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Yes AI - AI Solutions Australia

Performance review workflow planning

Keep employment decisions with responsible people

Yes AI can help scope the administrative work around goals, feedback, review drafts and follow-up. Managers, HR and advisers retain every performance, disciplinary and legal decision, and employees need a clear way to respond and correct the record.

Discuss your workflow (03) 9003 0111

30-minute consultation: free for businesses with 20+ full-time staff; otherwise AUD200 including GST.

What the workflow can include

01

Define the process and decision owners

Begin with the applicable workplace instruments, contracts, policies and existing review process. Identify who can collect evidence, meet with an employee, approve a record and make any consequential decision. Record where HR or independent advice is required rather than treating a workflow as the authority.

02

Use specific, reviewable source material

Agree which goals, work outputs, role expectations and dated notes are relevant. Keep source references and distinguish an observed event from a manager’s interpretation. Do not turn message counts, screen activity, leave, complaints or other convenient data into a proxy for performance.

03

Preserve employee participation

Provide the employee with the concern and supporting material through the approved process, record their response accurately and keep disputed facts visible. Assign support and follow-up to responsible people. A generated summary must not replace a meeting or imply agreement that was not given.

04

Draft for review, not automatic action

A scoped assistant may prepare a meeting outline or draft summary from approved information. Label generated text, require an authorised reviewer and prevent automatic sending or filing until approval. Warnings, improvement plans, ratings and employment outcomes stay outside automatic generation and release.

05

Review privacy, security and access

Employee records may include personal or sensitive information. Check which laws and workplace arrangements apply, the provider’s processing and retention, access roles and correction process. Use the least information needed and keep public AI tools outside the workflow unless their use has been expressly assessed and approved.

06

Test accuracy and unequal effects

Use fictional or authorised de-identified examples before a pilot. Check missing context, incorrect attribution, tone changes, unsupported conclusions and results that differ across groups. Record corrections and reviewer effort. Stop or narrow the use if people cannot understand and challenge how an output was produced.

Fictional administrative record

A draft that still needs evidence and a response

This fixed example is not connected to an employer or employee. It contains no rating, protected attribute, legal conclusion or employment recommendation and sends or files nothing.

Record ID
SAMPLE-PERF-001
Record type
Example review draft
Source evidence
Not attached in this example
Employee response
Not recorded in this example
Review status
Awaiting authorised review
Employment decision
None made

Use current official guidance

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s current guidance says employers should check applicable awards, registered agreements, contracts and workplace policies before managing underperformance. It describes discussion, documentation and fair-process considerations, and recommends considering independent advice before disciplinary action. Read the Fair Work Ombudsman’s performance and warnings guidance.

The Fair Work Commission explains that general protections concern adverse action for prohibited reasons and are different from unfair dismissal. A workflow must not decide whether a legal test is met. Read the Fair Work Commission’s general protections guidance.

The Fair Work Commission lists several criteria for unfair-dismissal protection, including the minimum employment period. Check eligibility and the facts rather than treating probation as the answer. Read who the unfair-dismissal law protects.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner recommends due diligence, privacy safeguards and human oversight for commercially available AI products. Read the OAIC guidance for commercial AI products.

Official sources checked 11 September 2026. This page provides technical workflow-planning context and no employment, HR, privacy or legal advice.

Agree the scope before connecting data

Start with a defined workflow and representative examples. The proposal should identify the software, responsibilities, access and acceptance checks. Delivery time and price depend on that scope.

  • Confirm workplace instruments, policies, privacy requirements and the people authorised to decide.
  • Define permitted evidence, source references, employee response and correction paths.
  • Keep protected activity and attributes out of performance scoring and employment recommendations.
  • Test drafting accuracy and require human approval before any record is sent, filed or acted on.

Questions about performance review workflow planning

What does performance review workflow planning cover?

We can help scope how approved goals, manager notes, employee responses, review drafts and follow-up tasks move through existing systems. The workflow may organise evidence and draft administrative material for review. It does not rate an employee, decide performance, issue a warning, recommend dismissal or replace HR, workplace-relations or legal advice.

Does AI make a performance process fair or legally compliant?

No. Fairness and legal obligations depend on the facts, workplace instruments, contracts, policies, jurisdiction and decisions made by people. The Fair Work Ombudsman advises employers to check applicable rules and use a fair process, and to consider independent advice before disciplinary action. A generated document or completed workflow does not prove that those requirements were met.

How should underperformance records be handled?

Start with the organisation’s approved process and identify the manager or HR reviewer responsible for each step. Keep the stated concern, source evidence, employee response, agreed support and follow-up separate. Preserve corrections and unresolved disagreements. AI can assist with a draft summary, but a person who attended the discussion must verify it before it becomes a record.

Can the workflow decide whether to issue a warning or end employment?

No. Those are consequential employment decisions for authorised people with advice suited to the circumstances. Eligibility and legal tests differ, and probation is not the same as the minimum employment period for an unfair-dismissal application. The workflow should not infer an outcome from a score or automatically send a warning, performance plan or termination document.

How are workplace rights and protected attributes handled?

Do not use protected attributes, leave, complaints, union activity or other workplace rights to score performance or recommend an employment action. General protections prohibit adverse action for specified reasons. Define permitted inputs with HR and legal review, restrict access and provide a path for employees and reviewers to question or correct records.

What privacy checks are needed before employee information is connected?

Map the information, purpose, provider access, processing locations, retention, security and people who can see an output. Australian privacy coverage can differ between public and private employment records, and state or territory surveillance laws may apply. Check the organisation’s obligations and tell affected people how an approved system is used. Do not upload employee information to a public AI tool as a default.

Can AI remove bias from performance reviews?

No. A model can reproduce or add bias, and a numerical score can hide weak or incomplete evidence. If drafting or analysis is proposed, test representative examples, record false positives and omissions, compare outputs across relevant groups where lawful and appropriate, and require human review. The service promises no bias-reduction, satisfaction or performance-improvement percentage.

How much is a consultation?

The standard consultation is 30 minutes. It is free for businesses with 20 or more full-time staff; otherwise it costs AUD200 including GST. The consultation identifies the workflow, permitted information, reviewers and acceptance checks. Implementation, providers and any HR, workplace-relations, privacy or legal advice are scoped separately.

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