Milestone cycles are continuous performance reviews triggered by individual employee events, such as a probation end date or first working day. Unlike one-time and recurring cycles which run on shared schedules, milestone cycles evaluate each employee against their own anchor date, so every participant has their own timeline.
This guide covers how milestone cycles work, how they differ from other cycle types, and how to handle common scenarios like probation extensions.
Owner or admin permissions are necessary to create and manage milestone cycles.
What makes milestone cycles different
Milestone cycles behave differently from one-time and recurring cycles in the following ways:
Per-person timelines: Deadlines are calculated from each participant's individual anchor date, not from a shared cycle start date. Two people in the same cycle can have completely different deadlines.
No scheduled start: Each participant's review instance is created when they meet the milestone trigger, rather than all participants starting together on a fixed date.
Editable enrolment filters: Unlike other cycle types, the enrolment filters on a milestone cycle can still be adjusted after it has been activated.
Dashboard view: The cycle dashboard only displays the Reporting tab. There is no rating distribution graph or shared participant list, because participants progress at their own pace.
No follow-up cycle: Activating a milestone cycle does not automatically create an upcoming cycle. To learn more about recurring cycles, read Performance review cycle overview.
Anchor dates and offsets
When setting up a milestone cycle, you choose an anchor event and an offset. The anchor defines which employee date triggers the review, and the offset defines when the review happens relative to that date.
Available anchor events:
Employment start date
First working day
Last working day
Employment end date
Probation end date
The offset can be set in days, weeks, or months, either before or after the anchor. For example, "30 days before First working day" or "two weeks after probation end date."
There’s a limit assigned to how many days, weeks, or months you can apply as the offset:
Days: 31
Weeks: 8
Months: 18
How deadlines are calculated
For milestone cycles, each review deadline is calculated from the participant's own anchor date plus the offset set in the Timeline tab. This is different from one-time and recurring cycles, where all deadlines are calculated from the shared cycle activation date.
For example, if the peer review deadline is set to seven days and a participant's instance is created on January 5, their peer review deadline falls on January 12. A different participant whose instance is created on February 10 would have their peer review deadline on February 17.
When anchor dates change
A common scenario for milestone cycles is an anchor date changing after a participant is already enrolled. For example, extending someone's probation period. How the system handles this depends on whether the existing review instance has been published:
If the existing instance is still open (unpublished), the system updates the deadlines on the existing review to reflect the new anchor date. No new review instance is created. The participant continues with their existing review packet, but their deadlines shift accordingly.
If the existing instance has been published, the original review is preserved as-is. When the new anchor date is reached, the system treats this as a fresh milestone event and creates a new review instance for the participant, alongside their previously published one.
Note: This logic applies independently per cycle. If someone satisfies the milestone trigger on multiple cycles, they will be enrolled in each cycle separately. Milestone cycles work independently of each other.
Handling probation extensions
Extending an employee's probation period is one of the most common situations where anchor dates change. You have two options, depending on your goals.
Rely on the existing cycle to re-trigger
If the original probation review has already been published, update the employee's probation end date in their profile. When the new date is reached, the system will automatically create a new review instance for them in the same cycle.If the original probation review is still in progress and unpublished, the existing review will have its deadlines updated to align with the new probation end date. No new review instance is created.
Create a separate cycle for extensions
If extensions require a different review format from the standard probation review, create a dedicated milestone cycle using the probation end date anchor. Enrol only the people whose probation is being extended using relevant filters.
Note: If you run both a probation review cycle and a separate final review cycle with a probation end date anchor, it’s possible that employees will be enrolled in both when their date changes.
Running multiple milestone cycles
Milestone cycles operate independently of each other. A single employee can be enrolled in any number of active milestone cycles simultaneously, provided they match each cycle's enrolment filters and satisfy each cycle's anchor trigger.
Editing a milestone cycle after activation
Most cycle settings become locked once a cycle is activated, but milestone cycles have some flexibility. You can continue to edit:
Cycle title
Enrolment filters
Feedback visibility
Deadline offset days
Review questions (with some restrictions, see Overseeing an active performance review cycle)
Changes to enrolment filters take effect immediately. If the updated filters match additional employees, they will be enrolled as they satisfy the milestone trigger.
Note: Employees who no longer match the filters won’t be removed from any existing review instances already created for them.
Completing a milestone cycle
Milestone cycles run continuously, so there is no real end point. When you are ready to stop enrolling new participants, click Complete cycle. Once completed, no further instances will be created and no further reviews can be submitted.
Note: Completing the cycle does not automatically publish feedback for participants whose reviews are still open. You will need to publish any outstanding feedback separately. To learn more, see Publishing performance feedback for details.