Third-party evaluation
Request evaluation by a third party (third-party assessment)
On the employee review meeting tab, the Overall assessment section includes the item Request evaluation by a third party among the actions. Select this option if you want to involve more people in the assessment. In all subareas of the employee review meeting, you have to option to conduct a third-party assessment (Request evaluation by a third party).
- First, select the items (contents of the employee review meeting) that are to be evaluated by third parties.
- Then enter the email address(es) of the person(s) you would like to ask for a third-party assessment.
- Modify the email text if necessary, then click on Send.
The persons invited to the third-party assessment can then access the evaluation form through the link in the email.
The third-party assessment can be initiated under an employee’s Employee review meeting or Performance and development tab. Navigate to the appropriate place in the solution via Employees > Employee directory > Select employee > Performance and development. Here you can either click “Request evaluation by a third party” in the action bar or “Add third-party assessor” in the third-party assessment overview.
Invitation for third-party assessment
After clicking “Request evaluation by a third party” or “Add third-party assessor”, the following overview is displayed:
- Third-party assessor:
- In this field, enter the person(s) to whom you want to send an invitation for a third-party assessment.
Using configuration mode and the hide and display function, the administrator can define whether the third party assessors (cf. Fig. 1) should be:
- external and internal persons (upper field is displayed)
- or
- only (active) employees (lower field is displayed)
Note: The two fields should NEVER be displayed at the same time. The typeahead function is active for both fields, i.e. persons from the employee directory are displayed as suggestions as the user types.- Once you have specified the person, you can customize the message to the third party assessor (based on the template for system emails) and can specify which contents are to be assessed. An assessment deadline (see next point) and internal comments can be added as well.
- Assessment deadline / Assess by
- When sending an invitation for a third-party assessment, you can specify an assessment deadline. This is a fixed date by which the assessment must be completed by the person being invited.
- Please note that in accordance with GDPR guidelines, the typeahead function is restricted to comply with access rights.
Note: A value of 4 weeks is saved in this field if you do not enter a specific date. However, please note that the date you enter must be at least 3 days and at most 90 days in the future. Once the specified date has passed, it is no longer possible to submit an assessment. The option to give feedback ends at midnight (23:59:59 UTC+0) on the assessment deadline date.
- I want to invite multiple third-party assessors at the same time
- This action allows you to invite multiple third party assessors, but the emails cannot be customized for the individual third party assessors.
- Select third party assessor: Click this action to specify multiple persons to be invited to the third-party assessment. As described above, this results in two fields, of which only one is shown or hidden in configuration mode (see note above).
- Three checkboxes are available to make it easier for you to invite people by pooling a certain group of people together.
- Checkboxes:
- All of this manager’s direct subordinates
- All employees of the same organizational unit
- All other responsible persons
- Invitation by email:
- Email comment: Sent in addition to the default email (based on the system emails).
- The following contents should be assessed: Definition of the content to be evaluated and setting of the evaluation term. In addition, you can save an internal comment.
- Checkboxes:
Select suggested third-party assessor
The system helps you to select the recipients for your invitation to a third-party assessment. A list of people is provided to help you quickly and intuitively select the people that you would like to invite to submit an assessment. The list that is displayed is based on your most recently sent invitations to third-party assessments, and is updated automatically. The list also includes information about which Relationship type each person represents.
The list of “Select suggested third-party assessors” includes the employee’s manager and that manager's manager. Other supervisors and employees from the same organizational unit are also listed here. If the person being assessed occupies a manager role, then their direct subordinates are also included in this list. Finally, all third-party assessors (employees and external individuals) from the last 1.5 years are listed here as well.
Third-party assessors
The people who are invited to provide their assessment are referred to as third-party assessors. An “evaluation by a third party” can be collected anonymously or non-anonymously.
When activating third-party assessment for certain subareas of the employee review meeting, we recommend that you also display the overview table of Third-party assessors in the relevant subarea. Depending on the type of third-party assessment you are using (anonymous or non-anonymous), this overview includes the following information and possible actions:
|
Icon/Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Send email/reminder. Be sure to take note of the Automatic email notifications/reminders. Reminder emails cannot be sent when using anonymous third-party assessment.
| |
 |
Edit the contents to be assessed and relationship type and/or write a comment. | |
 |
Delete assessment. | |
 |
View assessment. Only displayed after the assessment has been completed. |
Please note that special rules apply for the displayed content when using anonymous third-party assessment (depending e.g. on the period settings).
Conduct third-party assessment
As mentioned above, the people invited to provide a third-party assessment can access the assessment form through the link in the email. The assessment form shows all elements that are released to third parties for assessment.
Note that for non-anonymous assessments, the assessment entered by the third-party assessor is only visible to the “sender” if the third-party assessor has released their content. The content is released through the action “Release my assessment and send notification”.
Relationship types for third-party assessment
The system helps you to select the recipients for your invitation to a third-party assessment. The list of people you see also includes information about which relationship type each person represents. A relationship type reflects the relation between the person being assessed and the person being invited (third-party assessor). The relationship type can include co-worker, manager, or direct report (= employee) relationships. The relationship type available for selection is based on information from your Umantis system (including the current organizational structure). If an incorrect relationship type is shown for a given person, it can be modified in the third-party assessor’s view after the invitation is sent.
Please note the following points:
- Composition of proposed list of third-party assessors
- For anonymous third-party assessments, you must normally invite at least three people for each relationship type (except “Manager”).
- When inviting people for the “Manager” relationship type, no minimum number applies. Background: Most employees have only one manager, so no restriction (minimum number) can be imposed for this relationship type for anonymous third-party assessment.
- If only one manager is invited to provide a third-party assessment, his or her assessment is visible as a manager assessment through a report.
Combinations of relationship types and their effects (anonymous third-party assessment)
General rules
- Alongside the “Manager” relationship type, which plays a special role in the system, the “Co-workers” and “Direct reports” relationship types are included in a second group.
- For managers, the relationship is always saved — except if a total of fewer than three people are invited in the other group. The reason is that in such cases, anonymity could not be ensured for this group.
- For the “Co-workers” and “Direct reports” group, both relationship types must have 3 or more people invited in order for these relationship types to be written and displayed while still ensuring anonymity.
- If the number of people invited for a given relationship type is equal to zero (no people invited), then this relationship type will not be written to the result, and will therefore not be displayed.
The following examples show the possible combinations of invited relationship types, and the associated effects on how results are displayed for anonymous third-party assessments.
| Who was invited? (= relationship types and numbers) |
Effect | Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
All relationship types are copied to the result and displayed. | Compare to rules 2 and 3 |
|
All relationship types are copied to the result and displayed. | Compare to rules 3 and 4 |
|
All relationship types are copied to the result and displayed. | Compare to rules 2 and 4 |
|
All relationship types are copied to the result and displayed. | Compare to rules 3 and 4 |
|
All relationship types are copied to the result and displayed. | Compare to rules 2, 3 and 4 |
|
Only the Manager relationship type is copied to the result. | Compare to rules 2 and 3 |
|
Only the Manager relationship type is copied to the result. | Compare to rules 2 and 3 |
|
No relationship types are copied to the result. | Compare to rules 2, 3 and 4 |
|
No relationship types are copied to the result. | Compare to rule 2 |
Automatic email notifications/reminders
- Reminder email to third-party assessors
- People that you have invited to a third-party assessment are now reminded of their outstanding assessments with two automatic emails. If they have not yet submitted their assessment, they will receive:
- the first email three days before the assessment deadline,
and - the second email one day before the deadline.
- the first email three days before the assessment deadline,
- The system email used here is “Request evaluation by a third party: Invitation to assessment” (code: SystemTemplate_Ask4ThirdAppraisalNew). Note that this reminder email will only be sent if the third-party assessor has not yet submitted their assessment.
- Notification email for anonymous third-party assessment
- For anonymous third-party assessment, an automatic email notification is sent to the person being assessed after the assessment deadline has expired. In this way, the person is informed that the third-party assessment round is complete.
- The email to be sent in this case can be modified as needed in the system emails (under /Administration/SystemTemplates, code: SystemTemplate_AnoymThirdAppraisalReady).
Anonymous third-party assessment
The Umantis system allows you to conduct anonymous third-party assessments. This process can be used e.g. if the company does not have an open feedback culture, and if there should therefore be no possibility of tracing assessments received from third parties. This often allows third parties to provide more candid feedback/assessments.
- Important notes
- Always configure the period settings first so that you can then start the round of employee review meetings or third-party assessments after that. To avoid undesirable and/or erroneous behavior, avoid making changes later on to the period settings for periods that are already active.
- When activated, anonymous third-party assessments can only be started from the relevant subarea of the employee review meeting, and not from the overall assessment.
- Please note that when anonymous third-party assessments are used, the person being assessed sees no information about the status of the given third-party assessment, and thus cannot send reminders to the third-party assessor.
- Certain possible actions in the employee review meeting process are dependent on how the period settings have been defined (e.g. the actions to “Create/Add to list of third-party assessors for anonymous assessment” and “Start anonymous third-party assessment round and send invitations”).
- Note that for anonymous third-party assessments, no minimum number of invitees is imposed for the “Manager” relationship type. For all other relationship types (co-workers, direct subordinates, project partners, etc.), at least three people must be invited when using anonymous third-party assessments.
- If only one manager is invited to provide a third-party assessment, his or her assessment is visible as a manager assessment through a report (cf. Relationship types).
- Reminders/reminder emails cannot be sent manually when using anonymous third-party assessment. Take note here of the information provided under Automatic email notifications/reminders
Settings for anonymous third-party assessments
The settings for anonymous third-party assessments are found in the period settings for your Umantis solution (/Administration/Periods/[ID]/Profile/Settings).
Among other settings, you will specify here which rules should apply for the third-party assessment in the employee review meeting:
- Contents not individually selectable for subareas
- Anonymous assessment for subareas
- Minimum number of anonymous third-party assessors for subareas
- Average of third-party assessments as manager assessment for subareas
- Minimum number of third-party assessments to allow average to be displayed for non-anonymous assessment
- Minimum number of third-party assessments to allow average to be displayed for anonymous assessment
- Minimum number of assessments to trigger discarded result for non-anonymous assessment
- Minimum number of assessments to trigger discarded result for anonymous assessment
See the following page for detailed information on the individual setting options: Period settings – Third-party assessment – Employee review meeting (ERM)
FAQs about third-party assessment
- How much time do I have to submit an assessment?
- A: An assessment can be submitted as long as the employee review meeting has not been completed or suspended, and the deadline for third-party assessments has not passed.
- What if the employee review meeting has been completed for the period — can I still confirm something regarding the third-party assessment?
- A: No, this is not possible. The employee review meeting is complete. If you follow the link, you will be forwarded to a page with a notification to that effect.
- I want to modify my assessment – how do I do this?
- A: Click the link in your invitation to the assessment. You can adjust your assessment as long as the employee review meeting has not been completed or suspended, and the deadline has not passed.