5 Ways to Measure the ROI of Employee Training

In business, whether you're a startup or a well-established enterprise, the expectation is the same: achieve more with less. It’s no wonder why tech leaders surveyed in our C-Suite Perspective report cited that their biggest challenge was a combination of resource and budget constraints (31%). Unsurprisingly, these were followed by talent retention (27%) and talent recruitment (26%). 

It makes sense. When budgets are tight, businesses often respond by cutting costs, reducing headcount, or delaying investments in employee training programs. However, these short-term solutions can exacerbate other problems. A reduced or under-skilled workforce must take on more responsibilities, leading to increased workloads and, consequently, burnout. This, in turn, impacts employee morale and increases turnover rates, creating a vicious cycle where the remaining employees are stretched even thinner.

Ultimately, investing in employee training programs not only helps organizations do more with less, but it also anticipates what skills an organization will need to remain competitive long term. The problem is that it can be difficult for department leaders to justify investing in an employee training program. It usually requires leaders to build and present an effective business case to their leadership.

See how Corewell Health managed to protect its training investments by building and presenting an effective business case to its leadership team →

A crucial component of an effective business case is the ability to measure the return on investment (ROI) for the employee training program. Let’s take a look at how to do this. 

Calculating the ROI of employee training programs can be complex, as the benefits of training often manifest over time in ways that aren't always or immediately financial. On top of that, many organizations struggle with:

• Poor reporting and data management. Without reliable data, it’s nearly impossible to link training initiatives to tangible outcomes in a trustworthy way. Moreover, without a robust data management system, organizations struggle to analyze trends over time or correlate training investments with specific business results, leaving the ROI of these programs largely speculative rather than being based on data.
• A lack of visibility into outcomes. When organizations cannot clearly track how training influences employee performance, productivity, or job satisfaction, it becomes challenging to assess the effectiveness of the program. This lack of visibility often stems from inadequate tracking systems, unclear training objectives, or the absence of follow-up evaluations to measure post-training impact. 
• Unsure of the most meaningful metrics. Without a clear understanding of which metrics best reflect the impact of training on business goals, organizations may focus on easily measurable but less meaningful indicators, such as participation rates or immediate post-training satisfaction. This misalignment can result in a skewed or superficial assessment of the training's effectiveness, making it hard to demonstrate its true value to the organization.

Measuring ROI for employee training programs isn't just about proving their value — it's about understanding how training impacts the business and how it can be refined to meet organizational goals. Not to mention, most learners within an organization want a way to evaluate their proficiency and skill growth. 

Therefore, measuring ROI for employee training programs requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond basic cost-benefit analysis. Here are five of the best practices in developing that approach:

1. Set Clear Objectives

Before any training program begins, it’s crucial to establish clear, measurable objectives. What specific skills or behaviors should the training influence? What business outcomes are you aiming to improve? By defining these goals upfront, you create a baseline for measuring the training's effectiveness.

2. Identify Relevant Metrics

To accurately measure ROI, focus on metrics that align with your training objectives and broader business goals. Here are just some of the metrics that Skillsoft Percipio tracks in its Executive Dashboards:

• Adoption: Measures the percent of active users who visited Percipio over the specified time period. It shows how many are new versus returning users and what device they use.
• Discovery: Measures the average number of content accesses per learner.
• Learning: Measures how much time learners spend in the content they launch.
• Achievement: Measures completion rate, badges earned, and completion rate over time

3. Conduct Benchmark Assessments

Conduct assessments to measure knowledge gains, skill improvements, or behavioral changes. 

Skillsoft offers Skill Benchmark Assessments and Interactive Skill Benchmark Assessments to measure learners' proficiency across technology, leadership, and business skills and delivers personalized development paths. 

Available within Skillsoft Percipio, Skill Benchmarks are the only diagnostic assessments that measure learners' skills against objective learning standards — not merely how they compare to other learners. It enables organizations to answer deeper ROI-related questions such as:

• What are the most popular skills being developed?
• How many learners are engaged in learning skills?
• By how much have learners increased their skill in specific areas? 
• In which skill area is the workforce most proficient?
• What is the skill distribution of my learners?

4. Link Training to Business Objectives

It’s important to establish a clear connection between the training and business objectives.

In the Skillsoft Percipio dashboards, you can gauge how your learning programs and assignments align to your business objectives and how your learners progress through them.

Take required compliance training as an example. The objective or KPI may be to achieve 100% completion rates across all geographies. By having clear reporting mechanisms in place, like Skillsoft's dashboards, you can see how learners are progressing through their assignments, which employees have completed the training, and more. 

Having this data helps you, as a platform administrator or risk professional, understand where content resonates and where it doesn't. This, in turn, will spur ideas for what to do next, whether it's adjusting the program or communicating more with employees. 

5. Monitor Long-Term Impact 

The effects of training may take time to fully manifest, so it’s important to track relevant metrics over an extended period. Long-term monitoring allows you to see whether the initial benefits are sustained and whether the training contributes to ongoing improvements.

The Program Value dashboards in Skillsoft Percipio help you gain insight into the ongoing value Skillsoft courses contribute to your organization. The program provides financial metrics on how learning impacts your organization, including the value of skills and productivity. These estimates are standardized and are based in part on financial information provided by your organization and your contract value.

In fact, Skillsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study to examine the potential ROI that organizations may realize by deploying our training solutions.

Check them out:

• See how Skillsoft compliance solutions can provide organizations with an ROI of 317% →
• See how Skillsoft tech & dev solutions can provide organizations with an ROI of 274% →
• See how Skillsoft leadership & business solutions can provide organizations with an ROI of 263% →

Measuring the ROI of employee training programs is essential for understanding the value of these initiatives and for making informed decisions about future investments. By following best practices and focusing on meaningful metrics, organizations can not only demonstrate the financial return on their training investments but also gain insights into how these programs drive business success. 

With the analytics, reporting, and dashboarding capabilities in Skillsoft Percipio, organizations have access to the data they need to prove why investing in employee training can help companies do more with less.

Because, ultimately, a well-measured training program is a powerful tool for enhancing employee performance, improving business outcomes, and ensuring that every dollar spent on learning and development is wisely invested.

See how Skillsoft Percipio can measure ROI for you to build a business case for employee training by requesting a demo.