How to Track Impact of Corporate Training on Employees

If the end result is not productivity or growth, then no organization wants it. No lies detected here, seeing as the primary objective of every organization is growth and positive performance.

Many organizations invest huge amounts of time, resources, and labour into corporate training of employees with the primary objective of advancing employee skills, which will, in turn, bring a turnaround in employee output and organizational performance.

Companies organize training programs as is needed and usually channel huge sums into the planning and preparation process from hiring trained professionals to handling the logistics aspects of the program. A lot of work (both seen activities and those carried out behind the scenes) go into every corporate training program for it to not meet up to the expected goals or produce the desired impact.

In order to break the cycle of error and repetitive mistakes with subsequent training programs, it is important to evaluate the impact of the previous training programs on the employees.

Still, there remains the giant elephant in the room that many employers or administrative staff are concerned about which is how to track the impact of the training on the employees.

An online survey stated that;

50% of all corporate training programs fail as a result of these reasons: uninterested learners, outdated training practices, inability to communicate the training needs and/or disengaged employees who feel no need to learn.

Impact assessment appears to be a hard nut for many employers to crack and it is quite evident why. Corporate trainings are designed to highlight and tackle the flaws or gaps in employee performance which often result in employees devaluing the training programs or not taking them seriously. This raises the question as to whether the training was effective and the concerns of how to handle impact assessment as an employer, HR executive, or a Development manager.

In this article, we have reduced the elephant to midget size as we bring you useful pointers on how to track the impact of corporate training on employees!

Corporate training is more than just skill development and entails every activity catered to improving your business or organization through employee education or training. While it is a big plus for employers and organizations, employees also find something to take home from these training programs through gaining more knowledge, acquiring new skills, or developing the skills they have for both personal and professional development:

Usually, when you think about training in the workplace, you think of the HR department or the Development team in large organizations. These divisions within the organization have their job centered around employees and are tasked with identifying when there is a need for corporate training, seeking out training programs for employees, planning and executing the training program.

Corporate training can be general for the whole company and can be job-specific, only catering to certain departments within the company. There are tons of corporate training programs that employees can undergo and it can be quite the hassle deciding on which one the organization needs at that specific time.

Whichever one is decided upon, it is super important that these programs meet up to the standard and have a positive impact on the employees. Now, here comes the interesting part;

Using the four-stage model to track the impact of corporate training on employees.

At each level, the HR manager is expected to assess both the training coaches and the employees by asking various reflective questions in each stage.

Stage 1 — Gather Responses and Feedback

This first stage targets the employees and their experiences with the training. Responses and feedback can be gathered through the use of different mediums like surveys, questionnaires or hosting general discussions within the organization to assess the importance of the training and if it was well-received by the employees.

The questions asked in the survey can include the relevance of the training program to their job role, how the knowledge and skills acquired or developed can be applied to their work, valuable lessons they learned, positive and negative impact of the training, their opinions about the trainer, their concerns as regards the training program and any other feedback they might have to share with the company.

The employees’ responses to these questions would provide insight as to whether the learners had positive or negative opinions about the training and any gaps in the training that needs to be filled in the future. This stage should be applied to all training programs implemented by the organization.

Stage 2 — Assess Learning Outcomes

After response gathering comes assessment of learning outcomes where HR executives conduct training tests. Employees can be assigned tasks that enables them apply the knowledge and skills they acquired during the training. A long-term goal sees the organization measuring the impact of the training program on their KPIs and L&D metrics. Also, the HR managers can collect feedback and reports from the coaches/ training supervisors on each employee with regards to their participation in the training.

Stage 3 — Evaluate Employee Behaviour

This third stage suggests that the impact of the training should be reflected in the employee’s behaviour in the organization. Depending on whether the training was for personal or professional growth, its effect should be seen in the employee’s attitude to work. A successful training should produce employees with high enthusiasm, broadened knowledge, increase in skill level, confidence boost, and above all, an increase in their performance.

A positive impact is equivalent to satisfied and motivated employees with improved attitudes and a successful training should transform the work atmosphere, and improve the quality of service.

Stage 4 — Measuring Factual Results

The best and most efficient way to track if a training program impacted the employees is through measuring results obtained from metrics collected from the entire organization or departmental outcomes.

Simply put, if the employees have gained from the training and applied both the knowledge and the skills acquired, then there should be positive growth in the organization. The business should experience a significant change. There should be higher efficiency, better teamwork, and a surge in productivity.

In conclusion, a standard corporate training program is expected to equip employees with the required skills, impart the necessary knowledge, teach employees how to apply these insights to their everyday tasks, and produce the expected outcomes as well as a range of benefits for the organization.