You need to evaluate employee performance. How do you choose between a 360-degree and supervisor evaluation?

I've worked with some brilliant engineers, not all of whom would pass social grading! I used to tell some of them that henceforth they would be locked in the lab and I'd have pizza slid in under the door twice a day to keep them away from others! They always knew themselves well enough to take no offense! But it strongly depends on the job role. For my own part, I would read the 360's and the supervisor report (sometimes I was the supervisor) and then evaluate on the basis of 'value to team/project' taking all the pros and cons. I also worked hard to eliminate personal biases that might exist from anyone (including myself) in the 360. It's not a straight either-or! Best anwser: Be fair to all.

360-degree evaluation is all about getting feedback about the individual from peers, supervisors and direct reports. It helps to get well-rounded feedback on performance, behaviour and attitudes.

A 360-degree evaluation can be a powerful tool for improving the performance and development of systems engineers. There are multiple ways of gathering feedback for a 360-degree evaluation. a. Self-Evaluation: The employee reflects on their performance against goals, technical skills, and professional development. b. Peers: Colleagues working alongside the engineer assess their collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills within the team. c. Supervisors: Managers provide feedback on the engineer's technical expertise, ability to meet deadlines, and work ethic. d. Subordinates: If the engineer leads a team, their direct reports can offer insights on leadership style, mentorship, and task delegation.

A 360 degree evaluation has following major benefits: -Provides a holistic view: Gathers insights from various perspectives for a well-rounded performance picture. -Identifies strengths and weaknesses: Helps pinpoint areas for improvement and areas where the employee excels. -Supports development plans: Provides a data-driven foundation for creating targeted professional development goals. -Improves communication: Encourages open communication and feedback between employees and managers.

The supervisor's performance assessment may be biased. Many times the assessment might be based on the exposures and visibilities. If there is a limitation, it may not give the best feedback to the employee. The supervisor needs to get others' inputs and validate the same before communicating to the employee.

The old joke was that if you moved to a new town with 2 barbers, go to the one with the worse haircut. An engineer's peers know who is kind and competent vs who is self serving - the trick is to leech that information out over a year. Who do people *want* to work with on difficult projects? Who do they avoid? Who do you notice helping others? If you don't watch these things _all_year_long_, then you are the kind of manager that competent, thoughtful people avoid. Just a friendly heads up.

Performance assessment is becoming less popular in the current environment of instantaneous feedback. Employees want to get feedback immediately instead of waiting for almost a year during the performance assessment. It is considered as a lost opportunity for their improvement. My recommendation is to get a 360-degree assessment of employees and give monthly feedback holistically!

Firstly, are we dealing with a false dichotomy, of needing to necessarily choosing between 2 apparently mutually-exclusive choices? That said, one could argue that positions like say, factory operators or customer service officers which interact far less with other colleagues in the course of their jobs, and much more directly dealing with their subject matter, would have far less useful content from a 360 feedback. If so, relevant and insightful feedback from a trusted overseer becomes critical to employees success. Ultimately, the non mutually-exclusive choice is predicated on the available data source that will enable employee success, which then leads to ultimate company success.