being reviewed never sees them.
Shared Anonymously — Upward reviews are visible to the manager once shared by HR, but reviewer identities are hidden.
Shared With Identity — Upward reviews are visible to the manager once shared by HR, with reviewer names shown.
Visibility is independent from Peer Review Visibility — you set them separately in the same cycle.
Upward Review Nomination Mode
Nomination Mode determines who is automatically nominated as an upward reviewer for each manager when the cycle launches.
Manual — No automatic nominations. Upward reviewers must be added explicitly from the Cycle Details Management view.
Direct Reports (default) — At launch, each manager's immediate direct reports are automatically nominated.
Reporting Line — At launch, each manager's full reporting line (including nested reports) is automatically nominated.
Important
Each manager (reviewee) can have a maximum of 200 upward reviewers. If automatic nomination would exceed 200 (e.g., a manager with 250 direct reports under Reporting Line mode), the excess is silently dropped without an error. Manual nominations beyond 200 are rejected with an error.
How to assign upward reviewers manually
When the nomination mode is Manual — or when you need to add a reviewer outside the auto-nominated group (such as a skip-level peer, cross-functional reviewer, or contractor) — you can assign upward reviewers manually.
Log in to Workleap and go to Performance.
Open the launched cycle and go to Cycle Details Management.
Find the manager whose upward reviewers you want to set.
Click Assign upward reviewers.
Search and select the org members who should review this manager.
Confirm.
Manual nominations are not constrained to the manager's reporting line — any member of the organization can be nominated as an upward reviewer.
Tip
When a manager has direct reports but no upward reviewers in an active cycle, a "missing upward reviewers" to-do is surfaced to the manager's reporting manager so they can take action.
How to complete an upward review
If you've been nominated to provide upward feedback for your manager, you'll receive an Upward Review Request notification when the cycle launches.
Log in to Workleap and go to Performance.
Open the Reviews section to see your active reviews.
Select the upward review you want to complete.
Answer each question. The same AI-assisted experience available for other review types is available here: highlights, sources, draft generation, and quick edits.
Click Submit when you're ready.
You'll receive an Upward Review Submitted confirmation by email after submitting.
Note
Your manager will only see your feedback if HR explicitly shares it. With Shared Anonymously visibility, your name is not shown. With Shared With Identity, it is. With Not Shared, your manager never sees the feedback.
How to share upward review results
Sharing is an explicit action — submitted upward reviews are not visible to the manager by default, even when the cycle uses Shared Anonymously or Shared With Identity visibility.
Log in to Workleap and go to Performance.
Open the cycle in Cycle Details Management.
Find the manager (reviewee) whose upward reviews you want to share.
Trigger the Share action for that reviewee.
Once shared, the manager sees the upward review content according to the cycle's Upward Review Visibility setting (anonymous or with identity). They never see submission mechanics or completion status — only the content of the shared reviews.
Who can do what with Upward Review
Executives and Collaborators can configure Upward Review on any cycle, set visibility and nomination mode, manage manual nominations, share upward reviews with managers, and read all upward review content.
Direct Managers of a manager being reviewed can manually assign upward reviewers for that manager when the cycle uses Manual nomination mode. They can also share upward reviews with the manager they manage.
Direct Managers being reviewed (the reviewees) receive shared upward feedback only when it has been explicitly shared with them. They never see submission mechanics, completion status, or who has or hasn't submitted on their own upward reviews. They can only see who their upward reviewers are when the cycle uses Shared With Identity AND a sharing record has been created for them.
Employees nominated as upward reviewers can submit feedback on their manager during the cycle window, under the configured anonymity model.