Copilot Prompts for Performance Reviews for Managers and Self-Evaluations
The short answer: Copilot is great at the part of a review everyone hates. Digging up what actually happened over 6 or 12 months and turning it into a first draft. It should never be the one deciding the rating. Copilot drafts, the manager judges.
Below are 9 prompts for self-evaluations, mid-year and year-end reviews, manager write-ups and peer feedback, plus the HR guardrails European companies need to know before rolling this out.
Before you prompt: collect the evidence
A review written from memory is a review of the last 6 weeks. That's the real problem Copilot solves.
Microsoft's own example (from a December 2025 Insider blog post on year-end reviews) points Copilot at a OneNote page that collects your status reports, presentations, feedback notes and emails, then asks for a reflection capped at 6,000 characters. I like that setup a lot. One page, all the proof, and Copilot writes from it instead of guessing.
If you have a paid Copilot licence, Copilot can also search your emails, meetings and files directly. Microsoft 365 Copilot is now called Microsoft Copilot, by the way, so I'll just say Copilot from here.
1Say what the review is for
Microsoft's prompting guide splits a prompt into goal, context, expectations and source. Only the goal is required. The rest is what makes the draft sound like you.
2Put the sources last
Microsoft says later parts of a prompt get more weight, and that files or sources belong at the end. So: what you want first, the OneNote page or file last.
3Tell it what to do, not what to avoid
Another Microsoft tip. If a claim has no example, mark it works better than don't make things up.
Copilot prompts for your self-evaluation
This is the safe zone. You're writing about yourself, and you know which claims are true.
Go through my emails, meetings and files from January to June and list the projects I delivered, with dates and who I worked with. Add the source at the end of each line.
Draft my self-evaluation for my mid-year review from the list above. Use 3 parts: results, what I learned, and what I want to grow into next. Keep it under 500 words, first person, plain and specific.
Rewrite the results part so every claim has a number or an example behind it. If you can't find one, write [ADD EXAMPLE] and move on.
For the big year-end version, try the Researcher agent. Microsoft's own tip is to be specific: instead of a generic report for your review, ask for your business impact on a named project.
Write a report on my impact on the [project name] project this year for my performance review. Use my emails, meetings and files only, not the web.
Copilot prompts for managers writing reviews
Here Copilot does the clerical work. You still write the judgement. Every rating, every pay conversation and every decision about someone's job stays with you (and with HR).
Summarize the notes and emails I've written about [name]'s work since January into a timeline of concrete examples. Stick to what happened and when.
Here are my bullet notes for [name]'s year-end review. Turn them into a draft in 3 parts: what went well, where I want to see growth, and 2 goals for next year. Keep my exact wording on the points I marked with a star.
Read this draft review and flag every sentence that is vague, that talks about personality instead of work, or that has no example behind it.
Help me prepare for the review conversation with [name]. Give me 3 opening questions and a way to raise the growth area that's direct and respectful.
A prompt for peer feedback
Microsoft's own example here asks for feedback that's encouraging, doesn't talk down, and offers realistic suggestions. Good brief. Here's my version.
I want to tell a colleague that her status updates arrive too late for my team to use. Help me write it for her peer review in a way that's encouraging, with 2 realistic suggestions.
HR guardrails, and the EU AI Act
Microsoft doesn't say never use Copilot for HR. It says something more precise. Its application card for Copilot tells customers to avoid uses with a consequential impact on people's access to employment, to keep a human reviewing the output, and warns about overreliance, when people accept wrong or incomplete AI output because the mistakes are hard to spot. It also says legal obligations are the customer's job to evaluate.
Then there's the EU AI Act. Annex III, point 4, lists AI systems intended to make decisions about promotion or termination, or to monitor and evaluate the performance and behaviour of workers, as high-risk. After the Digital Omnibus (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744), those obligations apply from 2 December 2027.
What this means in practice (my reading, not legal advice, so check with your lawyer):
1An employee drafting their own review
Low risk. You're using a writing assistant on your own work.
2A manager or HR evaluating people with AI
This is the risk area. Keep Copilot on drafting and summarising, keep the decision human, and make sure the person can understand and challenge it.
3Works councils
If you have one, bring them in before managers start. Microsoft's own admin guidance for its People Skills feature names Works Council guidelines explicitly, and says that feature isn't designed for performance management at all.
Want to work out where that line sits for your company, with your HR team in the room? That's what Copilot training for HR teams is for.
What to check before you hit send
1Dates, numbers and names
Copilot only sees what you have access to, and it can still stitch things together wrong. Click the sources and check each one.
2Run it twice
Microsoft notes the same prompt can give different answers. If 2 runs disagree on a fact, that fact needs your eyes.
3Memory
Copilot Memory is on by default. For review work, start a temporary chat so it doesn't use or update memory. Your organisation's admins can still see temporary chats in Purview, so write as if HR will read it.
More prompts for other jobs sit in my Microsoft 365 Copilot prompt library. And if you're not sure whether Researcher or Analyst fits a given task, here's Researcher vs Analyst, explained. No commercial interest in Microsoft, by the way.
Questions about Copilot and performance reviews
What are good Copilot prompts for a performance review?
Prompts that name the period, the project and the sources. For example: Go through my emails, meetings and files from January to June and list the projects I delivered, with dates. Then ask for a draft from that list.
Can Copilot write my self-evaluation?
It can write the first draft. Microsoft's own example points Copilot at a OneNote page with your status reports, feedback notes and emails. You still check every claim, because it's your name on it.
Can I use Copilot for a mid-year review as a manager?
For drafting and summarising, yes. Keep the rating, pay and any decision about the person with you and HR. Microsoft tells customers to avoid uses with a consequential impact on employment and to keep a human reviewing the output.
Is using AI for performance reviews high-risk under the EU AI Act?
AI systems intended to evaluate workers' performance or make decisions about promotion or termination are listed as high-risk in Annex III, point 4. After the Digital Omnibus, those obligations apply from 2 December 2027. An employee drafting their own review is a different case. Ask your lawyer where your use sits.
Will Copilot remember what I wrote about my team?
Copilot Memory is on by default. Start a temporary chat to work without using or updating memory. Admins can still access temporary chats in Purview.
Want your managers using Copilot the right way?
I run live online Copilot workshops for groups of up to 20 people, from 1.5 to 4 hours. HR teams get prompts, guardrails and the EU context in one session.