Customer delight

Case studies

Sainsbury's 360-degree feedback tool

Sainsbury’s selected ETS to develop a bespoke 360-degree feedback on-line tool, which was to be used as a support tool for managers following a process or role clarification. ETS also provided guidance on how best to position and use the 360 in the business.

Initially, 550 supermarket Store Managers were chosen to participate in a 360 to support them in understanding how they perform in line with the expectations of a new role. This was completed between 6-9 months of them performing the new role.

The 360 programme subsequently evolved and, to give Sainsbury’s more flexibility and remove the need for central HR support, ETS devised a self-registration process allowing individuals to quickly and easily set up and administer their own projects. This enabled Sainsbury’s to open up access to its entire management population of 13,000 people across Supermarkets, Convenience, Logistics and Store Support Centres. Feedback has since led them to open up access for Team Leaders, which has increased the total number of employees with access to use the tool to 26,000.

ETS built the bespoke on-line 360-degree feedback tool from scratch. It was important to encourage user adoption by ensuring that the look and feel reflected Sainsbury’s colleague brand and strong visual identity. With this in mind, ETS used branding elements throughout the tool that are consistent with Sainsbury’s internal communications materials.

The 360 tool is very intuitive in guiding users through the necessary steps to complete, even giving advice on how and who to select as feedback givers. Sainsbury’s colleague values, which link directly to their competency framework, are central to the programme. All 360 questions relate to one of the values and the summary report shows how frequently the individual demonstrates these desired behaviours.

Matthew Aldridge, E-Learning Manager at Sainsbury’s, comments on what the 360-degree feedback tool has given them:

The 360 tool ETS developed is very user friendly and has been really useful in providing feedback to help identify managers’ development needs. The flexibility we’ve had from taking a bespoke approach has allowed us to develop the tool as business needs have evolved. A particular strength is the questionnaire builder, which makes it easy to quickly tailor and administer questionnaires for different business divisions.

The next development stage planned for the Sainsbury’s 360-degree feedback programme will see the on-line tool starting to be used to help employees define their development needs following a culture change programme. This will involve redefining colleague values and growth targets in line with Sainsbury’s 2020 vision.