The rating scale for Performance Planning and Review is made up of five factors: Poor, Needs Improvement, Meets Requirements, Exceeds Requirements, and Outstanding. Any factor rated poor or needs improvement MUST have performance comments. For any factor, performance comments should support the rating given. If there have been counseling sessions, letters of commendation or reprimand, or unofficial performance reviews within the rating period, the supervisor should keep documentation on file and site these occurrences in the performance comments on the official rating. Below are examples of comments that would support individual ratings. These are generic in nature and examples only. Performance comments should be tailored to the individual employee and be based on the employee’s individual performance expectations.