We’re excited to introduce a powerful upgrade to our Reviews platform — the Visibility Matrix, designed to give admins more control, flexibility, and confidence in managing reviews.

• What’s New?

1. Self-Serve Visibility Control: No more waiting on backend changes — admins can now directly manage who can see what in the review cycle.
2. Granular Settings: Decide visibility and anonymity across manager, peer, self, and other review types with just a few clicks.
3. Platform & PDF Sync: Ensure review visibility settings reflect consistently across the platform and PDFs.
4. Smart Defaults: We’ve made it easier to get started with sensible defaults, while still allowing full customization.

• Why It Matters?

This enhancement puts control in your hands, reduces admin effort, and ensures a seamless, consistent review experience for everyone.

 Click here to watch a quick walkthrough on configuring the Visibility Matrix in reviews.

We’re excited to introduce Manager Progress View (V2), designed to help managers seamlessly track how their teams are progressing in Giving Feedback.

What’s New?

• Track progress across all Giving Feedback phases (note: peer/goal selection is not included).
• Managers can now send reminders directly to their teams to complete assigned reviews.
• Team Progress Table View can be disabled for Managers & Skip Managers from the Review Cycle Settings tab (default = visible).

With this update, managers get more visibility and control, ensuring smoother feedback cycles and timely completions.

We’re pleased to announce the release of Review Cycle Duplication Enhancements. This update is designed to help admins save time, reduce manual setup, and ensure consistency across performance review cycles.

• What Gets Copied Automatically: When duplicating a review cycle, the system carries forward key elements:

1. Basic setup (cycle name, type, and structural settings)
2. Forms and questions
3. Weighted score configurations
4. Custom attributes and employee mapping
5. Goal and competency block configurations
6. Review phases (self, manager, peer, direct report, and custom)
7. Automations and workflow triggers
8. Visibility settings
9. Email templates

• What Does Not Get Copied: Certain elements are excluded to maintain fairness and accuracy:

1. Inactive employees
2. Peer assignments
3. Phase completions
4. Notification history
5. Calibrated scores
6. Review responses
7. Dynamic manager changes
8. Hierarchical calibration phase

• Optional Settings: Admins can choose whether to carry forward or reset certain elements:

1. Reviewees (with warnings for inactive employees)
2. Goals (definitions and approval states)
3. Competencies
4. Custom reviewer mappings
5. Manager mapping and custom attributes

• Smart Warnings & Transparency:

1. Inactive reviewees or managers are flagged with CSV downloads for easy review.
2. Reassignment alerts guide admins if managers are inactive or missing.
3. Duplication progress is clearly shown with loading states and success messages.

• Post-Duplication Notifications: Once duplication is complete, the initiating admin receives an email confirmation that the new draft cycle is ready to configure.
• Key Improvements: Previously, for 360° reviews, templates could not be edited in duplicated cycles if the source cycle had responses. This restriction has now been removed — templates can now be freely edited.

Admins can now enable Automatic Manager Changes to keep manager–direct report assignments in sync when organizational changes occur mid-cycle.

When the Feature is Disabled: Even if Automatic Manager Changes is turned off,

1. Peoplebox preserves existing submissions by creating system reviewer types (Previous Manager and Previous Direct Report).
2. Prior reviews and feedback remain accessible.
3. Any reassignments required must be done manually.

Why This Matters?

1. Automatic Mapping at Review Level: Manager changes in the employee table are automatically reflected in review cycles (if enabled). No manual reassignment is needed.
2. Seamless HRIS Sync: For accounts with HRIS sync, manager changes flow directly into review cycles, keeping org data consistent without additional admin effort.
3. No Responses Lost: All past reviews, approvals, and feedback remain preserved under system reviewer types. This prevents issues such as missing responses or requests to restore reviews.
4. Data Integrity and Workflow Continuity: New managers can immediately take over pending tasks while retaining historical context. This ensures review cycles remain transparent, fair, and audit ready.

More details: https://help.peoplebox.ai/hc/peoplebox-help-center/articles/1754281829-manager-changes-in-ongoing-review-cycle 

We’ve introduced a new way for managers to track feedback activity across their teams — all in one place. The Receiving Feedback view provides a clear, consolidated snapshot of progress across different review phases, helping managers stay informed and act where needed.

Key Highlights

• Review Phases Overview: Quickly see which reviews are Pending, Submitted, or Approved. The Write Reviews phase is also broken down by reviewer type: Self, Peer, Manager, and Direct Report.
• Switch Between Team Views: Managers can toggle between views for: Entire Team, Direct Reports, Indirect Reports. This is especially helpful for skip-level and matrix managers who need visibility across broader team structures.
• Smart Grouping Options: Data can now be grouped by: Reporting Manager, Department. This enhancement makes it easier to navigate large teams and identify where follow-ups are needed.

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new Continuous Feedback feature. With this, individuals, managers, and leaders can share and receive feedback anytime — no need to wait for annual reviews.

Two Flexible Ways to Share Feedback:

• Give Feedback: Voluntarily share recognition or suggestions with anyone in the organization, using clear templates to make your message impactful.

• Request Feedback: Managers can request feedback for their team members from colleagues, and admins can extend requests for anyone, from anyone, across the organization.

Refine Your Feedback with Nova AI: To help everyone communicate clearly and confidently, we’ve added Rewrite with Nova AI. This feature allows you to:

• Rephrase your feedback
• Adjust the length
• Refine tone and clarity

Control Who Sees It: When feedback is shared, visibility settings put you in control. You can choose:

• Private: Only the recipient sees it.
• Private + Manager: Both the recipient and their manager can view it.
• Manager Only: Only the manager sees it — ideal for developmental coaching.

Smart Notifications and Smooth Workflows: Smart reminders and homepage actions guide everyone through the process. Providers are notified when they’re selected for feedback, and submitters and managers are kept updated automatically.

A Better Feedback Profile Experience: Profiles now include four sections to help you manage all your feedback:

• Feedback Received
• Feedback Given
• Pending Feedback Requests
• Requests Sent

Visiting Someone’s Profile:

• See Feedback Received — only what you’re allowed to view.
• Managers and skip-level managers can see more, depending on visibility settings.
• All other employees see only the feedback they have personally given.

Go ahead and give someone feedback, request feedback for your team, explore your new feedback profile, and use Rewrite with Nova AI to refine your message. Together, let’s build a culture where feedback is frequent, thoughtful, and forward-looking.

We’re here with an update to help make your One-on-One meetings clearer and more effective.

• What Was the Issue?

Previously, the progress bar and status text in the Goals View could overlap, making it harder to track goal progress during One-on-One meetings.

• What’s Improved?

With this update, the Goals View now includes:

1. Improved Layout: A cleaner, more organized design to eliminate overlapping text.
2. Enhanced Visibility: Clearer progress bars and status indicators for quick goal updates.
3. Better Navigation: A more intuitive interface for tracking goals during discussions.

• Key Benefit:

This improvement makes it easier to follow goal progress at a glance, keep conversations focused and productive, and help your team stay aligned on priorities.

We’re pleased to announce a major upgrade to our Gen AI chatbot — Nova!

What’s New?

• Streamlined Entry Points:

You can now initiate a Nova conversation directly from multiple locations. These flexible entry points let you start a new chat with Nova wherever you need support.

1. Goals Module → Goals Dropdown
2. Define & Approve Goals Module → Goals Dropdown.

• Global Access Across the Platform:

Nova is now accessible globally across the product through the Nova bubble.

Note: Once you start at least one conversation, you can reopen Nova anytime from the bubble and continue right where you left off.

• Resume Previous Conversations:

Pick up your most recent chat instantly by clicking the Nova icon. No need to restart — stay in flow with full context preserved.

• Enhanced Chat Capabilities:

Nova’s upgraded experience includes several new features!

1. Start New Conversations: Begin a new chat anytime from the chat window.
2. Organize with Names: Rename chats to keep them organized.
3. Access Support: Contact Peoplebox Support directly through Nova.
4. Conversation History: Revisit and continue past chats anytime.
5. Move the Window: Drag the Nova window around your screen.
6. Smart Resume: Close and reopen Nova with full context saved.
7. Regenerate Responses: Instantly regenerate AI replies if needed.
8. Quick Copy: Copy responses with one click.
9. Give Feedback: Like or dislike replies to help us improve Nova.

⚠️ Important: Simplified Support Access!

The Support bubble has been moved from the bottom right corner to Profile Settings for easy access. You can also reach Support directly through the Nova chatbot whenever you need help.

We’re pleased to roll out key improvements to the Goal Submission and Approval Workflow—making collaboration between managers and reviewees clearer, faster, and more structured.

• For Managers – Streamline Goal Reviews:

You can now provide actionable feedback and guide goal revisions more effectively with:

1. Request Changes with Comments: Ask for updates with clear context.
2. Approve Goals with Feedback: Leave comments before approving.
3. View Comment History: Track all past feedback in one place.
4. New ‘Request Changes’ CTA: Easy to initiate edits from your side.

• For Reviewees – Clarity and Flexibility in One Place:

Understand feedback clearly and make updates seamlessly:

1. See Manager Feedback Instantly: From tasks or notifications.
2. Access Comment History: All past inputs available in a side drawer.
3. Edit and Resubmit Goals: Update titles, descriptions, or cycles and resubmit anytime.

• A More Transparent Approval Loop:

We’ve made the feedback cycle iterative, so alignment is easier: Submit → Review → Revise → Re-submit → Final Approval

This process continues until goals are fully aligned and approved, supporting more thoughtful and collaborative planning.

We’ve introduced a major enhancement to the experience of assigning Goal Owners and adding people to goals. It’s now faster, clearer, and more intuitive to select the right individuals.

• What’s New?

Previously, dropdowns only displayed employee names. With this update, you’ll now see:

1. Name along with Department
2. Email Address
3. Profile Avatar

These changes apply to:

1. Selecting a Goal Owner
2. Adding People to Goals

• Why This Matters?

1. Quickly distinguish between employees with similar names.
2. Search more effectively by name, department, or email.
3. Make fewer errors when assigning responsibilities.