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Professional development

6 ways to quantify ROI for learning and development

By Suzanne McCall
August 5, 2022 9:00 AM
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Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN's weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com. This week, we asked Suzanne McCall, senior learning and development consultant at Pinnacle Group, to weigh in on the following: How do we quantify ROI for learning and development?

There is a widely known quote related to learning and development that states, "What if we invest in training employees and they leave? On the other hand, what if we don't invest in L&D for employees and they stay?"

There is value in learning and development, but how does one quantify that value? How does one measure the return behind the investment of time and money in these programs? Measuring ROI not only helps leadership make their strategic planning and resource commitment decisions, it also has the potential to improve the position of L&D within the organization as a catalyst for change.

Read more: Upskilling is the answer for a tight labor market

A first step in quantification is determining your leadership's focus. Different leaders and companies measure ROI differently, so it's important to deliver your results in a way that will be most meaningful to them. Key areas for measurement will include operational or production efficiencies; improving operational quality; growing sales or profit; improving customer satisfaction; employee retention and satisfaction; and organizational compliance.

You may even want to select more than one focus considering that quantifying L&D isn't always straightforward and can benefit the organization across a number of areas. For example, upskilling a specific operational skill can be measured in terms of production efficiency or quality, before and after. However, upskilling executive communication is more difficult to measure because results will be experienced across a broader area within the organization. 

Some of the most successful ways to quantify L&D within your organization include measuring:

Production efficiency and/or quality improvements

This is the easiest to quantify because one can measure improvement within a single task or department before and after and track results.

Sales of profit increases

Although correlation may not be causation, there are a number of times when relating L&D results here can be a useful quantifier.

Tracking customer satisfaction

For example, surveying quality scores from customers before and after can quantify L&D's impact on improving quality.

Read more: Microlearning can be the key to balancing workload with manager development

Tracking employee retention

The idea is to measure levels of employees staying with the company before and after implementing an L&D curriculum. Another measurement along these lines can be employee absenteeism before and after.

Tracking employee engagement

The number of employees participating in the program can be quantified. Another method is to track the number of employees starting and then finishing a course.

Surveying employee experiences

For example, after teaching executive communication skills, employees perceptions of their experiences with management can be measured before and after.

Virtually everyone believes that L&D adds value. However, in order to compete effectively for resources within an enterprise, L&D results must be quantified as they relate to helping achieve the company's mission, and ultimately, attaining a meaningful position in transforming the organization.
Suzanne McCall
Learning and development consultant, Pinnacle Group Business Resources
Professional development Ask an Adviser
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