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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What is a 360 feedback tool?

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.

5 reasons why you should invest in a 360 degree feedback tool

1- Removes the admin 

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.

Add peer feedback to your reviews

2- Gives a holistic view of performance 

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.

Check on review progress

3- Promotes self-awareness 

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.

4- Is not just about numbers 

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. 

5- Focuses on continuous feedback  

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.

What should you look for in a 360 degree feedback tool? 

  • Easy to use - to collect feedback in real time and make employee reviews as simple as possible so everyone can use it without supervision or assistance 
  • Anonymous responses – to people to share honest and constructive feedback
  • Personnalisable  - to have ready-made templates, but also the opportunity to create your own.

Can I create my own 360 feedback tool? 

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:

  • Build the questions all by yourself 
  • Send the questions to each relevant employee 
  • Link the feedback to each performance review 
  • Make sure you keep track of everything 
  • Ensure everyone sends a response on time 

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.

Best 360 feedback tool on the market – updated for 2024

Compare HR software

360 review tools

Ideal company size

Best for

Best Feature
  • Small businesses and startups (up to 200 team members)
Company size
  • Easy and effective 360 feedback alongside other HR needs
Price
  • Free for 7 days, then starts at £5 per month (no extra or hidden costs)

Price

Best Feature
  • Medium-sized  companies (200+ team members)
Company size
  • 360 feedback for shift-working teams
Price
  • From £8 a month with other pricing options to suit different needs
Best Feature
  • Large companies (1000-5000 employees)
Company size
  • Large-scale performance management 
Price
  • From £13 per month
Best Feature
  • Unspecified
Company size
  • Customisable set of features
Price
  • From $1.25 per user, per month depending on features

Best for a simple system for effective 360 feedback reviews

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!

360 feedback reviews with Charlie

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Simple and fast: Charlie’s 360 review feature is so quick and easy to set up, your team won’t require any training

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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.

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One affordable price: all features are included in the monthly cost, so there’s no extra to pay for 360 feedback reviews

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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

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Performance dashboard: check up on review progress without having to chase

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Automatic review reminders: your team never forgets, and you’ll never have to chase them up

Choose Charlie if
Don't choose Charlie if

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You’re looking for a 360 feedback tool that’s simple to set up and easy to use


You’re a company with over 200 employees

👍

You want 360 feedback reviews to seamlessly integrate with the rest of your performance management and HR processes

👍

You’re a start-up or small business

👍

You want to reduce your admin but increase your impact

Try Charlie HR for free

Chris Wallis, CEO and co-founder @ Intruder

“I’m blown away by how useful Charlie’s Reviews has been. It’s enabled some really high-quality conversations within our team that I know just wouldn't have happened otherwise.”

Chris Wallis

Reviews

Trustpilot
4.8/5
Capterra
4.8/5

Pricing

  • From as little as £5 per month
  • Includes all of Charlie features – 360 feedback, time off tracking, perks & benefits, onboarding, etc – at no extra cost
  • No hidden fees or added costs

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. 

360 feedback reviews with Sage

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With the 360 feedback add-on, you get a well-rounded view of everyone’s performance through the eyes of their peers

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One central system stores all the performance management tools

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Cloud performance management system can be implemented in as little as 90 days

Choose Sage if
Don't choose Sage if

👍

You’re a company with 200- 5000 employees


You need it to integrate with another HR or People Ops system (Sage supports very few integrations)

👍

All or a lot of your team works in shifts


You don’t want to pay additional costs for 360 reviews

👍

A mobile app is a requirement for your 360 reviews


You’re a startup or small business

Akshay, Digital Analyst, Capterra review

“While I find the user interface to be highly intuitive and easy to navigate, I do feel that the pricing can be quite expensive for small businesses, which may be a consideration for some users.”

Reviews

Trustpilot
4.2/5
Capterra
4.4/5

Pricing

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.

360 feedback reviews with Betterworks

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Drive employee performance at businesses with over 1000 employees.

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Scalable and secure 360 feedback 

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Custom pricing for companies with 1000 to 5000+ team members

Choose Betterworks if
Don't choose Betterworks if

👍

You’re a company with 1000+ employees


You’re a small-medium sized business

👍

You’re only looking for a performance management tool

👍

You want a high level of visibility from your 360 feedback

Anonymous review on G2

“It provides an intuitive interface for my manager and I to participate in discussions about goals and helps us focus.”

Reviews

Trustpilot
Unclaimed profile/No reviews
Capterra
3.9/5

Pricing

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.

360 feedback reviews with Spidergap

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Easy-to-follow process for 360 feedback

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Out-of-the-box or customisable

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High level insight to review areas for improvement across the company or individual teams

Choose Spidergap if
Don't choose Spidergap if

👍

You want a 360 feedback tool and nothing else


You want to integrate 360 feedback reviews with the rest of your performance management and HR processes

Joe, VP of Design, Capterra review

“Easy to use if you only have one or two people to review. The relationship between quantitative ratings and comments is clear.”

Reviews

Trustpilot
Unclaimed profile/No reviews
Capterra
4.8/5

Pricing

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. 

FAQs

What is a 360 feedback tool?

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. 

What are the benefits of using a 360 feedback tool?

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.

What qualities should a 360 feedback tool have? 

For an effective feedback survey process, look for 360-degree feedback software that:  

  • Is easy to use - you want software your team can use to collect feedback in real time and make employee reviews as simple as possible. This should be a tool that everyone can use without supervision or assistance (a tool that requires training just adds a manual process to something that‘s supposed to be automated)
  • Has the option to anonymise the responses - this encourages people to share honest and constructive feedback
  • Can be personalised - you want a 360 feedback tool that comes with ready-made templates, but also has the functionality to add personalised questionnaires. You can then tailor it to fit your company and team to generate the best possible employee experience.
How do your create a 360 feedback tool? 

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:

  • Build the questions all by yourself 
  • Send the questions to each relevant employee 
  • Link the feedback to each performance review 
  • Make sure you keep track of everything 
  • Ensure everyone sends a response on time 

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.

Want to get the full picture on your team’s progression?

Unlock a fairer, more complete understanding of individual performance with Charlie’s 360° feedback

Try CharlieHR for free
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Free for 7 days

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