There is a reason why 360-degree feedback is almost universally used among Fortune 500 companies (Ghorpade, 2000). Across the corporate landscape, the performance review paradigm is shifting to a more holistic approach whereby the employee is evaluated from multiple angles: by their own self-assessment and by customers, vendors, support staff, other departments, and their peers. This 360 degree feedback can be a more accurate measure of an employee’s performance; after all, a manager who works off-site or oversees multiple departments might not even witness more than a tiny percentage of their employee’s daily contribution to the company.

360-degree feedback notwithstanding, evaluations by superiors are still the most widely used and traditional source of employee feedback. They typically involve the employee being rated on his or her performance during a given period, held up against the expectations and guidance given for the period. It can also provide an opportunity to set future goals and targets; to create formal documentation; and to provide a basis for employee development, promotion and compensation programs.

While the scenario of the absentee supervisor is a possibility, the reverse is often equally true: the supervisor may actually be a daily fixture at work, plus he has the best knowledge of the job requirements. In this case, the first-line supervisor can give the greatest contribution to an employee’s performance appraisal because his feedback takes a birds-eye view of the employee’s competencies, behaviours and achievements.

A direct supervisor’s assessment should:

It’s important to remember, when designing these employee evaluation forms, that the supervisors need to be able to measure and document all facets of an employee’s work to make a fair evaluation – an evaluation that might later be used to re-design and re-assign an employee’s duties. Therefore, the employee evaluation forms should include:

Compared with anonymous peer evaluations, performance appraisals from a direct supervisor are less likely to be met with resistance from the employee; the potential for the employee to act on the feedback is high, because it comes from a respected source. If done well, assessing subordinates’ strengths and weaknesses can lead to a greater understanding of what is happening on the ground – which is the foundation of every company.