Notifications Sent During a Review Cycle
A complete list of system-generated notifications sent during a performance review cycle, including recipients and delivery channels.
During a performance review cycle, Zal automatically sends notifications to guide participants through each step of the process. This article outlines every system-generated notification, who receives it, and whether it appears in the Inbox, email, or both. Use this as a reference to understand what communications are sent and when.
This article contains the following sections:
This article is relevant to: All roles
Feature: Reviews
Review Launch Notifications
These notifications are sent at the start of the review cycle to inform participants of their responsibilities and prompt initial action.
- Review Kickoff Invitation: Notifies participants that a review cycle has begun and they can begin completing review tasks.
- Audience: Review participants
- Trigger: Sent on "Appraisal Starts" date
- Delivery: Email only
- Nominate Peers: Prompts participants to select peers to provide feedback, if peer reviews are included in the cycle and the "Peer Selection Opens" date is populated in cycle settings.
- Audience: Review participants
- Trigger: Sent on "Peer Selection Opens" date
- Delivery: Inbox and Email
Review Submission Notifications
- Complete Assigned Review: Notifies individuals that they've been asked to complete a self, peer, or review.
- Audience: Assigned review writers
- Trigger: Sent on "Appraisal Starts" date
- Delivery: Inbox and Email
- Reminder — Submit Assigned Review: Reminds participants that they have not yet submitted an assigned self, peer, or upward review.
- Audience: Review writers with incomplete submissions
- Trigger: Sent when a required review remains incomplete
- Delivery: Email only
- AI Performance Review Draft Generated: Notifies managers that an AI-generated performance review draft is ready for review and editing.
- Audience: Managers
- Trigger: Sent on the "Appraisal Ends/Manager Starts Reviewing" date
- Delivery: Inbox and email
- Reminder — Submit Performance Review Draft: Reminds managers to edit and submit AI-generated performance reviews that are still pending.
- Audience: Managers who haven't submitted AI-generated drafts
- Trigger: Sent when a manager hasn't completed AI-generated performance reviews for their direct reports
- Delivery: Email only
- Performance Review Submitted: Notifies admins that a manager has submitted a performance review for calibration & approval, if the "Send notification to HR for approval" setting is enabled in cycle settings.
- Audience: Admins
- Trigger: Sent when a manager submits a completed performance review.
- Delivery: Inbox and email
- Manager Changes Requested by HR: Informs a manager that HR has requested revisions to a submitted performance review.
- Audience: Managers
- Trigger: Sent when HR returns a submitted review for updates before approval.
- Delivery: Inbox and email
- Reminder — Approve Submitted Performance Reviews: Alerts admins that submitted manager reviews are awaiting HR approval.
- Audience: Admins
- Trigger: Sent when manager-submitted reviews remain unapproved.
- Delivery: Email only
Approval & Finalization Notifications
- Review Approved by HR: Informs managers that their direct report’s performance review has been approved and finalized, allowing them to schedule a 1:1 discussion and share results.
- Audience: Managers
- Trigger: Sent when HR approves an employee's submitted performance review
- Delivery: Inbox and email
- Performance Review Results Shared: Notifies an employee that their finalized performance review has been shared with them and are available to view in Zal.
- Audience: Review participants
- Trigger: Sent when a participant's manager shares final review results with them
- Delivery: Inbox and email