Characteristics associated with 360–degree assessments
Peer, subordinate, and customer responses are anonymous, not confidential. That is, you don't know who said what, but you are given access to the feedback.
The supervisor's feedback is not anonymous or confidential.
Feedback should be coordinated and processed by a neutral third party to preserve respondent anonymity and to ensure accurate processing of raw data into useful feedback.
A 360-degree evaluation is best used for developmental purposes. If it is used to make personnel decisions (promotions or raises, for example) or used as part of an employee's annual review, respondents are less likely to give honest evaluations. Respondents may skew the information in a positive (or negative) direction to give coworkers an advantage or disadvantage.
In general, the employee being evaluated should have a say in who will respond. When a human resources representative or the employee's supervisor selects respondents without input from the employee, feedback is much less likely to be accepted or acted upon.