Five Ways to Measure ROI in L&D

Track the quality of work being produced

The quality of work output that a company produces is ultimately the determining factor in business success. A product or service being improved is naturally a boon to the company, creating an avenue for further positive user feedback and a more satisfied client base for the business to work with again. If the work being produced improves in quality or efficiency after the completion of training content, be it overall product quality or a reduction in production errors, the improvement of such work is both a short and long-term net positive created by your L&D. 

Monitor the impact that training has had on your KPIs 

Look at how your team hits their set KPIs. How will you know if L&D has had a positive impact on KPI success? By looking at them again after training. Are call rates going up, targets being hit faster and other tasks completed more efficiently? These are signs that your employees have directly benefited from the training investment. Measurable training outputs or objectives such as shortcuts or process breakdowns help to optimise workflow and get the best out of a business day. It should be possible to map these training objectives to improvements, particularly where systems are concerned. Some others might take longer to come to fruition and might be harder to identify, such as where soft skills have been improved. Nevertheless, the establishment and tracking of KPIs is important. With KPIs in place, training can even be specifically created with these in mind.

Get feedback from employees

Your staff are the ones who will be carrying out the learning set for them and applying it, so how will you know what learning works best for them? Ask them. Everything has room for improvement and your L&D is no different. If staff do not believe that their training is effective, then in its current state it is a poor ROI when considering the costs involved in setting up a comprehensive training curriculum. Planning a path for staff feedback on your training content can therefore be a critical means to making design changes, allowing only the most effective content for the benefit of the business and individual employees. Don’t just rely on ‘happy sheet’ feedback either. True training feedback looks at changes in employee behaviour and may need to involve managers and / or peers to get a clear picture of whether things have changed or not. Which leads us on to… 

Look at behaviour changes post-training

A noticeable positive shift in staff behaviour is of foundational benefit to a company, especially when it comes to areas such as accident frequency. Said positive shifts in behaviour when carrying out successful L&D is arguably the clearest sign that training has been a success. A drop in mistakes being committed, work being done to a better quality and or at a faster rate are all tangible benefits to training that can occur almost immediately. If staff are being taught how to effectively use technology in your business, it is a win-win for meeting and exceeding company targets. 

Measure the prior and current knowledge of staff

For an immediate test on the impact of L&D within a team, look at how much staff know on a given topic immediately before and after completing training content. By assessing pre-existing knowledge compared to post-training impact via means such as quizzes or other interactive webpage formats, direct benefits to your L&D can be determined. Before training, are your staff averaging a 50% quiz score on software knowledge and afterwards 80%? Combining this immediate impact with refresher training when needed will provide a decisive positive impact on staff knowledge and information retention. 

So, what are the key takeaways to consider?

Here are five key recommendations for you to put into action:

1. Track quality of work: by approaching the quality of work being produced after training with even moderate attention, a tangible benefit can be produced from the L&D on a daily basis.
2. Track KPI development: though part of wider testimony to company effectiveness, L&D training can improve KPI success rates.
3. Get feedback: employee feedback is crucial to ascertain the quality and effectiveness of your L&D. Staff opinions are a priority point of reference for understanding L&D effectiveness, improving job performance and ultimately company output.
4. Observe behavioural changes: if technology or any other such area is showing improved usage after completion of training, it is a sign of L&D effectiveness.
5. Post-training content: use post-training assessments, such as quizzes, to test the information retention of staff. Perhaps even consider a before and after assessment for training content to measure its immediate impact?