Set up and manage employee goals in QuickBooks Workforce Elite

Set up, track, and manage performance goals directly within QuickBooks Workforce Elite.  Goals help employees and managers keep responsibilities clear and progress visible.

The Goals feature lives in the Performance tab. Managers, employees, and payroll admins can create goals as standalone objectives or as part of a performance review task.

Create a new goal

Follow these steps to add a goal for yourself or a team member. 

1. Go to All apps , then Team, then Performance (Take me there).
2. Select Goals, then Add Goal
3. Enter the goal details.
   • Goal Title: s clear name for the goal.
   • Description of Goal: what you want to achieve.
   • Due Date: target completion date.
   • Team member: the person the goal is for. Only managers and admins can set this for someone else.
4. (optional) Outline your goal with SMART fields. These text fields are optional, but adding specifics helps clarify priorities:
   • Specific: what needs to be accomplished.
   • Measurable: how you will track success.
   • Achievable: what makes you confident and identify potential obstacles.
   • Relevant: how this aligns with overall priorities.
   • Timebound: the specific timeline for completion.
5. (Optional) Define milestones to monitor progress. Choose one of three metric types:
   • True/False:  a simple status check.
   • Numeric: includes start and target number fields.
   • Percentage: includes start and target percentage fields.

Update and track goal progress

As you work toward a goal, update its status and milestones to keep everyone aligned. The progress bar updates automatically as milestones change.

1. Go to All apps , then Team, then Performance (Take me there).
2. Select Goals.
3. Select the goal you want to update.
4. Update the Status and Milestones. The progress and status bar update automatically.
5. Select the History and comments tab to see a timeline of changes or leave a comment.

Edit or Archive Goals

Edit a goal to change its details, or archive it when it's no longer active but you want to keep the record.

1. Go to All apps , then Team, then Performance (Take me there).
2. Select Goals.
3. Find the goal you want to modify.
4. From Actions, select Edit, Delete, or Archive.

Add goals to a performance review template

Admins can add the Goals app to any task in a review template. This lets managers and team members set new objectives or revisit existing ones during the review, so development stays part of every performance conversation.

To add goals to a template:

Admins can include goal-setting or goal-referencing tools in any specific task within a review template.

1. Go to All apps , then Team, then Performance (Take me there).
2. Select Templates.
3. Find the template you want to update. From Actions, select Edit template.
4. Choose the task where the app should be added.
5. Select Apps, then Goals.
6. Select the type of Goal you want to add.
7. Select Save and continue through each step until you reach Review and publish.
8. Select Review and publish to save your changes.