Costs for corporate training have risen in the last two years, but budgets haven’t seen a similar increase. The 2023 Training Industry Report reveals that businesses seek ways to upskill employees without inflating expenses. Consequently, leaders are giving more attention to the effectiveness and efficiency of their training initiatives. What metrics indicate a corporate course’s worthiness of investment? Discover in this blog post, focused on success metrics for corporate e-learning, the predominant training format in organizations, according to research.
The importance of tracking employee training & evaluating effectiveness
Effective training is key to business success: it boosts the company-wide performance by 17% and brings a 218% increase in revenue per employee, according to research.
While measuring the return on investment (ROI) of corporate training poses challenges, its impact extends beyond financial aspects, influencing various non-monetary facets of employee development.
🤩 Increased employee performance, satisfaction, and retention, as well as opportunities for career advancement are key positive outcomes stemming from effective training initiatives.
🤝 Ultimately, employee e-learning presents an opportunity for a win-win scenario where both the company and its employees thrive, fostering a cycle of growth and success.
How to choose the metrics to evaluate training effectiveness
If you’re currently choosing the success metrics for your employee training program, here are two primary tips:
Opt for diverse metrics
Introduce a range of various metrics to get a clearer view of training effectiveness. Your chosen metrics should:
Objectively measure whether your goals and KPIs for a specific course are achieved;
Subjectively gauge employees’ sentiments post-training (perceived usefulness, performance, and confidence in their skills).
Consider practical application
When selecting metrics to evaluate training effectiveness, ask yourself the question: How will these numbers or feedback guide future actions?
👉 For instance, if you discover that the training cost per employee exceeds your desired budget, will you consider terminating contracts with current course creators, pausing the learning management system (LMS) subscription, or expanding training across more departments to justify expenses?
Based on these two key points, we’ve made the list of metrics below.
Key indicators of your corporate training effectiveness: How to evaluate success
Following the principle of diversity, we’ve featured five types of metrics in our longlist. You can track all of them to get a full view of employee e-learning success or select a few KPIs based on your priorities.
Cost and investment analysis
This category assesses the financial aspects of training, evaluating the expenditure per employee and the return on investment derived from the training initiatives.
Training cost per employee (Also known as Cost per person trained)
Quantifies the cost incurred per individual undergoing training.
Keeping track of this metric for various courses in your organization or for the same course over time, you can stay aware of the evolution of your training expenses.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Divide total training expenses by the number of employees trained.
👍 When it’s good: A lower cost indicates efficient resource allocation.
👎 When it’s bad: Higher costs may prompt a review of training methods or providers.
Training cost per employee is connected to the next metric:
Enrolment rate
Measures the percentage of employees participating in training relative to the total workforce, indicating the level of engagement and interest in training initiatives.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Divide the number of employees enrolled in training by the total number of employees eligible for training and multiply by 100%.
👍 When it’s good: High enrolment rates signify widespread participation and interest in upskilling.
👎 When it’s bad: Promote training participation among your employees or consider modifying the e-learning program/format to encourage increased participation.
Training ROI
Measures the financial return gained against the cost of training, demonstrating the monetary value derived from training investments.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Compare monetary benefits post-training (e.g. increased sales or reduced production time) against training costs.
👍 When it’s good: A higher ROI signifies the effectiveness of the training content, resulted in the widespread adoption of the taught skills.
👎 When it’s bad: A lower ROI signals a need to review the e-learning course or address the problems your employees faced in applying the new knowledge.
Learner-centric metrics
Focused on the learner experience, this category measures the degree of participation, interest, and contentment with the training programs.
Learner engagement
Measures the level of involvement and commitment to training, reflecting the quality of training and employee dedication.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Track participation levels, interactions, and completion rates.
👍 When it’s good: High engagement indicates effective course design and alignment with the audience’s professional level, interest, and learning pace.
👎 When it’s bad: Low engagement may necessitate course modifications or additional incentives.
Hours spent learning
Evaluates the time invested by individuals in training programs, illustrating the commitment and dedication to learning.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Track the duration each participant spends in learning activities.
👍 When it’s good: Adequate time spent (neither too long nor too short) signifies learners’ commitment and potential skill enhancement.
👎 When it’s bad: If learners spend too many hours with training materials, it could suggest the content is overly complex or not well-structured.
Conversely, when teams take too few hours to e-learning, it may indicate either high proficiency in the given subject matter (which could be positive) or, quite the opposite, a lack of dedication or engagement with the material. Additionally, employees might struggle to find time for training due to heavy workloads.
It’s up to you as a leader to identify the issue and look for appropriate ways to resolve it.
Training experience satisfaction
Measures employee satisfaction levels regarding training quality, which indicates training effectiveness and perceived value for professional development.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Conduct employee satisfaction surveys in the NPS format.
👍 When it’s good: High satisfaction implies effective training and development.
👎 When it’s bad: Low satisfaction necessitates reevaluation of training content or delivery methods.
Employee retention
Measures the rate at which employees remain within the organization post-training. Relevant training is vital for employee retention, as it impacts productivity, satisfaction, and overall company culture. In fact, from 45 to 90% of employees are likely to stay with the company if provided quality professional training.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: (Number of employees retained / Total number of trained employees) x 100% OR If you’ve recently introduced online training to your company for the first time, simply compare employee retention rates before and after the training.
👍 When it's good: High retention rates showcase effective training, indicating content satisfaction and skill application. Increased employee retention post-training proves that previously, it was the lack of development opportunities that prompted professionals to leave your organization.
👎 When it's bad: Low retention might signal training dissatisfaction, lack of applicable skills, or unmet expectations. If employee retention didn’t change after the training was introduced, consider a deeper analysis of teams’ needs and expectations.
Operational and learning efficiency
These metrics address the ultimate effect of e-learning on employee productivity and its effectiveness on interim checkpoints.
Operational efficiency
Measures the effectiveness of training methods on operational workflow, indicating streamlined processes and successful training implementation.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Varies based on operational indicators (e.g., time saved, error reduction).
👍 When it’s good: When you observe improved workflow efficiency post-training, decreased errors, and increased productivity, analyze what contributed to the increased efficiency and apply similar tactics to other courses or non-training work areas.
👎 When it’s bad: When no notable improvements in operational aspects despite training efforts, investigate inefficiencies in the training content and questions the course relevance for the enrolled teams.
Course enrollment data
Analyzes course popularity and demand, revealing the appeal of training, its place in employees’ priority list, and workforce interests.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: (Enrolled employees / Eligible employees) x 100%
👍 When it’s good: High enrollment rates suggest course relevance and employees’ interest in upskilling. Promote successful courses further and consider expanding similar training to cater to the employees’ interest.
👎 When it’s bad: If enrollment rates are low, review course offerings, gather feedback, and refine content to align with employees’ job requirements. Also, encourage participation through incentives or promotion – approach it like a real marketing campaign!
Learner drop-off rate
Measures disengagement or dropout rates from courses, flagging course design issues or engagement problems.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: (Number of dropouts / Number of enrollments) x 100%
👍 When it’s good: Low drop-off rates demonstrate course engagement and relevance. If you have other relevant courses for the same teams, encourage their commitment with some incentives.
👎 When it’s bad: High drop-off rates indicate disinterest, confusing content or excessive difficulty. Consider providing additional support or guidance to those who’ve encountered difficulties. For the next iteration, gather learner feedback to redesign or reformat your course content.
Course completion rate
Reflects the percentage of learners finishing a course, indicating course effectiveness in terms of delivering the knowledge and engaging learners.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: (Number of learners to complete the course / Number of enrolled employee) x 100%
👍 When it’s good: Obviously, high completion rates indicate useful and engaging training. You may want to replicate elements of these courses in your next e-learning programs.
👎 When it’s bad: Courses with low completion rates require improvement – provided, you are 100% sure their topics are relevant for eligible teams.
In Edtch, you can obtain aggregated stats on your course completion rates in one visual chart:
Assessment and progress metrics
Evaluate them to keep track of your corporate learners’ progress within one course or over the time.
Assessment pass rate
Measures individual performance in assessments, thus illustrates learning retention and application.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: Number of passed assessments / Total number of assessments x 100%
👍 When it’s good: Acknowledge and encourage learners who retain and apply new knowledge and skills effectively. When assessment pass rates are especially high for a specific course, try to replicate its methods in other rounds of training.
👎 When it's bad: A low pass rate may indicate content misunderstanding or inadequacy, thus requiring you to offer supplementary materials or targeted support to less successful learners.
In Edtch, assessment scores reveal individual learner performance and a leaderboard:
Score evolution
Tracks progress pre- and post-assessment or compares how each next assessment impacts previous scores. Highlights knowledge acquisition improvement or decline.
👩🏻💻 Calculation: (Post-assessment score - Pre-assessment score) or percentile change
👍 When it’s good: Positive score evolution reflects consistent improvement in knowledge acquisition. The best next step you can take is to encourage continuous learning and offer advanced courses to your best performers.
👎 When it’s bad: Negative or stagnant score evolution suggests a decline in learning or understanding. Consider revising course content or teaching methods to address comprehension gaps. Offer additional resources or guidance to aid struggling learners.
Use learning management software to streamline employee training tracking. For instance, Edtch visualizes score evolution in the Competency development chart for you:
Employee performance post-training
Evaluates the practical results of employee training, linking skill enhancement to job performance.
Calculation: Compare pre-training and post-training KPIs for individual employees and/or enrolled teams. Consider employee self-evaluation as a method.
👍 When it's good: Improved KPIs after training showcase effective skill enhancement translating to enhanced job performance. Recognize the employees who demonstrate significant performance improvements and encourage their continued skill development and application.
👎 When it's bad: Little to no change in post-training KPIs might indicate ineffective training or unapplied skills. When it happens, investigate reasons for stagnant KPIs. Adjust training content or delivery methods based on feedback. Provide opportunities for skill application and encourage practical use.
Metrics reflecting organizational development post-training
Training can have long-term impact on your business – and you want to stay on top of it when you measure effectiveness of your e-learning initiatives.
Internal mobility
Observes promotions or shifts in roles post-training, showing practical application of acquired skills within the organization.
Calculation: Count promotions or role shifts post-training.
👍 When it's good: Increased internal mobility signifies successful skill application post-training. If your company promotes a culture of skill mobility, keep encouraging cross-functional training.
👎 When it's bad: Low internal mobility may indicate a lack of skill application or transfer. If this happens, assess barriersand offer additional opportunities or incentives for skill transitions and career development.
Improved performance reviews
Correlates enhanced performance evaluations with training effectiveness, reflecting training's impact on individual employee capabilities.
Calculation: Compare pre- and post-training performance evaluations.
👍 When it's good: Enhanced performance reviews reflect positively on training effectiveness. Make sure to recognize and reward employees for improved performance. And, of course, reinforce training strategies that led to positive reviews.
👎 When it's bad: No improvement or decline in performance reviews might signal ineffective training or too many valuable horse spent on unnecessary e-learning. Investigate reasons and refine training strategies or content based on feedback to align with performance goals.
Optimize employee training evaluation with an LMS
The most effective way to gauge the success of your training courses is by accessing metrics from your learning management system's dashboard. This allows for:
👍 Standardized, non-biased evaluation;
👍 Real-time progress tracking;
👍 Incremental assessment through periodic quizzes;
👍 Centralized data collection & streamlined evaluations.
Want to take it a step further? Go with Edtch, a truly all-in-one LMS. On one platform, you can create tailored courses, monitor learner progress, gather feedback, and refine for the next round of training.
This isn't just about evaluating your current courses; it's about improving performance, yours and your teams', with powerful tools at your fingertips.
Let metrics guide you to the right decisions
We live in a data-driven world, and it’s no wonder you want to evaluate every initiative you lead in the workplace.
Are you seeking to make an informed decision on an LMS platform? Obtain all the missing pieces of this puzzle on a personal call with the Edtch team. Learn every detail about our platform and how it can elevate your corporate e-learning effectiveness.
