360-Rater Feedback Deep Dive: For Administrators

360-Rater Feedback is a tool for Managers to gather additional feedback from employees, Managers, and outside respondents on their direct report. In this article, we will do a deep dive into how you as an Administrator can set up the 360-Rater process, including the functionality of each feature, and the benefits of gathering other perspectives on an employee. 

Adding 30-Rater Feedback to Your Process

• To set up 360-Rater feedback, you will need to go to the Processes tab in your Perform admin account. 

• Next, choose the desired Process to integrate 360-Rater Feedback by selecting it. This action will redirect you to the Overview tab of the chosen Process.

• Next, “Edit” 360-Rater Feedback, where it is currently disabled.

• You will then be prompted to choose which type of feedback you want enabled.

360-Rater Feedback Disabled: 

Disables 360-Rater Feedback setting.

Anonymous 360-Rater Feedback Enabled: 

Makes 360 feedback anonymous for Perform administrators and managers.

👋 A note about Anonymous 360-Rater Feedback: This type of feedback is truly anonymous. This means that once the individuals are selected to complete feedback on a colleague, the Manager, you as the administrator, and everyone here at Trakstar will be unable to tell who said what about that employee. 

Below is a screenshot of what it will look like from the Manager’s perspective when anonymous feedback is enabled, and all 360-Rater requests have gone out. This is not reversible.

All 360-Rater Feedback Enabled:

Allows enabling 360-Rater Feedback, granting access to feedback details for Perform admins and managers.

360-Rater feedback is entirely Manager-driven, granting them the flexibility to decide how to disclose this information to their direct report. Managers have three distinct options for sharing feedback, all through a generated PDF:

1. Anonymize Feedback: All names will be replaced with "Anonymous Reviewer."
2. Hide Feedback: All 360-Raters, along with their scores and comments, will be excluded from the PDF.
3. Show Feedback: Full names, scores, and comments of all 360-Raters will be displayed in the PDF.

For a detailed walkthrough on how Managers generate and share the PDF with employees, refer to our "Deep Dive for Managers" support article.

Configuring Your 360 Feedback settings

After 360-Rater Feedback is Enabled, there are several other features that you can enable or disable for Managers and Employees, as seen below. 

Always allow N/A ratings for 360-Raters: This allows 360-Raters to select “N/A” if they are not able to comment or provide a score on the particular behavior or skill for that employee that they are being asked to review. The N/A option is only available for 360-Raters, not Managers, or employees completing a Self-Review. There will be no score associated with the N/A checkbox.

Allow employees to suggest 360-Raters: This empowers the employee to suggest to their Manager someone to review them based on collaboration within the organization. This can be anyone, from a different Manager to someone on the employee’s own team. Once the employee sends the suggestion, they have no idea if the Manager will approve or disapprove that request. The person being suggested also does not know if they are being asked to be a 360-Rater. If the Manager did use the employee’s suggestion, by clicking “Save” within their profile on the “360-Rater” tab, the employee will still not know if the 360-Rater has been suggested, or what they have said, unless the Manager shares it with the employee.  

Predefined 360-Rater Groups: These groups are a great way to provide some structure and organization for a Manager who could use some guidance on how to assign 360-Raters. Perform has the following pre-built groups to choose from:

Direct Reports: This is also known as Upward Feedback. This group would only be visible to a Manager’s Manager, and it is how they can solicit feedback from direct reports on how a Manager is performing. 

Group: The Manager will be able to select based on a group you as the administrator have built on the back end. This could be an entire department or types of employees, like exempt or non-exempt. You can create groups via Settings > Groups. To learn more about these, you can check out this article on setting up groups.

Coworkers: This is known as Peer Feedback. This group is populated by all other employees that report to the Manager, the coworkers of the employee. They are based on the hierarchy of the organizational chart. 

Empty: You can create an empty group for Managers to add individuals to as they select 360-Raters. This group does not pre-populate; it serves more as a place for Managers to put all chosen 360-Raters.

Due Date

Once you have turned on all the features you want to use, and turned off all those you don’t need, you can adjust your schedule to include a due date for 360-Raters.

Within the Process, navigate to the Schedule tab next to Overview, where you set up 360-rater feedback.

From there, choose a Due Date for your 360-Raters. This is a required Due Date that will correspond with your Notifications. The 360-Rater will receive an email once they have been Requested, along with the link to the Request within Perform, and the Due Date of when to submit to the requested Manager.

It is recommended to make feedback due around the same time as the Self-Review so Managers can have a holistic perspective of the employee prior to completing the Manager evaluation. 

Designing 360-Rater Feedback for Your Position

Once 360-rater feedback has been completely set up, it is time to include it in the review form itself. 

Navigate to Sections under Forms.

You can select the Section you want to make scorable, or rateable, by the 360-Rater, and hover over the title, then click the Edit pencil.

Once this opens up, check the 360-Rater under “Sections Scorable by,” if it is not already checked off. This will make this section of the review visible to the 360-Raters and allow them to select a rating for that employee, or to respond to questions.

By making a section scorable by the employee and 360-Rater, the Manager is able to use those scores as recommendations for their own score of the employee. 

If you want to create a section specifically for 360-Raters, you can return to Sections and click on “Add Section” in the upper right-hand corner. Once you have added your questions and/or competencies, make sure you follow the same steps above to make the section scorable by the 360-Rater. 

If you only want feedback from the 360-Rater, be sure to uncheck Manager and Employee. 

The Manager and Employee will be able to see the questions and/or competencies being asked of the 360-Rater, but neither will be able to respond, and only the Manager will see the 360-Rater’s responses. See this article on how Managers can share 360-Rater Feedback with their direct reports.