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An increasing number of HR practitioners and training managers now see the need to use metrics to train your employees’ efficiency.

According to a survey conducted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com in early 2008, 35% of the training budget allocation of the survey respondents was spent on delivery. Content development and administration were allotted 26% and 24%, respectively. Technology, meanwhile, is allotted only 15% of training budget. Training budget allocations for companies could reach millions, which is why this data is relevant. While training is a legitimate operational expense, it should always be justified by relevant training efficiency metrics.

Training and development, also called professional development, is one of the primary motivators of employee retention. It is also one key benefit that is most likely to attract high-quality job applicants. In order for a business organization to experience the full benefits of their training investments, training benefits should be translated to higher profit margins.

To accurately measure training programs, metrics, such as effectiveness skill cost, effectiveness outcome cost, efficiency, applicability, and appropriateness. Effectiveness skill cost and effectiveness outcome cost are metrics that measure training effectiveness. It can be derived by comparing scores of post-tests and pre-tests training sessions. In order to minimize effectiveness skill cost, participants may be encouraged to improve their post-test scores or minimize cost of training delivery. Essentially, the lower the effectiveness skill costs and effectiveness outcome costs, the better a company’s training program is performing. Minimizing effectiveness outcome costs could be done through one of two ways.

First, the company could invest on a pre-test, which is done before employees are enrolled to a training activity. Those who already meet the training requirements no longer need to push through with the training. Second, those who are most likely not to pass the training course could be eliminated; or a prerequisite course could be organized for them. Efficiency metric, on the other hand, measures the amount of training delivered per unit. It supports the idea that a classroom that is filled with training participants is more efficient compared to a room that is only half full. Applicability Ratio is another metric that can show managers how training is consistent with the needs of the business. This metric reveals whether the skills to be acquired from training are applicable to the business. Though this can be simply calculated, it can be very difficult to collect data that will support this. Appropriateness Ratio, meanwhile, determines that the right learning materials are delivered or provided to the right people. It is more specific than Applicability Ratio, as it measures the training of certain people who are given special tasks. Training, in this context, is associated to a project, team, or job function.

The metrics previously discussed are just some of the many training metrics that can be used to assess training programs implemented. You also have to remember that the training metrics implemented can differ from one company to another. Regardless of the difference in the nature and objectives of the organizations, it is universally beneficial to use metrics to train your employees’ efficiency.

Deciding to measure the efficiency of training programs with metrics will bring forth short-term and long-term benefits for an organization.

Training is an important activity for Human Resource departments of companies, as this will include all activities geared towards the acquisition of skills, knowledge, and competencies. All training activities are designed to make employees more capable of performing their duties. They are also meant to improve the ability of workers to make use of the company’s technological assets, like machineries and software applications. While training objectives are always beneficial on the perspective of employees, they could also be a source of headache for the business organization that will be shouldering all training costs. To ensure that every penny spent for training is well-invested, all implemented training programs should be evaluated in terms of their efficiency and effectiveness.

Metrics or measures applicable to training could be identified and evaluated. The most relevant of these metrics are then used as indicators of success or key performance indicators. Though training effectiveness assessment is very complicated, it generally turns out to be very beneficial for the entire organizations. To achieve this purpose, some internal training measurements could be used, like training cost, end-user satisfaction, and instructor performance. Training cost is an important metric, as this measures how much a company is spending on training one employee. It is essential that even before an evaluation period, company management and stakeholders should already be able to determine how much money is allocated for this purpose. Moreover, this is crucial, as it has been established in many HR studies that training has a direct relationship with employee turnover. End-user satisfaction, on the other hand, measures how satisfied training participants had been with a training program. Training assessment by the audience could be done immediately after a training session or several days after. Immediate training assessments or “smile sheets” will give training managers a more accurate idea about what went on inside a training classroom. Delayed training assessments by end-users, on the other hand, could serve as a measurement of the training material’s relevance. Instructor evaluation is also an important internal metric because this ensures that instructors’ presentation skills, adherence to training guidelines, subject knowledge, and organization values are consistent with training objectives. Training managers should continually strive for excellence from their trainers in order for the latter to deliver quality instruction in every training course.

HR and training managers could also measure the efficiency of training programs with metrics, like increased retention, increased operational efficiency, and increased sales. Increased retention means that there is less number of employees who leave their employment with the company. When used in training evaluation context, higher retention is a reflection of a well-implemented training program. Increased operational efficiency could also be an indicator of training success, especially in production-oriented businesses. In the same way, increased sales could reflect training efficiency, especially for firms that focus their training programs on their customer service and sales employees. There are more metrics that could be used by firms to assess their training efficiency. What is important is that these metrics should aid them in achieving their overall organizational goals.

There comes a certain point in time when a company would have to hold training sessions for their employees, whether old or new. This is because at the fast pace the business world is at, there are certain technological advancements and whatnots that would really demand for training. Using and getting by the modern products brought about by technological advancements can be easy for the typical techie. However, you cannot say for sure that all members of your workforce are techie by nature. And training is not just about the new gadgets and gizmos bobbing all over the industry, for there are also modern methodologies and procedures that are being introduced as well. Thus, a lot of things can certainly encompass training. All of which, however, aim to equip the members of the workforce with newfound knowledge towards the goal of being more productive in their respective positions in the company. It is then safe to say that training can make any employee perform better and become more effective in completing their tasks and responsibilities. This is the primary reason why companies should invest in developing a systematic method of training metrics.

Metrics are quantifiable measures used to determine the efficiency of certain aspects in the work setting. In this context, metrics are the quantifiable aspects that are used to determine just how efficient a certain training program is. It is very important for companies to develop training metrics of their own so that they can ensure that the training sessions they hold are indeed effective in achieving their purpose. Furthermore, if the metrics indicate that the training sessions are effective, then it goes to show that the employees would become more productive and efficient in their respective jobs.

Now that the advantages of employing training metrics have been laid out, let us move on to the process of choosing which particular quantifiable measure to choose as training metrics. If there is one thing businesses should know about metrics is that no two companies can employ similar metrics all throughout. You have to understand that the metrics involved here should actually be in line with the goals and objectives that the company itself wants to achieve. Since no two companies can have the same goals and objectives all throughout, then it is safe to assume that no two companies employ the same set of metrics, particularly training metrics.

Choosing the appropriate training metrics to use can also be a bit confusing. However, this does not mean it is not doable at all. For the most part, it would actually be the human resource department of a company who would develop and choose the training metrics to use. This is of benefit because it is also the human resource department that would handle training sessions held by the company. Thus, they would have deeper insights on what quantifiable aspects to use as training metrics, to determine just how efficient and effective the company’s training programs and sessions are. Just remember to choose the metrics that are relevant to the purpose, as well as those that support the corporate goals and objectives.

Each and every organization has different kinds of training programs for different purposes, with most large companies having an individual training department with their own individual budgets. Unfortunately, training evaluation is never given as much of a priority as the evaluation of other performance metrics in any organization, like sales or growth etcetera.

This is because most organizations do not think that training influences the bottom line as much as other factors, which is totally false. Training influences the bottom line, though in a small manner, through the cost that is incurred on training expenses and the benefits that are reaped by the organization as a result of employee training. While getting employees to fill out questionnaires describing the benefit of the training they have undergone is all well and good, better methods of training evaluation, preferably quantitative ones need to be used if you want your company and your employees to benefit from training programs. Some of the key criteria which should be used for the evaluation of corporate training are:

Costs: Knowing how much your training programs cost is necessary for evaluating any kind of training program objectively. The main emphasis of all training programs somewhere or the other focuses on increasing profits, even if it is through indirect programs like employee retention or employee interaction programs and the effect on the bottom line can be gauged only once you know the exact amount of money that your firm is spending on the training programs. In order to calculate training cost, you need to factor in both the direct cost of training- payment to external agencies involved in training, travel, consultancy, material etcetera and the indirect cost of training, which generally includes things like the cost of training equipment and facilities and the emoluments of training staff employed in-house.
Employee Learning: Since the main objective of any kind of training program is to increase the knowledge level of a trainee with regard to certain subjects, measuring the increase in knowledge or learning is a crucial variable that will directly tell you about the effectiveness of any training program. Taking before and after exams or simply taking tests after the training has been imparted can give you a fair idea about the effectiveness of your training program in improving your trainees’ level of knowledge. Needless to say, if the students in your program fail to pass these tests or barely pass, your training program needs to be re-looked at and maybe restructured.

Profit: An increase in productivity and profits as a result of training is a new but useful way of evaluating your training programs. However, considering that the final objective of any training program is to help increase performance and profits, this is the most direct method of evaluating a training program. Profits are supposed to go up after a training program since employees who have imbibed training are supposed to be more efficient and skilled than they were earlier. Better employee performance as a result of training will directly impact profits and you can easily compare the costs involved in training with the benefits thereof, or to be more precise calculate the return on investment of your training program to gauge its effectiveness.