Jessica Jatau

Learning and Development initiatives often require investments (financial, human, time, and among other resources). One of the worst results from this investment is not seeing the intended result as forecasted. This is often because real-time or post-L&D training measures were not taken to assess the progress or efficiency of this investment.

Measures like knowing exactly how your team is fairing, where they’re improving, and where they are facing challenges are what measuring employee L&D progress is all about. In this blog post, I explain 7 importance of measuring your employee L & D progress.

7 Importance of Measuring Your Employee Learning & Development Progress

1. To Identify Learning/Skills Gaps

Maybe everyone attended the training and even smiled or nodded that they understood. But are they using it effectively? Measuring L&D progress helps you see beyond attendance, and spot knowledge gaps. Tracking quiz results, observing the real-world application of what they learned, or even looking at completion rates of specific modules within a learning platform, can pinpoint exactly where your employees need a little more support.

This way, you can tailor future training to address these specific needs e.g. the sales team have sound product knowledge but needs to sharpen their negotiation skills; ensuring everyone has the resources/training to excel. Platforms like our own Klas make this easier, with intuitive dashboards that can help track learner progress and highlight areas where individuals or groups might be struggling.

2. To Assess Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

Even if your employees don’t tell you, nobody enjoys training that feels like a chore. When employees are genuinely engaged and satisfied with L&D initiatives, their motivation increases, and so does their performance. But how do you know if they're loving the training or just enduring it?

Measures like gathering feedback through polls after a live class (a feature on Klas, by the way), suggestion boxes, or even informal chats can help in assessing employee satisfaction and engagement. Are they finding the content relevant? Is the delivery style working for them? When you measure satisfaction, you get golden insights into what truly resonates with your employees. High engagement in L&D often shows overall job satisfaction.

3. To Ensure Continuous Improvement

The skills are constantly evolving, and so should your L&D programs. What worked wonders last year might be a bit outdated today. Measuring progress provides the necessary data you need to keep your training up-to-date, relevant, and effective.

This data empowers you to tweak, refine, and relaunch even better versions of your programs. It’s all about improvement, ensuring your L&D initiatives are always top-notch. With knowledge and resources that allow for easy course updates and student feedback analysis, like those found on all-in-one platforms

4. To Save Cost

L&D initiatives are an investment, and like any good investment, you want to ensure it’s yielding returns, not just draining resources. Measuring progress helps you identify what’s working and what’s not, to ensure smarter budget allocation subsequently.

If data shows that a particular expensive workshop isn't leading to tangible skill improvements or positive changes, maybe you should reconsider the spending. Conversely, if your interactive online courses hosted on a platform like Klas (which combines live classes, course selling, and even ebook distribution) are showing great engagement and skill growth at a fraction of the cost, you would know where to double down because the goal is about optimizing your L&D budget to ensure every penny contributes to real growth.

5. To Measure ROI & Justify L & D Initiatives

Sometimes, the top executives need a little convincing about the value of L&D. Measuring progress gives you the concrete evidence you need to showcase the return on investment (ROI) of your training programs.

An instance if you can show that a sales training program led to a 15% increase in closed deals, or that a customer service workshop reduced complaints by 20%, that’s great evidence. Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) before and after training initiatives allows you to connect the dots between learning and business outcomes. This justifies current L&D spending and also makes a compelling case for future investments. Integrated payment systems and revenue tracking, as offered by some online teaching platforms like Klas, can even help directly link course participation to revenue generation for certain types of training businesses.

6. To Improve Employee Retention

Investing in your employees keeps them around longer. Employees today are looking for more than just a paycheck; they also want growth and development opportunities. When a company invests in its employees' learning, it sends them a message: "We value you, and we want you to succeed here."

High turnover is costly (recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity etc) it all adds up. By measuring the impact of your L&D programs on employee satisfaction and skill development, you can often see a direct correlation with improved retention rates. It’s a simple strategy: invest in their growth, and they’ll invest their loyalty in you.

A central learning hub where students can track their upcoming classes and resources, as provided by Klas, makes the learning journey clearer and more engaging, contributing to this sense of investment.

7. To Ensure Data-Driven Decision Making

In the past, many L&D decisions might have been based on "what felt right." But in today’s data-driven business environment, you can do so much better because measuring L&D progress empowers you to make informed, strategic decisions about your training initiatives.

Which training methods are most effective for different learning styles? Which topics are most in demand? Where are the biggest opportunities for upskilling or reskilling your workforce? The answers lie in the data. By systematically collecting and analysing information on participation, performance, satisfaction, and application of learning, you move from guesswork to strategy. This ensures your L&D efforts are targeted, efficient, and aligned with your overall business goals.