By Dr. John Sullivan, Head and Professor of Human Resource Management College of Business, San Francisco State University

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Training can be measured in a variety of ways including
[List (Items I-V) are in increasing order of business value]:

I - Prior to training

• The number of people that say they need it during the needs assessment process.
  
  
• The number of people that sign up for it.

II - At the end of training

• The number of people that attend the session.
  
  
• The number of people that paid to attend the session.
  
  
• Customer satisfaction (attendees) at end of training.
  
  
• Customer satisfaction at end of training when customers know the actual costs of the training.
  
  
• A measurable change in knowledge or skill at end of training.
  
  
• Ability to solve a "mock" problem at end of training.
  
  
• Willingness to try or intent to use the skill/ knowledge at end of training.

III - Delayed impact (non-job)

• Customer satisfaction at X weeks after the end of training.
  
  
• Customer satisfaction at X weeks after the training when customers know the actual costs of the training.
  
  
• Retention of Knowledge at X weeks after the end of training.
  
  
• Ability to solve a "mock" problem at X weeks after end of training.
  
  
• Willingness to try (or intent to use) the skill/ knowledge at X weeks after the end of the training.

IV - On the job behavior change

• Trained individuals that self-report that they changed their behavior / used the skill or knowledge on the job after the training (within X months).
  
  
• Trained individuals who's managers report that they changed their behavior / used the skill or knowledge on the job after the training (within X months).
  
  
• Trained individuals that actually are observed to change their behavior / use the skill or knowledge on the job after the training (within X months).

V - On the job performance change

• Trained individuals that self-report that their actual job performance changed as a result of their changed behavior / skill (within X months).
  
  
• Trained individuals who's manager's report that their actual job performance changed as a result of their changed behavior / skill (within X months).
  
  
• Trained individuals who's manager's report that their job performance changed (as a result of their changed behavior / skill) either through improved performance appraisal scores or specific notations about the training on the performance appraisal form (within X months).
  
  
• Trained individuals that have observable / measurable (improved sales, quality, speed etc.) improvement in their actual job performance as a result of their changed behavior / skill (within X months).
  
  
• The performance of employees that are managed by (or are part of the same team with) individuals that went through the training.
  
  
• Departmental performance in departments with X % of employees that went through training ROI (Cost/Benefit ratio) of return on training dollar spent (compared to our competition, last year, other offered training, preset goals etc.).

Other measures

• CEO / Top management knowledge of / approval of / or satisfaction with the training program.
  
  
• Rank of training seminar in forced ranking by managers of what factors (among miscellaneous staff functions) contributed most to productivity/ profitability improvement.
  
  
• Number (or %) of referrals to the training by those who have previously attended the training.
  
  
• Additional number of people who were trained (cross-trained) by those who have previously attended the training. And their change in skill/ behavior/ performance.
  
  
• Popularity (attendance or ranking) of the program compared to others (for voluntary training programs).

© April, 1998

by Dr. John Sullivan

Click here to email Dr. Sullivan
Head and Professor of Human Resource Management
College of Business, San Francisco State University

Click here to go to Dr. Sullivan's Index Page