360° Feedback Surveys
Enquete.com helps you organise 360° feedback by collecting assessments from an employee, their manager, peers, direct reports and external contacts. Individual reports compare self-assessment with feedback from others to support development conversations.
Set up your questions, employees, rater groups and cycle dates. Enquete.com then manages nominations, approvals, feedback collection and report release according to your settings.
1. Roles and access
| Role | Responsibilities | Access |
|---|---|---|
| HR / owner | Sets up the survey, monitors progress, moderates comments and accesses every report. | Signs in to the Enquete.com control panel. |
| Employee | The person receiving feedback. May nominate raters, completes a self-assessment and reads their report after release. | Uses links in emails without signing in. |
| Manager | May approve raters, provides feedback and, depending on the report settings, reviews and releases the employee's report. | Uses links in emails without signing in. |
| Raters | Peers, direct reports and external contacts who provide feedback. They do not receive reports. | Use the personal survey link in their invitation. |
In this guide, owner means the user who created the 360° survey. HR notices and progress alerts are sent to that user.
2. How to Create a 360° survey
Go to Dashboard → 360° feedback & Recurring surveys, start a new survey and select 360° feedback.
Give your survey a clear, descriptive title and change the language to your preferred language.
The setup wizard contains seven steps. Each step is saved when you continue, so you can leave the wizard and return later.
Step 1: Choose your questions
Choose one of the two options shown:
- Create the survey: generate a survey from the 360° template.
- Use an existing survey: select one of your surveys from the list.
Rating questions produce scores. Open questions collect written feedback. Questions from a newly created survey appear in the next step after loading, which may take a few seconds.
Step 2: Define competencies
Optionally create up to 20 competencies, such as Communication, Leadership or Collaboration, and assign rating questions to them.
- Each question can belong to at most one competency.
- Reports and dashboard charts show scores per competency when competencies are defined.
- Without competencies, charts show individual questions.
Competencies can be changed at any time, including during a cycle. Existing reports also reflect the updated grouping.
Step 3: Add the employees receiving feedback
Enter each employee's:
- Name.
- Email address.
- Manager's name.
- Manager's email address.
You can also paste a list with one employee per line, using semicolons to separate the fields
Step 4: Configure who gives feedback
Rater groups
Self-assessment and manager feedback each have one person. For peers, direct reports and optional external raters, set the minimum and maximum group sizes. Peers and direct reports require a minimum of at least three.
Rater selection
Choose how raters are selected:
- HR assigns the raters.
- The employee nominates raters and the manager approves them.
- The employee nominates raters without manager approval.
Additional options
- Allow or prevent managers from adding raters.
- Allow or prevent raters from declining an invitation.
- Limit how many employees one rater can assess in a cycle. The default is five.
Step 5: Configure the cycle
- Repeat: run once, every six months or every twelve months.
- First cycle date: choose the start date. Cycles begin at 09:00 in the survey's time zone.
- Phase lengths: set the number of days allowed for nomination, approval, rating and review.
- Extend automatically: optionally allow one three-day extension when a group remains below its minimum at the rating deadline.
- Progress alerts: enable or disable HR alerts and configure when they are sent.
| Phase | Default duration |
|---|---|
| Nominate | 7 days |
| Approve | 3 days |
| Rate | 14 days |
| Review | 7 days |
Progress alerts are enabled by default. Deadline alerts default to two days before the deadline. The alert for an unreleased report defaults to seven days after the report becomes ready.
Step 6: Configure anonymity and reports
Choose how to handle groups below the minimum
- Merge all anonymous groups into one combined group.
- Hide the small group while retaining its ratings in the overall “others” score.
- Exclude the small group's ratings.
Additional protections can exclude ratings that would otherwise allow an individual's score to be calculated. See Anonymity and privacy.
Choose who receives the report
| Option | How it works |
|---|---|
| Manager first | The manager reviews and discusses the report before releasing it to the employee. |
| Directly to the employee | The report is made available to the employee without waiting for manual manager release. |
| HR only | HR accesses the report. The manager receives no report email and the report is not released to the employee. |
Also configure:
- Automatic release: choose how many days a report can wait before release. The default is fourteen days. HR-only reports are not released to employees.
- Purpose text: explain the purpose of the assessment on the employee's and manager's pages.
- AI summaries: optionally enable report summaries and conversation guides. This is off by default.
Step 7: Review and activate
Review the first cycle's dates and maximum invitation usage against your remaining monthly quota.
The wizard identifies anything preventing activation, such as no selected survey, no employees or a missing manager when manager feedback is enabled.
Once these issues are resolved, click Activate. The first cycle begins on its scheduled date.
3. Understand the feedback cycle
| Phase | Who acts | What happens | At the deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominate | Employee | Lists proposed raters by group. | The cycle continues with the raters already nominated. |
| Approve | Manager | Reviews the list, removes raters, adds raters where allowed or sends the list back with a comment. | The list is approved automatically. |
| Rate | Employee, manager and raters | Complete their assessments through personal links. | Feedback closes and the report is created, unless an enabled one-time three-day extension applies. |
| Review | Manager or HR | Reviews and discusses the report, then releases it with an optional note where the selected delivery mode permits. | Automatic release follows the configured release period, except in HR-only mode. |
| Released | Employee | Can read their report. | No further phase. |
How settings affect the cycle
- HR-assigned raters: nomination and approval phases are skipped.
- No manager approval: the approval phase is skipped.
- List sent back: the employee receives an email with the manager's comment and can revise the nominations.
- Rater declines: when enabled, a decline link appears in the invitation.
- Too few nominations: the employee receives a warning and can confirm acceptance of the smaller list.
- Early closure: HR can select Close feedback now for an employee. The report is created immediately, without an automatic extension.
Employee statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Nominating | The employee has not yet submitted the rater list. |
| Awaiting approval | The manager has not yet approved the list. |
| Rating | Feedback collection is in progress. |
| Below minimum | A group was below its minimum at the rating deadline and the one-time extension applies. |
| Ready for review | The report is available and awaiting release. |
| Released | The employee can access the report. |
4. Manage the cycle overview
The cycle overview is the main page of a running 360° survey. Use the cycle selector to switch between cycles.
Monitor progress per employee
- View the employee's current status.
- Compare invited and completed counts with each rater group's minimum.
- Check markers for extensions, automatic approvals, automatic releases and invitations held because of quota limits.
Open an employee to inspect the rater list and group assignments. Rater statuses can include nominated, approved, rejected, invited, declined, completed or excluded because the rater has reached their assessment limit.
For anonymous groups, HR can see who was invited, but not which individuals responded. Participation is presented through group counts.
Employee actions
- Add rater: add a rater while feedback remains open.
- Close feedback now: end feedback collection early. This action is highlighted once everyone invited has responded.
- Retry invitations: retry invitations held because of the monthly quota.
- Report: open the employee's report once available.
Cycle actions
- Export (CSV): download cycle progress.
- Dashboard: view charts across the cycle.
- Duplicate: create a new survey with the same settings and people.
- Settings: return to the setup wizard.
5. Read the individual report
HR opens reports from the cycle overview. Managers and employees use the links in their report emails. Access depends on the report delivery settings.
Response counts
Group tiles show the number of responses and explain when a group is too small to display separately. A notice appears if ratings were excluded to protect anonymity.
Blind spots and hidden strengths
- Blind spot: the employee's self-score is at least 0.8 points higher than the score from others.
- Hidden strength: the score from others is at least 0.8 points higher than the employee's self-score.
These labels identify differences in perception to discuss. They do not establish the reason for those differences.
Profile chart and competency scores
A radar chart compares self-assessment with feedback from others. It uses competencies when defined, or individual questions otherwise. With fewer than three axes, the profile is displayed as bars.
When competencies are used, a table also shows self-scores, scores from others, rater-group scores and the differences.
Scores per question
Each question shows the self-score, score from others, answer count, available rater-group scores and the difference between self and others. Small bars make the comparison easier to read.
From the second cycle onward, a comparison column shows changes since the previous cycle. Changes of 0.3 points or more are highlighted.
Written feedback
Comments are grouped by question. Rater-group labels appear only when safe to show. HR can hide a comment from the shared report or restore it later.
Report permissions
| Action | HR | Manager | Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| View report | Always. | Once ready, unless access is HR only. | After release; never in HR-only mode. |
| View comments hidden by HR | Yes, marked as hidden. | No. | No. |
| Hide or restore comments | Yes. | No. | No. |
| Release with a note | Yes, where release is permitted. | Yes, where release is permitted. | No. |
Exports
- CSV: export report scores.
- Print: print the report.
- PDF: download the profile chart, competency table, question scores, written feedback and manager's note.
AI-generated text is not included in the PDF.
6. Use the HR dashboard
Click Dashboard on the cycle overview to examine results across employees. Score sections use reports that are ready and fill as feedback collection closes.
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Key figures | Employees in the cycle, reports ready, overall response rate, blind spots and hidden strengths. |
| Where everyone stands | A bar chart showing the number of employees per status. |
| Response per rater group | Response percentages with responded and invited counts available in tooltips. |
| Competency profile | Average self and others scores across ready reports, shown in a radar chart and table. Without competencies, a question-level radar is shown with a prompt to define competencies. |
| Self against others per question | Grouped bars and a table, ordered by the lowest score from others first, with blind-spot and hidden-strength counts. |
| Over the cycles | Average self and others scores over time. Available once two cycles have reports. |
| Per person | Self-score, others score, difference, blind spots, hidden strengths and a link to each report. |
Switch cycles with the selector. Click Export (CSV) to download question, competency and employee results.
Managers access individual reports for their employees. There is no separate team or department dashboard for managers. Raters do not receive reports or dashboard access.
7. Emails and progress alerts
Emails use the survey's language: English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese. The survey's sender name is used, but the sender address is fixed.
Emails to employees
| When it is sent | Contents | |
|---|---|---|
| Choose who gives you feedback | The cycle begins, unless HR assigns raters. | Nomination page link and deadline. |
| Reminder: choose who gives you feedback | Once, two days before nomination closes, if the list has not been submitted. | Nomination link and deadline. |
| Adjust your list of raters | The manager returns the list for changes. | The manager's comment and nomination link. |
| Feedback requested on you | The rating phase opens. | Personal self-assessment link and closing date. |
| Your 360° report is ready | The report is released manually or automatically. | Report link and manager's note, if provided. |
Emails to managers
| When it is sent | Contents | |
|---|---|---|
| Approve the raters | The employee submits a list and manager approval is enabled. | Approval page link and deadline. |
| Reminder: approve the raters | Once, one day before the approval deadline, if the list has not been handled. | Approval link and deadline. |
| Feedback requested on an employee | The rating phase opens. | Personal assessment link and closing date. |
| The employee's 360° report is ready | The report is created, except in HR-only mode. | Report link and access to release actions where applicable. |
Emails to raters
Peers, direct reports and external raters receive an invitation when rating opens, or when they are added later. It contains a personal survey link, closing date, explanation of anonymity and a decline link when declining is allowed.
Raters currently receive no reminders during the rating phase. HR progress alerts do not send reminders to raters.
Invitation notices to HR
If an employee's rater invitations cannot fit within the monthly quota, the owner receives an Action needed: invitations were not sent email explaining where to retry.
Progress alerts to HR
Progress alerts are enabled by default and configured in the wizard's Cycle step. They list the employees concerned and link to the cycle overview. They include names and outstanding actions, not scores or answers.
| Alert | Default timing | What it lists | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raters not chosen yet | Two days before nomination closes. | Employees who have not submitted their list. | Once per cycle, only when someone is behind. |
| Rater lists waiting for approval | Two days before approval closes. | Employees and their managers with outstanding approval. | Once per cycle, only when someone is behind. |
| Not enough feedback yet | Two days before rating closes. | Employees with groups below their minimum, such as “Peers 1/3.” | Once per cycle, only when someone is behind. |
| Reports waiting to be released | Seven days after a report becomes ready. | Employees and the dates their reports became ready. | Each report is listed once. Later-ready reports can trigger another email. |
Deadline alert timing can be set from 1 to 14 days before the deadline. Unreleased-report alerts can be set from 1 to 60 days after report creation.
Set the unreleased-report alert earlier than automatic release if you want HR to receive it before release occurs. This alert is not sent in HR-only mode. Skipped phases do not generate progress alerts.
What is not emailed
- Report notifications to raters.
- Assessment scores or written feedback in email bodies.
- Information identifying who submitted particular answers.
- Alerts about low or falling individual scores.
Report notification emails link recipients to the report. They can include a manager's release note.
8. Anonymity and privacy
Which feedback is recognisable?
Self-assessment and manager feedback are recognisable because each group represents one person. Peers, direct reports and external raters are presented in groups rather than as individual raters in the 360° reports.
Group protections
- A group is shown separately only after reaching its minimum response count. Peers and direct reports require at least three.
- Smaller groups are merged, hidden or excluded according to your report settings.
- A single rating that could be calculated from other displayed figures is excluded from averages.
- If all anonymous groups together have fewer than three responses, none of those groups' ratings are used.
- HR sees who was invited in anonymous groups, not which individuals responded.
- HR can hide identifying comments before sharing the report.
Stored response information
Storage protections apply to every 360° response, including self-assessment and manager feedback.
| Retained | Not retained in its original form |
|---|---|
| Answers, response date and time taken to answer. | Exact response start and completion times; only dates are retained. |
| A one-way code supporting duplicate prevention. | The original device fingerprint. |
| Invitation participation status and dates of opening, clicking and answering. | Exact times of invitation activity. |
| Information needed to manage participation. | The respondent's browser and IP address with the invitation when answering. |
Responses collected before these protections were introduced retain the details originally stored.
Individual response access
The underlying survey's respondent list, individual response pages and raw Excel or SPSS exports are blocked for 360° surveys. Read results through the 360° reports and dashboard.
Limits outside the 360° reports
The underlying survey's standard charts, written-answer views and summary exports in Word, PowerPoint, CSV and PDF remain available without minimum-group-size enforcement. The dedicated 360° report protections do not extend to these views.
Response webhooks and Zapier or Make triggers connected to the underlying survey also continue delivering each response as it arrives. Invitation references, email addresses and device fingerprints are empty, but each person's answers arrive together. Delivery timing and answer content can still provide identifying clues.
Review access to these analytics and integrations before explaining anonymity to participants. Written answers can also identify their authors through names, specific experiences or writing style.
9. Invitation quota
- Self-assessment invitations and manager rating invitations do not count against the monthly invitation quota.
- Invitations to peers, direct reports and external raters count against your plan's monthly limit.
- The wizard's review step shows the maximum invitation usage for one cycle.
If the available quota cannot cover an employee's rater invitations, those invitations are held and the owner receives an email. Once sufficient quota is available, select Retry invitations in the cycle overview.
10. AI summaries and conversation guides
Enable AI summaries in the wizard's Anonymity and report step. The feature is off by default and can be enabled or disabled at any time.
| Location | Contents | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Individual report summary | Overall findings, commentary per competency, interpretation of blind spots and hidden strengths, and changes since the previous cycle when available. | HR, the manager and the employee, subject to report access and release settings. |
| Conversation guide | Discussion points, three open questions and a draft development plan. | HR and the manager only. |
| HR dashboard summary | Cycle progress, participation by rater group and areas of strength or weakness across the organisation. | HR only. |
Information sent to the AI provider
Enquete.com sends figures and eligible written feedback from the report to its AI provider.
- Results suppressed by minimum group sizes are excluded.
- The employee's name is not supplied; the AI is instructed to refer to “the employee.”
- Comments hidden by HR are excluded.
- If a report contains fewer than three comments, none of its written feedback is sent.
- Dashboard summaries use figures across employees together, not per-person figures.
Written answers can contain names or identifying details entered by raters. These can be included in eligible feedback even though respondent identity fields are not supplied.
The AI is instructed not to quote feedback verbatim or attribute comments to a person or rater group. Enquete.com calculates the figures, and the AI is instructed not to invent numbers, names or causes.
Language and saved summaries
- Logged-in users see summaries in their profile's preferred language, or English if none is set.
- Summaries are saved per language and reused on later visits.
- Logged-in users can use Write again to generate a replacement in their language.
- Managers and employees accessing reports through email links receive text in the survey's language. It is generated when the report is created, and they cannot regenerate it.
Using AI output
Summaries are labelled AI summary and show their generation date. Review their interpretation against the underlying report before acting on recommendations.
The conversation guide is not shown to the employee. Its development plan is a draft and cannot be edited or saved as a plan in Enquete.com. AI-generated text is not included in the report PDF.
11. Current limitations
- No rating-phase reminders to raters. Peers, direct reports and external raters receive their invitation without automated follow-up reminders.
- No score-based alerts. HR alerts monitor progress rather than low or declining scores.
- No results page for raters. Raters do not receive reports or shared results.
- No manager team dashboard. Managers view their employees' reports individually.
- AI text does not replace written comments. There is no option to show only the AI interpretation.
- Development plans are text drafts. They cannot be edited or saved as plans in Enquete.com.
- No AI text in PDF exports.
- The sender address is fixed. Only the sender name can be configured.
- Underlying analytics do not enforce group thresholds. Standard charts, written answers and summary exports remain available.
- Response integrations remain active. They deliver individual answer sets at response time, with identity fields left empty.
- Earlier response data is not cleaned up automatically. Responses predating the storage protections retain their original timestamps and device fingerprints.