Most employees unhappy with 360-degree feedback: survey

This widespread use comes amid a variety of benefits for organisations, according to Qualtrics. Among its advantages:

• It gives employers a "fuller picture" of employees' performance
• It's easier to spot development opportunities in teams or departments
• It allows employees to know how they're seen in the company
• It gives employees the opportunity to give and receive feedback

Read next: The importance of employee performance reviews

Opting out amid misuse

However, LiveCareer's poll found that 79% of employees said they would rather opt out of the performance review method amid concerns over office politics and workplace drama.

"360-degree feedback is meant to be a tool for growth, but our findings suggest it's often used as a political weapon," said Jasmine Escalera, career expert at LiveCareer, in a statement.

According to the poll, nearly half of the respondents believe this process can amplify office politics (48%) and can be tainted by personal bias or grudges (48%).

Another 79% said they suspect the process is used to settle personal grudges, while another 29% believe they create workplace drama.

Despite the anonymity provided by 360-degree feedback processes, 28% of the respondents believe it promotes vague and unhelpful comments.

"Anonymity in feedback can create a safe space for honesty, but it can also be a shield for passive-aggressive comments," Escalera said.

Impact on workplace relationships

These negative perceptions of 360-degree feedback come as 74% of the respondents said they received feedback they felt was unfair, biased, or inaccurate.

As a result, around a third of the respondents said feedback from the 360-degree evaluation system resulted in:

• Strained workplace relationships due to feedback (39%)
• Increased stress and self-doubt (35%)
• Decreased productivity and motivation (30%)

Getting the 360-degree feedback right

LiveCareer's findings underscore that while 360-degree feedback can be very helpful, it may also potentially foster tensions at work.

"Organisations need to be mindful of how they implement and interpret feedback to truly benefit their teams," Escalera said.

According to AI-powered people platform Lattice, 360-degree reviews need to have the right participants and the right method.

"If a 360 review isn't administered to the right people, it might not generate the most helpful feedback," Lattice said on a blogpost. In choosing raters, the organisation advised employers to:

• Avoid only selecting respondents with close relationships
• Steer clear of those with known conflicts
• Include a range of experiences and backgrounds

A 360-degree feedback system will need careful planning and execution to produce an effective outcome, according to the Academy to Innovate HR. It offered best practices, including:

• Get buy-in from relevant stakeholders to ensure support and participation
• Define how to measure the success of the 360 programme and communicate it to stakeholders
• Create urgency and reward by setting and communicating a clear deadline for submission
• Plan follow-ups in order to support behavioural change needed
• Consider development versus evaluation. Feedback for personal development should mean ratees should be able to select their raters. Feedback for performance evaluation should mean ratees should be chosen based on how close they work together with the rater.
• Focus the evaluation on the competencies that are important for the individual's job
• Questions and competencies included and evaluated should be in line with the values and competencies that are unique to the organisations
• Data should have both real and perceived credibility
• The subject should be accountable for feedback by creating follow-ups
• Management should set clear expectations and be accountable for completion of the feedback