How to tell if your employee learning solution is working

Are you unsure of whether or not your employee learning solution actually works? Below we tell you the key things to look out for in order to help you assess whether your training programme is actually effective and making positive changes to your bottom line.

Behavioural changes?

Learning solutions are usually used to shift the behavioural habits of employees. You should be able to see if their behaviours have changed in accordance with your training. For example, you may have rolled out company training to improve employee's product knowledge. The behavioural changes for after this learning would be A). Employees having longer more in-depth conversations with customers B). Employees having more confidence to serve customers independently, rather than asking senior members of the team for help C). Employee confidence levels improving, as they are more aware of what they are talking about and the products which they are selling.

Ask your store managers to keep a record of these behaviours before you implement your learning solution and then a few months after you have implemented the solution so that you can see if there are any key differences.

Employee satisfaction?

One of the biggest reasons employees leave their job is due to a lack of training. If employees are not being trained and developed then they can't progress in their career and advance their skills, leaving them feeling that they are at a standstill. By training your staff it gives them reassurance that you believe in them to succeed and become more successful at your company. You should carry out employee surveys to find out their feelings towards training and how they are feeling after it has been completed. It would help if you carried out a survey before the training in order to measure the differences.

Customer satisfaction changes?

A great way to really see if your training is working is to see if it is having an impact on your customers, as these are usually the people who you would like your training to benefit. For example, you may have implemented a quality training programme to ensure your employees can prevent, detect, and eliminate non-quality items. You should investigate the number of product quality related complaints from customers you have received prior to the training, followed by the number you receive after the training. If your training has been successful then your product quality should increase, which would increase customer satisfaction levels.

Example: After Virgin Media implemented their learning solution their employee confidence levels shot up which resulted in a 7.4% increase in knowledge ratings from customers.

Efficiency changes?

Monitoring the time it takes to do tasks is a great way to see if your training is working. If it has worked then it will mean that your staff are clearer on the processes they need to take to complete a task, making them more efficient. For example, if you work in a hospital, you may have implemented training for the correct procedure of drug rounds in order to reduce drug errors. Prior to this training, you may have noticed that staff were always rushed off of their feet, requiring you to add another person to the shift. After the training, you should time how long the drug round takes and whether it is still essential to have the extra person on the shift. Ask employees their stress levels before the training and ask them again after, as this will help you see if their efficiency is making it easier for them to work and therefore reducing the stress and anxiety of getting the drug rounds complete.

Revenue changes?

One of the most important parts of your training is to assess if it is affecting your revenue. This can be hard to measure as there are always external factors which could be affecting your bottom line. It is good to keep track of things such as sales numbers, employee satisfaction levels, and productivity improvements, after the implementation of your training programme. All of these will currently or eventually have an effect on your profits. One of our customers assessed their sales numbers after they implemented Albert, our e-learning tool used to boost product knowledge, and found that their sales numbers increased an average of 2.2% every month. You should wait approximately three months after you have rolled out your training programme to ensure that your results are genuine.

Keep a watchful eye on everything

Training usually doesn't just change one thing, it changes a multitude of things within your business which add up to create a larger impact. It's important to keep track of everything so that you can really see the impact of your learning solution.