Performance Review Template for Remote Contractors: 4 Questions to Ask Before the First Review

How do you give a remote contractor useful feedback in their first review and make sure you both leave knowing what happens next? 

A performance review template helps you prepare by giving you a place to record what you agreed, what was delivered and what needs to change.

Giving useful feedback takes practice. 

In Gallup's 2017 State of the American Workplace report, only 26% of employees strongly agreed that the feedback they received helped them do better work, and only 23% strongly agreed that their manager gave them meaningful feedback.

If you already run employee performance appraisals, bring the same habit of using specific examples to your contractor reviews. 

Start with the work you agreed on, then use the conversation to:

• Recognise what went well by pointing to a specific deliverable or result.
• Talk through what got in the way, whether that was an unclear brief, a delayed approval or a difficult handoff across time zones.
• Agree on what happens next, including who will take each action and when you'll check in again.

In this article, you'll learn which four questions to answer before the first review, what examples to bring to the call and how to turn the conversation into clear next steps.

You'll also find a free performance review template in Word, PDF and Excel to use for your next contractor review.

What is a performance review?

A performance review is a scheduled conversation about how work is going, whether agreed expectations have been met and what needs to happen next. 

For a remote contractor, the first review usually focuses on the work they agreed to deliver, its quality and how the project is progressing.

If you already run employee performance appraisals, you'll recognise the value of bringing specific examples. For a contractor review, start with the project brief, agreed deadlines and any changes you made along the way.

Give the contractor space to share their side. 

A missed deadline might trace back to a late approval, an unclear brief or a handoff across time zones. 

Once you know what caused the delay, you can agree on a practical fix.

A 2024 Gallup and Workhuman report highlighted that 80% of employees who said they'd received meaningful feedback in the previous week were fully engaged.

For your next review, try describing one thing that worked and one specific change that would improve the next delivery.

A Performance Review Template helps you capture that conversation in one place. Record the agreed deliverables, examples of completed work, obstacles and next steps.

Before you finish the call, confirm who owns each action and when you'll check in again. 

That gives both sides a written record to refer back to. 

The Importance of Performance Reviews for Remote Contractors.

A contractor performance review helps you decide what to keep doing, what needs to change and what each side can do before the next milestone. 

That matters when you manage remote contractors because project updates tell you when work was delivered, but rarely explain what made it easy or difficult to deliver.

Perfovant's framework for early contractor management treats the first few weeks as a calibration window. In week four, changing who approves work or how feedback is shared may take a quick conversation. By week ten, the same change can disrupt deadlines and handovers that already depend on the existing process.

Say a contractor submits the first draft two days late. 

The project tracker shows the delay. The review might reveal that the contractor received conflicting feedback from two people and had to wait for a decision before finishing. 

Once you know that, you can name one approver and set a deadline for feedback on the next draft.

Like employee performance appraisals, contractor reviews are more useful when feedback is specific. 

Start with the agreed scope and use examples of the work to discuss three things:

• What met expectations? Identify a deliverable that worked well and explain why. For example, a handover document that answered the support team's questions saved them a follow-up call.
• What needs to change? Ask what contributed to a missed deadline or an extra round of revisions. The answer might point to something the contractor can adjust or something your team needs to fix.
• How will you know the change worked? Agree on a specific action and when you'll review it. If feedback arrived too late, decide who will consolidate it and by what date, then check whether the next draft stays on schedule.

A performance review template for managers gives you a place to record the agreed deliverable, the evidence you discussed and who owns each follow-up action. 

Use the Word version for conversation notes, the PDF to share a summary or the Excel version to track actions across several contractor reviews.

Key Elements To Consider of an Effective Performance Review and How to Include Them

1. Set a clear purpose for the meeting

Send a short agenda before the review.

Tell the contractor which part of the project you'll discuss, which deliverables you'll look at and what you'd like to agree by the end of the call. 

Ask them to bring an example of work they're pleased with and anything that made delivery harder.

For example, if you're reviewing the first month of a website redesign, say you'll look at the first set of page designs, how feedback was handled and what needs to be in place for the next round.

That gives the contractor enough detail to prepare and helps you keep the discussion focused. 

2. Measure performance against the agreed work

Start with the brief, milestones and acceptance criteria. If the scope or deadlines changed during the project, use the latest agreement.

Then bring examples that show how the work went.

• Delivery: Were the agreed milestones met? If a date slipped, what contributed to the delay and when was it flagged?
• Quality: Did the work meet the brief? What did stakeholders approve straight away, and what needed revision?
• Problem-solving: When an issue came up, did the contractor explain the options or ask for the information they needed to move forward?
• Collaboration: Were updates and handovers clear enough for colleagues in other teams or time zones to pick up the work?

The same principle applies to employee performance appraisals: feedback is easier to act on when it refers to a specific example. For contractors, anchor those examples in the agreed scope and how the work was delivered. 

3. Give feedback the contractor can act on

 Tell the contractor what worked, describe what needs to improve and ask for their perspective. 

A specific example makes it easier to discuss the impact and decide what to change together.

"The report made the customer trends easy to understand, and the team used the charts in Friday's presentation. It arrived after Thursday's sign-off deadline, so we had less time to check the figures. 

What held it up, and what would help us get the next report ready for sign-off on time?"

Give them room to answer. You might find that the data arrived late or that your team added a requirement halfway through. Once you understand what happened, you can agree on a change that addresses the cause.

4. Agree on what success looks like next time

 Close the review with one or two actions you can check at the next milestone. 

Record what will change, who owns it, when it's due and how you'll know it worked.

For example, your team could commit to providing the source data by Tuesday, the contractor could flag any missing figures by Wednesday, and the project lead could confirm whether the draft is ready for Thursday's sign-off.

Each person leaves knowing what they're responsible for.

Use your performance review template to capture those commitments and share a short recap after the call. At the next check-in, pull up the recap and ask whether the changes helped the work move forward.

4 Questions to Ask Before a Remote Contractor's First Review

1. What did we actually agree they'd deliver?

2. What did they deliver, and what can we point to?

Bring one or two examples that explain your feedback. 

"The handover went well" is nice to hear. 

"Your setup notes answered the support team's questions, so they could get started without waiting for another call" tells the contractor exactly what to repeat.

The same goes for work that needed revisions. If a draft came back twice, point to the requirement it missed and explain what the extra revisions meant for the project. 

Then ask how the contractor understood the brief. You might find that an instruction you thought was clear meant something different to them.

3. What got in the way?

4. What should we both do after the call?

"We'll communicate better" is easy to agree to and hard to follow up on. 

Try something you can both check. 

For example, your project lead will send one set of comments by Wednesday, and the contractor will flag anything that could put Friday's delivery at risk as soon as they spot it.

Write down who agreed to do what and share a short recap. 

At the next check-in, you'll have a concrete question to ask: did getting one set of comments help the draft land on time?

What Is a Performance Review Template?

A performance review template is a reusable form that helps you prepare for a review, guide the conversation and record what you agreed.

It gives both people a place to note what went well, what needs attention and what should happen next.

For employee performance reviews, the template might cover progress against role objectives, feedback and development goals. For a remote contractor's first review, build it around the agreed scope, completed work and upcoming milestones.

A simple template typically includes:

• Review details: Who's taking part and what period or project phase you're reviewing.
• Expectations and criteria: The goals, deliverables or standards you agreed at the start.
• Progress and evidence: Examples of completed work, milestones reached and any gaps to discuss.
• Feedback from both sides: What went well, what got in the way and what could change.
• Next steps: What each person will do, when it's due and when you'll check in again.

You can use the same structure for an annual employee appraisal, a quarterly check-in or a contractor's first project review. 

A short check-in might need only a few notes, while a formal review may call for more detail and ratings against agreed criteria.

Download the Free Performance Review Template in Word, Excel or PDF

How Managers Can Use the Template Before, During and After the Call

Use the performance review template to prepare for the conversation, take notes as you go and keep track of what you both agree to do next.

Before the call, fill in what you already know

Add the agreed deliverables, deadlines and any changes to the brief. 

Bring one or two examples that show how the work went, such as a handover that went smoothly or a draft that needed a second round of revisions.

Share the discussion points in advance so the contractor has time to bring their own examples and flag anything you missed.

During the call, compare notes before agreeing on a fix

Walk through the evidence together and ask how the project looked from their side. 

A late draft might be easy to spot in the tracker, but the contractor may know exactly where it got held up. If they were waiting for two people to resolve conflicting comments, agree who will consolidate feedback next time and when they'll send it.

Capture the decision while you're both on the call. Record the action, who owns it and when it's due.

After the call, give each action a place to live

Send a short recap with the agreed actions, owners, due dates and next check-in. If you use AgilityPortal, create a TaskFlow task for each follow-up that needs tracking.

For example, assign "Send one set of comments on the next draft" to the project lead, set it due Wednesday and note that the revised draft is due Friday.

At the next check-in, ask whether getting one set of comments gave the contractor enough time to revise the draft. Their answer will help you decide whether to keep the process or adjust it again.

Simple and 30/60/90 Performance Review Templates

A simple review gives you a snapshot of how someone is doing over a set period. 

A 30/60/90 review uses the same structure at three checkpoints, so you can see how someone settles into the role, responds to feedback and takes on more responsibility. 

It's especially useful during onboarding, when expectations at day 30 may look quite different from those at day 90.

If you're looking for a free employee performance review template in Word or PDF, Word gives you room to adapt the questions, while PDF is handy for printing or sharing. 

A free employee performance review template in Excel makes it easier to compare ratings and notes across the three checkpoints.

Start with the employee's name, role, department and review date. For a 30/60/90 review, mark which checkpoint you're completing and pull up the goals you agreed for that stage.

That gives you a fair basis for discussing progress, especially if the person is still learning a system or waiting for training.

Then write a short overall summary. Capture a specific achievement, an area that needs attention and any support that would help. Imagine the employee reads only this paragraph. 

Would they know what they're doing well and where to focus next?

What to assess at each checkpoint

Use the same criteria across all three reviews so you can compare progress. 

A simple four-point scale works well: 1 means below the required standard, 2 means improvement is needed, 3 means meets expectations and 4 means exceeds expectations. Judge each area against what you agreed for that stage.

• Quality of work. Does the work meet the standards set for the role? Look at accuracy, completeness and how much correction was needed.
• Consistency. Is the quality steady across assignments, including when priorities shift or the workload increases?
• Problem-solving. When something gets stuck, does the employee investigate the cause, consider options and ask for help when it would move things forward?
• Initiative. Do they spot opportunities to improve how work gets done and take useful steps within their responsibilities?
• Independence. Which tasks can they now handle on their own? Where would clearer instructions, better access or more training help?
• Collaboration. Do they share information, follow through on commitments and make it easy for colleagues to pick up shared work?
• Communication. Are their updates clear and timely? Can colleagues tell what's been decided, what's outstanding and who needs to act?
• Accountability. Do they flag mistakes, explain what happened and follow through on the agreed fix?
• Reliability. Do they meet agreed deadlines and commitments? When a date is at risk, how early do they raise it?
• Progress against goals. What has improved since the last checkpoint? Which skill or responsibility should they focus on next?

Leave space for comments beside each rating, especially where a score is particularly high or low. For example, "Flagged missing data two days before the deadline and proposed an alternative" tells the employee what earned the rating and what to keep doing. 

If you haven't seen enough work to assess a category, say what you'll look for before the next checkpoint.

Close with one or two priorities for the next period. Write down what good progress would look like, what support you'll provide and when you'll check in again.

How to Run a Productive Review Meeting

A good review gives you and the contractor a chance to compare what you each saw during the project. You might have noticed an increase in revisions. 

They might have noticed that the instructions changed depending on who gave the feedback. 

Make room for both perspectives, then use what you learn to agree on a practical change.

Before the call, speak to people who worked with the contractor

Ask the people who briefed the work, reviewed it or picked it up at handover what they noticed. 

Give them a specific prompt. "How did the handover go?" might get you a polite "fine." Ask what they could do straight away and what they had to go back and clarify.

Give the contractor the same chance to prepare. 

Send a short agenda, share the examples you want to discuss and ask if there's anything they'd like to add. 

That gives them time to bring their own evidence, especially if you work across time zones and they've had little contact with some of the people involved. 

During the call, make room for both sides of the story

1. Open with the purpose. Explain which phase of the project you're discussing and what you want to decide together.
2. Start with what worked. Point to a result and explain what it made possible for the team. That gives the contractor a concrete example of what to repeat.
3. Work through one issue at a time. Describe what happened and ask how it looked from their side. If a fix needs input from your team, agree who will provide it.
4. Choose a change you can test. Before you finish, agree what you'll try on the next piece of work and book a date to see whether it helped.

After the call, check whether the change helped

Send a short recap while the conversation is fresh. Include the action, who owns it and when it's due. 

At the next check-in, ask what changed in practice. If you agreed to give the contractor one set of comments, for example, look at whether the next draft needed fewer clarifications or moved through sign-off faster.

A useful follow-up for remote development work is to see how much routine coordination the contractor still needs. 

In the example attributed to Perfovant OÜ, developers who could handle more of the day-to-day work independently by day 60 maintained their output through the rest of the period. 

Others continued to need more coordination from the team. If you're seeing that pattern, look at where the extra back-and-forth comes from. 

A missing system permission, unclear acceptance criteria or a slow approval can each call for a different fix. Read the Perfovant OÜ example on Litespace. 

4 Common Performance Review Mistakes to Avoid

A remote contractor's first review can go off track even when you've prepared well. 

You might spend most of the call discussing one late delivery, skim over the work that went well and finish with a promise to "communicate better."

Here's how to make the conversation more useful.

Letting one problem dominate the conversation

A missed deadline deserves attention, especially if it held up someone else's work. 

Give it the time it needs, then look at the rest of the project. Did the contractor make handovers easier? 

Did they catch a problem before it reached the client? Mention what worked and why so they know what to keep doing.

Before drawing a conclusion about someone's reliability, check what contributed to the problem. A late approval or missing system access can change how you interpret a missed deadline.

Psychologists call the tendency to overlook those circumstances the fundamental attribution error. 

Giving feedback the contractor can't act on

"Be more proactive" leaves the contractor guessing. 

What would you actually want them to do differently next time? Start with a specific moment, describe what happened and explain the effect it had on the project. That's the idea behind the Center for Creative Leadership's Situation–Behaviour–Impact feedback model.

For example, you could say, "We found out on Friday that the test environment was unavailable, so the release team had to move sign-off. 

Next time, could you flag it as soon as you lose access so we can help clear the blocker?"

Waiting until the end to ask for their perspective

Ask for the contractor's view while you're discussing each example. 

"What did you have to work with at that point?" can uncover details you wouldn't see in the project tracker. 

They may have been waiting on a decision your team thought it had already made.

Make it easy for them to raise something your team could do better, too. 

Ask which part of the brief was hardest to interpret or where they spent time chasing an answer. 

The CIPD's evidence review on performance feedback highlights the role of accurate information and an opportunity for the person receiving feedback to contribute. 

Leaving follow-up until the next formal review

Close the call by agreeing who will do what and by when.

If your team promises to give the contractor a single set of comments, name the person who'll pull them together and set a date for sending them. Share the recap while the conversation is fresh.

Check whether the change helped at the next milestone.

If the contractor still had to chase three people for a decision, you've caught the problem while there's time to fix it on the current project. 

How Often Should You Check In With a Remote Contractor?

Set your contractor check-in schedule around the pace of the project. For a short assignment, talk after the first substantial delivery, while there's still time to adjust the brief, approvals or handover. 

For a longer engagement, a 30-day contractor check-in can give you an early chance to clear up how you'll work together. From there, schedule conversations around major milestones.

Use milestone feedback to address issues while they're fresh. If a draft arrives with a key requirement missing, talk it through before the next draft begins. 

A short message may be enough for a straightforward correction. Save a call for issues that need a decision from both sides.

Keep a running note of what worked, what held up delivery and what you agreed to change. 

When you sit down for a quarterly contractor review, those examples help you look across the whole engagement and see whether the adjustments you made actually helped.

Final Thoughts: Make the First Review Count

A remote contractor's first review can be a short conversation. 

Bring a couple of examples, ask what helped or held up the work, and agree on one change you can test before the next milestone.

Make that change specific. If two sets of comments delayed a draft, agree who will combine the feedback and when they'll send it. 

At the next check-in, you can see whether the contractor had enough time to make the revisions.

Download the free performance review template in the format that suits how you work:

• Word: Adapt the four questions and take notes during the call.
• Excel: Track agreed actions, owners, due dates and progress.
• Fillable PDF: Complete the form on screen, print it or share a copy of the review summary.

Before you close the call, make sure you both know what happens next and when you'll check whether it helped. 

FAQ

How do I use a performance review template in Word?

Open the performance review template in Word and fill in the agreed deliverables before the call. 

Add a couple of examples you want to discuss, then use the action table to record what each person agrees to do and when it's due.

Can I adapt a free employee performance review template in Word for a contractor?

Yes. If you already have a free employee performance review template in Word, replace sections on career development and role competencies with the agreed scope, quality standards, deadlines and follow-up actions. 

That gives you a form centred on the project. 

Is the performance review template free to download?

Yes. The performance review template is free and comes in three formats. Choose Word to edit the questions, Excel to track actions or the fillable PDF to complete on screen or print.

Can I fill in the performance review template PDF on screen?

Yes. Download the performance review template PDF and open it in a PDF reader that supports fillable forms.

Type your notes into the fields, save a copy and share the completed summary with the contractor if needed. 

Is there a performance review template in PPT format?

 A performance review template in PPT format isn't included in these downloads. 

If you need to present a summary in PowerPoint, use the Word version to capture your notes, then bring the key findings and agreed actions into your slides.

Should I use a free employee performance review template in Word or PDF?

Choose a free employee performance review template in Word if you need to customise the questions or rating criteria. 

A free employee performance review template in PDF is useful when you want a consistent layout for printing or sharing. For a contractor's first review, use the contractor-specific version above. 

How do I use a performance review template in Excel?

 Use the performance review template in Excel to give each follow-up action an owner, due date and status. 

Update the workbook at your next check-in so you can see what's complete and what still needs attention.

When should I use a free employee performance review template in Excel?

A free employee performance review template in Excel is useful when you want to compare progress across several checkpoints, such as days 30, 60 and 90 of onboarding. 

Keep the review criteria consistent across those dates so you can see where progress was made and where more support is needed.