The additional manager role lets someone other than a person's direct manager in 15Five write a manager review for that person. This role applies to performance reviews only. It does not grant manager-level access to other 15Five features such as Check-ins, 1-on-1s, or Objectives.
> Note: Your organization may have renamed the Best-Self Review® feature. If you don't see "Best-Self Review" in your navigation, check with your admin for the name used in your account.
Available in: Perform and Total Platform pricing packages.
Relevant roles: Account Admins, Direct Managers, Review Admins, Cycle Collaborators.
Feature Structure
Types of Additional Managers
There are two types of additional managers:
- Default additional manager — assigned to a user account and automatically included in every review cycle that person participates in. One default additional manager per user. Must be assigned before a cycle launches.
- Cycle-specific additional manager — assigned to a participant within a specific review cycle only. Up to five cycle-specific additional managers per participant. Can be assigned after a cycle has started.
How to Identify Participants With Additional Managers
Participants who have additional managers display a + icon on the cycle overview page (Performance > Reviews > [open cycle]). Hover over the + icon to see the names of their assigned additional managers.
Visibility across features
The additional manager role is a Reviews-only overlay. It does not create a second entry in the org chart. The table below shows what an additional manager can access in each feature:
| Feature | What an additional manager gets |
|---|---|
| Reviews | Manager-level access to that participant |
| Imported external reviews | Yes, subject to the past-reviews setting |
| People Planning | Only as a named IDP or nomination approver |
| Objectives | Only if explicitly named as an editor |
| 1-on-1s | Nothing. A 1:1 is strictly a two-person object. |
| Check-ins | Only if they are the recorded reviewer of that Check-in |
| Priorities, Pulse, Career Hub, Engagement, Wins, Realtime Feedback, My Team, Profile, Vacations, Coaching | Nothing |
Mid-cycle behavior
An additional manager assigned during an active review cycle is added as a read-only viewer on existing cycles. They become a full additional manager starting from the next cycle. Past cycles are included only if the past-reviews-for-additional-manager setting is on. Upcoming cycles include them immediately.
Key Rules
- Default additional managers must be assigned before a review cycle launches. If a cycle is already in progress, assign a cycle-specific additional manager instead.
- Only one default additional manager can be assigned per user. Up to five cycle-specific additional managers can be assigned per participant per cycle.
- Additional managers are prompted to write a review but are not required to. If an additional manager does not submit their review, the cycle for that participant is not blocked.
- Calibration sessions automatically include feedback from additional managers.
- Account Admins can configure Performance Ratings to include additional manager reviews in final score calculations.
- Account Admins can grant default additional managers access to all past review cycles for the participants they are assigned to.
- An additional manager cannot be anyone in that person's own downward hierarchy (loop prevention), cannot be themselves, and cannot be their existing primary manager.
- If an additional manager later becomes the primary manager, the additional manager assignment is cleared automatically.
- Additional managers can be assigned via CSV import using the
additional_manager_writecolumn. - In a cycle using Enable 15Five AI, an additional manager writing a manager review can have a draft prepared for open-text questions, the same as the primary manager. Whether drafting applies depends on the drafting audience chosen during cycle setup. Ratings are always selected by the review writer.
additional_manager_write column. The older additional_manager column is deprecated and provides view-only access (equivalent to review_viewer). See Assign Default Additional Managers via Bulk Import for details.What You Can Do
Set Up
- Assign a Default Additional Manager via Account Settings
- Assign Default Additional Managers via Bulk Import
- Assign a Cycle-Specific Additional Manager
Manage
- Complete a manager review in the legacy review experience
- Access the Resources for Your Review panel during a review cycle
- Understand the Edit Individual Settings (EIS) page
- Manage Performance Ratings+ settings
Related Articles
- Assign a Default Additional Manager via Account Settings
- Assign Default Additional Managers via Bulk Import
- Assign a Cycle-Specific Additional Manager
- Understand the Edit Individual Settings (EIS) page
- Complete a manager review in the legacy review experience
- Manager roles and visibility in performance review cycles
- What cycle collaborators can do in a performance review cycle
- Manage Performance Ratings+ settings
- AI-Assisted Reviews: Feature Overview
- Configure the review experience for a cycle (Admin)