360-degree feedback is a modern method of performance appraisal which helps organizations determine how an employee performs at his or her workplace. It is also known as multi-rater feedback and presents a clear picture of the employee’s performance, skills, and behavior along with the organizational environment. The multi-rater feedback system supports the organization for being adaptive and flexible according to the needs of their workforce. While the West uses multi-rater feedback for identifying training needs, a majority of South East Asia uses it for performance appraisal.
The opinions and views are generally taken from superiors, peers, subordinates or customers. Once the 360 degree performance appraisal is captured and analyzed, it is shared with the employees to further their personal development goals. Additionally, the compiled report promotes self-awareness by suggesting development programs customized as per individuals. The multi-rater feedback is kept anonymous to refrain from any kind of bias or personal differences between feedback seeker and feedback providers except for manager’s feedback in most cases.
Director of GoodHire, Mikaila Turman emphasizes on the growing need of 360 degree feedback system in 2019. She says, “We use it for managers to have insight and visibility into how team members are working collaboratively together – if they see certain areas that need improvement across the team, they can hone in on those areas moving forward.”
Since more and more employers are using 360 degree performance appraisal methods for development and continuous improvement, the demand for adopting a 360 degree feedback tool is on the surge.
Organizations began adopting the idea of having a performance feedback mechanism after many MNCs successfully implemented the method. Ever since General Electric CEO Jack Welch successfully used the 360 degree feedback system to fire low performers, the adoption of 360 degree performance appraisal witnessed a boom. However, its wide scale use has mushroomed over the past decade. With the introduction of online 360 degree feedback tools, the ease and efficiency with which 360 degree feedback survey can be developed and deployed throughout the organization has enhanced over time.
Selecting a 360 degree feedback survey that suits your organization is not an easy task. You need a solution that both integrates seamlessly with your workflow and efficiently manage your performance management process. Though there are many benefits of 360 degree feedback that help not only your organization but also your workforce, listed below are the must-have features of an all-round 360 degree performance appraisal:
An efficient and reliable 360 degree feedback survey does not burn a hole in your pocket. It becomes a cost-effective means, considering the number of employees seeking and giving feedback. A pocket-friendly 360 degree feedback tool gives you the option to pay online through net banking, e-wallets, credit or debit cards, which further simplifies the process. Once the online payment is made, you can begin using the tool right away.
If your employees don’t receive e-mails, the performance feedback survey can never get completed on time. This is where a good performance management tool comes as a blessing in disguise. It automatically informs the HRs if there is any failed delivery or bounce e-mails, post which you can re-send the e-mail and make sure you receive the feedback on time.
At times candidates may need guidance when they get stuck, and you may not always be available to help them through. In such circumstances, a 24×7 support comes to the rescue. A comprehensive 360 degree feedback survey is hardly one call or e-mail away. Employees can send e-mails or call on toll-free numbers whenever they need assistance. Subject matter experts can help employees sail through such times.
Once the responses have been analyzed and compiled, the performance appraisal system rolls out extensive reports which have been tailored as per individuals. The reports highlight qualities and areas of improvement, competency wise ratings, skill gaps and accordingly prepares a personal development or group development plan. The plan helps in making employees self-aware and further work on the skills they lack.
Perhaps, auto-save responses emerge as one of the most striking features of a 360 degree performance appraisal. They turn out to be a boon for both HRs and feedback providers when it comes to on-time delivery. The feature especially becomes important for managers, HODs and other senior job roles that have strict timelines to meet their KRAs. If the responses are auto-saved, feedback providers can fill surveys as per their convenience. Even if their system crashes or they have other tasks to attend to, feedback providers can fill the survey in multiple sittings and not worry about starting from scratch.
A power packed performance appraisal system decreases set-up time since it is hosted online. So, you do not need to install and learn new software before implementing performance management in your organization. All you need is good internet connectivity, web browser, and e-mail id. The hassle of working on a new platform makes the process cumbersome for HRs. 360 degree feedback system for performance management supports basic systems with absolutely no need for having systems upgraded with the latest technology or new features.
Competency frameworks are an important component of a 360 degree performance appraisal tool since every employee is measured on a set of competencies integral to his or her job role. The competencies vary with every job level and job role, giving keen insights into the employee’s behavior, performance, and expertise. Access to behavioral or role specific competency frameworks helps in efficiently implementing 360 degree feedback tool in both small and large size organizations.
Resonating with the same idea, Power HR Owner & CEO Susan Power wants a 360 degree feedback tool to benchmark leader competency levels externally against other organizations by job level. She also wishes to internally look for leadership competency gaps within the organization.
Since the survey questions are dependent on the competencies, they cannot stand alone without a strong foundation of competency library. The type of questions put forward in the surveys helps HRs correctly evaluate feedback seekers. So, a list of pointed questions goes a long way in analyzing your employees. They help in determining how attentive an employee is, how well he follows instructions, how he performs in a team and how he executes the plan.
HRs waste a considerable portion of their time drafting and scheduling e-mails. This piles up to their routine work. However, when they get e-mail templates that can easily be customized as per individuals, it makes their work simpler and smoother along with regular KRAs. No extra time needs to be delegated to writing and scheduling e-mails for feedback. The functionality to set-up auto reminders helps to keep a track on the progress.
Turman says, “Automation is key for reminders. I can set up “nudge” emails, customize what they say, add data fields from employee profiles, and schedule dates, so reminders are sent automatically.”
The look and feeler of the platform act as the first impression it creates on the user’s psyche. So, it is only proper that the first window does not look cluttered, rather neat, simple to understand and easily navigable. The dashboard of a first-rate multi-rater feedback gives you a holistic view. This includes a number of survey seekers and providers along with the status of pending and completed surveys which ultimately leads to a reduction in escalations and support time.
In a fast-paced era of technological advancement, employees continuously need to learn new age skills. If they fail to keep up with this pace, they would ultimately falter in either meeting the company’s vision or their personal goals. As the skill ecosystem has rapidly evolved over time, so has the need to track the progress of learning and development through data-backed results multiplied. Indeed, it has become the need of the hour to implement an all-round feedback mechanism in your organization as the new year 2019 knocks at our doors. Multi-rater feedback allows you to easily collect structured feedback from relevant stakeholders to help you achieve employee development goals.
In a study conducted by Gallup among 65,672 employees, it was discovered that those who receive strengths feedback had 15.9% better turnover rates than employees who received no feedback.
360 degree feedback system for performance management helps in bridging the gap between what employees think of themselves and others opinion of them. It is a good practice towards self-awareness. Not only does it benefit the organization, but also acts as a guiding light for employees since individual responses are combined with other responses to preserve anonymity and to give the employee a clear picture of his overall strong and weak areas.
In a study of 530 organizations, Gallup reported that managers who received feedback showed an increase in 8.9% profitability and 12.5 % productivity.
Feedback from peers not only boosts their morale but also helps employees and their managers work better. As different teams receive feedback from others in the organization, they start building trust and are more likely to meet their mutual goals. The feedback increases the frequency of communication within the team, ultimately leading to an increase in overall performance. If individuals don’t possess emotional quotient in addition to job specific-skills, they would not be able to able to unleash their potential.
OfficeVibe reports that 69% employees would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized.
Employees are driven to work not only through their sheer perseverance but also through encouragement. That sense of motivation comes in the form of appreciation or salary hike that accompanies a constructive and well-established feedback mechanism. This is why 360 degree performance appraisals are designed in a manner that they provide valuable insights regarding on-the-job performance. Mere verbal feedback don’t serve the purpose. Appraisals are determined based on employees’ strength, weakness, inter-personal behavior, interests and more. This also acts like an anchor for hardworking employees, thus lowering attrition rate altogether.
As feedback results are delivered and discussed among team members, things become more transparent (Antonioni, 1996).
And, this is how a healthy work culture develops.
Employees agree that issues which previously may have been difficult to discuss became easier to address without any fear of retaliation because of the increased transparency in the office set-up (Peiperl, 2001).
Openwork culture is one where employees, their peers, subordinates or managers are upfront about their opinions. A feedback tool becomes a medium to voice that opinion and make it heard in organizations where individual hard work often gets shadowed by a person possessing a strong personality but not necessarily skilled.
According to 2017 Skills Gap Report, nearly 80% of Americans agree there is a skills gap, and more than a third (35%) say it affects them personally.
While skill gaps are a roadblock for organizational success and development, they also hamper individual growth. Lack of knowledge and a feeling of that void demoralizes employees. As employees are increasingly becoming self-aware and aim for mutual growth- personal as well as organizational, it becomes essential to implement a feedback mechanism in 2019. 360 degree feedback system reports give an overall view of the employee’s personality. Individual and group level analysis give a microscopic view of the bigger problems and ways to tackle them, through group training or personal efforts.
Mercer | Mettl has a one-stop solution for all your 360 degree feedback survey needs. It offers 3 effective tools to evaluate employee’s potential and abilities. Mentioned below are the benefits of 360 degree feedback system:
Benefits of 360 Degree Feedback-
The evaluation tool provides you overall employees’ perspective in the form of a seamless platform, intuitive reports, and customizable surveys.
You can visit the link for more details on Performance Appraisal.
The assessment tool helps in identifying gaps in the behavioral traits of an employee as perceived by other stakeholders.
Mercer | Mettl identifies and develop key competencies in employees to achieve business goals
It helps in identifying the skill gap for each employee based on the competency levels
It helps in designing a customized training plan based on individual skill gaps and training needs
Apart from that Mercer | Mettl helps you in curating the right training program for your organization. It is divided into 3 parts:
Skill-based: It helps in identifying employee’s unique skill sets required to succeed in every job role and function.
Behavior-based: It identifies behavioral gaps that needs to be worked upon employees. They are basically the dominant predictor for most roles.
Future-Proofing: It augments the learning agility within the organization by identifying upcoming skills to develop in the workforce.
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This tool understands behavioral dynamics observed on-the-job and improves the developmental steps.
Mercer | Mettl can help you plan Succession Planning in the following way:
Implementing 360 degree feedback survey in organizations is a smart investment and a business decision as it promotes self-awareness and creates transparency in communications. The benefits of using 360 degree feedback survey are increased transparency among the internal team via trust, sharing, and increased clarity towards expected behaviors and goals. A well-crafted 360 degree feedback tool can boost the overall team performance.
At Mercer I Mettl, our mission is to enable organizations to build winning teams by making credible people decisions across two key areas: Acquisition and Development. Since our inception in 2009, we have partnered with 2900+ corporates, 31 sector skill councils/government departments, and 15+ educational institutions across 90+ countries.
Mettl was acquired by Mercer in 2018, a global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth, and career, and a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), the leading global professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people.
For more information, visit www.mettl.com. Follow Mercer | Mettl on LinkedIn and Twitter @MercerMettl.
Originally published November 27 2018, Updated November 27 2018
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