During a recent discussion with several employers registered under HRD Corp, it was evident that some organisations still measure their training KPIs based on “the total training hours per employee.
Back in 2005, under the “Public Sector Human Resource Training Policy” (PP 6/2005), government departments and agencies introduced a standard of “7 training days per person” as an organisational training KPI. This practice may have influenced some organisations to adopt a similar approach as their benchmark for staff training.
However, times have changed. Nearly 20 years later, many still adhere to this outdated method, even though the public sector itself has moved away from it.
This presents a challenge for industry professionals: encouraging training officers to shift from traditional KPIs to alternative metrics that better reflect training outcomes.
Some examples of alternative metrics include:
- Assessing the level of understanding of core topics (aligned with the organisation’s current needs).
- Evaluating mastery of specialised topics (based on departmental or role-specific requirements).
- Measuring the application of training in real-world work scenarios.
- Monitoring improvements in outcomes or value generated from training implementation.
- Analysing the direct and indirect impact on individual and team performance.
- Achieving positive ROI or cost-benefit ratios from training initiatives.
Does this approach require more effort?
Absolutely.
Is it worth it?
Without change, achieving different results is impossible, right?
Where to start?
Training attended by training officers should itself align with meaningful goals—not merely fulfill a quota of hours to meet KPIs.
All the best!