How to Measure Employee Development with the Kirkpatrick's Four-level Training Evaluation Model

Team Training
8 mins
How to Measure Employee Development with the Kirkpatrick's Four-level Training Evaluation Model
Waybook Icon
Published by
Mike Bandar
Create Your Waybook

4.9 / 5
Capterra Logo

Table of Contents

    In any organization, employee growth and development play a vital role in helping them to reach their maximum potential. The growth plan and training sessions enhance their morale and allow them to develop relevant skill sets to outperform others. It's not enough to just create a training process to boost total employee development. 

    In any organization, employee growth and development play a vital role in helping them to reach their maximum potential. The growth plan and training sessions enhance their morale and allow them to develop relevant skill sets to outperform others. It's not enough to just create a training process to boost total employee development. 

    But, constant monitoring and measuring of employee growth plans and training effectiveness are also vital. Wondering why is that so? Let's figure it out! 

      

    • Why Measurement of Employee Growth and Development is Necessary
    • Return on Investment (ROI) Assessment
    • Satisfaction of Employees for Result-Oriented Approach 
    • Real-time analysis and refinement of the Development Program
    • Key Metrics of Measuring Employee Development
    • Models of Employee Growth and Development 
    • Kirkpatrick’s Four-level Training Evaluation Model 
    • Conclusion

    Why is Measurement of Employee Growth and Development Necessary?

    Most businesses recognize the importance of employee development. However, some measure the return on their investments and continual efforts.

    Most businesses recognize the importance of employee development. However, some measure the return on their investments and continual efforts.

    Monitoring and measuring total employee development plans increase productivity and enhance retention rates. It also helps you to identify the areas where you are required to upgrade your training methods. Consequently, this leads to the accomplishment of your business goals.

    Following are a few essential tools to monitor and measure employee development. These tools also help to get insights needed to support their career growth:

    Return on Investment (ROI) Assessment

    Return on investment (ROI) throws light on the overall impact of employee growth plans and training sessions in monetary values. In ROI assessment, you collect and analyze employee performance data and translate it to measure the financial benefit to your company. Later, this benefit is then analyzed against the cost of producing it via training and measurement. ROI values also indicate if employees have gained new skills and knowledge to perform efficiently with reduced costs.

    Satisfaction of Employees for Result-Oriented Approach

    Your workforce is the backbone of any organization. If you value your employees and treat them well, they strive hard toward the company's success. Employee satisfaction is strongly linked with the result-oriented approach. Here, an organization primarily focuses on the output rather than the methods used to accomplish the goal. 

    With a result-oriented culture, minor issues such as sticking to certain procedures and protocols do not matter. What matters is the final output. Additionally, the result-orient work culture is flexible, which leads to increased employee satisfaction and a higher retention rate.

    Real-Time Analysis and Refinement of Development Program

    Companies that pay attention to the development area for employees tend to grow exponentially. The real-time analysis of the shortcomings of your workforce and formulation of an effective development program opens new doors to success for everyone.

    Key Metrics of Measuring Employee Development

    It is difficult to invest in employee growth and development programs if there are no clear metrics. By tracking employee development metrics, you ensure whether the training program is highly engaging or not. It even helps towards the accomplishment of organizational goals. These metrics include:

    • Measuring employee engagement levels by conducting internal surveys. You find opinions related to teamwork, career growth opportunities, leadership, and work environment 
    • Measuring efficiency by calculating employee productivity. The formula involves dividing total output by total input. This metric is important when employee training aims for enhancing job-related technical skills
    • Using stats like the number of hours worked to complete a certain task. This metric shows a vivid picture of the impact of your training courses on employee productivity.
    • Using other team members' reviews for evaluation of the work quality and strengths and weaknesses of any employee.

    Models of Employee Growth and Development

    High employee turnover, low morale, and less productivity are a few indicators pointing towards changing your approach to staff training. According to a study, 94% of the workforce stays committed to a company for a longer period if you invest in its growth and development.

    Following are a few development models to consider:

    1.     Centralized Training Model

    2.     Functional Model

    3.     Matrix Model

    4.     University Model

    5.     Business Embedded Model

    Kirkpatrick's Four-level Training Evaluation Model

    The Kirkpatrick Model is one of the best models to analyze and evaluate training outcomes. This model can be applied to any type of training, whether informal or formal. It determines the program's aptitude based on four levels approach. 

    Kirkpatrick's Four-level Training Evaluation Model

    With this model, you can even analyze the effectiveness of your customized training and development programs. Following are the four measurement levels, including the important indicators that you can look for at every level.

    Level 1- Reaction

    This is the first level which shows the learner's reaction to the training course, whether it is relevant and useful. Here, you use questionnaires and surveys, or you can communicate with learners directly.

    You can ask the following questions for data collection:

    • Did you find training relevant and understandable?
    • What have you learned in training, and which important areas were covered?
    • What were the strengths and weaknesses of the training program?
    • Did the training successfully accommodate your learning style and pace? 
    • With the aforementioned insights, you get a clear idea of how the training course has impacted the learners. In addition, you can identify any lacking in the training program.

    Level 2- Learning

    This level depicts what additional skills and knowledge were provided to learners during the training course. To collect this data, you have metrics like:

    • Scores gained during and end of the training
    • Analysis of selected learning projects
    • Effects on employee's performance KPIs
    • Completion of different courses and their certification
    • Reports and feedback from supervisor 

    In the second level, you aim to find whether the training program has achieved its set goals and objectives.

    Level 3-Behaviour

    The third level lets you know about the influence of training courses on the performance, behavior, and work attitude of learners. You can find out these by applying the methods mentioned below:

    • Collecting feedback from co-workers and managers
    • Discussion with focus groups
    • Keen observation during working hours 
    • Assessing key performance indicators (KPIs)
    • Comments and complaints of customers

    Level 4- Results

    This is the last level where you examine the outcomes of your training. The company concludes whether the results are valuable for the team members and the business.

    The Bottom Line

    Employee growth and development programs act as a significant framework that portrays how your workforce can accomplish their career goals. Although measuring employee development is an arduous task, but a highly effective method to form productive teams.

    While doing so, management of training can offer a lot of resistance. But with Waybook, you can easily create, store, and upgrade training materials according to your needs. In addition, you can directly assess employees' progress by conducting tests and quizzes with the assistance of Waybook. 

    Want to get more insights on the future of Training & Onboarding? Check out our related resources: