Collecting honest feedback from employees about their managers can be a challenge. That’s why more and more organizations are adopting anonymous, 360-degree reviews from their staffs. These reviews give companies an opportunity to encourage candid, well-rounded observations from their employees and to get a more objective look at management. With that in mind, however, these reviews do have their downsides. Here are some of the pros and cons that come with cultivating anonymous reviews in the workplace.
Pros:
- Having your peers as well as your supervisors comment on your work can provide you with a broad view of your performance, while also taking out some of the subjectivity that can come with a single supervisor’s evaluation.
- Receiving the feedback from these reports can provide greater insights into relationships that require better management.
- Anonymous feedback gives your workplace peers and superiors an opportunity to give you as well as others candid feedback without fear of ruining working relationships.
Cons:
- The anonymous, 360-degree feedback review system can sometimes lead to social maneuvering as well as inappropriate conduct, simply because it is anonymous.
- Some companies believe that anonymous reviews should rarely be used when assessing employee performance because it is more important to be transparent, open, and trusting among your workplace peers.
In sum, anonymous management reviews can elicit candid, illuminating information on a manager or management team’s performance. They aren’t always appropriate for every workplace scenario, however. Weigh the pros and cons carefully before deciding to make anonymous reviews part of your internal best practices.