Measuring training effectiveness

Article by Ankita Agarwal on February 14, 2012

Change is the only stable factor that organizations today can expect. The business environments
both external and internal are highly dynamic and what seems to be working today may not be of
any use tomorrow. Organizations are finding it tougher to stay in the marketplace and employees
are now relied heavily for making organizations stay longer. Employee training has therefore
evolved as a crucial and highly essential HR function in organizations. Biech highlights the
importance of training during change and says that training is about change, transformation and
learning. Defining the term he provides, Training is a process designed to assist an individual to
learn new skills, knowledge or attitudes. The organizations across industries are spending
heavily on employee training programs with a view to gain a competitive advantage.
But a latest survey conducted by McKinsey Quarterly revealed that though all organizations train
their people, they dont generally measure the effectiveness of their training program. The survey
provided that mostly the companies design their training programs to either teach the new
employees about the job specifics, or to impart skills like leadership, communication, and
performance management etc. Such training programs not only involve spending in time but also
involve huge spending in terms of money. But the question arises whether the training is adding
any business value to the organization?
The survey focused one of the major defects of the training scenario in organizations today. Most
of the organizations rarely measure the effectiveness of their employee training programs. Even
when it is measured, it is measured in terms of number of employees who successfully
completed the training schedule or passed the exam; rather than whether this training improved
their performance and added any business value. The companies today spend heavily on training
but very rarely they assess the training programs return on investment.
There is intense competition in markets today and as such every part of investments should be
justified. There is a need for companies across globe to understand the importance of quantitative
measurement of training effectiveness. The training objectives must be laid clearly and it should
be assured that employees not only complete their training but also improve their performance in
qualitative as well as quantitative terms. For this, the companies must continuously review the
links between skills, performance and training; the skills possessed by employees, the
performance established and any gaps in performance due to lack of skills thereby calling for
training of employees. The training programs must aim at imparting performance oriented skills
that can be measured quantitatively. And the effectiveness of these programs must be
continuously reviewed and revised.