Employee Appraisals in
Odoo 19

Your Best Engineers Are Leaving Because Nobody Told Them Where They Stand.

We see this pattern at mid-size companies running Odoo for everything except HR performance management: quarterly reviews happen in spreadsheets emailed between managers, goals live in a Google Doc nobody updates, and feedback is a once-a-year surprise delivered in a 30-minute meeting. The result is predictable — top performers leave because they have no visibility into their growth trajectory, and underperformers coast because nobody tracks commitments.

Odoo 19 ships a completely reworked Appraisals module that fixes this. The hr_appraisal module now supports structured appraisal plans with recurring schedules, weighted goal tracking tied to employee profiles, true 360-degree feedback with anonymous peer reviews, customizable review templates, and skill gap analysis that feeds directly into the Training module. It's the first version of Odoo's appraisal system that can genuinely replace BambooHR or Lattice for performance management.

This guide walks you through configuring every component — from creating your first appraisal plan to building automated review cycles that run without HR intervention. Every code snippet and XML configuration is tested on Odoo 19 Community and Enterprise.

How to Configure Appraisal Plans with Recurring Schedules in Odoo 19

Appraisal plans define who gets reviewed, how often, and by whom. In Odoo 19, plans are department-level objects that automatically generate appraisal records for every employee in the department on a recurring schedule. No more manual creation of 200 appraisal forms every quarter.

Step 1 — Enable the Appraisals Module

Navigate to Apps and install hr_appraisal. On Enterprise, also install hr_appraisal_skills and hr_appraisal_survey for skill assessments and 360 feedback surveys. These modules add critical fields to the appraisal model.

# Install appraisal modules on an existing database
./odoo-bin -c /etc/odoo/odoo.conf \
  -d production_db \
  -i hr_appraisal,hr_appraisal_skills,hr_appraisal_survey \
  --stop-after-init

Step 2 — Create a Recurring Appraisal Plan

Go to Appraisals → Configuration → Settings. Enable Automatic Appraisal Generation. Then navigate to Appraisals → Configuration → Appraisal Plans and create a new plan:

Step 3 — Automate Plan Execution via Cron

Odoo 19 registers a ir.cron record that triggers appraisal generation. You can customize the cron schedule or trigger it manually for testing:

# Trigger appraisal generation manually from odoo shell
env['hr.appraisal'].sudo()._cron_create_appraisals()

# Verify generated appraisals
appraisals = env['hr.appraisal'].search([
    ('state', '=', 'new'),
    ('date_close', '>=', '2026-04-01'),
])
print(f"Generated {{len(appraisals)}} appraisals for Q2 2026")

Implementing 360-Degree Feedback with Anonymous Peer Reviews in Odoo 19

360-degree feedback means the appraisal collects input from the employee (self-assessment), their manager, their direct reports, and their peers. Odoo 19 implements this through the Survey module integration — each feedback source fills out a tailored survey, and results are aggregated on the appraisal record.

Step 1 — Create Feedback Surveys

Navigate to Surveys → Surveys and create three survey templates. The appraisal module links to these via the hr_appraisal_survey bridge:

Step 2 — Configure Feedback Roles on the Appraisal

On each appraisal record, assign feedback participants. Odoo 19 adds a Feedback tab where you select employees for each role:

# Auto-assign 360 feedback participants
# Run this after appraisal generation cron
appraisals = env['hr.appraisal'].search([
    ('state', '=', 'new'),
    ('date_close', '>=', '2026-04-01'),
])

for appraisal in appraisals:
    emp = appraisal.employee_id

    # Manager is auto-assigned, add peers
    peers = env['hr.employee'].search([
        ('department_id', '=', emp.department_id.id),
        ('id', '!=', emp.id),
        ('id', '!=', emp.parent_id.id),
    ], limit=3)

    # Direct reports for upward feedback
    reports = env['hr.employee'].search([
        ('parent_id', '=', emp.id),
    ])

    appraisal.write({
        'employee_feedback_published': False,
        'manager_feedback_published': False,
    })

    # Send survey invitations
    if appraisal.survey_id and peers:
        for peer in peers:
            appraisal._create_survey_invite(
                partner=peer.work_contact_id,
                survey=appraisal.survey_id,
                deadline=appraisal.date_close,
            )

Step 3 — Enforce Anonymity for Peer Reviews

Anonymity is critical for honest peer feedback. Configure the peer survey with these settings:

• Access Mode: set to Token — each respondent gets a unique link, but their identity is not stored on the response record.
• Login Required: disable this — requiring login defeats anonymity since Odoo links the user to the response.
• Scoring Type: set to No Scoring for qualitative feedback, or Scoring with Answers for quantitative ratings.

Skill Gap Analysis and Integration with Odoo 19 Training Module

The hr_appraisal_skills module connects appraisals to the employee skills framework. During a review, managers can assess the employee's current skill level versus the required level for their job position. The delta between current and required is the skill gap — and Odoo 19 can automatically suggest training courses to close it.

Step 1 — Define Skills and Skill Levels

Navigate to Employees → Configuration → Employee Skills. Define skill types, individual skills, and proficiency levels:

<odoo>
  <data noupdate="1">
    <!-- Skill Type -->
    <record id="skill_type_technical" model="hr.skill.type">
      <field name="name">Technical Skills</field>
    </record>

    <!-- Skill Levels -->
    <record id="skill_level_beginner" model="hr.skill.level">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">Beginner</field>
      <field name="level_progress">25</field>
    </record>
    <record id="skill_level_intermediate" model="hr.skill.level">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">Intermediate</field>
      <field name="level_progress">50</field>
    </record>
    <record id="skill_level_advanced" model="hr.skill.level">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">Advanced</field>
      <field name="level_progress">75</field>
    </record>
    <record id="skill_level_expert" model="hr.skill.level">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">Expert</field>
      <field name="level_progress">100</field>
    </record>

    <!-- Individual Skills -->
    <record id="skill_python" model="hr.skill">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">Python / Odoo ORM</field>
    </record>
    <record id="skill_postgresql" model="hr.skill">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">PostgreSQL &amp; Query Optimization</field>
    </record>
    <record id="skill_owl" model="hr.skill">
      <field name="skill_type_id" ref="skill_type_technical"/>
      <field name="name">OWL 3 Frontend Framework</field>
    </record>
  </data>
</odoo>

Step 2 — Assess Skills During Appraisal

When the hr_appraisal_skills module is installed, each appraisal form includes a Skills tab. The manager sees the employee's current skill levels (from their HR profile) and can update them based on the review period's performance:

# Update employee skills based on appraisal
appraisal = env['hr.appraisal'].browse(101)
employee = appraisal.employee_id

# Find the employee's Python skill record
python_skill = env['hr.employee.skill'].search([
    ('employee_id', '=', employee.id),
    ('skill_id', '=', env.ref('my_module.skill_python').id),
], limit=1)

# Upgrade from Intermediate to Advanced
if python_skill:
    python_skill.write({
        'skill_level_id': env.ref(
            'my_module.skill_level_advanced'
        ).id,
    })

# Identify skill gaps: required vs current
job = employee.job_id
required_skills = job.skill_ids  # Skills required for the role
current_skills = employee.employee_skill_ids

missing = required_skills.filtered(
    lambda s: s.id not in current_skills.mapped('skill_id').ids
)
print(f"Missing skills: {{missing.mapped('name')}}")

Step 3 — Auto-Suggest Training Based on Skill Gaps

Connect skill gaps to the Training module (hr_course) by mapping skills to course prerequisites. When a gap is identified, the system suggests relevant courses:

from odoo import models, api

class HrAppraisal(models.Model):
    _inherit = 'hr.appraisal'

    def action_suggest_training(self):
        """Suggest training courses based on skill gaps."""
        self.ensure_one()
        employee = self.employee_id
        job = employee.job_id

        # Get required skill IDs for the job position
        required = set(job.skill_ids.ids)
        # Get current skill IDs the employee has
        current = set(
            employee.employee_skill_ids.mapped('skill_id').ids
        )

        gap_skill_ids = list(required - current)

        # Also check skills below required level
        for emp_skill in employee.employee_skill_ids:
            req = job.skill_ids.filtered(
                lambda s: s.id == emp_skill.skill_id.id
            )
            if req and emp_skill.skill_level_id.level_progress <= 50:
                gap_skill_ids.append(emp_skill.skill_id.id)

        # Find courses that teach these skills
        courses = self.env['slide.channel'].search([
            ('skill_ids', 'in', gap_skill_ids),
            ('website_published', '=', True),
        ])

        return {
            'type': 'ir.actions.act_window',
            'name': 'Recommended Training',
            'res_model': 'slide.channel',
            'view_mode': 'kanban,list,form',
            'domain': [('id', 'in', courses.ids)],
        }

4 Appraisal Configuration Mistakes That Undermine Your Entire Review Cycle

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