360 Degree Appraisal

What are they and how they will benefit your business?

What are 360 degree appraisals?

360 degree appraisals are a process of comparing self-perceptions of skills, performance or personality attributes to those of others who work closely with the individual. The invited feedback typically comes from managers, colleagues, direct reports in the organisational hierarchy and in some cases external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders.

The goal of 360 degree feedback is to enhance awareness of one's strengths and potential developmental opportunities to improve personal, team and organisational effectiveness.

"360" refers to the 360 degrees in a circle, an all round view. 360 degree feedback is also known as multi-rater feedback

How do they compare to traditional appraisals?

Traditional appraisals usually work by reviewing employees against competencies. These may include things such as setting objectives and measuring performance against them throughout the year or simply asking questions about how they have performed.

In a 360 degree appraisal, all the people whose viewpoint matters (such as managers, sub-ordinates, peers and customers) will evaluate the employee they have contact with. The 360 degree appraisal process is usually carried out with the help of 360 degree feedback software that contains a questionnaire covering all the participative approaches such as job skills, abilities, attitude and behaviour. This software enables the confidential filling in of data, thereby helping respondents to openly express their opinions, views and reactions.

In comparison to traditional appraisals, the 360 degree appraisal should give a clearer view of the employees strengths and weaknesses as their performance is evaluated by more than one person in the business. It can be viewed as a much fairer process than the traditional appraisal.

Receiving a fair appraisal can motivate employees to perform better and it helps to win their trust and loyalty. It also helps an organisation to retain their employees by rewarding them suitably.

Performance appraisals are vital for career and succession of the individual and the business. Impartial and unbiased appraisal can help in workforce encouragement, behaviour development, and alignment of individual and organisational goals.

How do they benefit a business?

360 degree appraisals provide the participant with an opportunity to learn how others perceive them, leading to increased self-awareness and

self-development. It will also help increase understanding of the behaviours required to improve both individual and organisational effectiveness.

This type of appraisal should promote an open culture where giving and receiving feedback is the accepted norm, thus increasing communication within the organisation.

From a management perspective it will help to clarify supervisory and managerial expectations of staff and provide a powerful initiator for team and individual change.

How are they carried out?

360 degree appraisals are based on accurate ratings and reports are generated by web-based 360-degree feedback software. The results are collectively presented in the form of numerical scores that are supported with graphical and tabular formatted charts for better understanding of the evaluators. The privacy is strictly maintained and the data is kept confidential and anonymous.

A new Partnership

Bond Teamspirit already provides organisations with a fully integrated payroll and HR software solution. Bond Teamspirit software operates from a single database and caters for an organisations' every HR requirement, with modules such as absence analysis, employee information, equal opportunities monitoring and global statistics.

The partnership with Talent Innovations takes this solution one step further by offering businesses a total solution for all their training and development requirements. Talent innovations software complements Bond Teamspirit software in a way that employers will have access to an all-in-one solution that provides a 360 degree visibility of employees. Information on history, performance and feedback is accessible from one site. The partnership will allow greater functionality than was previously available. Within Teamspirit's existing HR learning and development module.

The 360 degree feedback and development tools are supported by a secure web-based system which allows employees to gain a greater understanding of how their performance is perceived by fellow colleagues and management.

By integrating Talent Innovations 360 degree appraisal package with Bond Teamspirit's existing HR software, employees will feel more empowered to manage their own HR, appraisals and performance management in a cost effective manner.

Click here for full information on Teamspirit integrated HR and Payroll Software