360 Degree Survey definition

A form of employee appraisal and feedback that aims to provide as well-rounded view as possible of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses by getting the views of several stakeholders. Feedback will often be sought from colleagues, subordinates, customers and managers, as well as self-evaluation. The information will then be collated by the HR department and used to inform performance management and training requirements.

Often contrasted with more ‘siloed’ performance appraisal processes, for example where employees are reviewed solely by their managers.

360 Surveys are also called multi-source feedback, multi-source assessments or multi-rater feedback.