Compare the Best 360 Degree Feedback Software Tools (2024)
Our HR software experts have reviewed the best 360 degree feedback tools on the market right now. See feature and pricing comparisons, advice on product demos, common pitfalls, and more below.
With more teams remote than ever before, now is the time to give your employees new ways to stay engaged and motivated from anywhere. One valuable tool is 360-degree feedback: performance input garnered from direct reports, bosses, colleagues, and customers.
In this article we will delve into the software that supports 360-degree feedback. Our HR tech recommendations are based on weeks of researching online, talking to experts, and receiving demos from vendors in this space. We’ll give you a comprehensive list of the best 360-degree feedback solutions, as well as the benefits and challenges of implementing a new feedback program.
The cornerstone of a 360 program is gathering useful, timely, and constructive employee feedback. This can serve as a critical component of performance management. According to a SHRM, 77 percent of HR executives believe performance reviews don’t accurately reflect employee contributions. That’s because they’re traditionally infrequent and unilateral.
360 feedback, in contrast, involves various perspectives for a more comprehensive view of employees’ performance, strengths, and areas of improvement. Think of them as growth checkins adding contour to the feedback environment. Today’s best 360 solutions help your HR team understand overarching employee trends in order to make informed decisions on training and hiring needs.
A strong 360-degree feedback program is supported by software that automates manual processes. Our goal with this guide is to save you time and support your success in choosing a 360 solution provider. We do the first 5-10 hours of researching software so that you can bring a vendor shortlist to stakeholders.
Feel free to use all of our resources throughout your vendor selection process. We have questions for demos, an ROI analysis, a checklist for securing internal buy-in, and an extensive lineup of HR software categories. Best wishes in your software selection — please be sure to let us know how the process goes for you!
Top 360-Degree Feedback Solutions
To select the best 360-degree feedback software, our team attended product demos, interviewed users and experts, and tested the tools firsthand. We looked at dozens of options, but the ones that stood out excelled in four key aspects: customizable surveys, anonymous feedback, integrated performance management, and insightful analytics.
- Customizable surveys: The best 360 feedback tools enable you to fully customize surveys with your own question set, rating scales, and comment sections. This level of flexibility allows you to tailor surveys to specific roles, teams, and organizational goals.
- Anonymous feedback: Anonymity is crucial if you want to get honest feedback. It’s a shield that enables your employees to provide constructive criticism without fear of retaliation. The top solutions in this space come equipped with anonymity settings and data access controls to put your employees at ease.
- Integrated performance management: To derive maximum value, 360 assessments need to connect to performance reviews, goal setting, and training. We favored tools that integrate with performance management systems rather than operating in silos. This provides managers with context to understand feedback and determine appropriate coaching.
- Insightful analytics: The best 360 feedback software shouldn’t just collect data - it should help you analyze and act on it. We looked for advanced features like customized reports, data filters, feedback trends/comparisons, and tips for understanding and applying results. This transforms survey data into clear developmental insights.
Our mission is to bring you the top solutions in each software category. To learn more about how we do this, check out this article on how we evaluate HR tech vendors.
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Leapsome
Leapsome is highly flexible. To gain the insights you need, you can create custom questions or use their ready-made templates — backed by scientific research and verified by experts.
PROS
- Leapsome provides many features including onboarding, LMS, engagement, performance, goal tracking, and more.
- Most users find Leapsome's UI to be user-friendly and easy to navigate.
- There are many integration options, including a Slack integration.
- Pricing is transparent, and users have the option to pay only for the modules they need.
- Leapsome is quite feature-rich; the platform packs modules for employee onboarding, learning management, engagement, performance management, goals tracking and much more.
- The majority of users find Leapsome’s UI to be friendly and easy to navigate.
- There are lots of third party integrations options to choose from, including Slack, which many users appreciate.
- The platform has transparent pricing, and you only pay for the modules you need.
CONS
- No ability to upload images or files directly into feedback.
- It can take some time to get used to and implement the platform due to the wide range of features.
- There isn’t a mobile app yet to quickly access Leapsome on the go.
- Free trials require booking a sales demo first rather than signing up independently.
- There is currently no way to post or upload an image or file into your feedback.
- Since Leapsome can do so many things, you may need some time to get used to it. The implementation process can also take some time.
- There currently isn’t a mobile app that users can download and access Leapsome quickly on-the-go.
- Free 14-day trials are available but you need to book a demo with the sales team first to sign up for one; you can’t do so on your own.
Leapsome highlights transparency. It serves up people management processes to help organizations develop their employees and scale their business. You can roll it out incrementally, so that people feel engaged with your new HR processes. Leapsome analytics are actionable and linked to learning and development.
Spotify, Babbel, Trivago, Plus Dental, Mercedes Benz.
Leapsome’s pricing varies based on the number of employees, selected modules, and contract length. Modular pricing begins at $7/user/month, billed annually. To get a custom quote, you need to contact the Leapsome sales team. Leapsome also offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required, so you can test the platform risk-free.
Best For
Leapsome serves companies of all sizes looking to enhance their people management processes, develop their teams and scale their operation.
SurveySparrow
SurveySparrow’s 360 feedback solution packs customizable surveys, multi-rater features, intelligent analytics, automated reminders, and more to support your employees' growth journey and the overall performance of your company.
PROS
- SurveySparrow features a clean and modern interface.
- All surveys are highly customizable and can be translated to over 50 languages.
- Integrates with dozens of platform party platforms to facilitate seamless data syncing,and streamline workflows.
- Users praise SurveySparrow’s support team for being highly responsive.
- There’s a 14-day free trial that anyone can sign up for.
CONS
- At $19 per user per month, SurveySparrow is expensive, especially for small businesses and startups.
- The many features make the platform overwhelming at first, particularly for beginners.
- Reporting functionality needs improvement, with issues extracting, analyzing, and compiling survey data like text responses.
- Some users experienced technical problems like crashing surveys and spam filtering limitations.
SurveySparrow provides an intuitive and customizable 360 feedback software solution to help organizations understand their employees' strengths and areas for improvement. With just a few clicks, users can generate competency summaries to view holistic results and easily identify gaps between an individual's self-evaluation and feedback from the rater groups. The software makes it simple to spotlight competencies that both individuals and raters agree represent key strengths, as well as those competencies requiring refinement according to all parties.
These in-depth insights enhance employees' self-awareness by revealing hidden strengths they themselves may have overlooked and blind spots representing perception gaps between individuals and their colleagues. The detailed feedback empowers leaders to craft personalized development plans to help team members maximize their potential. Employees can also access their own portal to monitor assessment progress and view current and past results.
For managers, SurveySparrow’s intuitive dashboard provides a 360-degree view of competencies across the team to effortlessly identify top performers and determine specific training needs. The software equips leadership with organization-wide performance reports to uncover cross-functional opportunities and inform data-driven decisions around competency building across teams, departments, and geographies.
SurveySparrow has over 100,000 customers, including Gucci, Warner Bros, and World Bank Group.
For individuals
- Basic: $19 per month (billed annually) for a single user and 2,500 responses per year.
- Starter: $39 per month (billed annually) for a single user and 15,000 responses per year.
For teams:
- Business: $79 per month (billed annually) for up to 3 users and 50,000 responses per year.
- Professional: $249 per month (billed annually) for up to 5 users and 100,000 responses per year.
Best For
SurveySparrow’s 360 feedback solution is best suited for growing companies and enterprises.
Synergita
Synergita, besides being an affordable OKR tool for SMBs, is a great resource for leaders to learn more about their employee performance and team culture. You may discover sentiment with built-in NLP capability and recognize top performers using the system's HiPo Score.
PROS
- Synergita has an affordable and scalable pricing model. Its modules can be purchased together or as stand-alone products.
- Has a transparent pricing structure. Offers a free trial and a cost calculator.
- Features are easy to figure out.
- AI-driven tools analyze the tone of employees’ responses and assign the team a sentiment score for better employee engagement.
- Synergita’s platform is affordable and scalable. On top of that, you get to choose between their modules for employee engagement, performance management, and OKR tracking, or combine them as needed.
- The majority of users find Synergita’s UI to be user-friendly and fairly easy to navigate.
- With the help of natural language processing (NLP), the platform can analyze the tone of your employees’ responses and assign team a sentiment score, which is valuable data you can use to improve the experience of your employees.
CONS
- The reporting feature lacks customizations. Speed/performance issues can occur, particularly when working with larger reports.
- Customer support team is not very responsive.
- Doesn’t offer a mobile app.
- Several users noted that the reporting module lacks customizations, and speed/performance issues can be experienced with it, particularly when working with larger reports.
- A few users have also reported that the customer support team is slow to respond and resolve issues.
- The platform currently doesn’t offer a mobile app for on-the-go access.
Synergita is an online solution for OKRs, performance, and employee engagement. Employee growth planning, peer recognition, AI-driven sentiment analysis, performance evaluations, 1:1s, peer recognition, and assessing culture scores are just a few of the many tools available on the platform to help with the aforesaid objectives.
Our selection of Synergita above other products in the 360 feedback software sector was primarily influenced by its affordability and adaptability. For the most part, the platform is easy to use for all kinds of users.
Synergita’s pricing is quite reasonable and they do provide a free trial. Taking the trial, we found the tool to be very straightforward and easy to figure out. However, the reporting feature could be slow at times, especially when we tried to work on large data. Its built-in customizations are quite limited, too. Additionally, Synergita does not have a mobile app.
Secova, Global Edge, Indegene, American Micro.
Synergita has three modules, Engage, Perform, and OKR. Each of them has a free trial. There’s also a price calculator on the website you can use to estimate the cost based on the modules you need. Below is the detailed pricing when billed annually:
- Synergita Engage costs $2 per employee per month and includes basic talent information, continuous feedback, rewards & recognition, e-communication, culture score, and employee as well as feedback reports.
- Synergita Perform costs $4 per employee per month and packs lots of features like advanced talent information, smart goals & achievements tracking, metrics import for goals, performance reviews/appraisals, normalization, custom workflows & feedback templates, people & performance reports, 9-box report, strength & weakness report, and reminders as well as notifications.
- Synergita Perform Plus costs $7 per employee per month and has everything in Synergita Perform, along with 360-degree feedback, promotion cycle, career aspirations, appraisal letter distribution, skill repository & mapping, HiPo score, employee headcount trends, and employee performance trends.
- Synergita OKR costs $4 per employee per month and includes basic talent information, personal OKR, company/dept OKR, and OKR reports.
Best For
Synergita can be used by companies across different industries, but the ideal team sizes are small to medium.
eloomi
Eloomi’s My360+ tool enables you to get a holistic view of your entire organization. While Eloomi's surveys help you gather employee feedback, My360+ gives you a space to provide feedback on an employee's skills, and requests that managers and external clients do the same.
PROS
- Eloomi is feature-rich, with built-in modules for onboarding, training, performance, engagement, and recognition.
- Its library of ready templates speeds up online training creation. It also has a mobile app for on-the-go access.
- The surveys are customizable and can be made private so you can solicit specific and honest feedback.
- You can request peer feedback on employees' skills.
- The micro-sized training content prevents overwhelming onboarding.
- Eloomi is quite comprehensive, with modules for onboarding, training/learning, performance management, employee engagement, and recognition.
- The platform comes with a library of ready-to-use templates to help you create online training faster. It also has a mobile app for your employees to access training materials on the go.
- Their surveys are customizable and private, helping you get specific and honest feedback from employees.
- You can request other members of the organization to provide feedback on certain skills of employees.
- You can make use of Eloomi’s micro-sized online training content to prevent overwhelming onboarding experiences.
CONS
- There’s a steep learning curve due to the platform’s large number of features.
- Some bugs and speed issues may be experienced with large report generation, but customer support is responsive.
- The pricing is not transparent and there aren’t any free trials currently.
- Because of the sheer number of features Eloomi offers, there’s a steeper learning curve for the average user to get the hang of the platform and understand it to its fullest.
- A few users reported experiencing bugs and speed issues when generating reports, especially ones with a large volume of data, but have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and free trials aren’t available at this time.
Eloomi’s My360+ gives you a 360-degree view of your organization. You can provide feedback to employees and invite other members to provide their feedback on the same employee's performance and skills. You can also share these reviews with other members to get different perspectives and enhance your analysis of the employee's strengths and weaknesses. All of the information you generate from these helps you conduct effective 1:1 sessions with employees.
Eloomi is used by thousands of businesses including Nufarm, Domino’s, Getty Images, and more.
Eloomi provides customized pricing, so contacting them for a demo is the best way to go.
Best For
Eloomi targets mid-sized and large businesses. While many team members can use it, the primary users are HR leaders seeking to streamline onboarding, boost engagement through feedback, and monitor employee development progress.
Empuls
Empuls helps you create and deploy various types of surveys, covering onboarding, performance, HR effectiveness, and general feedback so you’re able to derive valuable insights into your employees' experiences throughout their journey.
PROS
- Empuls features a modern UI that’s easy to navigate. They also offer plenty of self-help articles to help you get started.
- The platform is quite comprehensive, with tools covering employee communication, engagement surveys, recognition, rewards, and analytics.
- Employees are able to participate in surveys on the go with the help of Empuls’ mobile app available on both iOS and Android devices.
- Their affordable and tiered pricing ensures different size companies can try out the tool and scale up or down as needed. They also offer a 30-day free trial that anyone can sign up for.
CONS
- A few users find the options for rewards rather limited. Several of them are specifically wishing for the inclusion of more Amazon gift cards viable in their countries.
- Employees cannot share their points with each other at this time.
- Once you assign a sub-domain, you cannot change it later.
- Several users have experienced performance speed issues with Empuls’ mobile app.
With Empuls' feedback software, you can gain real-time insights into your employees' experience with the workplace and find out what's working and what isn't. Through customizable surveys, you can get feedback on various processes and management styles including onboarding, performance reviews, training, HR effectiveness and manager effectiveness. You can also use surveys to perform check-ins with your remote employees.
All of this feedback is organized neatly in the feedback dashboard, which also allows you to to monitor different metrics, get actionable insights and generate reports.
Empuls has over 1000 global customers, including Prodevans, Bahwan Cybertek, Magzter, FCA India Automobiles Private Limited, KPIT, Quixy, and more.
Empuls offers three pricing plans. Here are the prices if you choose to pay annually:
- Starter: This plan costs $20/year per employee. It offers features, including rewards and recognition, employee surveys and feedback, social intranet, and reports and analytics.
- Proficient: This plan costs $50/year per employee. It offers features, including white labeling, polls & quizzes, customer support, and everything that is in the Starter plan.
- Enterprise: This is a custom plan that offers everything from Proficient plan, plus custom HRMS integration, multi-region deployment, multi-currency payoffs, and dedicated customer success manager.
Best For
While Empuls offers several competitive features for every business, it’s most suitable for small to medium-sized businesses who want to build a people-first environment.
WorkTango
WorkTango empowers employees by giving them a voice while giving the decision-makers a pulse of the workforce.
PROS
- Unlimited surveys available in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, and Korean.
- Clear pricing structure with the ability to add modules as needed.
- Now supports anonymous feedback collection.
- Enhancements made to report loading times.
- Mobile app with improved performance and added functionality, including the ability to request feedback.
- Unlimited surveys available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean.
- You can add modules as you go and these will be charged on a prorated basis.
CONS
- Billing is only available on an annual basis, with pricing starting at $8,000.
- Some users have reported challenges with the rewards redemption process, finding it less intuitive.
- Billing is only done annually and all plans require a minimum agreement for a 24-month subscription (see our FAQs for more and their pricing page for full details).
- Several users have complained about the rewards redeeming process being not very intuitive.
We continue to regard WorkTango as one of the top choices in this field due to its ongoing enhancements. The software now boasts a robust survey tool that covers feedback, check-ins, and sync-ups, fostering continuous improvement.
WorkTango aims to improve business outcomes by providing HR, executives, and people leaders with insights, recommended learnings, and actions powered by employee feedback. Their software helps organizations tackle key themes such as employee engagement, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), and health and wellness.
WorkTango also works towards improving the employee experience throughout the entire employee lifecycle. This includes onboarding/exit, leadership, occupational health and safety, and mergers and acquisitions alignment.
Snowfox Group, H.B Fuller, and Deckers Brands are some of 1000+ organizations that have used WorkTango.
Starting at around $8,000 annually, WorkTango prices by the number of employees. The best way forward is to request a demo.
Best For
WorkTango is great for companies that value employee feedback. Currently, WorkTango is effectively used in various industries such as tech, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, government, education, communication, and many more. The platform has been successful for companies with 50, hundreds, and even hundreds of thousands of employees.
Culture Amp
As in its name, Culture Amp puts culture first, and that shows in its encouragement of growth and development in the review process.
PROS
- Culture Amp has an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface.
- It provides an effective way to give, receive, and capture feedback between employees and managers.
- Users appreciate the ability to set goals and track progress over time.
- The system sends out useful reminders and notifications to complete tasks like reviews, feedback, and 1:1s.
- Culture Amp provides insights into personal growth by allowing employees to track their progression over time.
- People science team
- Tons of engagement surveys
CONS
- Customization is limited, particularly in areas like review questions and rating scales.
- Some users felt the tool was too text-heavy and could benefit from more visual elements like charts or graphs to enhance engagement.
- It takes time to understand the full capabilities of the platform.
- Their people science plus offering is not available for very small companies
- Enterprise clients might find that they lack some of the integrations and customizations a bigger team needs.
Culture Amp offers a full-suite performance solution including 360 feedback plus performance reviews, goal tracking, and continuous development. Their people science team guides new users to encourage growth and development throughout the performance management cycle. Expanding to the entire employee lifecycle, an easy-to-use exit process allows you to compare results and view trends.
Culture Amp offers customizable module-based pricing. You can choose to go with the Employee Engagement (Engage), Employee Development (Develop), and Performance Management (Perform) modules individually, or bundle them together as needed. Pricing varies based on the number of modules and team size. Contact Culture Amp Sales for detailed pricing information.
Best For
Companies of all sizes looking for a full-featured performance management and employee engagement platform.
I utilized Culture Amp for employee engagement surveys. The workflow allowed for direct links sent via email with data pulled directly from our HRIS as well as links and QR codes for employees without email access.
Post survey, the platform also provided action planning guidance and built-in training solutions with life labs. Culture Amp linked with our HRIS, Ceridian, and was able to provide a great demographic breakdown while maintaining the confidentiality of the survey. It also had a great sentiment tool for all free text reporting so you were able to analyze if it was a positive or negative comment with themes rather than read every single comment submitted.
- The end user experience from employees' end on computers, tablets, and phones was top-notch.
- Data analytics were clear, easy to use/export, and provided clear trending vs previous years or industry benchmarks.
I utilized Culture Amp at a previous employer for 2 years before switching organizations. We migrated to this platform from a paper employee engagement survey. Culture Amp provided great transition, resources, and tools to be successful in a manufacturing environment where many employees did not have access to a personal computer or e-mail. The end user interface was a huge selling point.
The backend side of the platform is also very strong. I loved the data analytics and how much you could compare data year over year. Culture Amp also stood out against competitors with their post survey support in the form of suggested action items and personalized training items. I loved this program so much that I immediately shared them as a vendor option with my new organization.
- There was no way to combine smaller participating groups for combined engagement data.
- Additional modules were great (performance) but expensive compared to the current platform.
- They had great exports for PowerPoints but I wish the templates could be customized.
I loved how Culture Amp tied in with our HRIS for demographic and contact information and was super user-friendly both as the end user and admin. The platform is advanced in ease of use compared with other platforms.
End user experience should be top of mind as if the system is complicated to access or use employees will not participate in surveys.
Ease of understanding data analytics and custom access/reports is a must. This platform is able to have custom results mass exported/delivered to leaders
It continuously adds benchmark data, training modules, and improved action items for survey results.
Organizations that need data split by site, function, and/or leader are a great fit for Culture Amp. Also, organizations that need flexibility on how users interact with the system (mobile, tablet, computer), etc., would benefit from the platform.
Lastly having an HRIS is great for system integrations but organizations can also upload user data by spreadsheet so it is not a full requirement.
It is an expensive platform so if you have a limited budget this may not be a great fit.
BambooHR
BambooHR is one of the widest-known software providers in the HR and people management space, with over 20,000 active clients and 1.8 million employee users. Although their feedback tool is available only as an add-on, it’s worth considering for its variety of other features.
PROS
- Flexible packaging and custom pricing is the way they roll. You can select one or two packages and pick other modules as add-ons based on your ongoing needs.
- Very simple and straightforward tool, easy to use.
- Flexible packaging and custom pricing is the way they roll. You can pick out one or two packages and pick other modules as add-ons based on your needs.
- Very simple and straightforward tool, easy to use.
CONS
- Their payroll features are only available for U.S.-based businesses.
- Customer service reps are only available during U.S. business hours.
- Their performance management and survey modules are only available as add-ons. This means you’d have to get one of their Core HR packages and then get the add-ons to access the performance management tools you’re probably on this page for.
- Payroll is only available for US-based employees
- Customer support is only offered during US business hours.
- Some modules like time tracking, performance management, and surveys are only available as add-ons.
BambooHR's performance management software allows employees to get constructive feedback in real time. As part of performance appraisals, administrators and managers can choose peers to provide anonymous feedback on simple, standard questions, such as: What is your colleague doing well? How can they improve?The entire Performance Management BambooHR module is available as an add-on to one of their HR packages. It includes features like goals, peer feedback, self/manager assessment, and both company and employee performance reports.
Among the 20,000+ companies that use BambooHR, you’d find names like Quora, Universal Group, Reddit, Asana, Change.org, University of Maryland, Grammarly, Stance, Postmates, Wistia, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and ZipRecruiter.
Pricing is not disclosed upfront, but they do offer a free trial of their all-in-one software and then go out of their way to find a version that will suit you. Before they come up with a personalized quote that will align with your budget, however, they are also likely to extend your free trial upon request or even give you a free demo of the advanced features.
Best For
BambooHR is a good fit for companies looking for a very customizable HR product, with pricing that reflects their needs. It’s also popular among teams that are partially or even fully remote.
15five
We’re big fans of 15Five’s dynamic feedback feature, which displays open-ended comments from engagement surveys in the Feedback section. The feature gives employees the option of answering one of two questions at the end of an engagement survey based on their results.
PROS
- 15Five helps HR leaders run their performance programs from start to finish and make talent decisions based on a 360-degree view of each employee.
- With the help of visual dashboards, HR leaders can access colorful and easy-to-comprehend insights that will make their talent decisions easier.
- The platform is fairly easy to use, comes with a mobile app, has transparent pricing, as well as a 14-day free trial so users can try before they buy.
CONS
- Some users reported experiencing difficulty creating new objectives or connecting existing objectives to parent objectives in the objectives section.
- When you create an engagement survey using 15Five's template, you can only choose from a selection of pre-made categories rather than creating your own.
- The out of the box integration options are quite limited, and a Zapier integration used to be available but is now sunsetted. As an alternative, 15Five does have a public API for users to plug-in custom tools but that requires a bit more work.
15Five has two modules that can facilitate the gathering and management of employee feedback. The Engage module comes with customizable surveys that managers can use to hear out what employees feel about specific topics such as burnout, DEI, remote work and more.
The “Focus” module, on the other hand, allows employees to solicit feedback from one another on projects, tasks, or overall performance, which they can then share with their managers. Combining the Engage and Focus modules can help a long way in creating a culture of listening and continuous improvement.
15Five’s customer base includes Hubspot, Spotify, American Red Cross, Clearbit, Pendo and more.
- Engage: $4 per user per month. Its features include Core engagement surveys, Topic-based assessments, Custom topic-based assessments, Filterable heatmap & analytics, Enterprise-grade security, an Action plan dashboard, and more.
- Perform: $8 per user per month. Its features include Performance reviews, 360º feedback, Talent Matrix, Data insights, Career Paths & Plans, and more.
- Focus: $8 per user per month. Its features include Goal setting with OKRs, OKR chart view, Data insights, Jira & Salesforce Integration, and more.
- Total Platform: $14 per user per month. Its features include everything in other plans, plus DPAs and security questionnaires.
Best For
15Five is more suitable for growing companies and enterprises wanting to ensure that they're getting feedback from all corners of the organization.
We use 15Five on a regular basis to support our employee engagement and performance management efforts. We have established a regular cadence of use, with weekly check-ins and quarterly goal-setting and progress reviews.
During weekly check-ins, employees share updates on their progress and any challenges they may be facing, while managers provide feedback, support, and recognition. This helps to keep everyone on track and fosters a culture of transparency and accountability within the organization.
We also use 15Five for regular one-on-one meetings between managers and employees, which are scheduled and tracked through the platform. This has made it easier to ensure that all employees are receiving the support and feedback they need to be successful in their roles.
The goal-setting and tracking features of 15Five are also key parts of our workflow. We set quarterly goals and track progress in real-time, allowing us to make adjustments and provide support as needed. This has helped to increase employee motivation and productivity, while also providing a clear framework for performance evaluation.
Finally, we use 15Five for feedback and recognition, which allows employees to receive feedback from their managers and peers, as well as gives them the opportunity to recognize their colleagues for their contributions. This has helped to foster a positive and collaborative culture within the organization.
Overall, 15Five has been an essential tool for supporting our employee engagement and performance management efforts. By using the platform regularly and leveraging its customizable features, we have been able to improve communication, transparency, and accountability across the organization.
I like 15Five for the following reasons:
- Efficient and Effective Performance Management: With 15Five, it is easy to set and track goals, provide regular feedback, and recognize employee achievements, making the performance management process more efficient and effective.
- Improved Communication and Collaboration: 15Five provides a platform for employees to share their thoughts and ideas with managers, and for managers to communicate more effectively with their teams, leading to better collaboration and alignment.
- Analytics and Insights: The platform offers data and insights on employee engagement, satisfaction, and performance, allowing HR managers to make informed decisions and track progress over time.
Our organization decided to purchase 15Five for several reasons, primarily to address the pain points we were experiencing in the areas of employee engagement and performance management. We made the purchase in March 2021, and I have used it since then.
Specifically, we were struggling to keep track of employee goals, progress, and feedback in a streamlined and organized manner. This was leading to missed opportunities for recognition and development, as well as a lack of transparency between employees and their managers.
We were also facing challenges with regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings, as it was difficult to keep track of schedules and ensure that all employees were receiving the support and feedback they needed.
The key benefits of 15Five for our organization have been significant. With the platform, we are now able to track employee progress and provide feedback in real time, which has increased transparency and accountability across the organization. Regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings are now streamlined and easy to schedule, which has improved communication and support for our team.
Additionally, the platform's customizable features have allowed us to tailor the software to meet our specific needs, which has increased our efficiency and productivity. Overall, 15Five has been an invaluable tool for improving employee engagement, performance management, and organizational growth for our medium-sized organization.
While I find 15Five to be a valuable tool, there are a few areas where I feel it could improve:
- Limited Customization: While 15Five offers a range of features, the platform lacks the ability to fully customize certain features, such as the types of questions that can be asked in weekly check-ins, which may not meet the specific needs of all organizations.
- User Interface: Although the platform is easy to use overall, the user interface could benefit from some enhancements, such as more intuitive navigation, clearer labeling of features, and improved search functionality.
- Integrations: While 15Five offers some integrations with other HR tools, such as Slack and Zapier, I would like to see more options available to further streamline HR processes and improve overall efficiency.
I find that 15Five stands out from its competitors in several ways. Compared to similar tools, 15Five offers a more comprehensive platform for performance management, feedback, and employee engagement.
One of the key advantages of 15Five is its emphasis on regular check-ins and continuous feedback, which helps to foster a culture of open communication and transparency between managers and employees. The platform also offers a range of features for goal-setting, recognition, and feedback, all of which are essential components of a strong performance management program.
In terms of user experience, 15Five's platform is intuitive and easy to use, with a clean and modern design. It also offers a range of integrations with other HR tools, such as Slack and Zapier, which makes it easy to streamline HR processes and improve efficiency.
Compared to other tools I have used in the past, I find that 15Five is more user-friendly and offers more comprehensive features for performance management and employee engagement. I particularly appreciate the regular check-ins and the ability to track progress on goals over time, which helps to ensure that employees are aligned with organizational objectives and are continuously improving. Overall, I prefer 15Five because of its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, and emphasis on regular feedback and communication.
I would recommend that people consider the following criteria when buying a performance management tool like 15Five:
- Features: Look for a tool that offers a range of features for goal-setting, performance tracking, feedback, and recognition, as well as any other specific needs that your organization may have. It's important to assess which features are most important to your organization and ensure the tool you choose has them.
- User Experience: It's important to choose a tool that is easy to use and navigate for both managers and employees. A good user experience can encourage adoption and regular usage, helping to maximize the tool's effectiveness and ROI.
- Customization: Look for a tool that allows for some degree of customization, such as the ability to add custom questions or fields, as this can help to tailor the tool to your organization's unique needs.
- Integrations: Consider whether the tool integrates with other HR software or systems that your organization uses, such as ATS or payroll software, as this can help to streamline HR processes and improve overall efficiency.
- Pricing: Finally, it's important to consider the cost of the tool and whether it fits within your organization's budget. While cost is an important factor, it's also important to remember that the tool you choose will have a significant impact on your organization's performance management processes, and investing in the right tool can yield significant ROI over time.
I have seen that 15Five has continuously evolved over time to meet the changing needs of its users. Some of the notable changes and improvements I have observed include:
- Increased Customization: 15Five has introduced more customization options for users over time, such as the ability to create custom questions, customize performance review cycles, and add custom fields.
- Enhanced Integrations: The platform has expanded its integrations with other HR software and systems, such as ATS and payroll software, to provide a more streamlined experience for users.
- Enhanced Analytics and Insights: 15Five has added more advanced analytics and insights over time, providing users with more data and insights into employee performance and engagement, as well as actionable recommendations for improving performance and engagement.
- Improved User Experience: The platform has made several improvements to the user experience over time, such as more intuitive navigation, clearer labeling of features, and improved search functionality, to make it easier for users to find what they need.
- Expanded Features: 15Five has expanded its features over time to provide users with more options for goal-setting, feedback, recognition, and more. For example, they have added features such as High Fives, Objectives, and 1-on-1s to further enhance the platform's capabilities.
Overall, I have seen that 15Five has continuously evolved and improved over time to meet the needs of its users, which has helped to make it a valuable tool for performance management and employee engagement in many organizations.
I would recommend the following types of organizations use 15five,
- Small to medium-sized businesses that want to establish a more formalized performance management process without adding significant administrative overhead.
- Remote or distributed teams that need a tool to facilitate regular check-ins, goal-setting, and progress tracking.
- Organizations that prioritize employee engagement and want to create a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.
- Companies that are experiencing rapid growth and need a scalable system to manage performance across a large number of employees.
- Human resources departments that want to streamline performance reviews and track employee development over time.
With my overall experience with 15five, these types of organizations would not be recommended to use 15five,
- Organizations that do not prioritize regular feedback and communication: If an organization does not value or prioritize regular check-ins and feedback, 15Five may not be the right tool. The success of the platform relies on consistent use and engagement from both managers and employees.
- Organizations with a highly rigid performance management process: Some companies have very structured performance management processes that are not easily customizable. In these cases, the flexibility of 15Five may not align with the organization's existing procedures.
- Small teams or individuals: While 15Five can be useful for small teams, it may not be the most cost-effective solution for very small organizations or individual users who do not require a platform for tracking and managing employee performance.
- Organizations with limited technology infrastructure: 15Five is a cloud-based platform, so organizations without reliable internet access or those that have strict data privacy requirements may not be able to use it.
- Companies in highly regulated industries: Organizations in highly regulated industries such as healthcare or finance may have specific compliance requirements that 15Five does not meet. In these cases, a more specialized solution may be necessary.
Trakstar
With Trakstar Performance Management, you can customize forms, competencies, rating scales and more to gather the right feedback and create a review process that works for your organization.
PROS
CONS
Trakstar's 360 feedback software helps HR organizations manage feedback, goals, and reviews. Administrative controls allow your company to pre-determine how to handle 360 reviews, while still allowing managers to respond to nuanced scenarios and team relationships. Implementation is customized. You don't have to set up separate processes for goal setting, mid-year, or end-of-year reviews; employees’ appraisal is one process that stays open all year long.
Charles River, Beta Calco, Task Rabbit, Chemline, Minsterbank.
The pricing of Trakstar’s plans and services isn’t disclosed on their site. Contact a Trakstar sales representative for a demo as well as a price quote according to the size and needs of your business.
Best For
Companies looking for a comprehensive performance management and employee recognition software.
Engagedly
Engagedly features customizable templates and rating scales, giving managers more control in how they collect feedback and evaluate performance.
PROS
- Engagedly's 360/multi-rater feedback and real-time feedback features allow users flexibility in providing and receiving feedback. This applies to the manager to employee feedback as well as employee-to-employee feedback.
- Goal setting and tracking features for individual, team, and business goals allow for comprehensive goal management and monitoring.
- Customization allows administrators to create custom rules, calculations, tools, and more that fit their organization and its objectives.
- E-learning platform promotes collaborative as well as individual learning for employees which results in a more knowledgeable and effective workforce.
CONS
- Some users have reported a steep learning curve that takes some time to get used to.
- Many users found the reporting system to be lacking. While it functions, it could do with a few improvements to provide a much more seamless reporting process though it seems Engagedly's team is currently working on this.
- Several users found documentation on the product to be lacking. This being improved could assist with the steep learning curve.
Engagedly’s 360-degree feedback module enables you to gather feedback from a variety of sources, including managers, peers, and direct reports, to get a comprehensive view of an employee's performance. Their Multi-rater/360 tool is highly flexible and provides advanced settings for competency-based feedback, anonymity, self-nomination, external reviewers, and customizable rating scales. All of the gathered feedback is analyzed within Engagedly so you can uncover areas of improvement.
Engagedly is currently used by organizations in 8 countries. These include Experian, Coupa, and E Source, to name a few.
The pricing of Engagedly’s plans and services isn’t fixed. Contact an Engagedly sales representative for a demo as well as a price quote according to the size and needs of your business.
Best For
We recommend Engagedly for small to large companies. Currently, companies that employ 50 - 200 people account for most of Engagedly’s customer base, however, there are companies that employ over 1000 people that find Engagely to be beneficial.
Key Benefits and Use Cases for 360-Degree Feedback Software
What is 360-Degree Feedback Software?
360-degree feedback providers enable a review system wherein employees are rated not only by their managers but also by their team members, cross-functional colleagues, subordinates, and sometimes clients or customers. The goal is to gather as much honest feedback from as many perspectives as possible. Feedback reports can show trends in company culture and performance.
Some companies use this type of feedback to replace or supplement traditional performance reviews in determining pay and assessing performance. We don’t recommend tying 360s to raises and promotions because the results are skewed by bias. Instead, this method of feedback is a useful tool for the following reasons.
The best 360-degree feedback programs provide immediate, actionable input. In this section, we’ll explore the top advantages of these programs, as well as common use cases.
The primary pluses to a 360-degree feedback program include:
- Employee Development: One of the greatest values of 360-degree feedback is the potential to apply it as a tool for personal development. With greater, more diverse feedback, individuals can better understand their strengths and weaknesses. This is good for the business, too. Armed with a more complete view of employee challenges, HR professionals can better identify training needs and advise top talent how to boost their performance.
- Record of Timely Feedback: Performance reviews can be greatly hindered by the problem of recency bias. You can help eliminate it with an ongoing track record of 360-degree reviews from colleagues, managers, and customers. It’s easier to curb human bias with quick access to peer reviews, past feedback, goal performance, and 1-on-1 meeting notes. Bolstered by more information, annual performance reviews become focused on employee development and constructive feedback.
- Open Feedback Culture: Colleagues often know more about how their teammates are performing than their supervisors. Of course, some employees may feel nervous being rated by their coworkers. Your HR staff is responsible for rolling out a well-planned, managed process that focuses on open communication and professional development. 360-degree evaluations have the potential to encourage a culture of transparency and growth. Because essentially, multi-rater feedback is about sharing knowledge. A well-implemented 360 program can help nurture teamwork and accountability.
- Centralized Information: Gathering 360 feedback can be extremely valuable to admins and managers. Instead of juggling multiple documents or pages for different reviews, data is contained in one place. This is helpful for managers completing performance evaluations and admins reporting on employee performance data.
There are many reasons why companies utilize 360s in addition to their standard performance management cycles. For example, 360-degree feedback tools are extremely helpful for:
- Remote Work: For dispersed teams, 360-degree reviews can provide useful and timely insights to performance. Say someone bungled a big project done remotely. This method of feedback allows colleagues to provide focused, constructive insights that can be 1) used to improve performance and 2) revisited during performance reviews.
- Managerial Reviews: A good boss can make all the difference for employees. Gathering workers’ input can not only identify needs for leadership development but it can also help hold onto talent. Case in point: one company found that managers’ 360 scores indicated how likely their subordinates were to leave or remain at the company. What’s more, as lackluster managers improved through coaching and team discussions, so did their workers’ desire to stay.
- Project-Based Input: Some companies utilize multi-rater feedback systems for larger, cross-functional projects. In this way, 360s provide feedback from unusual sources — colleagues from other departments, customers — and employees receive timely, specific input that they can put in their back pocket for the next big project.
- Competency Ratings: 360-degree feedback allows employees to understand how others see them as an employee, colleague, or service provider. The most effective multi-rater processes provide actionable feedback based on skills and behaviors that your company has deemed important. The feedback is planted in competencies that help your organization accomplish its mission, vision, and goals.
Most Common Pitfalls of 360-Degree Feedback Systems
As we’ve seen, real-time feedback can support employee development and nurture company culture. However, not all programs are created equal. Set up your human resources team for success by avoiding the following common mistakes.
- Survey Fatigue: With comments coming in from all directions, employees can become overwhelmed by information — both as raters and those being reviewed. It’s important to keep surveys simple, straightforward, and actionable; surveys should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. To keep employees from burning out on a new system of feedback, we recommend that you roll out your program in phases. By slowly introducing 360s, you can better guide employees to understanding the benefits and uses for this rating system.
- Anonymous Feedback: Sometimes, it can feel frightening to have subordinates and colleagues give anonymous appraisals. Will unnamed reviewers revolt against tough bosses? Will concern over negative feedback make managers avoid tough decisions? Or will evaluators be too lenient in fear of retaliation? Based on our research, we believe the best feedback comes with a reviewer’s name.
- Change Management: Change is hard — especially when it comes to performance feedback methods that may affect decisions about an employee’s compensation. Just like any planned change, the rollout of 360-degree feedback should follow change management guidelines. Be sure to gather a cross-section of employees to explore and develop the process for your organization. These team members will serve as ambassadors for the new program, helping to explain its merits and functions. Be sure that your HR team explains to all participants why they’re going through the exercise and how the data will be used for their professional development. Remember: The system will fail if employees view it as an add-on rather than a supporter of your company’s existing review processes.
- Integration: Before putting money toward 360-review software, it’s critical to ensure it integrates with your existing HR and IT systems. This will minimize the learning curve and encourage faster uptake of the new system. Check with your vendor that it will be a straightforward process to transfer key data — such as employees’ personal information and work history — and aggregate results alongside existing performance reviews.
Pricing
Pricing for your 360s software will vary based on the size of your company and/or amount of surveys you intend to release. One vendor said pricing averages approximately $4 per employee per month. As part of a holistic approach to performance and engagement, most 360-feedback solutions fit within a more extensive performance management suite.
Questions to Ask on Demos
Congrats to you — you’ve selected your final contenders for 360-degree feedback vendors! When you’re on a demo call with a sales rep, we recommended weaving in the following questions:
- What is your product roadmap and how are you thinking about related HR tools, such as performance reviews and employee engagement?
- How does your solution integrate with my existing HRIS?
- What is your change management playbook to help get our employees and managers on board with this new solution?
- How do you suggest rolling out this platform? Which modules should go first? Why and on what timeline?
- Is this solution designed for specific industries or organizational sizes?
- How does the 360-degree feedback process work?
- What are your offerings for periodic (quarterly, mid-year, annual) review processes?
360s Implementation
Our recommended vendors all emphasized their customizable approach to implementation. One provider said that a company with 100 employees or fewer could implement the new solution within two weeks. As a 360 customer, you will likely be matched with an HR professional certified in change management. This vendor partner should be able to advise you on best practices.
360-Degree Feedback Software FAQs
What is 360-degree feedback software?
360-degree feedback software are review systems that allow managers, team members, cross-functinoal colleagues, suborinates, and sometimes clients to review and rate employees. It differs from performance management software because it is meant to provide quick, actionable feedback that's not tied to bonuses or rewards.
What are the use cases for 360-degree feedback software?
The goal of 360-degree feedback software is to gather as much honest feedback from as many perspectives as possible. By doing so, your company will understand the impact its employees have, while also providing feedback to each individual employee.
What features does 360-degree feedback software have?
360-degree feedback software typically has features surrounding surveys, employee reviews, feedback generation, 1-on-1 meetings, note taking, and OKRs.
Final Advice on 360-Degree Feedback Software
Remember to take your time when planning and implementing your 360 program. The most effective solutions support existing performance processes — making employees more accountable and more aware of their strengths and areas of growth. Conversely, a poorly implemented program can fall quickly into employee disdain or disuse. You can be among the former by implementing change management processes and partnering with one of our recommended 360-degree feedback vendors.
About Us
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