Efficiency of the personnel training system. Evaluation of training effectiveness

For any organization, employee training cannot be an end in itself. Personnel training, like other parts of the team management system (recruitment, motivation, incentives, control), should be aimed at implementing common goal, i.e. ensuring effective work and active development organizations.

Even at the personnel selection stage, the organization receives information that allows it to outline actions to train and improve the skills of employees. The attitude of organizational leaders to employee training is associated with an understanding of what benefits the organization will receive as a result and what costs it will incur for personnel training.

Benefits to the organization from staff training:

• The ability to successfully cope with problems associated with new areas of activity and increase competitiveness.
• Reducing staff turnover, increasing the prestige of the organization.
• Acquisition by staff of skills to adapt to constantly changing socio-economic conditions and, accordingly, strengthening the position of the organization.

Benefits of training for employees:

• Increased satisfaction in your work.
• Improving qualifications, competence, self-esteem.
• Increased career prospects within your organization and beyond.

Costs for improving the qualifications of personnel at the enterprise

Employee training not only brings benefits, but also comes with certain costs. Costs associated with personnel training can be direct and indirect.

• Direct: payment of teachers, educational materials; payment for rent of premises.
• Indirect: payment of salaries to training employees released from work; payment of bonuses to employees performing the work of absent colleagues.

Effectiveness of staff training

Analysis of the effectiveness of training of company employees is an important stage in the operation of the management system of an enterprise or institution. Evaluating the effectiveness of training is necessary to determine whether the organization is getting any benefit from it, and whether the forms of training used in the organization are effective.

Monitoring the effectiveness of staff training allows you to take timely measures to improve the quality of training, correcting forms and methods of training. Assessing the effectiveness of personnel training in each specific organization requires choosing the most suitable methods assessments. Calculating financial indicators of the effectiveness of employee training is quite difficult, especially where people are engaged in mental work.

Traditional methods for assessing the effectiveness of employee training are testing, observation, self-reporting, statistical analysis etc. Among non-traditional methods, the following techniques have proven themselves:

— D. Kirkpatrick (assessment on 4 levels: reaction, learning, behavior, result);

— J. Phillips (assessment using formulas to measure the return on capital invested in personnel);

— M. Guy (biparametric assessment), etc.

Training and retraining of personnel will be effective if the costs for them in the future are lower than the organization’s costs of improving labor productivity using other factors and costs associated with errors in personnel selection.

Nowadays, any leader with more or less foresight devotes increased attention staff training. To maintain the occupied market share, and ultimately the entire business, the employer must constantly monitor the increase educational level their employees.

From this article you will learn:

• why is it necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of staff training;
• how to organize the process of assessing staff training;
• what models exist to evaluate the effectiveness of staff training;
• what four ways to use to organize an assessment of the effectiveness of staff training.

If assessing the effectiveness of personnel training requires high expenses from the employer, then how to justify the expenses? As experts note, the relevance of the problem of how to evaluate the effectiveness of staff training is only growing over time. Modern universities cannot cope with business demands: there is a clear backlog educational programs higher and middle educational institutions from the constantly changing requirements of companies and rapidly increasing market expectations. It so happens that an employee, a recent university graduate, comes to production with already outdated knowledge, often unsuitable for efficient growth and company development. The employer is forced to invest in staff training, especially for young professionals.

Personnel training assessment: how to organize the process

Well, the company is ready to spend money on employee development. After all, she herself commercial activity involves investing money, albeit for a specific purpose - for profit. Otherwise, it is no longer a business, but a charity. This is where the difficulties of assessing the effect of preparation are revealed. To ensure that the procedure is not carried out “for the sake of evaluation,” it is important for HR managers to understand what they will do with its results and whether the efforts are worth the investment.

You can spend millions on useless personnel development, which will not bring any economic efficiency. So wouldn't it be better to give this money to Orphanage? In this case, your charity will bring at least tangible benefit to someone.

What models exist to evaluate the effectiveness of staff training?

Most companies have different approaches to the question of how to evaluate the effectiveness of employee training. But almost all employers use the four-level model of American researcher Donald Kirkpatrick, described by him in 1959 in the book “Four Steps to Successful Training.” The instrument is now widespread and considered traditional.

The monitoring of methods for analyzing the effect of employee training, used at different enterprises, carried out by HR specialists showed: what more levels given model is used, the more complex the evaluation procedure becomes. Labor intensity assessment activities conducted using the fourth level of the Kirkpatrick model, exceeds even the costs of conducting the entire training cycle. According to the author of the technology himself, conducting training assessment at the fourth level is not always advisable due to its high cost.

Another American, J. Phillips, added a fifth level of assessment to the Kirkpatrick model in 1991 - ROI (return on investment in employee development). Today, his model has received recognition (ASTD) from the American Association for Training and Development and is successfully used around the world.

ROI is calculated using the following formula:

Along with the calculation of ROI, quite often they are involved in calculating the payback period indicator, which reflects the period of time for the return on investment invested in training. The payback period indicator is the inverse of the ROI indicator.

There is another model, it is practically unknown in our country, this is the so-called “Bloom's Taxonomy”. The model consists of three overlapping parts, spheres, which are often called KUN (knowledge, attitudes, skills):

• Cognitive sphere (knowledge);
• Emotional sphere(installations);
• Psychomotor sphere (skills).

This model in a practical sense is similar to the Kirkpatrick model, only with its help it is impossible to make a financial assessment of the effectiveness of personnel training.

Assessing the effectiveness of personnel training: the place of the process among the overall function of personnel development management

Assessing the effectiveness of staff training is the final stage management of personnel development in modern organizations and enterprises. Funds spent on vocational training are considered as investments in the development of the enterprise's personnel. These investments should bring a return in the form of increased efficiency of companies and enterprises.

Methods for assessing employee training can be distinguished by quantitative and quality characteristics. At quantitative method learning results are assessed based on indicators such as:

• total number of trained employees;
• number of employees undergoing training, by category;
• selected methods of advanced training;
• the amount of costs for personnel development.

Quantitative accounting of the effect of employee training is needed to form the social balance of the enterprise. However, quantitative methods will not help you analyze the results of staff training in terms of level vocational training, its compliance with the goals of the enterprise.

Only through qualitative methods for assessing training results will you determine the effectiveness of personnel training and its impact on technical specifications production.

Four ways in which the effectiveness of staff training can be assessed

Experts identify four main methods qualitative assessment results of professional training. In the first method, the abilities and knowledge of employees are assessed directly during or upon completion of the training course. When using the second method, professional knowledge and skills are assessed specifically in production conditions. The third method is to evaluate the impact of training on production parameters. The fourth way is the way economic assessment.

Using the first method, you can determine the degree of mastery of professional knowledge and skills. The assessment procedure usually involves the participation of only teachers and students; a classical form exam, “test situations” and so on are used.

The trainee's immediate supervisor conducts an assessment professional knowledge and skills in the production situation. The result of the acquired knowledge is assessed after a certain time interval (six or twelve months) after completion of the course. During this time period, the significance of the knowledge that the employee acquired during the training process will become apparent, and the state of “euphoria” that arose immediately upon completion of the program will pass. The use of this method will help determine the degree practical use acquired knowledge.

Establishing the degree of influence of employee training on production parameters can be considered as the main assessment level that connects training results with the requirements necessary for successful work and production development. The indicators of such analysis are expressed in physical quantities:

• number of staff,
• defect rate,
• staff turnover rate and the like.

Currently unavailable complex methods analysis, the use of which would allow us to more accurately determine the degree of influence of training on each individual factor.

The economic assessment of the effectiveness of employee training is based on the feasibility of investing in personnel and human resources. The criterion for the feasibility of investing in personnel is the amount of additional net income received after the training programs are implemented. In this case:

1. If the increment Above zero(D< C, где D – инвестиции в персонал, C – возможный долгосрочный эффект от инвестиций, наблюдаемый в производственно-коммерческом процессе), то вложение денежных средств в this program training of personnel pays off and is expedient. Moreover, the lower the market rate of return on capital, the higher the expected increase in net income in the Nth year, than longer period the time it takes to use the acquired knowledge, the more effective the investment in personnel;
2. If D > C, then investment in this program is inappropriate and there is a need to search for other areas of capital investment.

The expediency of the personnel training program is directly proportional to the duration possible use acquired knowledge.

The creation of some training programs does not aim at developing specific professional skills, but is aimed at developing a certain type of thinking and behavior. Measuring the effectiveness of such a program is quite difficult to do directly. After all, the results of the program are designed for a long-term period and are associated with the behavior and consciousness of people who cannot be accurately assessed. IN similar cases indirect methods are used:

• conducting tests before and after training that show the degree of increase in students’ knowledge;
• monitoring the behavior of trained employees in the workplace;
• monitoring the reactions of students during the program;
• assessment of the effectiveness of the program by students themselves using questionnaires or during open discussion.

The established criteria for assessing the effectiveness of programs should be brought to the attention of all participants (both students, trainers and process managers) even before the start of training. After the completion of the program and summing up the results, the results are reported to the personnel management service, the management of the trained employees and the employees themselves, and then are used in planning further training.

Why is it necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of staff training?

You can evaluate the effectiveness of staff training using various models. After all, each of the above models has its own advantages and disadvantages. Which of them will be chosen by a specialist assessing the effectiveness of staff training will completely depend on the goals set by the company’s management.

Application of the Kirkpatrick model allows you to quickly get a clear picture of the effectiveness of training activities. Using the Bloom's Taxonomy model makes it possible to more thoroughly evaluate the effectiveness of training, and also allows you to choose a specific personnel training strategy. Using J. Phillips' model, you can evaluate the financial aspects of training, for example, the effectiveness of investments in personnel. Therefore, today, according to experts, the problem is not the need to evaluate the effectiveness of training or the lack thereof, but the determination of the choice of its specific algorithm.

Indicators used to assess the effectiveness of training of the organization’s personnel:

indicators used to assess development and learning parameters. The number of company employees trained per year - this indicator depends not only on the development of the training system, but also on the size of the company: in a large organization, etc. equal conditions More employees are trained annually than in a small company. When setting a plan for this indicator and assessing its implementation, do not forget that the company has groups of employees who may undergo various training more than once during the year. Typically, these include company executives, sales specialists, accountants and lawyers sent to short-term seminars on the problems of rapidly changing Russian legislation, etc. The number of company employees trained per year is an indicator by which it is advisable to evaluate the dynamics of the volume of training in a company with a relatively stable number of its personnel. If the number of the company changes significantly over the years, then to analyze the dynamics of training development, as well as compare the company’s training indicators with other similar companies, it is necessary to use such an indicator as the ratio of the number of company employees trained per year to the total number of employees of the organization;

volumetric learning indicators. The above indicators do not take into account the volume of training, so a more adequate assessment of the training system in the company can be the total volume of training conducted in the company for the year, attributed to the number of company employees. That is, this indicator characterizes the amount of training per employee during the year. It can be measured in man-hours or man-days. Since individual training activities can last less than one day, you can convert hours into days using the calculation 1 day = 8 hours.

It is not difficult to calculate the costs of training: they are equal to the sum of direct (materials and salaries of teachers, cost of lost production) and indirect company-wide costs. Most experts believe that the following general criteria should be used to evaluate a professional development program:

reaction of participants - whether the participants liked the program, whether they were satisfied with its content and results;

the degree of mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities proposed by the program - in particular, according to the data of “input” and “output” testing;

the level of successful changes in behavior at work, improvement in personal performance at work (comparing assessments of performance “before” and “after” the training program);

the impact of training on the company’s performance – employee turnover, productivity, sales volume, etc.

The effectiveness of personnel development activities can be calculated using formula 1:

E = P – K x Z,

where P is the organization’s balance sheet profit for the reporting period;

K - efficiency coefficient;

Z – actual costs for personnel development in the reporting period.

The value of the efficiency coefficient is determined by management based on the goals set for the development programs. Information can be obtained from line managers, their subordinates who did not participate in the program and from persons from external environment who have been impacted by the program, such as clients. Based on the information received, it is possible to determine whether professional development is aimed at updating work ability, increasing job satisfaction and productivity of employees. Assessment methods include: special recordings, interviews, questionnaires, tests, evaluation matrices.

The practice of the best companies is characterized by the amount of training per employee ranging from 3 to 10 person-days per employee per year. In the last 3-5 years, there has been a global trend towards a reduction in the volume of training due to the expansion of computer-assisted training and distance learning;

economic indicators of training. Cost of a training event - this indicator can be estimated taking into account two main characteristics of the event itself - duration and number of participants. Therefore, in practice, it makes sense to consider such activities as the cost of 1 day (1 hour) of a training event and the cost of 1 day (1 hour) of training per 1 student. The first of the mentioned indicators is used for economic evaluation of group types of training, i.e. primarily closed seminars.

The second indicator is more universal, i.e. the cost of 1 day (1 hour) of training per student, which can be used for economic evaluation not only of any training activities, but also of the annual training plan. This indicator can be called a generalized measure of the economic efficiency of training. The lower this indicator, the more employees can be trained at lower costs.

Trainings based on interactive interaction between the teacher and students are usually conducted in groups of up to 10-12 people, since it is extremely difficult to ensure effective interaction in groups of larger numbers. When teaching computer skills, one teacher should have from 4 to 8 students, depending on the complexity of the product being studied, the initial qualifications of the students, and the methodological support of the educational process. An attempt to increase the economic efficiency of the mentioned types of training by increasing the number of participants leads to a sharp drop in quality. However, with constant monitoring of the quality and effectiveness of training, the use of this indicator can be considered legitimate.

Training costs can be assessed relative to profit and relative to the salary fund, as well as per 1 employee. The economic efficiency of training is related in the same way as the price and quality of any product and service. Namely: the lower the price, the lower the quality, as a rule. From the perspective of the employee’s interests, the assessment is carried out in two directions: the development of the employee’s competence (advanced training) and the possibility of advancement up the career ladder (career). Currently, many companies save on training, while the most successful companies allocate up to 10% of their payroll to education needs. Training is one of the first places in the list of means to increase the competitiveness of an employer.

By calculating the costs of training and weighing them against the financial benefits to the company of a trained employee, testing the effectiveness of training can be extended to evaluation. However, the ease and accuracy of the assessment varies greatly:

• - the costs of off-the-job training are much easier to estimate than the costs of on-the-job training;
• - the financial benefits of training are much easier to calculate if we're talking about about physical, not mental labor;
• - it is quite easy to estimate the costs of inadequate training, for example, the cost of defects, damaged raw materials, customer complaints, overtime to correct errors;
• - the benefits of training go beyond simply improving work efficiency.

Significant difficulties may arise when attempting to measure these benefits in financial terms.

Assessing the effectiveness of training is an important stage in organizing training for the organization’s personnel. You can select following goals efficiency definitions:

• - find out whether employees’ attitude towards work has changed;
• - assess the depth of knowledge acquired by the employee;
• - understand whether the money invested in employee training is rational;
• - evaluate the economic result that the company received by training personnel.

The timing of assessment may influence final result training:

• - assessment before the start of the training program;
• - assessment on the last day of the training;
• - assessment some time after the training.

IN Lately Increasingly, the cost of professional training is seen as an investment in the development of the organization's personnel. These investments should bring a return in the form of increased productivity of workers and additional profits.

The cost-effectiveness of employee training is assessed based on analysis total amount and cost structures and analysis of the results of implementing specific training programs. The effectiveness of training is determined analytically or expertly, by comparing many elements according to the scheme (Figure 1).

Assessing the effectiveness of training programs is the final stage of personnel development management in modern organization. There are quantitative and qualitative methods assessment of learning outcomes. With the quantitative method, learning outcomes are assessed using indicators such as:

• - total number students;
• - number of students by category;
• - types of forms of advanced training;
• - the amount of funds allocated for development.

Quantitative accounting of training results is necessary to prepare the social balance of the enterprise, but it does not allow assessing the effectiveness of professional training and its compliance with the goals of the enterprise.

Qualitative methods for assessing the results of advanced training make it possible to determine the effectiveness of training and its impact on production parameters. There are four main ways to qualitatively assess the results of vocational training:

• 1. Assessment of abilities and knowledge during or at the end of the training course.
• 2. Assessment of professional knowledge and skills in a production situation.
• 3. Assessing the impact of training on production parameters.
• 4. Economic assessment.

Using the first method, you can determine the degree of mastery of professional knowledge and skills. As a rule, only teachers and students participate in the assessment procedure; here the classic exam form, “test situations”, etc. can be used.

The assessment of professional knowledge and skills in a production situation is carried out by the student’s immediate supervisor after a certain period of time (six months, a year) after training, during which the acquired knowledge is integrated with existing knowledge, its value is revealed, the effect of “enthusiasm” is eliminated, which can manifest itself directly completion of training. Using this method, you can determine the degree of practical use of the acquired knowledge.

Determining the impact of training on production parameters can be considered as the main assessment level that connects the results of training with the requirements of the functioning and development of production. Indicators of the impact of training on production parameters can be expressed in physical quantities of the number of personnel, coefficients (waste, defects, staff turnover), etc. However, at present, comprehensive methods of analysis have not been developed that make it possible to accurately determine the degree of influence of training on each individual factor.

The economic assessment of learning outcomes is based on the feasibility of investing in human capital. The size of the increment in additional net income after the implementation of training programs is taken as a criterion for the feasibility of investing in human capital. In this case :

• - if the increment is greater than zero (D
• - if D > C, then investments in this program are inappropriate and it is necessary to look for other areas of investment of capital.

The expediency of a personnel training program is directly proportional to the period of possible use of the acquired knowledge.

Some training programs are created not to develop specific professional skills, but to develop a certain type of thinking and behavior. The effectiveness of such a program is quite difficult to measure directly, since its results are designed for a long period and are associated with the behavior and consciousness of people that cannot be accurately assessed. In such cases, indirect methods are used:

• - tests conducted before and after training and showing how much the students’ knowledge has increased;
• - monitoring the behavior of trained employees in the workplace;
• - monitoring the reactions of students during the program;
• - assessment of the effectiveness of the program by the students themselves using surveys or during open discussion.

Criteria for assessing the effectiveness of training programs should be established before training and brought to the attention of students, trainers and managers of the professional training process in the organization. After completion of the training and its evaluation, the results are reported to the personnel management service, the managers of the trained employees and the employees themselves, and are also used in further planning of professional training.

With the help of such information it is possible to improve educational plans, making them more relevant to the goals set, focus attention on further training needs of specific employees.

Researchers identify two most well-known methods for assessing the effectiveness of training:

• - ROI (Return On Investment, Phillips, 1996);
• - 4-level model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick.

ROI (from the English return on investment) is a financial ratio illustrating the level of profitability or unprofitability of a business, taking into account the amount of investment made in this business. ROI is usually expressed as a percentage, less often as a fraction. This indicator may also have the following names:

• - return on invested capital,
• - return on investment,
• - return,
• - return on invested capital,
• - rate of return.

ROI is the ratio of the amount of profit or loss to the amount of investment. The profit value can be interest income, profit / loss on accounting, profit/loss under management accounting or net profit/loss. The value of the investment amount can be assets, capital, the amount of principal of the business and other investments denominated in money.

Donald Kirkpatrick views assessment as an integral part of the training delivery cycle, which includes 10 stages:

• - Determination of needs.
• - Setting goals.
• - Determination of subject content.
• - Selection of training participants.
• - Formation of an optimal schedule.
• - Selection of appropriate premises.
• - Selection of appropriate teachers.
• - Preparation of audiovisual media.
• - Program coordination.
• - Program evaluation.

• - Justify the existence of a training department by showing how the department contributes to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
• - Decide whether to continue or terminate the training program.
• - Get information on how to improve the training program in the future.

Kirkpatrick believes that in most cases, evaluation is carried out in order to understand how to increase the effectiveness of the training, in what ways it can be improved. In this regard, it is proposed to answer the following 8 questions:

• - To what extent does the training content meet the needs of the participants?
• - Is the choice of teacher optimal?
• - Does the teacher use the most effective methods to maintain the interest of participants, transfer knowledge to them, develop their skills and attitudes?
• - Are the conditions for training satisfactory?
• - Are participants satisfied with the class schedule?
• - Do audiovisual aids improve communication and maintain the interest of participants?
• - Was the coordination of the program satisfactory?
• - What else can be done to improve the program?

Note that all questions except the first and last are formulated by the author as closed (requiring “yes” or “no” answers). From the point of view of formulating task questions for assessment, this form of questions is not always good.

Kirkpatrick believes that in most cases, evaluation is limited to the use of post-training questionnaires - studying the immediate reaction of trainees to the training. He calls these questionnaires “smile-sheets,” meaning that participants most often use the questionnaires to express gratitude. A more complex and in-depth assessment is not carried out because:

• - it is not considered urgent or important,
• - no one knows how to carry it out,
• - management does not require this,
• - people feel safe and do not see the need to “dig” deeper,
• - there are many things that are more important to them or that they prefer to do.

Four levels, according to Kirkpatrick, determine the sequence of assessment of training (training). He writes: “Each level is important and affects the next level. As you move from level to level, the assessment process becomes more difficult and time-consuming, but also produces more valuable information. No level can be skipped simply to concentrate on what the coach considers most important” (it should be noted that many experts do not agree with this statement by Kirkpatrick). Here are the famous four levels according to the author:

• 1. Reaction;
• 2. Learning;
• 3. Behavior;
• 4. Results.

Reaction. Evaluation at this level determines how program participants respond to the program. Kirkpatrick calls this a customer satisfaction score. When training is conducted internally, the response of participants is not always interpreted as customer satisfaction. The fact is that participation in such trainings is mandatory. People simply have no choice. The company's management determines the need for this training and obliges employees to take part in it. It would seem that in this case, we need to talk about the reaction of management. Kirkpatrick emphasizes that in this case, the reaction of the participants is a very important criterion for the success of the training, for at least two reasons.

Firstly, people one way or another share their impressions of the training with their management, and this information goes higher. Consequently, it influences decisions to continue training.

Secondly, if participants do not respond positively, they will not be motivated to learn. According to Kirkpatrick, a positive reaction does not guarantee the successful development of new knowledge, skills and abilities. A negative reaction to training almost certainly means a decrease in the likelihood of learning.

Learning is defined as the change in attitudes, improvement in knowledge and improvement in skills of participants as a result of their completion of a training program. Kirkpatrick argues that changes in participants' behavior as a result of training are only possible when learning occurs (attitudes change, knowledge improves, or skills improve).

Behavior. At this level, an assessment is made of the extent to which the participants' behavior has changed as a result of training. Kirkpartick points out that the lack of change in participants' behavior does not mean the training was ineffective. Situations are possible when the reaction to the training was positive, learning occurred, but the behavior of the participants did not change in the future, since the rules for this were not observed. the necessary conditions. Therefore, the lack of change in the behavior of participants after the training cannot be a reason for making a decision to terminate the program. Kirkpartick recommends that in these cases, in addition to assessing reaction and learning, check for the presence of the following conditions:

• - Participants' desire to change behavior.
• - Participants have knowledge of what and how to do.
• - Availability of an appropriate socio-psychological climate.
• - Rewarding participants for behavior change.

Speaking about the socio-psychological climate, Kirkpatrick refers primarily to the immediate supervisors of the training participants. He identifies five types of “climate”:

• - prohibiting,
• - discouraging
• - neutral,
• - supportive,
• - demanding.

The manager’s position, accordingly, changes from a prohibition on changing behavior to a requirement to change behavior after the end of the training. Kirkpatrick believes that the only way creating a positive climate - involving managers in the development curricula.

Results. Outcomes include changes that occurred as participants completed the training. As examples of results, Kirkpatrick cites increased productivity, improved quality, decreased accidents, increased sales, and decreased employee turnover. Kirkpatrick insists that results should not be measured in money.

He believes the changes listed above could, in turn, lead to increased profits. Kirkpatrick writes: “I laugh when I hear that professional trainers must be able to demonstrate the benefit to the client in terms of return on investment in training. I feel the same way about the relationship between training programs and profits. Just imagine all the factors that affect profit! And you can add them to the list of factors influencing return on investment.”

According to Kirkpatrick, assessment at this level is the most difficult and expensive. Here are a few practical recommendations, which can help in assessing the results:

• - if possible, use a control group (those who did not receive training),
• - carry out the assessment after some time so that the results become noticeable,
• - conduct assessments before and after the program (if possible),
• - carry out the assessment several times during the program,
• - compare the value of the information that can be obtained through the assessment and the cost of obtaining this information (the author believes that conducting an assessment at level 4 is not always advisable due to its high cost).

Most often in practice, a method is used that combines elements of these two models of learning assessment. Meaning this method is as follows: the effects of training interventions are consistently assessed at each level.

Levels of training effectiveness assessment

It can be concluded that assessing the effectiveness of staff training is central point management vocational training in a modern organization.