A poor training experience reduces the overall training ROI, decreases employee engagement(Here are 8 Best Employee Engagement Strategies), and also affects motivation. It is necessary to evaluate the following factors through training evaluation tools:

• What was the long-term influence of training on employees?
• How successful was the training in improving the knowledge of employees?
• Is it possible for the employees to utilize this learning in their work?
• What changes should be done in the future training programs?
• Was the organization able to proceed towards their end-goal with this training program?

The Kirk-Patrick model of training can help you measure training ROI. Let’s see how:

Reaction

The reaction to the training measures the response of the participants towards it. It involves knowing the sentiment of training along with its convenience and importance. You can include questionnaires, reviews, and personal interviews to understand the feedback of your employees. The questionnaire or personal interviews should contain the following aspects:

• Identifying if the content and context of training were convenient, relevant, and easy for the audience to understand.
• Understanding the weak and strong factors of the course.
• Understanding whether the training was able to fit the learning style and training perspective of the learner or employees.
• Identifying the key learnings and takeaways of the training program.

At the end of this section, it is necessary to evaluate the gaps in the system, which is also the major motive of knowing the reaction around the training organized.

For instance, content and vocabulary were not understandable or easy-to-grasp. Or the delivery was too mainstream due to which most of the employees lost interest halfway.

Knowing these things help in moving forward towards the remediation of these flaws.

Learning

In this stage, dig deep into the impact of training. Identify how much the employee was able to learn from the program.

• Evaluate the scores at the end or in the middle of the learning module.
• Assess this knowledge in a practical environment.
• Check the consistency of attendance or how many employees fell out till the end or how many employees completed the course in comparison to the number of people who originally started the course.

Once this activity is completed, assessment is again conducted in the next three months with an enhanced questionnaire. However, it is also suggested to move towards practical learning and evaluation methods to help employees actually implement the learning in the office.

Behavior

Every session of the training program is conducted with an aim in mind. For instance, when you feel that your workforce is not engaged, you may conduct sessions to help different teams to work together.

You need to understand the extent to which employees were able to implement the training in the workplace. For this, it is necessary to take a complete review from managers, supervisors, and peers.

• How was the training implemented in the office?
• Were the trainees able to improve their abilities and increase their performance based on the training?
• If it was training related to behavioral change, did the employees see any relevant change?

Results

The last part of the training evaluation process is focused on identifying the change. It involves observing the change after the program. The comparison held is between the performance levels before and after the training program. This performance can be related to various aspects.

• Increased team performance
• Enhanced retention
• High employee morale
• Enhanced results

The overall objective of any training program is to improve the performance of the employees so that it can ultimately enhance the ROI of the business.