Honest feedback is hard to get when people know they’re being watched. Employees hesitate to flag problems, share criticism, or rate peers candidly when their name is attached to every response. Anonymous feedback addresses this directly by removing identity from the equation, making it possible to collect more genuine input across your organization.
Horilla HRMS includes anonymous feedback as part of its Performance module, giving HR teams and managers a structured way to gather candid responses without compromising respondent privacy.
Navigating to 360 Feedbacks
The anonymous feedback feature lives inside the Performance module. From the left sidebar, open Performance and select 360 Feedback from the menu. This brings you to the Feedback page, which organizes all feedback activity into four tabs: Self Feedback, Requested Feedback, Feedback to Review, and Anonymous Feedback.
The Anonymous Feedback tab displays a count of active anonymous feedback entries alongside each listed record’s subject, what it is based on, and the date it was created.
Adding an Anonymous Feedback Entry
To create a new anonymous feedback, click the three-dot menu icon next to the Anonymous Feedback tab. A small dropdown appears with the option Add Anonymous. Clicking this opens the Anonymous Feedback form as a modal dialog.
The form contains three fields:
- The feedback subject is a required field where you enter a title for the feedback. This helps identify the feedback in the list without revealing who submitted it.
- Based on is a required dropdown that determines the scope of the feedback.
It supports four options: General, Employee, Department, and Job Position. Selecting General keeps the feedback broad with no specific target. Choosing Employee prompts a secondary field to select a specific employee from the system — for instance, selecting a named employee with their employee code. Selecting Department brings up a department chooser, and selecting Job Position reveals a field to pick a specific role, such as a job position linked to a particular department.
- Feedback description is an optional text area where the person submitting the anonymous feedback can provide additional context or detail.
Once the fields are filled in, clicking Save records the entry under the Anonymous Feedback tab.
Why the “Based On” Scope Matters
The flexibility in the Based on field is what makes anonymous feedback genuinely useful rather than generic. A General feedback entry works well for organization-wide concerns or suggestions that don’t relate to any particular person or team. Targeting by Employee is useful in peer review scenarios where colleagues assess a specific individual without revealing who submitted the assessment. Department-level targeting lets team members comment on group dynamics or processes without singling out individuals. Job Position targeting is helpful when feedback relates to role-specific behaviors or performance expectations rather than a named person.
This scoping ensures that feedback reaches the right audience for review while still protecting the identity of the person who submitted it.
Reviewing and Managing Anonymous Feedback
Submitted anonymous feedback entries appear in the Anonymous Feedback tab with their subject and creation date visible. Managers or HR administrators reviewing these entries can use the action icons on each row to edit or delete records as needed. The tab count updates to reflect the number of active anonymous feedback entries, making it easy to track how much input has been collected at a glance.
Keeping Feedback Honest and Actionable
Anonymous feedback is only as useful as the process built around it. Horilla’s implementation keeps the submission flow simple enough that employees don’t need to jump through hoops to participate, which helps with response rates. The structured scope options mean feedback can be directed meaningfully rather than floating as unattributed commentary with no clear context.
For HR teams looking to supplement their regular performance review cycles, the anonymous feedback feature offers a low-friction channel to surface issues that might otherwise go unreported.
Anonymous feedback bridges the gap between what employees think and what organizations actually hear. By making it easy to submit candid input without fear of attribution, Horilla HRMS helps build a culture where honest communication is the norm rather than the exception. Whether the feedback targets a specific employee, a department, or the organization as a whole, the structured yet straightforward process ensures that valuable insights reach the people who need them most.
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