Starting in July 2025, university staff, academic staff, and limited appointees will follow a standard performance evaluation schedule. Workday will replace the Performance Management Development Program (PMDP) technology and will align performance evaluation timing across all Universities of Wisconsin. To prepare for this change, local HR professionals will work with their school, college, and divisions to align with the Workday performance management schedule.
Performance Review Schedule Starting July 2025:
The evaluation schedule will align with UW–Madison’s fiscal year (FY) which starts on July 1 and ends June 30.
- Annual (summary/full) evaluations – conducted between July and September. Employees can expect to have performance conversations with their managers, supervisors, or local HR professionals.
- Midpoint evaluations – conducted between January and March. Employees can expect to have a conversation to receive feedback from their manager, supervisor, or local HR professional.
Why change:
Currently, the timing and platforms to track performance evaluations vary across campus. In July 2025 and beyond, the Universities of Wisconsin will transition to using Workday which will provide consistencies with performance evaluation processes. Performance evaluations in Workday will have a uniform template across all Universities of Wisconsin. Workday will simplify performance evaluation communications to employees and supervisors by sending automatic reminders. Starting the transition to this timeline before Workday is live (in July 2025) allows HR professionals, managers and supervisors, and employees to make this change while using familiar systems.
What to expect:
For employees and managers who already use the fiscal year timeline, there will be no change. For employees and managers transitioning to this timeline, expect communication from your local HR professional to guide you through this change. Timelines will vary based on each school, college, and division.
While technology and processes may change, the purpose of performance evaluations remains the same. Evaluations clarify expectations, recognize high performance, address performance issues, and identify opportunities for employees to develop.
Local HR professionals work with their schools, colleges and divisions to determine if a supervisor is current on performance reviews for pay plan eligibility. Contact your local HR professional for details.
Instructional Academic Staff and Clinical Instructors:
Instructional Academic Staff and Clinical Instructors will not complete their performance evaluations in Workday. These employees will continue to follow their current review cycle timelines which are established by their division, department, or unit. They will continue to use current review schedules using the established process within their division, department, or unit. This may include use of the PDMP system, a paper-based system, or any other process specific to their unit.
Although Instructional Academic Staff and Clinical Instructors may use Workday to complete performance evaluations in the future, they will continue using their established evaluation processes at this time.
Additional Resources:
- Visit the Performance Management Toolkit for additional resources to support performance evaluations.
- For supervisor and manager resources visit hr.wisc.edu/managers-and-supervisors/.
- For questions about how this may impact your area, contact your local HR professional.
- For more information about ATP and Human Resources visit atp.wisconsin.edu/human-resources/.