5 metrics to help you better track employee training 

When it comes to tracking employee training, many organizations only focus on the basic metrics, like completions and test scores. But those metrics don’t give you a real sense of how people are engaging with and getting value from your training investment. 

As corporate training evolves in line with eLearning innovations, we’re seeing more of a shift toward continuous training. For this, it helps to have a modern, advanced LMS like Axonify that lets you track more meaningful metrics than your typical learning management system.

When you use a modern training tool and train continuously, you have much more knowledge data at your fingertips, so how do you sift through it all and track whether your continuous training is actually effective? Rather than getting overwhelmed with countless records and reports, you can focus on a few key metrics that make it easy to track employee training progress. 

1. Participation 

The first thing you want to track is participation. In other words, are people actually completing the training? Tracking participation is different from tracking utilization. Utilization refers to the number of people who completed a course or how often courses are used. Participation tracks ongoing engagement, or what percentage of people are using your learning system and the frequency with which they are returning.

If participation is low, consider communicating the expectations to employees and also looking for ways to make the content more engaging. Axonify users consistently average an 83% participation rate for frontline staff training because the lessons are short and user-friendly and because the system is engaging thanks to features like gamification and social learning. 

2. Confidence 

This one is still overlooked in most employee training programs. It’s not enough to measure right and wrong answers in a question-based training scenario, as knowledge is only part of the story. It doesn’t matter if someone knows the information if they don’t have the confidence in that knowledge to apply it in the moment of need.

If you want to better understand how well the information resonates, your training tool should have built-in confidence metrics, like the kind offered by Axonify. Instead of just asking participants to answer questions, the tool asks them to note how confident they are in their responses. When you understand how confident the employee is in their answers, you can glean much better insights into the effectiveness of the training.

3. Achievements

Training shouldn’t be seen exclusively as a “pass vs. fail” endeavor. Some courses may have passing scores, but learning is about ongoing progress and achievement. By tracking these milestones, you’re in a better position to track career development, measure skills gaps and identify team members with needed skills at a glance. 

Tracking training achievements is one of the best ways to use gamification. With Axonify, you can reference each employee’s earned achievements like engagement, number of sessions completed, number of topics graduated or correct-answer streak. Because Axonify stores all of this information, you don’t need dedicated employee training tracking software to stay organized. 

4. Behavior

Knowledge is an important starting point, but you should also measure behavior. Is the training resulting in the desired behaviors on the job? If not, determine where the gaps are. It doesn’t matter how well people answer questions. Training is only effective if it translates to results and positively impacts your bottom line. 

While behavior is most commonly assessed through in-person observation, there are digital behavior metrics as well. For instance, Axonify connects training to specific job behaviors. So managers can observe people on the job, track what they’re doing well and what they’re missing. Axonify uses this data to adapt learning and focus on specific gaps. Managers can also use this data to inform coaching.

5. Feedback

In addition to relying on the automated metrics, it’s important to solicit employee feedback. Surveys can be invaluable, as they allow for employee insights that otherwise wouldn’t be available. What type of training resonates with employees? What doesn’t resonate? What do employees want to see more or less of? What concepts/modules are effective? Confusing?

Your digital learning tool should support employee surveys. Axonify allows you to deploy surveys as part of daily training. You can get a pulse check on how well supported employees feel rather than just provide surveys after specific courses. Note that keeping your surveys anonymous can encourage more candid feedback. 

Additional tips for employee training tracking

Today’s technology makes it easy to track training, even if you have thousands of employees spread across dozens of locations. The important thing is to have a consistent training program in place and to stick to it. Don’t just train intermittently as a need arises or time becomes available. Training should be structured and consistent; only then can it be effectively measured.

In addition, make sure to use technology to your full advantage. The best way to track employee training is to have a system in place that records participation, achievements and results. The training management system does most of the work for you. 

Finally, keep a close eye on your important metrics. They provide a veritable goldmine of data that can help you improve your business in ways you never knew were necessary. Don’t take that data for granted.