Using Peer Nomination in a Review Cycle

Peer Nomination lets employees select their own peer reviewers rather than having an HR admin manually assign them. Once employees submit their nominations, their manager approves or declines each one, keeping the final peer list accurate and appropriate. This article explains how the feature works for each role involved: Admin, Employee, and Manager.

How Peer Nomination Works

Three roles are involved in the peer nomination process:

• Admin — Creates and configures the review cycle, including all peer nomination settings.
• Employee — Nominates the colleagues they would like to complete their peer review.
• Manager — Reviews and approves or declines each nomination submitted by their direct reports.

Admin: Setting Up Peer Nomination

When creating a review cycle, you can enable Peer Nomination so that employees choose their own reviewers. The setup follows the same process as a standard review cycle, with a few additional configuration steps.

1. Go to Appraisal → Review Cycles and click Add Review Cycle.

   

2. Enter the Review Cycle Name, select the employees to be reviewed, and under Add Review Type, tick the Peer checkbox. A Peer section will appear below.

3. Under the Peer section, choose how peers will be assigned:

   Option	How It Works
   Admin	You manually assign peers for each employee by clicking Assign Peer and selecting the appropriate colleague.
   Employees	Employees nominate their own peers after the review cycle is published. Additional nomination settings become available when this option is selected.

4. If you selected Employees, set the minimum and maximum number of peers each employee is allowed to nominate.
5. Set whether Manager Approval is required. Enabling this option is recommended so that managers can review and approve their employees' nominations before the cycle proceeds.
6. Set the Nomination Deadline by clicking the calendar icon and selecting a date.
7. Click Next and complete the remaining sections: Form, Scoring, Sequence, and Notifications.

8. On the Notifications page, click Publish to launch the review cycle.

   

Once published, employees included in the cycle can access it from their Appraisal dashboard and begin submitting their peer nominations.

Employee: Nominating Your Peers

After the review cycle is published, a nomination task will appear on your Appraisal dashboard. You can edit your nominations at any time before they are approved or the nomination deadline has passed.

1. Go to Appraisal → Dashboard.
2. Under the To-Do List, find the Nominate Peers task for your review cycle. The status will show as Not Started if you have not yet submitted any nominations. Click Nominate.
3. In the nomination window, use the dropdown to search for and select colleagues from your company. Tick the checkbox beside each person you want to nominate — their names will be added to your nomination list. The window will indicate how many peers you can select based on your admin's settings. Note that you cannot nominate yourself or your direct manager.
4. Click Submit Nominations. A confirmation message will appear confirming your nominations have been submitted.

After submitting, the task status changes to Pending and an Edit button appears in the Action column, allowing you to update your nominations while they are still awaiting approval.

Manager: Reviewing and Approving Nominations

As a manager, you will receive a task to review and act on peer nominations submitted by your direct reports. The manager assigned to each employee is determined by the Employee Supervisor field in their People Profile.

1. Go to Appraisal → My Dashboard.
2. Under the To-Do List, locate the Approve Peer Nominations task for the relevant review cycle. The status will show as Pending Your Approval.
3. Click Review in the Actions column to open the nominations submitted by the employee.
4. For each nominated peer, click Approve to accept the nomination or Decline to reject it.
5. If you decline a nomination, enter a reason in the designated field. You may also add a message to help the employee understand your decision.
6. Click Confirm Decision. A confirmation message will appear confirming your decision has been saved.

Once all required nominations for an employee are approved, the review cycle proceeds to the next stage for that employee.

If Some Nominations Are Declined

When a manager declines one or more nominations, the employee can view exactly which nominations were approved, which were declined, and the reason provided for each decline.

1. On your dashboard, nominations that have been approved will show as Approved and cannot be changed.
2. Declined nominations will be marked with an icon. Click the icon to view the reason provided by your manager.
3. Click Re-nominate next to a declined nomination to select a replacement peer.
4. In the nomination window, choose a new colleague. Previously approved peers are locked and cannot be removed.
5. Click Submit Nominations to send the updated nomination to your manager for approval.

Once all required peer nominations have been approved, the review cycle moves to the next stage and all participants can complete their appraisal forms as usual.

Important Things to Know About Peer Nominations

• Your appraisal is on hold until your peers are approved. Until the minimum required number of peers has been approved for you, the entire Reviews tab — including your self-review and your manager's review of you — remains hidden. Completing your nomination task promptly is essential to avoid holding up your appraisal.
• You cannot nominate yourself or your direct manager. The system prevents these selections during the nomination process.
• Approved peer lists cannot be changed by you. Once your peer list has been approved, only an administrator can update it on your behalf.
• No reminder emails are sent for nomination tasks. The system does not send email notifications for peer nomination tasks — no nomination prompt, no approval alert, and no rejection notice. Check your To-Do tab regularly so you do not miss a deadline.
• If you miss the nomination deadline, your administrator may assign peers on your behalf.
• Nominate thoughtfully, not maximally. Your peer review score is divided by the total number of peers assigned to you — not the number who actually respond. A peer who does not complete their review still counts against your total, which can lower your overall score. Nominate people who are likely to participate.