Check-in submission and adoption issues

This article resolves common Check-in problems including employees not submitting, managers not reviewing, questions missing from Check-ins, and low team adoption.

Diagnose

Work through each check in the order listed. Stop when you identify the matching cause.

Check 1: Employee has not submitted their Check-in

  • Cause: Employee did not receive a notification or missed the due date.
  • How to check: In Reports, open the Submitted Check-ins report and filter by the employee's name and current period.
  • If true (no submission recorded): Go to Fix 1.
  • If not: The submission exists — the manager may have a review issue. Go to Check 2.

Check 2: Manager has not reviewed a submitted Check-in

  • Cause: Manager did not receive or act on the submission notification.
  • How to check: In Reports, open the Reviewed Check-ins report and filter by the manager's name and current period.
  • If true (no review recorded): Go to Fix 2.
  • If not: Review is recorded — the manager may lack visibility. Confirm the employee reports to that manager in the org hierarchy.

Check 3: A question is not appearing in an employee's Check-in

  • Cause: The question is assigned to the wrong group, role, or schedule.
  • How to check: Navigate to Admin > Check-ins > Questions and inspect the question's audience settings.
  • If true (employee not in the assigned group or schedule): Go to Fix 3.
  • If not: Confirm the question is active and not archived.

Check 4: Team adoption is low — many employees consistently not submitting

  • Cause: Employees lack reminders, manager accountability, or awareness of the process.
  • How to check: In Reports, run the Submitted Check-ins report for the past four periods and sort by submission rate.
  • If true (submission rate below expectation across multiple people): Go to Fix 4.
  • If not: The issue is isolated to individuals — return to Check 1 for each person.

Fix

Fix 1 — Employee has not submitted

  1. Ask the employee to confirm they can access Check-ins in their left navigation.
  2. Verify the employee's account is active in Admin > People.
  3. Confirm the employee is assigned to a Check-in schedule in Admin > Check-ins > Schedules.
  4. Ask the employee to submit the Check-in manually before the period closes.
  5. If the period has closed, the submission window is gone — no backdated submissions are possible.

Fix 2 — Manager has not reviewed

  1. Ask the manager to navigate to Check-ins > My Team and confirm direct reports appear.
  2. Verify the reporting relationship is correct in Admin > People > the employee's profile.
  3. Ask the manager to review the Check-in directly from the My Team queue.
  4. If the manager needs to flag an answer for follow-up, they can comment, add it to the 1-on-1 agenda, or pass it up the hierarchy from the review screen.

Fix 3 — Question not appearing in Check-in

  1. Go to Admin > Check-ins > Questions.
  2. Open the question and review the Audience field.
  3. Add the affected employee's group or confirm the correct schedule is selected.
  4. Save the question settings.
  5. The question will appear in the employee's next Check-in period — not retroactively.

Fix 4 — Low team adoption

  1. Confirm all employees are assigned to a Check-in schedule in Admin > Check-ins > Schedules.
  2. Verify automated reminders are enabled for the schedule.
  3. Ask managers to review Check-ins within 48 hours of submission — visible manager responsiveness increases employee follow-through.
  4. Reduce the number of custom questions to five or fewer to lower completion friction.
  5. Ask managers to use the High Five feature during reviews to reinforce the habit.
  6. Review pulse and submission trend data in Reports each period to identify teams that need targeted outreach.

What resolution looks like

  • The Submitted Check-ins report shows a submission entry for the employee and period in question.
  • The Reviewed Check-ins report shows a review entry for the manager and period in question.
  • The affected question appears in the employee's active Check-in form on their next scheduled period.
  • Submission rates in the Submitted Check-ins report trend upward over consecutive periods.

If it still fails

Contact 15Five Support. Provide the following when you reach out:

  • Affected employee name and email
  • Check-in period dates
  • Screenshot of the Submitted or Reviewed Check-ins report filtered to the affected person
  • For question visibility issues: the question name and its current audience settings
  • For global viewer access requests: the name of the person who needs access (this permission requires Support Team action)

Not covered here

This article does not cover configuring Check-in schedules, creating or editing questions, or setting up group and follower visibility — see the related articles below.

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