Examples of Training Metrics
Benchmarks Used to Evaluate Professional Development Initiatives
There are many metrics that can be part of a corporate training metrics model used to evaluate training to upper management. Choose from the following list of possible metrics based on your analysis of the goals of both the training department and upper management.
Participation Metrics
- The number of potential participants (based on needs analysis and the definition of the target audience)
- The number of participants
- The number of new participants (if this is an ongoing training initiative)
- The number of participants that completed the program
- The number of participants that withdrew from the program
- The number of participants referred to the program by previous participants
- Statistics on the common reasons why potential participants didn’t sign up and why participants withdrew
Evaluation Metrics
This information is based on the subjective analysis by individual participants which are usually collects as part of training evaluations.
The percentage of participants that found the training to be highly:
- Relevant
- Practical
- Engaging
- Up-to-date
- And so on…
Performance Improvement Metrics
This information is based on the subjective analysis of individual managers, participants or customers which could be collected using post-training surveys, focus groups or interviews.
The number of participants that have:
- Applied the learning on the job
- Found their stress levels have decreased (feel more confident)
- The number of managers that found an:
- Increase in productivity after the training
- Increase in team morale after the training
- Increase of staff initiative, confidence and independent problem solving
The number of customers that were surveyed to find an:
- Increase in product knowledge
- Improvement in the level of service
To gather more objective metrics collect the percentage of:
- Decrease in production time
- Decrease in waste
- Decrease in sick time used
- Decrease in injury rates
- Decrease in error rates
- Decrease in customer service times
- Decrease in staff turn-over (dismissals, resignations)
- Increase in sales (especially if linked to sales of new products after product knowledge training)
- Increase in staff retention for one, three, five and ten years or more
Training Design and Delivery Metrics
This information is based on the subjective analysis by participants and typically collected on training evaluations.
Instructor evaluation - the percentage of participants that found the instructor to be rated highly on:
- Knowledge of the subject
- Approachability
- Alignment with corporate values
- Presentation style
Design evaluation – the percentage of participants that found the training to be:
- Scheduled to fit with operational constraints
- Enough time to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject
To gather objective data, look at the:
- Decrease in cost of training (can break this down to cost per participant or individual training budget line items or categories of costs e.g. audio visual equipment rental, catering, etc.)
- Increase in accessibility of training by percentage of participation by branch office or region
- Number of sessions offered
Once you have chosen the metrics that you want to include in your metrics model, make sure that you are collecting the data in a data base so that a report can be generated easily. Data can be collected using surveys, evaluation forms, and registration forms. Ideally, these forms will be online and linked to your data base for ease of reporting.
