[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":980},["ShallowReactive",2],{"announcements":3,"blog-/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams":148,"blog-related-/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams":358},[4,28,46,64,82,98,114,130],{"id":5,"title":6,"active":7,"body":8,"description":14,"extension":19,"link":20,"linkText":21,"meta":22,"navigation":7,"order":23,"path":24,"seo":25,"stem":26,"__hash__":27},"announcements/announcements/ios-app-launch.md","The BookYourPTO iPhone app is here — leave, approvals & expenses on the go. Android coming soon",true,{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":15},"minimark",[11],[12,13,14],"p",{},"The BookYourPTO mobile app is now on the App Store for iPhone. Book leave, approve requests, and claim expenses from anywhere. Android coming soon.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":18},"",2,[],"md","/mobile-app","Get the app",{},13,"/announcements/ios-app-launch",{"title":6,"description":14},"announcements/ios-app-launch","3qzUfXAJGPpl9sqLZf2eXpxXxhWkZ3n1BDP0fapqL9c",{"id":29,"title":30,"active":7,"body":31,"description":35,"extension":19,"link":38,"linkText":39,"meta":40,"navigation":7,"order":41,"path":42,"seo":43,"stem":44,"__hash__":45},"announcements/announcements/data-import.md","Move your team over from 48 HR and payroll platforms — employees, leave history and departments",{"type":9,"value":32,"toc":36},[33],[12,34,35],{},"Data Import & Migration is live. Upload a CSV or Excel export from your current HR or payroll system and BookYourPTO reads the column headers, works out which of 48 platforms it came from, and maps the fields for you — with 63 built-in templates covering everything from BambooHR, Rippling and Workday to Collage HR, Folks HR, Payworks and Wagepoint. Nothing is written until you approve the preview, and a completed import can be rolled back for 72 hours. BambooHR, Timetastic, Employment Hero and Zoho People can be connected directly over their APIs, so there is no file to export at all. Settings → Data Import, for administrators and executives, on every plan.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":37},[],"/switch-from","See the platforms",{},14,"/announcements/data-import",{"title":30,"description":35},"announcements/data-import","MvYRLBetKwuvH2CJd2LvSm2chpmyLpInw_paM6_39lY",{"id":47,"title":48,"active":7,"body":49,"description":53,"extension":19,"link":56,"linkText":57,"meta":58,"navigation":7,"order":59,"path":60,"seo":61,"stem":62,"__hash__":63},"announcements/announcements/review-cycles.md","Review cycles that run themselves — anniversary or fixed dates, reminders, notes and the signed form in one place",{"type":9,"value":50,"toc":54},[51],[12,52,53],{},"Review cycles now do the work. Set one to fall on each person's own hire-date anniversary or across a fixed company window, scope it to everyone, a department or named people, and it tracks the date for each employee and chases the right people as it approaches — the department head, administrators and executives, or the employee's manager where a department has no head, each emailed once however many of those they are. Reminders default to fourteen days and three days out and are yours to change. On a profile, the Reviews tab shows what is coming up and what has already happened, a review can be marked complete, and notes carry a visibility level — Employee and above, Department Head and above, or Administrator and Executive only — so a note is kept from the employee, or from their department head as well, without maintaining a list of names. A new Review mode on the upload page sends the signed form itself: choose the cycle, the file, the people who sign and which of them is being reviewed, and the document opens from that person's Performance tab afterwards. The employee it is about owns it whether they sign first or countersign after their manager.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":55},[],"/features#performance","See performance",{},15,"/announcements/review-cycles",{"title":48,"description":53},"announcements/review-cycles","UI4uhTFm26-dfu_MknZSaKWT4ps3qQqSub0hB5MLNdU",{"id":65,"title":66,"active":7,"body":67,"description":71,"extension":19,"link":74,"linkText":75,"meta":76,"navigation":7,"order":77,"path":78,"seo":79,"stem":80,"__hash__":81},"announcements/announcements/home-page.md","A home page that opens on what needs you — role-aware cards you can add, remove and rearrange",{"type":9,"value":68,"toc":72},[69],[12,70,71],{},"Signing in now lands on Home, a board of cards that answers one question first: what is waiting on you. Documents to sign, assessments you owe someone, tasks past their date and requests routed to you for a decision each get a card that links straight to the page where you act on it, and the card that lists what others are blocked on cannot be switched off. Alongside it sits your own record — leave balances, hours logged today, your next one-to-one, and a line each for goals, training, benefits, certifications and equipment — and what is happening around you, from who is away today to birthdays and work anniversaries. Managers additionally see their people and any onboarding still running; administrators and executives see headcount, joiners and leavers, review-cycle progress and what needs attention across the organization. Every card obeys the permissions and privacy settings already configured: with other departments hidden, people see only their own, and private leave types stay private. The board is yours to arrange — drag cards into the order you want, remove the ones you do not, and add optional ones such as company holidays, workforce mix, length of service or profile completeness from the tray. Your layout is stored on your account rather than in the browser, so it follows you to another device, and arranging it changes only what you see.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":73},[],"/features","See features",{},16,"/announcements/home-page",{"title":66,"description":71},"announcements/home-page","WV7nAzSgeff8xq63MYSyyNUWfHyC4WegQVzJPo6pjwA",{"id":83,"title":84,"active":7,"body":85,"description":89,"extension":19,"link":74,"linkText":75,"meta":92,"navigation":7,"order":93,"path":94,"seo":95,"stem":96,"__hash__":97},"announcements/announcements/org-chart-reports-to.md","An org chart drawn from Reports To — and downloadable as PNG, PDF or a .csv for Visio and Lucidchart",{"type":9,"value":86,"toc":90},[87],[12,88,89],{},"The org chart is now built from the Reports To field and from nothing else. It used to infer reporting lines from roles, handing department heads to administrators in turn, so the lines it drew could be invented; now every line is one somebody recorded. An executive who reports to a founder or a board appears beneath them, anyone who reports to nobody sits at the top, and a person whose manager has been deactivated, who is recorded as their own manager, or who is caught in a reporting loop surfaces at the top rather than vanishing, so the record that needs fixing is visible. Export offers a PNG of the chart as drawn, the same image as a PDF, and a .csv shaped for Visio, for Lucidchart, or unformatted for a spreadsheet — all built from the same field, so a download and the chart always agree. Who can download is set separately from who can browse, under Download Access in Company Directory settings; somebody who cannot view the chart can never download it, and every download, in every format, is recorded in the audit log.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":91},[],{},17,"/announcements/org-chart-reports-to",{"title":84,"description":89},"announcements/org-chart-reports-to","lDhWlPTbw2R3tIDNwVFrARNTWd0q0yBcbAoG_1fozUo",{"id":99,"title":100,"active":7,"body":101,"description":105,"extension":19,"link":74,"linkText":75,"meta":108,"navigation":7,"order":109,"path":110,"seo":111,"stem":112,"__hash__":113},"announcements/announcements/document-owner.md","Choose whose document it is when you send one for signature",{"type":9,"value":102,"toc":106},[103],[12,104,105],{},"A document sent to several people is filed under one of them, and until now that was simply whoever was added first. A salary letter signed by a manager and then the employee therefore landed in the manager's file. Sending a document to more than one person now asks whose document it is, the same question a review form already asks about the person being reviewed, and it is filed under that person whatever order the signatures are collected in. Everyone else still signs it and finds it in their own documents. The My Documents card on Home now counts every document you find in your folder, including the ones you sign alongside someone else.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":107},[],{},18,"/announcements/document-owner",{"title":100,"description":105},"announcements/document-owner","_Cq3hJJ4LHxH5DoZUR7vrgXKJQG08fdG3FHSRpPlwP0",{"id":115,"title":116,"active":7,"body":117,"description":121,"extension":19,"link":74,"linkText":75,"meta":124,"navigation":7,"order":125,"path":126,"seo":127,"stem":128,"__hash__":129},"announcements/announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages.md","Reports open the detail you clicked, and pages stay still",{"type":9,"value":118,"toc":122},[119],[12,120,121],{},"Clicking a row in the Leave, Time or Scheduling report now opens that leave request, time entry or shift in a read-only panel beside the report, with a link to where it is reviewed or edited, so you no longer lose your place. Report date ranges follow your own calendar rather than the server's, the Time report opens on the last 30 days instead of an empty year, and report CSV files keep notes and reasons as plain text in any spreadsheet. Across the app, switching tabs no longer jumps the page, paging a list brings the next page into view, and confirmations and error messages now appear on screen when you save, approve or export.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":123},[],{},19,"/announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages",{"title":116,"description":121},"announcements/reports-details-and-smoother-pages","CaYjA92fiC1V9prglnznYDQKVtdYJSWl2Kp1kYDckC8",{"id":131,"title":132,"active":7,"body":133,"description":137,"extension":19,"link":140,"linkText":141,"meta":142,"navigation":7,"order":143,"path":144,"seo":145,"stem":146,"__hash__":147},"announcements/announcements/expense-claim-redesign.md","Expense claims, redesigned",{"type":9,"value":134,"toc":138},[135],[12,136,137],{},"An expense claim now opens on a single header with a status stamp saying where it stands, its details in one panel, and the balance due beside the actions. Purchases, per diem and travel are tables with a totals row, per diem shows one row per day, items open in a panel beside the claim, and receipts preview on hover. On the claims list, a Columns menu lets you show or hide any column, and your choice is remembered. Trip dates also no longer show a day early west of UTC.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":139},[],"/expenses","See expenses",{},20,"/announcements/expense-claim-redesign",{"title":132,"description":137},"announcements/expense-claim-redesign","n91G7jkYNzcDLQaXH-QelEauU-0tqsZ05IaOT0-u1-k",{"id":149,"title":150,"author":151,"body":152,"date":344,"description":345,"extension":19,"image":346,"meta":347,"navigation":7,"path":348,"readTime":349,"seo":350,"stem":351,"tags":352,"__hash__":357},"blog/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams.md","Performance Review Cycles for Small Teams: Timing, Reminders, and What Actually Gets Done","AnHourTec Team",{"type":9,"value":153,"toc":333},[154,159,162,165,168,172,175,182,188,191,197,201,204,207,223,227,230,233,247,250,253,257,260,263,283,287,290,294,297,301,318,322],[155,156,158],"h2",{"id":157},"the-review-that-never-happens","The review that never happens",[12,160,161],{},"Most small companies have a performance review process on paper. Far fewer have reviews that actually take place on time. The pattern is familiar: somebody sets up an \"Annual Review\" in January, it sits there with a name and two dates, and by the time anyone remembers it, half the team is overdue and the other half had theirs in a hallway.",[12,163,164],{},"The problem is rarely motivation. It is that a review cycle, as most teams set it up, is a label rather than a schedule. Nothing in it decides who is due, nothing tells the manager it is time, and nothing marks the difference between \"running\" and \"forgotten\".",[12,166,167],{},"This guide covers the three decisions that turn a cycle into something that runs: when reviews fall due, who they cover, and who gets reminded.",[155,169,171],{"id":170},"decision-one-a-shared-window-or-each-persons-own-date","Decision one: a shared window, or each person's own date?",[12,173,174],{},"There are two honest ways to time reviews, and they suit different teams.",[12,176,177,181],{},[178,179,180],"strong",{},"A shared window"," puts everyone in scope on the same dates — \"reviews happen in the first two weeks of March\". It is easy to explain, it lines up with budget and compensation planning, and managers can block out the time in one go. The cost is a crunch: a manager with eight reports does eight reviews in a fortnight, and someone who joined in February is reviewed after a few weeks.",[12,183,184,187],{},[178,185,186],{},"A hire-date schedule"," measures from each employee's own start date. Nobody is reviewed after three weeks, and the load spreads across the year. The cost is that it is invisible without a system — no spreadsheet reminds you that Priya's anniversary is on the 14th.",[12,189,190],{},"A hire-date schedule also handles more than the one-year mark. The same idea covers \"once, three months in\" for an end-of-probation conversation, or \"every six months\" for a team that wants more frequent check-ins. Two edge cases are worth deciding up front, because they will come up: someone who started on 29 February, and someone who started on the 31st of a month. A sensible rule reviews the first on 28 February in years without a 29th, and holds the second to the last day of a shorter month rather than letting it spill into the next one.",[12,192,193,196],{},[178,194,195],{},"How to choose:"," if your compensation decisions happen on a fixed date, use a shared window for the review that feeds them. If your reviews are mostly about development and fit, a hire-date schedule is fairer and easier on managers. Many teams run both — a shared annual cycle and a hire-date check-in for new joiners.",[155,198,200],{"id":199},"decision-two-who-is-in-scope","Decision two: who is in scope?",[12,202,203],{},"A cycle that covers \"everyone\" is the default, and it is often wrong. Engineering may review twice a year while sales reviews quarterly. A pilot programme might start with one department. Contractors may not be reviewed at all.",[12,205,206],{},"Whatever you choose, two checks keep scope honest:",[208,209,210,217],"ul",{},[211,212,213,216],"li",{},[178,214,215],{},"The scope you set should be the scope that is saved."," It sounds obvious, but it is worth confirming that a department-wide cycle really covers that department — and only that department — before the first reminder goes out.",[211,218,219,222],{},[178,220,221],{},"Look at how many people a cycle actually covers."," A department that has been reorganised to zero people reads exactly the same as one with thirty, unless the cycle shows its headcount. Glance at the number before you rely on it.",[155,224,226],{"id":225},"decision-three-who-is-reminded-and-when","Decision three: who is reminded, and when?",[12,228,229],{},"A cycle that creates no reminders is a row nobody hears about. The question is how many reminders, and how far ahead.",[12,231,232],{},"One reminder is almost always wrong. Send it a month ahead and it is forgotten by the time it matters; send it the day before and there is no time to prepare. Two reminders cover both jobs:",[208,234,235,241],{},[211,236,237,240],{},[178,238,239],{},"About two weeks ahead"," — when there is still time to gather notes, look back at goals, and book the meeting.",[211,242,243,246],{},[178,244,245],{},"A few days ahead"," — when it has to be done, and the reminder is a nudge rather than a plan.",[12,248,249],{},"Teams that hold reviews on a tight schedule sometimes add a third on the day itself. More than a handful starts to read as noise.",[12,251,252],{},"The reminder should go to the person responsible for holding the review — usually the employee's manager — not to an HR inbox that then has to forward it. And it should stop the moment a cycle is paused or has ended, so nobody is chased for a review cycle that finished last quarter.",[155,254,256],{"id":255},"keep-running-and-finished-separate","Keep \"running\" and \"finished\" separate",[12,258,259],{},"A common trap is a cycle status that someone has to set by hand: Draft, Active, Completed. \"Completed\" is the one that never gets set, because nobody owns the moment a cycle is finished — and whether a review is done is really a fact about one person's assessment, not about the cycle.",[12,261,262],{},"A simpler model works better:",[208,264,265,271,277],{},[211,266,267,270],{},[178,268,269],{},"Active"," — the cycle sends reminders.",[211,272,273,276],{},[178,274,275],{},"Draft"," — it is being set up and sends nothing.",[211,278,279,282],{},[178,280,281],{},"Ended"," — its end date has passed. Nobody needs to mark it; the dates say so.",[155,284,286],{"id":285},"probation-is-its-own-thing","Probation is its own thing",[12,288,289],{},"It is tempting to run end-of-probation reviews as just another cycle called \"3 Months Probation\". That covers the reminder, but probation usually carries more than a review date: an agreed period, the possibility of an extension, and a decision that may affect someone's employment. Keep the probation review on the employee's own record, with its own period and extension date, and treat a hire-date review cycle as a complement to it rather than a replacement. (We cover probation reviews in more detail in a later post.)",[155,291,293],{"id":292},"link-the-review-to-the-conversations-before-it","Link the review to the conversations before it",[12,295,296],{},"The most useful reviews are the ones nobody is surprised by. When regular one-to-ones are linked to the review they lead up to, the review becomes the last step of a conversation that has been happening all along — the notes are already written, the goals have already been discussed, and the meeting is about what comes next.",[155,298,300],{"id":299},"a-short-checklist","A short checklist",[208,302,303,306,309,312,315],{},[211,304,305],{},"Choose the timing that matches the purpose: a shared window for pay decisions, hire dates for development.",[211,307,308],{},"Set the scope, then check the headcount the cycle actually covers.",[211,310,311],{},"Send two reminders to the person who holds the review: one to prepare, one to act.",[211,313,314],{},"Let the end date close the cycle, rather than relying on someone to mark it complete.",[211,316,317],{},"Keep probation on the employee's record, with its own period and extension.",[155,319,321],{"id":320},"how-bookyourpto-handles-it","How BookYourPTO handles it",[12,323,324,325,328,329,332],{},"In BookYourPTO, a review cycle runs either on ",[178,326,327],{},"specific dates"," for everyone in scope or on ",[178,330,331],{},"each employee's hire date"," — once a set number of months in, every year on the anniversary, or every few months. A cycle covers everyone, one department, or a chosen list of people, and the list shows how many people each cycle currently covers. Reminders go out 14 and 3 days ahead by default, and administrators can choose up to six per cycle. A cycle is created Active, can be switched to Draft to pause it, and reads as Ended once its end date has passed. The probation review stays on each employee's profile with its own period, extension and reminders.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":334},[335,336,337,338,339,340,341,342,343],{"id":157,"depth":17,"text":158},{"id":170,"depth":17,"text":171},{"id":199,"depth":17,"text":200},{"id":225,"depth":17,"text":226},{"id":255,"depth":17,"text":256},{"id":285,"depth":17,"text":286},{"id":292,"depth":17,"text":293},{"id":299,"depth":17,"text":300},{"id":320,"depth":17,"text":321},"2026-09-03","A review cycle is only useful if reviews happen when it says they will. How to choose between a company-wide window and hire-date reviews, who should be reminded and when, and how to keep cycles from quietly stalling.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1552664730-d307ca884978?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop",{},"/blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams","7 min read",{"title":150,"description":345},"blog/performance-review-cycles-small-teams",[353,354,355,356],"performance","reviews","hr","guides","BETQNbO7TQNwlGnfzmgok-SajqmUcS0pC_x1mbf0xwA",[359,564,785],{"id":360,"title":361,"author":151,"body":362,"date":551,"description":552,"extension":19,"image":553,"meta":554,"navigation":7,"path":555,"readTime":556,"seo":557,"stem":558,"tags":559,"__hash__":563},"blog/blog/home-page-what-needs-you.md","A Home Page That Opens on What Needs You",{"type":9,"value":363,"toc":541},[364,368,371,378,382,394,397,404,408,444,448,462,466,469,497,501,507,510,514,521,527,531],[155,365,367],{"id":366},"where-a-working-day-should-start","Where a working day should start",[12,369,370],{},"For a long time, signing in to BookYourPTO dropped you on the Dashboard: a calendar grid built to answer \"who is off, and when\". It answers that question well. It answers almost nothing else. A document waiting on your signature, an assessment somebody is waiting for, a leave request routed to you for a decision — each lived behind a sidebar entry you had to think to visit.",[12,372,373,374,377],{},"Signing in now lands on ",[178,375,376],{},"Home",". It gathers what needs you, your own records, and — for people who manage or administer — their team and the organization. The Dashboard has not gone anywhere; it is still in the sidebar, unchanged.",[155,379,381],{"id":380},"what-needs-you-comes-first","What needs you comes first",[12,383,384,385,388,389,393],{},"The first card is ",[178,386,387],{},"Action Required",": documents waiting on your signature, assessments you owe somebody, onboarding tasks and training past their date, and certifications that have expired. Each row says what it is for and opens the page where you deal with it. An onboarding task assigned to you for a new starter opens ",[390,391,392],"em",{},"their"," onboarding, where the task lives, not your own.",[12,395,396],{},"This is the one card that cannot be switched off. When there is nothing outstanding it says so, rather than disappearing — \"you are clear\" is information too.",[12,398,399,400,403],{},"Beside it, ",[178,401,402],{},"Waiting on You"," appears for anyone requests are routed to, with leave, expense and time requests counted separately, each count matching the queue it opens.",[155,405,407],{"id":406},"your-own-record-at-a-glance","Your own record, at a glance",[208,409,410,416,422,432,438],{},[211,411,412,415],{},[178,413,414],{},"Time Off"," — your Annual and Sick balances, the same figures as the Leave Balance panel on your calendar, and your next booked leave.",[211,417,418,421],{},[178,419,420],{},"Today's Hours"," — hours logged today and whether you are clocked in, when your organization uses time tracking.",[211,423,424,427,428,431],{},[178,425,426],{},"My Expenses"," and ",[178,429,430],{},"My Documents"," — your claims and documents by where they have got to, naming the most recent ones so you know which report is awaiting approval, not only how many.",[211,433,434,437],{},[178,435,436],{},"Next 1:1"," — who you next speak to, and when.",[211,439,440,443],{},[178,441,442],{},"My Stuff"," — a line each for goals, training, certifications, benefits and equipment.",[155,445,447],{"id":446},"what-is-happening-around-you","What is happening around you",[12,449,450,453,454,457,458,461],{},[178,451,452],{},"Who's Out"," shows who is away today and, over the next fortnight, who is away on which day — with their photo and the type of leave. ",[178,455,456],{},"Celebrations"," lists birthdays and work anniversaries over the next two weeks. Anyone with people reporting to them gets ",[178,459,460],{},"My Team",": who is away and when they next speak to each. Department heads also see the onboarding still running in their own department, and administrators and executives see onboarding across the organization along with headcount, review cycles and what needs attention.",[155,463,465],{"id":464},"every-card-follows-the-rules-you-already-set","Every card follows the rules you already set",[12,467,468],{},"Home restates information that other parts of the product own, so it follows their rules rather than inventing its own:",[208,470,471,478,484,487,494],{},[211,472,473,474,477],{},"With ",[178,475,476],{},"other departments hidden",", Who's Out and Celebrations show only your own department, as the Dashboard does. Administrators and executives are exempt, as the setting says.",[211,479,480,483],{},[178,481,482],{},"Private leave types"," read as \"Private\" to anyone not entitled to the detail.",[211,485,486],{},"Who's Out sends a name, a date and a leave type — the reason somebody gave for being away stays on the server.",[211,488,489,490,493],{},"A ",[178,491,492],{},"work anniversary"," reveals tenure, so it is shown only to the person, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives.",[211,495,496],{},"A module your organization has switched off — time tracking, say — does not appear on Home and cannot be added to it.",[155,498,500],{"id":499},"arrange-it-your-way","Arrange it your way",[12,502,503,506],{},[178,504,505],{},"Customise"," turns the board into an editor. Drag a card to move it, or use the arrow keys; remove the ones you do not need; and add optional cards from the tray — Company Holidays, Leave Balance, Deductible and Non-deductible Leave, Organization Time for anyone working away from head office's timezone, and, for administrators and executives, Workforce Mix, Length of Service and Profile Completeness. Nothing is saved until you select Save.",[12,508,509],{},"Your layout is stored on your account rather than in the browser, so it follows you to another device. Switching a card off changes only what you see: it grants no access, and every card's data is still permission-checked on the server.",[155,511,513],{"id":512},"an-org-chart-you-can-trust-and-take-with-you","An org chart you can trust — and take with you",[12,515,516,517,520],{},"Home's My Team card links to the org chart, which is now built from the ",[178,518,519],{},"Reports To"," field and nothing else. It used to infer reporting lines from roles; now every line on it is one somebody recorded. A person whose manager has left, who is recorded as their own manager, or who is caught in a reporting loop surfaces at the top of the chart, so the record that needs fixing is visible.",[12,522,523,526],{},[178,524,525],{},"Export"," offers a PNG of the chart as drawn, the same image as a PDF, and a .csv shaped for Visio, for Lucidchart, or for a spreadsheet. Who may download is a separate setting from who may browse, and every download, in every format, is recorded in the audit log — an export is a roster in a file, and it should be possible to say who took one.",[155,528,530],{"id":529},"getting-started","Getting started",[12,532,533,534,536,537,540],{},"There is nothing to switch on. Sign in and you are on Home; select ",[178,535,505],{}," to make it yours. Administrators can set who may download the org chart under ",[178,538,539],{},"Download Access"," in Company Directory settings.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":542},[543,544,545,546,547,548,549,550],{"id":366,"depth":17,"text":367},{"id":380,"depth":17,"text":381},{"id":406,"depth":17,"text":407},{"id":446,"depth":17,"text":447},{"id":464,"depth":17,"text":465},{"id":499,"depth":17,"text":500},{"id":512,"depth":17,"text":513},{"id":529,"depth":17,"text":530},"2026-10-01","Signing in to BookYourPTO now lands on Home: a board of cards built for your role that starts with what is waiting on you, can be rearranged to suit you, and respects every privacy setting your organization already has.","https://assets.bookyourpto.com/blog/home-page-cover.webp",{},"/blog/home-page-what-needs-you","5 min read",{"title":361,"description":552},"blog/home-page-what-needs-you",[560,561,562],"product","home","org chart","wg8-y8bp8k8Wv67jNqvo3aXf0XeIzf1zlvR3PWA2HNc",{"id":565,"title":566,"author":151,"body":567,"date":773,"description":774,"extension":19,"image":775,"meta":776,"navigation":7,"path":777,"readTime":778,"seo":779,"stem":780,"tags":781,"__hash__":784},"blog/blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist.md","Probation Period Reviews: A Practical Checklist for Managers",{"type":9,"value":568,"toc":762},[569,573,576,579,584,588,591,611,614,618,621,647,650,657,661,664,678,681,685,688,708,712,715,726,729,733,736,740,757,759],[155,570,572],{"id":571},"the-deadline-that-sneaks-up","The deadline that sneaks up",[12,574,575],{},"Most people decisions can wait a week. The end of a probation period usually cannot. It falls on a specific date, it often has contractual weight, and if it passes without a conversation, the decision tends to make itself — the person is simply confirmed, ready or not.",[12,577,578],{},"That is how probation reviews go wrong in small companies: not through bad judgment, but through a date nobody noticed until it had gone. This checklist covers the practical side — tracking the date, telling the right people, extending well, and keeping a clean record.",[12,580,581],{},[390,582,583],{},"A note before we start: probation rules differ by country, province and state, and by employment contract. Nothing here is legal advice. Check what your contracts and local employment law say about notice, extensions and what a probation period permits.",[155,585,587],{"id":586},"_1-record-the-period-not-just-the-start-date","1. Record the period, not just the start date",[12,589,590],{},"A probation review date is calculated, and calculations need inputs:",[208,592,593,599,605],{},[211,594,595,598],{},[178,596,597],{},"The start date"," — the employee's first day of employment.",[211,600,601,604],{},[178,602,603],{},"The length of the period"," — commonly expressed in months, and sometimes different by role or seniority.",[211,606,607,610],{},[178,608,609],{},"Any extension"," — a later date that replaces the original if the period is extended.",[12,612,613],{},"Store all three on the employee's own record. A review date written only in a calendar invite, or in a manager's notes, is lost the moment that manager changes jobs.",[155,615,617],{"id":616},"_2-decide-who-should-know-it-is-coming","2. Decide who should know it is coming",[12,619,620],{},"A probation review is personal. It should be visible to the people who have a reason to act on it, and to nobody else:",[208,622,623,629,635,641],{},[211,624,625,628],{},[178,626,627],{},"The employee themselves."," Nobody should discover their own review date from someone else.",[211,630,631,634],{},[178,632,633],{},"Their manager."," They hold the conversation.",[211,636,637,640],{},[178,638,639],{},"Their department head."," They are accountable for the team.",[211,642,643,646],{},[178,644,645],{},"Administrators and executives."," They maintain people records and may need to act on the outcome.",[12,648,649],{},"Colleagues do not need to see it. A team calendar that shows everyone's upcoming probation reviews tells a team who is still \"on trial\", which helps nobody. If your system shows probation milestones on a shared calendar or a home page, check that they are limited to this list.",[12,651,652,653,656],{},"One edge case to watch: a rule like \"department heads see probation for their department\" should never match a department head who has ",[178,654,655],{},"no"," department assigned against employees who also have none. Two empty values are not the same department.",[155,658,660],{"id":659},"_3-give-the-manager-enough-lead-time","3. Give the manager enough lead time",[12,662,663],{},"The review itself is a short conversation; the preparation is not. A useful rhythm:",[208,665,666,672],{},[211,667,668,671],{},[178,669,670],{},"About two weeks before"," — a reminder to look back over the period: goals, feedback from colleagues, any one-to-one notes.",[211,673,674,677],{},[178,675,676],{},"A few days before"," — a reminder to book the conversation if it is not already in the calendar.",[12,679,680],{},"The reminder should go to the manager directly. An HR inbox that has to forward it adds a step that eventually gets missed.",[155,682,684],{"id":683},"_4-extend-deliberately-not-by-default","4. Extend deliberately, not by default",[12,686,687],{},"Sometimes the right answer is \"not yet\" — the role changed, the manager changed, or there has not been enough time to judge fairly. An extension can be the fairest outcome, provided it is a decision rather than a drift:",[208,689,690,696,702],{},[211,691,692,695],{},[178,693,694],{},"Agree the new date"," and record it as an extension, so the original date is not quietly forgotten.",[211,697,698,701],{},[178,699,700],{},"Say what needs to be different"," by the new date, specifically enough that both sides can tell whether it happened.",[211,703,704,707],{},[178,705,706],{},"Check what your contracts allow."," Some limit how long a probation period can be extended, or require notice.",[155,709,711],{"id":710},"_5-hold-the-conversation-then-write-it-down","5. Hold the conversation, then write it down",[12,713,714],{},"Keep the review itself simple:",[208,716,717,720,723],{},[211,718,719],{},"What has gone well, with examples.",[211,721,722],{},"What needs to improve, with examples.",[211,724,725],{},"The outcome: confirmed, extended (with the new date), or ended.",[12,727,728],{},"Then record it on the employee's file the same day — a short note, or a signed review form if your process uses one. A decision that only exists in two people's memories is not a record.",[155,730,732],{"id":731},"_6-make-probation-part-of-onboarding-not-separate-from-it","6. Make probation part of onboarding, not separate from it",[12,734,735],{},"The best probation reviews confirm what everyone already knows. That happens when the period itself has structure: an onboarding checklist in the first weeks, regular one-to-ones, and clear goals. By the time the review arrives, the evidence is already written down.",[155,737,739],{"id":738},"the-checklist","The checklist",[208,741,742,745,748,751,754],{},[211,743,744],{},"Store the start date, period length and any extension on the employee's record.",[211,746,747],{},"Show the review date only to the employee, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives.",[211,749,750],{},"Remind the manager about two weeks ahead, and again a few days ahead.",[211,752,753],{},"Extend deliberately: new date, specific expectations, and a check against your contracts.",[211,755,756],{},"Record the outcome on the employee's file the same day.",[155,758,321],{"id":320},[12,760,761],{},"In BookYourPTO, each employee's probation review lives on their profile with its own period, extension date and reminders. Upcoming probation reviews appear on the Dashboard and in the Probation Reviews card on Home for the next two weeks, visible only to the employee, their manager, their department head, and administrators and executives — and a department head with no department assigned does not see the probation data of other unassigned employees. For teams that want a recurring check-in on top, a review cycle can be set to fall a set number of months after each employee's hire date.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":763},[764,765,766,767,768,769,770,771,772],{"id":571,"depth":17,"text":572},{"id":586,"depth":17,"text":587},{"id":616,"depth":17,"text":617},{"id":659,"depth":17,"text":660},{"id":683,"depth":17,"text":684},{"id":710,"depth":17,"text":711},{"id":731,"depth":17,"text":732},{"id":738,"depth":17,"text":739},{"id":320,"depth":17,"text":321},"2026-09-24","The end of a probation period is one of the few people decisions with a fixed deadline. How to track it, who should know it is coming, when to extend, and how to keep the record straight — without turning it into paperwork.","https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1521791136064-7986c2920216?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop",{},"/blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist","6 min read",{"title":566,"description":774},"blog/probation-period-reviews-checklist",[782,783,353,356],"probation","onboarding","zHdOIQ-fe8LGMvo45252-LxzJs8FYjKOCYWuMNEmpHs",{"id":786,"title":787,"author":151,"body":788,"date":969,"description":970,"extension":19,"image":971,"meta":972,"navigation":7,"path":973,"readTime":349,"seo":974,"stem":975,"tags":976,"__hash__":979},"blog/blog/org-chart-from-reports-to.md","An Org Chart That Matches Reality: Build It From Reporting Lines, Not Job Titles",{"type":9,"value":789,"toc":959},[790,794,797,804,808,814,820,824,827,847,850,854,857,877,881,884,887,902,906,909,912,926,928,945,947],[155,791,793],{"id":792},"the-chart-everyone-screenshots-and-nobody-trusts","The chart everyone screenshots and nobody trusts",[12,795,796],{},"Ask a growing company for its org chart and you will usually get one of two things: a slide that was accurate the week it was made, or a diagram generated by an HR tool that looks authoritative but quietly guesses. Both get screenshotted into onboarding decks and board packs. Neither can be relied on.",[12,798,799,800,803],{},"The fix is not a better drawing tool. It is deciding what the chart is drawn ",[178,801,802],{},"from"," — and making that one field the only source.",[155,805,807],{"id":806},"two-ways-a-chart-goes-wrong","Two ways a chart goes wrong",[12,809,810,813],{},[178,811,812],{},"Drawn by hand."," A diagram in a slide deck or a whiteboard tool is disconnected from the people records. It is right on the day it is made and starts drifting the next morning: someone changes manager, someone leaves, a team is split. Nobody updates the slide, because nobody owns it.",[12,815,816,819],{},[178,817,818],{},"Inferred from roles."," Some systems draw the chart from job titles or permission roles: department heads report to an administrator, administrators report to an executive. It looks tidy, but the lines are invented. If a system hands department heads to administrators \"in turn\", the third person in a list reports to the first administrator purely because of their position in the list. Anyone reading that chart as a reporting structure is being misled — and the \"Reports To\" field people carefully filled in is ignored.",[155,821,823],{"id":822},"one-source-the-reporting-line","One source: the reporting line",[12,825,826],{},"Every person record has, or should have, one field that says who they report to. Draw the chart from that field and nothing else:",[208,828,829,835,841],{},[211,830,831,834],{},[178,832,833],{},"Role affects order, not structure."," An executive is not automatically at the top. If the CEO reports to a founder or a board, they appear beneath them.",[211,836,837,840],{},[178,838,839],{},"Anyone who reports to nobody is a top-level person."," A chart can legitimately have more than one root — a founder and an independent board member, for example.",[211,842,843,846],{},[178,844,845],{},"Problems surface instead of vanishing."," Three situations break a naive chart: a person whose manager has been deactivated, a person recorded as their own manager, and a reporting loop (A reports to B, B reports to A). A good chart shows each of these at the top level so the record that needs fixing is visible, rather than silently dropping the person.",[12,848,849],{},"That last point matters more than it sounds. An org chart that hides broken records looks clean and is wrong. One that shows them is a to-do list for whoever maintains people data.",[155,851,853],{"id":852},"keep-the-chart-and-the-records-in-agreement","Keep the chart and the records in agreement",[12,855,856],{},"If the chart is drawn from the reporting line, keeping it accurate becomes a data-entry habit rather than a design task:",[208,858,859,865,871],{},[211,860,861,864],{},[178,862,863],{},"Change the manager on the record, not on the chart."," The chart should have no data of its own.",[211,866,867,870],{},[178,868,869],{},"Handle leavers on the same day."," When someone leaves, their direct reports need a new manager; otherwise they will float to the top of the chart, which is exactly the signal you want.",[211,872,873,876],{},[178,874,875],{},"Review the top level occasionally."," Anyone at the top who should not be is almost always a missing or broken reporting line.",[155,878,880],{"id":879},"exporting-without-forking","Exporting without forking",[12,882,883],{},"People will always need the chart outside the system: a slide for an all-hands, a page in a handbook, or a redrawn version in Visio or Lucidchart for a reorganization plan. The trap is that every export becomes a new, unmaintained copy.",[12,885,886],{},"Two rules keep exports honest:",[888,889,890,896],"ol",{},[211,891,892,895],{},[178,893,894],{},"Export from the same field the chart uses."," A picture of the chart as drawn, a PDF of the same image, and a spreadsheet of people and their managers should all come from the reporting line, so a download can never disagree with the chart it came from.",[211,897,898,901],{},[178,899,900],{},"Export only what the chart shows."," A chart shows names, titles, departments and reporting lines. It should not quietly include employee numbers, salaries, or any other HR field just because they happen to be in the database.",[155,903,905],{"id":904},"who-should-be-able-to-download-it","Who should be able to download it?",[12,907,908],{},"Browsing the chart and downloading it are different things. An export is a roster in a file: it leaves the system, outlives the session, and forwards like any other attachment. Many organizations are happy for everyone to look at the chart, but prefer that only certain people can take a copy away.",[12,910,911],{},"That suggests two practices:",[208,913,914,920],{},[211,915,916,919],{},[178,917,918],{},"Make download access its own setting",", separate from who can view the chart — and make sure somebody who cannot view the chart can never download it.",[211,921,922,925],{},[178,923,924],{},"Record every download."," Who exported the chart, when, and in what format should be answerable from an audit log, so an organization can see where its roster has gone.",[155,927,300],{"id":299},[208,929,930,933,936,939,942],{},[211,931,932],{},"Draw the chart from each person's reporting line and from nothing else.",[211,934,935],{},"Let role decide order at the top, never structure.",[211,937,938],{},"Show orphaned, self-managed and looping records at the top so they get fixed.",[211,940,941],{},"Export from the same source, and export only what the chart shows.",[211,943,944],{},"Set download access separately from viewing, and log every download.",[155,946,321],{"id":320},[12,948,949,950,952,953,955,956,958],{},"The BookYourPTO org chart is built from the ",[178,951,519],{}," field and nothing else. People who report to nobody, people whose manager is deactivated, people recorded as their own manager, and people caught in a reporting loop all surface at the top rather than disappearing. ",[178,954,525],{}," offers a PNG of the chart as drawn, the same image as a PDF, and a .csv shaped for Visio, for Lucidchart, or unformatted for a spreadsheet — all built from the same field, and carrying only what the chart shows. Who can download is set under ",[178,957,539],{}," in Company Directory settings, separately from who can browse, and every download in every format is recorded in the audit log.",{"title":16,"searchDepth":17,"depth":17,"links":960},[961,962,963,964,965,966,967,968],{"id":792,"depth":17,"text":793},{"id":806,"depth":17,"text":807},{"id":822,"depth":17,"text":823},{"id":852,"depth":17,"text":853},{"id":879,"depth":17,"text":880},{"id":904,"depth":17,"text":905},{"id":299,"depth":17,"text":300},{"id":320,"depth":17,"text":321},"2026-09-17","Most org charts drift because they are drawn by hand or inferred from job titles. Why the reporting line should be the only source, what goes wrong when it is not, and how to keep the chart and the people records in agreement.","https://assets.bookyourpto.com/blog/org-chart-cover.webp",{},"/blog/org-chart-from-reports-to",{"title":787,"description":970},"blog/org-chart-from-reports-to",[562,977,978,356],"employee directory","people data","jugtjXP7fSm4t8h4MU3LePYzvJaqlPJYaGhPffke_yY",1791444573967]