Giving feedback is not always straightforward – avoiding bias and making sure you get a clear picture of your team’s member performance is crucial.
At Charlie, we use our 360 feedback tool to do it – it’s been built directly within our software to make life a bit easier for us, and maybe that’s something that would also work for you.
In this guide, and as a Product Manager at Charlie, I’ll give you the main reasons why you should think about investing in a 360 feedback tool. I’ve also researched other performance management software on the market so you can shop around and help you identify the right software for your company’s size and ambition.
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A 360 feedback tool is software that automates the 360 degree feedback process so that it’s less time-consuming, admin-heavy, and more consistent.
Also known as peer feedback, 360 reviews, or peer reviews, 360 feedback is when colleagues seek and receive feedback on their performance from each other to better understand their strengths and areas for employee development. 360 employee feedback results in a fairer and more rounded understanding of individual performance, as the different perspectives provide a more holistic view and help to combat manager bias.
By removing all the admin involved in traditional performance reviews, a 360 feedback tool makes it very easy to automatically collect feedback.
360 feedback systems usually come with survey templates, which allow your Human Resources team to save hours of time they’d traditionally spend crafting the right feedback questionnaire.
An automated feedback workflow also allows you to keep your feedback safe in one platform, to automate feedback collection and create feedback reports — so all information is safe under one roof.
Having just one person evaluating your performance can sometimes be frustrating – your manager will not necessarily be the person you work with on a day-to-day basis, so what happens when they need to understand how you’ve performed?
It’s simple: by giving the opportunity to coworkers to weigh in in on people’s performance reviews, it’ll make it much easier. With a 360 feedback tool, you just need to select the people you want to hear from, send them the survey and wait to hear back.
Performance reviews are not fixated in time, they need to evolve depending on where your company is at.
It’s easy to have blind spots when it comes to your own processes, so it’s good to build perspective for everyone.
With a 360 feedback tool, your team members get the opportunity to self-reflect more – by giving feedback on others, it gives them more awareness about their own performance and development.
A lot of 360 feedback reviews have been working with ratings – the problem with this approach is that ratings don’t really tell you anything about how someone is doing. It can be really confusing and demotivating for your team members.
That’s where 360 feedback tool focuses on useful feedback and pertinent questions so you get the feedback you need to evaluate your team member’s performance.
360 feedback tools are not the only way to get feedback running through your whole company – the best way to ensure this is to make sure to include continuous feedback in every aspect of your work.
Of course, 360 feedback tools and reviews will be an extra way of doing this as it will get people used to stop being uncomfortable about saying what they think about others.
If you’re not keen on using an automated tool to save time when putting together your 360 performance reviews, that’s ok! You can also build the 360 review template yourself.
Note that you’ll have to:
That can be a lot of work, but still feasible – however, if you think it’s easier to automate the process, simply start a free trial with Charlie.
If you’re a startup or a small company just getting started with 360 reviews and peer feedback, then Charlie’s the ideal tool for you.
Quick to set up and super simple to use, Charlie removes the need to oversee 360 feedback because the process runs itself. The system sends out automatic reminders so that no one misses a request, and all the data is stored in one place for safe but easy access.
Charlie cuts down on admin while enabling you to better challenge your team and improve their performance through regular 360 feedback.
You could choose a tool just to manage your 360 performance reviews, but having to have different software for other HR processes is likely to cost you more. With Charlie, all your HR processes, from onboarding and time off to performance management are automated in one place, for one cost — so there’s zero faff!
Simple and fast: Charlie’s 360 review feature is so quick and easy to set up, your team won’t require any training
All-in-one HR software: 360 reviews are just one of the tools available — Charlie’s system also allows you to automate onboarding, time off, etc.
One affordable price: all features are included in the monthly cost, so there’s no extra to pay for 360 feedback reviews
Perfect for small companies: Charlie guides managers through the review process step-by-step to ensure that all employees get what they need to progress
Performance dashboard: check up on review progress without having to chase
Automatic review reminders: your team never forgets, and you’ll never have to chase them up
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You’re looking for a 360 feedback tool that’s simple to set up and easy to use
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You’re a company with over 200 employees
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You want 360 feedback reviews to seamlessly integrate with the rest of your performance management and HR processes
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You’re a start-up or small business
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You want to reduce your admin but increase your impact
Sage is an all-in-one HR tool like Charlie, but for medium-to-large companies. It offers 360 review functionality if you add performance management to the standard package for an extra cost.
With the 360 feedback add-on, you get a well-rounded view of everyone’s performance through the eyes of their peers
One central system stores all the performance management tools
Cloud performance management system can be implemented in as little as 90 days
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You’re a company with 200- 5000 employees
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You need it to integrate with another HR or People Ops system (Sage supports very few integrations)
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All or a lot of your team works in shifts
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You don’t want to pay additional costs for 360 reviews
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A mobile app is a requirement for your 360 reviews
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You’re a startup or small business
Core HR + performance management: £6 per employee per month
Betterworks is an advanced performance management tool aimed at large companies who already use other systems to manage the rest of their HR needs. Betterworks doesn't offer functionality outside of performance management like time off or onboarding, but 360 feedback is one of its core elements.
Drive employee performance at businesses with over 1000 employees.
Scalable and secure 360 feedback
Custom pricing for companies with 1000 to 5000+ team members
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You’re a company with 1000+ employees
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You’re a small-medium sized business
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You’re only looking for a performance management tool
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You want a high level of visibility from your 360 feedback
Mid-marketing (starting at 1000 employees) and Enterprise (starting at 5000 employees) plans available upon request of a custom quote.
Spidergap is solely a 360 feedback tool, so is suitable for those looking to implement 360 reviews without any other performance management or HR process automation.
Easy-to-follow process for 360 feedback
Out-of-the-box or customisable
High level insight to review areas for improvement across the company or individual teams
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You want a 360 feedback tool and nothing else
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You want to integrate 360 feedback reviews with the rest of your performance management and HR processes
Available on request via a demo, with a caveat that they’ll recommend an alternative if Spidergap is not the best fit for your organisation.
A 360 feedback tool is software that automates the 360 degree feedback process so that it’s less time-consuming, less admin-heavy, and more consistent.
Also known as peer feedback, 360 reviews, or peer reviews, 360 feedback is when colleagues seek and receive feedback on their performance from each other to better understand their strengths and areas for employee development. 360 employee feedback results in a fairer and more rounded understanding of individual performance, as the different perspectives provide a more holistic view and help to combat manager bias.
A 360-degree feedback tool can not only help you improve your performance management process, but also boost your employee engagement and employee satisfaction.
By removing all the admin involved in traditional performance reviews, a 360 feedback tool makes it very easy to automatically collect feedback.360 feedback systems usually come with survey templates, which allow your Human Resources team to save hours of time they’d traditionally spend crafting the right feedback questionnaire.
An automated feedback workflow also allows you to keep your feedback safe in one platform, to automate feedback collection and create feedback reports — so all information is safe under one roof.
Most importantly, an efficient 360 feedback system will have a big impact on your team members’ self-awareness, helping them progress in their personal development.
For an effective feedback survey process, look for 360-degree feedback software that:
If you’re not keen on using an automated tool to save time when putting together your 360 performance reviews, that’s ok! You can also build the 360 review template yourself.
Note that you’ll have to:
That can be a lot of work, but still feasible – however, if you think it’s easier to automate the process, simply start a free trial with Charlie.
Unlock a fairer, more complete understanding of individual performance with Charlie’s 360° feedback
Free for 7 days
No credit card needed
Cancel any time