Designing Digitally
06/24/2021
Over the last few decades, the importance of employee training has become exceedingly obvious. The factors influencing this movement are diverse and far-reaching: starting with the change in workforce predominance from Generation X to Millennials, to the changes in how people now learn, aided by the age of technology, to everything in between.
Many companies are exploring online learning as a way to help employees and businesses grow. While this is an incredible leap in developing a learning culture at work, some employees fail to use this eLearning-empowered phenomenon fully. Namely, the process of training implementation ends with course delivery. However, to conduct an accurate evaluation of the course, it is necessary to measure employee key performance indicators (KPIs) and track training results.
Key performance indicators are generally used for business success or employee success assessment. They are based on the course assessment criteria. KPIs can use data gathered at the beginning, during, and after the training is completed. They’re typically represented through numbers.
In general, you track KPIs through the use of a learning management system (LMS). This process of tracking involves collecting data and generating reports based on the data. These reports often take the shape of graphs in which various types of course performance metrics are laid out.
KPIs for employee eLearning courses differ from business KPIs you would use to evaluate the effectiveness of business goals. Still, these two types should be intertwined and depend on each other. Here are some valuable employee training KPIs.
It's essential to track how many people finish the course. Knowing this will help identify whether learners are actively engaging with the content. A high fulfillment percentage usually denotes that people find the course beneficial. Conversely, a low completion rate might sound the alarm that users are not impressed with the course and changes need to be made to motivate learners to stick with it.
Tracking average and final scores speak directly to the level of efficiency and impact the course has on learner on-the-job performance. A learner who actively engages with the course completes it sooner than expected and shows improvement in their job productivity, showing high performance throughout the course and a high final score.
Read Also: Is It Essential to Create Learning Assessments in eLearning?
You can also evaluate learning effectiveness by looking at the progress and development of acquired skills. Doing this can help you identify training usefulness and employees with transferrable skills that you might want to move to a different department.
Numbers don’t lie, although they might be interpretable based on the metrics by which you choose to evaluate your training course. Increases in internal hiring, employees who start performing better in their jobs, higher customer service satisfaction, and other criteria can indicate that your training course is reaching the desired learning objectives you established.
It stands to reason that the more people who enroll in and complete your training course, the more effective your training course will prove to be. Course attendance alone is not a definitive course success metric, but it does confirm that you're doing something right.
Read also: How You Can Motivate Your Employees to Complete Training Courses
Asking your employees to evaluate the training course they are completing or have completed is always beneficial. Getting direct feedback from the people who are interacting with your employee training course is very helpful. Employees can pinpoint what is working and what's not working within the course structure, content, and delivery style.
We've already outlined some of the benefits key performance indicators can provide for training improvement and increased employee job performance. Here are a few more, for good measure:
eLearning KPIs can help identify issues with the course content, delivery, and interaction early on in the deployment process
Using KPIs to track for employee training effectiveness will allow you to personalize the course based on the skill and knowledge gaps of your staff
Learning evaluation KPIs can help a big organization assess training effectiveness across multiple peer groups at the same time
Setting up eLearning KPIs provides faster feedback which in turn allows you to modify the course quickly
Key performance indicators help you save money in the long run since you'll be collecting valuable information before, during, and after learners complete the training
Read also: 6 Tips to Track Learning on the Go in Corporate Training
Using employee training KPIs brings tangible benefits to any organization looking to help their employees and business grow. You can use generic key performance indicators that many people use, create your own, or hire a professional team to identify the best KPIs for your training efforts. Either way, learning more about KPIs while keeping in mind the information presented in this article is a great starting point.
To learn more about this topic, register for our upcoming webinar on training measurement and KPIs, or get in touch with our team to talk with one of our experts about your training goals.
Please note this article was updated by our team on 6/24/21.
Interested in learning more about Designing Digitally and how we can help you solve your business challenges through custom online training? Check out these resources from our team!