Return on Investment for Training (by Juarez Lowe)

This article by my associate Juarez Lowe of is very timely given that Client's are demanding tangible results and measurements for their training investments.
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Measurement of training is a common issue faced by most HR/Training managers. How much do you get for your training investment? Does your return justify the investment?

Kirkpatrick came up with 4 levels of evaluation.

Levels 1 and 2 are skills and knowledge. That can be measured by a pre and post training evaluation. Normally the pre and post results will almost always show a marked improvement, from around 20-30% in the pre to 80-90% in the post training evaluation.

Level 3 is behavioral change. The person’s behaviour has changed due to the training. The person who is most often tasked with this is the direct supervisor.

The “holy grail” of training is level 4, return on investment training. This has to be done over a long term period, not a 1 or 2 day training session. How has the training impacted the business and resulted in direct returns for the company?