Training Evaluation Metrics

In simple words, training is defined as a process of learning which generally involves certain aspects like acquisition of knowledge, improving skills, rules, concepts and basically developing ones personality to have better employees with enhanced performances. It is a program where the abilities of a person are nurtured and improved for a skilled behavior. Training can be perceived in several different ways.

It is when you have set goals and don’t know how to proceed, it is when you want something in life to achieve and don’t know how to reach there and it is what you are dreaming for and how you have acquire the knowledge to live upto your dreams. In other words training is more about knowing where we stand at present and to have a vision of where we are going to be in the future. Thus providing training opportunities is a key to promote an organization which will support an individual for his lifelong learning and to work efficiently in their respective departments.

The importance of the training and development are many in number. Primarily it helps in the optimization of the utilization of human resources which ultimately provides the employees as well as the individuals to achieve the goals. It also helps in the improving the human resources technical and behavioral skills which leads in attaining personal growth of the employees.

Personality development is also gained through the training and development activities which further help an individual in his job skills and expands his horizons of intellect. Productivity, team spirit, morale, quality and image are such few values that are obtained too.

It helps in creating a learning culture within an organization. One of the most important features of training program is the training objectives. As it mainly focuses on the guidelines of the training and makes it clear what is expected from the trainee at the end which develops the program in less time.

Aside from implementing training activities, HR managers also need to measure HR training performance with KPI or key performance indicators. This is necessary to ensure that training investments are optimized.

It is no longer surprising that today, more and more Human Resource (HR) practitioners have decided to measure HR training performance with KPI or key performance indicators.

It is the function of Human Resource departments to ensure that business organizations are able to generate high return on investment from their human capital or manpower, and at the same time, limit financial risk. Key functions of HR departments are recruitment strategy planning, hiring and recruitment of employees, selection, training and development, performance evaluation and management, promotions, industrial and employee relations, compensation and bonuses of employees, and career development. The emergence of human resources can be traced back to the early 1900s during the advent of the Taylorism movement.

Due to the variety of Human Resource functions, this department can take away a large chunk of an organization’s operational expenses. To make sure that this allocation is optimized, there is a need to regularly monitor the performance of the department. Perhaps the most costly among all HR functions is training. This includes all activities which enable employees or training participants to acquire new skills, competencies, and knowledge. Through training, employees become more adept at handling bigger responsibilities brought about by promotion. In fact, training and development is now widely considered a perk or employee benefit that can highly motivates employee longevity.

While a number of companies are willing to shell out millions in order to train their employees, these organizations regularly determine if their training investments are translated to higher profits. To do this, HR managers identify measures or metrics that quantitatively describe HR training performance. The most vital of these metrics are then considered as key performance indicators (KPIs) or success factors. There are various metrics that can be considered. It is up to the HR department to identify which among these are more important and crucial for the growth of a business organization. What is important is that these metrics should act as a bridge between training plans and training objectives. Though measuring training effectiveness can be very complex, especially to stakeholders and training personnel, this can potentially contribute long-term benefits for the business organization.

To measure HR training performance with KPI, metrics like average training hours per employee, average training cost per employee, and workforce productivity ratios could be used. Naturally, training cost is one of these metrics with the established relationship between training cost and employee turnover. Two other internal training metrics that could be used are instructor performance and end-user satisfaction. To ensure training success, it is always a good idea to measure and evaluate the competence of trainers by assessing their presentation skills, subject knowledge, and instructional guidelines adherence. End-user satisfaction could also be used, as the training audience could make training assessments even immediately after a session. Meanwhile, an increased employee retention rate could also be an indicator of a highly effective training program. On the other hand, increased sales is one metric that could indicate training success, especially if training efforts are centered on the company’s customer service and sales staff.