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SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

10 Valuable Training Metrics to Know

Developing employees is critical to the success of any business. However,

Learning and Development (L&D) requires investment, and ineffective or
misguided training wastes considerable time and resources.

So how do organizations determine the success of their training programs? They

need provable outcomes defined by measurable data. Discover:

What are employee training metrics?

How to identify the right metrics for your training program?

10 valuable training metrics to know

Where to source learning metric data? Welcome!

Infographic: Learning metrics Is there something we can help you with?

What Are Employee Training Metrics?

Training metrics are the methods of quantifiably tracking and validating the
effectiveness of a training program. They include a range of specific,
 sometimes customized, measures that aim to reflect the impact of an
organization’s L&D efforts.

Before every training program, organizations should define their desired goals and
outcomes – what they hope to achieve from new educational courses.

Then, by gathering data throughout the process and carefully analyzing real-life
results, learning metrics offer a way of accurately assessing the strengths and
weaknesses of a particular course to determine whether it achieved its goal.

Employee training metrics are extensive, varied, and often adapted to specific
training programs. For example, organizations may want to track different metrics
for onboarding or compliance training compared
to upskilling or reskilling initiatives.

General areas learning metrics cover include:

time spent consuming training content (e.g., hours logged on various

eLearning modules);

the number of employees successfully completing training (e.g., test scores

from program assessments);

a way of mapping training outcomes to operational improvements (e.g.,

resulting behavioral changes);

or an evaluation of the financial impact of a specific course (e.g., financial

return or ROI).
However, listing metrics like this doesn’t consider the challenges associated with
accurately defining many of them. For example:

How exactly do we quantify learning?

How do we quantify behavioral changes?

or How we isolate the financial impact directly from training?

Learning is always specific to each employee and requires personal context.

Metrics easily quantified, such as hours spent or test scores, are essential to track,
but they don’t actually reflect the real-life impact of training programs.

To measure learning and how it affects an employee’s work requires deeper

analysis, data gathering, and information from other systems (i.e., employee
performance metrics before and after training).

Covering these areas and more allows an organization to evaluate its training
processes and discover ways to improve in the future.
Successfully implementing metrics for training offers management insight into:

What staff learned from a training program

How employees apply new expertise and skills in their role

New data for aligning training with broader business goals

Evaluating various aspects of a training program

Comparing the effectiveness of different approaches

Whether the program achieved the original goals

Whether the learning outcomes justify the investment

Learning metrics and the information they provide help to guide future L&D
decision-making.
Metrics for training assessment are sometimes compared to Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs).

However, KPIs track overall business performance and goals, and training metrics
are more targeted. They evaluate training effectiveness and whether a program
solves a particular problem.

How to Identify the Right Metrics for Your Training Program?

With many learning metrics to choose from, organizations need to identify the
ones that best reflect the effectiveness of their programs.

1. Consider Context

Always consider the context of the training.

What are the learning objectives? What learning model are you implementing?
And what department is it tailored towards?

Metrics for learning should reflect training type and if a specific model is being
utilized. For example, is the training asynchronous or blended? How is attendance
measured, and how are attendees assessed?
Training a sales team is very different than training HR staff, and this context can
help guide you when selecting relevant learning metrics. Consider the specific
department’s role, the factors that affect it, and what the desired outcome should
be.

To successfully assess training effectiveness, you should first consult department

heads and their employees.

2. Consult Relevant Stakeholders

Beyond department heads, L&D staff should consult a range of relevant

stakeholders to determine appropriate learning metrics.

What does each stakeholder hope to gain from the training program? And what
are the key indicators they believe capture this the best?

The best way to accurately measure training effectiveness is to talk to the people
closest to the situation. This includes line managers, supervisors, employees who
previously underwent the course, and staff who will soon take it.

3. Objectivity

Better results are generally found when selecting objective, quantifiable metrics
for training that rely on data rather than opinion.

Note:  Unfortunately, many factors can sway subjective metrics, and they are often
hard to validate.

4. Clearly Define Your Objective

Perhaps the most critical factor to consider when evaluating training effectiveness
is the big-picture goals of the program. Whether they are clearly defined: increase
sales by X%, or less tangible: improve collaboration between teams, your choice of
learning metrics should be the direct result of the overall objective.

Objectives more difficult to define, such as employee collaboration, require a clear

plan for assessment, for example, employee surveys before and after training.
10 Valuable Training Metrics to Know
There are many learning metrics available to evaluate training effectiveness. Plus,
organizations can develop custom metrics incorporating factors specific to their
business or approach to training.

Metrics for assessing the effectiveness of training should be based on real-life data
and attempt to honestly reflect the outcomes of L&D efforts.

Below we have listed ten learning metrics that represent a good starting point for
organizations looking to analyze their training effectiveness.

Note:  Many of these metrics are general enough to be defined in a simple

equation, while others require further analysis to generate the necessary data.
Where applicable, we have provided equations demonstrating how to calculate
the final metric.

1. Completion Rate

Completion rate = Number of employees completing course / Number of initial

participants

Course completion rate measures the number of employees who finish the entire
program compared to the number of people who started.
It shows how many people make it to the end, covering all the material. However,
it does not include information regarding participant performance.

2. Pass Rate

Pass rate = Number of employees passing course / Number of participants

Most courses include assessments of some form, often with a pass/fail criteria.
Employees above a certain level are deemed to pass the course, acquiring new
knowledge or developing new skills

The pass rate of a training program demonstrates the ratio of employees

successfully passing the course’s assessment.

3. Participant Engagement

The level of engagement generated strongly correlates to the success of the

course. While engagement is a complex parameter to quantify, course leaders
have several options.

For example, they can track time spent with the course material or attempt to
measure the effort employees invest in the program.

Generally, this information should be used alongside other data such as the pass
rate, employee performance metrics, or more subjective feedback, including post-
training surveys.

4. Training Cost Per Employee

Training cost per employee = Total training cost / Number of participants

The training cost per employee is the total cost divided by the number of
participants.

This metric can be applied to specific programs or an organization’s entire L&D

operation. Training cost per employee is an excellent way to understand how
much an organization invests in its workforce’s development.

To accurately define total training costs, organizations should consider the time
spent on both formal and informal training.

For example, how long did employees spend on traditional training scenarios (i.e.,
classroom style, webinars, etc.), informal self-taught training (i.e., eLearning
modules), and how much time and money did it take to travel for training
opportunities?

5. Training Return on Investment

Training ROI = Change in profit as a result of training / Total cost of training

The bottom line of every training program is: how much value it generates
compared to how much it costs. Therefore, training ROI is a critical metric to
determine whether the program was successful.

However, calculating a final value can be difficult, as organizations need to isolate

the change in profit that is a direct result of the training.
Note:  Simply looking at profit before and after could mislead organizations with
the training program taking credit for other factors affecting business
performance.

6. Employee Performance Metrics

Most businesses utilize employee performance metrics, assessing how well each
staff member is doing. By comparing these metrics before and after training,
companies can determine if the newly acquired knowledge or skills lead to better
performance.

Depending on the employee’s role and the type of training, this may be relatively
simple to notice or take some time to filter through and affect the final
performance metrics.

7. Sales Close Rate

Sales close rate = Successful sales no. / Number of inquiries

An example of a simple employee performance metric is the sales close rate. It

measures the performance of a sales team by comparing the number of
successful sales to the number of inquiries.

Are employees converting interested parties into paying customers?

Comparing the sales close rate pre and post-training, leadership can imply the
effectiveness of a given program.

8. Customer Satisfaction Rating

Customer satisfaction rating = Number of positive responses / Total responses

A fundamental goal of every business should be providing a good service and

generating happy customers. Many training programs aim to improve customer
satisfaction.

The easiest way of measuring any change in customer satisfaction is by tracking

the ratio of positive responses to total responses during customer feedback.

9. Change in Operational Efficiency

Change in OE = OE before training / OE post training

Training staff, making them better at their jobs, and filling specific skills gaps
should increase operational efficiency. You can assess its impact by comparing
Operational Efficiency (OE) before and after training.

Operational efficiency can cover many aspects of the organization and be

measured in many different ways.

In addition, it is often specific to a given industry. For example, logistics companies

might measure the total output of the facility or the percentage of deadlines met.
In contrast, a company based on customer sales might measure the revenue per
customer.

10. Patterns in Participant Behavior

A more in-depth learning metric, analyzing patterns in employee behavior before,
during, and after training, can help identify issues.

Perhaps staff from a single department are consistently underperforming, or

specific employees struggle with the existing approach to learning (e.g., more
visual learners who aren’t currently catered to effectively).

Where to Source Learning Metric Data?

All of these metrics are only as good as the data they are based on.

So how should organizations go about gathering this data?

Businesses have several options available to them:

Learning Management System (LMS) – software designed to manage the

delivery of educational content.

Learning Experience Platform (LXP) – software to create a personalized

learning experience.

Both of these tech solutions allow L&D staff to track detailed information on
course participants from a single software package. This includes the training
material, courses, and programs for each individual, their time with each module,
their completion rate or assessment scores, and any related performance metrics.

While housing everything in a single comprehensive software platform can

simplify gathering learning metric data, many people aren’t ready to invest in one.
Other options available include:

Surveys – gathering direct feedback from course participants to better

understand their learning and whether it will impact their day-to-day work.
 Focus Groups – while surveys are typically forms, focus groups gather
participants together to ask interactive questions and gather feedback
through honest conversations.

Infographic: Learning Metrics

Use learning data to accelerate change
The Data of Learning Workbook is here! Become familiar with learning data
and obtain a practical tool to use when planning how you will leverage
learning data in your organization.

DOWNLOAD WORKBOOK

AUTHOR
 Jani Lemmetyinen
Lead Learning Solution Partner
LinkedIn

Jani is a Lead Learning Solution Partner at Valamis. He is a well-respected learning expert and
works with numerous Valamis customers to support their learning strategies and oversee the
implementation of their learning solutions. Jani also spends time training Valamisians and
supporting colleagues with his experience.

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