Thanks to HR’s love of bureaucracy, time-starved workers are struggling to complete unnecessarily elaborate 360 feedbacks. While the average number of behaviours to rate in client 360 assessments is 32 (as it was ten years ago), many respondents are faced with having to evaluate anything between 50 and 80 items.
These intricate competency models mean that, for many employees, 360 feedback has now become little more than a box ticking exercise. It provides little real insight into an individual’s behaviour, and simply eats into their working day.
While HR has in the past been accused of being out of touch with organisational reality, it’s clear that, in this case, its use of poorly designed 360 feedback is deterring already busy people from starting the feedback process.
Shine Feedback also found an increase in the length of time being taken for colleagues to provide feedback. While this took on average 10 working days in 2007, it now takes up to 17 days. And fewer people are providing feedback. Average responses rates in 2007 were 92%, falling to 83% in 2010 with peer respondents being even lower (43%).
Andy Clare, managing partner of Shine Feedback, says: “HR professionals need to see 360 feedback as the valuable tool that it is. But until they stop overcomplicating the process, they – and more importantly, their organisation’s employees – will miss out on its real potential”.
