The modern workplace demands an environment that supports continual learning, and the only way to do that effectively is to know how to measure employee development. As technology and workplace roles constantly evolve across every industry, a strong learning and development culture is becoming a sought-after job perk. A recent study revealed that 55% of employees say they need additional training to perform better in their roles, and 76% are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training.
It’s no secret that employees want learning and development opportunities—and that they’re good for the businesses that provide them. However, the majority of companies that offer development opportunities don’t have data to show that their efforts are achieving their business goals. In fact, only 27% of businesses have a framework for learning success.
So, how can you ensure your L&D or upskilling programs work as intended?
By learning how to measure employee development, you can determine whether your development program provides the learning culture employees crave. The results can also be used to learn how your L&D efforts are improving your business or if you should be doing more.
Why is it essential to measure employee development?
From onboarding and training programs to cross-skilling and providing safety instruction, you may be confident about the information you share with your employees. But without measuring the results, it’s impossible to know whether your program is achieving your goals. Learning how to measure employee development can be vital to critical business decisions, such as getting buy-in from stakeholders and creating a program that delivers.
Here are three good reasons to measure employee development.
1. Determine return on investment (ROI)
Businesses spend money to make money. In an uncertain economy where budget cuts are always around the corner, employee development programs must be backed by data showing how employee growth affects the bottom line.
Well-known theories like the 70:20:10 learning model suggest that only 10% of learning comes through formal training, and additional evidence shows that most learners forget up to 90% of the material within days. So formal learning programs can be hard to sell. But businesses that develop a way to measure the success of formal and informal learning can better understand the ROI of all employee development plans.
An ROI assessment compares the value of training effectiveness to training costs to determine whether employee training is delivering value. Key metrics for measuring training value include:
- Employee satisfaction
- Performance metrics
- The use of new skills in the workplace
2. Continuous improvement
As job roles and work environments continue to evolve at a rapid pace, learning programs need to grow and change to keep up. A program that is effective today may be outdated in a few years. By implementing an ongoing training evaluation program, companies can ensure their learning programs meet their employees’ current needs. You’ll also have up-to-date data that supports the value of your L&D efforts or indicates when changes should be considered.
3. Rate employee satisfaction
Modern employees seek companies that provide ongoing learning and development opportunities for a variety of reasons. Effective employee development plans promote career growth by teaching core competencies and soft skills to help employees thrive in their current positions and prepare for promotions. However, the mere existence of a program isn’t necessarily effective. While 65% of C-suite executives say that their employees are very satisfied with their company’s L&D programs, only 32% of employees actually say they’re satisfied.
To achieve the benefits of employee retention, it’s essential to evaluate employees’ satisfaction with the impact of training.
Key metrics of employee development
The metrics that indicate your program’s effectiveness are a crucial part of deciding how to measure employee development. Accurate data is the only way to provide evidence that your training and development programs are worth the investment. To effectively track progress, you must establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the program’s results.
Depending on your business goals, multiple metrics can be used to track success. These are some of the most common employee development metrics used to measure the success of L&D programs.
- Employee performance: Development programs typically aim to produce results such as developing specific skills, increased productivity, or quality improvement. Performance metrics to watch may include sales, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
- Employee engagement: The ways employees interact with learning materials can affect learning and retention. Surveys are typically used to evaluate engagement with various learning methods.
- Participation: When development programs are optional, employee participation speaks volumes. Metrics such as attendance, retention rates, and completion rates reveal whether employees believe the program offers value.
- Assessments: Whether you’re conducting a training course for new employees or a development program to teach new skill sets, scores from training assessments offer valuable metrics.
- Internal mobility: Education opportunities that keep employee knowledge up to date are good for individual career development and good for the companies that employ them. Recording employee movement within the company can indicate successful training and cross-skilling programs.
- Industry or global benchmarks: Benchmarks give organizations a baseline to measure success against industry competitors and companies around the globe.
How to measure employee development
There is no hard and fast rule that determines how to measure employee development. But by following best practices and proven methods, you can accurately choose the metrics and systems that apply to your training initiatives. These steps can help you measure both business value and how the learning experience impacts employees.
1. Define goals and objectives
Before you can evaluate success, you must clearly define the desired outcomes of your training program. Objectives should include a mix of business goals and growth opportunities for employees.
2. Determine desired data and metrics
Consider what types of learning data will best reflect the success of your program and the metrics you’ll use for evaluation. Multiple evaluation methods offer a broad selection of data for a clear description of the results. These may include pre- and post-training assessments, employee surveys, participation data, performance evaluations, etc.
3. Collect short-term and long-term data
Surveys conducted immediately after training is complete will assess immediate skill application. Then, evaluations delivered weeks and months later record knowledge retention and the transfer of learning to the workplace. Some LMS platforms can automate survey distribution and data collection to reduce manual tasks and ensure results stay within an identical time frame.
4. Analyze performance
Data analysis will reveal trends and define relationships between learning methods and elements of success. Both qualitative and quantitative data can provide accurate insight into the performance of your employee development program. Data for analysis should include assessment scores, performance metrics, and survey participant feedback.
5. Communicate results
With the insights you gathered from your analysis, you have the data to develop clear and concise reports detailing employee benefits and the business ROI. These numbers can be incorporated into written reports or visual representations such as graphs and tables to provide information for employees and stakeholders.
Understanding Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model
Training programs and development opportunities are pivotal to agile and competitive business operations. Over the years, several models have been designed to evaluate training outcomes. Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation model is one of the most widely recognized of these methods. The model can be applied to both formal and informal training to determine program effectiveness.
Businesses often choose to use this model to evaluate a program’s success based on four levels of evaluation:
- Reaction: Whether the participants find training engaging and relevant to their jobs
- Learning: An evaluation of skills and knowledge derived from the program
- Behavior: The application of new skills in the workplace that users learned during training
- Results: The degree to which outcomes match training goals and objectives.
KIrkpatrick’s model is flexible enough to work with any type of training and the KPIs that align with your business goals.
Automate development measurements with your LMS
Successful employee development programs are cost-effective and align with both employee needs and business goals. Learning how to measure employee development enables you and your employees to get the most from your development training efforts. However, the high-level demands of the modern workplace make it challenging to measure learning impact. A learning management system with integrated learning tools can provide seamless insight into the impact of your learning activities.
With the right learning management system, you can create and deliver relevant e-learning courses and effortlessly track the results. At Docebo, we offer a learning management system that enables businesses to measure real learning impact. Our platform allows business leaders to go beyond numbers with automated surveys and built-in reporting to understand the full impact of training.
