HR & performance glossary
What is a 360 review?
360 review: A review that collects feedback about one employee from their manager, peers, direct reports and other colleagues, alongside their own self-assessment.
A 360 review, or 360-degree review, collects feedback about one employee from the people who see their work from different angles: their manager, peers, direct reports, sometimes cross-functional stakeholders, and the employee's own self-assessment. The aim is a rounded view of how someone works, especially behaviours such as collaboration and leadership that a single manager may rarely observe directly.
Its value depends on two things. Raters need enough psychological safety to be honest, which is why responses are usually anonymised by rater group, with a minimum number of raters before results are shown. And the input needs structure: a pile of open-text comments is hard to compare and easy to ignore, while ratings against defined competencies can be compared across raters and over time.
Many organisations run 360s for development rather than for pay decisions, or give them a limited weight in the overall rating. In CLEAR Talent's 360-degree feedback software, employees nominate raters and managers approve them, each rater scores competencies from the organisation's competency framework, and minimum-rater thresholds protect anonymity. The report highlights strengths, blind spots and development priorities, and suggests an individual development plan built from the lowest-scoring, highest-importance competencies.