Is your training truly delivering business impact or are you just tracking completion rates?

Many organisations struggle to move beyond basic training evaluation methods, leaving them uncertain if their L&D programs are driving real-world performance. The Tenneo Industry Report reveals a growing gap between what organisations measure and what really matters. These findings highlight the importance of L&D success metrics that go beyond engagement and focus on behavioural change and employee training ROI.

A staggering 43% of organisations still struggle to measure training ROI, and only 30% track real-world skill application, highlighting a major gap in L&D evaluation. With data-backed insights from the Tenneo Industry Report, let’s explore how companies can transform their approach to assessing workplace learning and ensure training investments deliver measurable outcomes.

The Current Struggle: Why Measuring L&D Impact is Challenging

For many L&D leaders, the biggest hurdle is identifying the right metrics to track employee training ROI. While training completion rates and employee satisfaction scores have been widely used, they fail to answer the most critical questions:

• Is training improving employee performance?
• Are employees applying newly acquired skills in their roles?
• How is training impacting business growth and workforce retention?

17% of organisations lack sufficient data to track training effectiveness, leading to unstructured evaluation methods and limited insight into long-term impact.

To explore how organisations measure learning impact, we’ve used the Kirkpatrick Model as a reference point, identifying key trends, gaps, and evolving priorities in training evaluation.

The Kirkpatrick Model is a widely used framework for evaluating training effectiveness, measuring impact across four levels – Reaction (learner engagement and satisfaction), Learning (knowledge retention and skill acquisition), Behavioural Change (skill application and improvement), and Results (Training ROI). 

Most organisations still rely on basic training evaluation methods, focusing on Level 1 and Level 2. These levels offer little insights into whether employees are really applying what they’ve learned and contributing to business success.

The real challenge is moving towards Level 3 and Level 4. This is where organisations measure how effectively employees apply skills on the job and whether training impacts productivity, revenue growth, and retention.

The gap between learning and business outcomes remains wide, and traditional learning platforms often lack the tools to provide real-time insights into training impact.

To bridge this gap, organisations need to shift from basic evaluation methods to advanced performance measurement strategies that drive meaningful insights.

Advanced Strategies to Measure Learning Outcomes

To ensure that corporate training for employees delivers measurable outcomes, organisations must align their training strategies with key performance indicators for L&D.

Here’s how businesses can effectively measure training success at each stage:

1. Measuring Business Impact: Aligning Learning with Organisational Goals

Organisations struggle with measuring training ROI, often due to fragmented tracking systems that fail to connect learning initiatives with business performance. Many companies track engagement metrics but don’t link training to key business outcomes such as productivity, revenue growth, or workforce retention.

To address this, companies must move beyond surface-level reporting and integrate business-driven KPIs into their corporate learning management system. By tracking workforce productivity, operational efficiency, and revenue impact, organisations can determine if training is leading to tangible business results.

A corporate LMS with built-in analytics can help L&D leaders:

• Identify productivity gains by measuring post-training efficiency improvements.
• Assess retention impact by linking employee engagement with learning investments.
• Track revenue growth by evaluating the financial benefits of upskilling initiatives.

By embedding data-driven performance indicators into L&D strategy, organisations can shift from activity-based learning to business-aligned learning that drives measurable results.

2. Moving Beyond Completion Rates: Smarter Assessment Strategies

For too long, assessments and completion rates have been the default metrics for training effectiveness. However, these numbers only tell part of the story. With 43% of organisations still using traditional assessments and just 9% tracking completion rates, there is a growing need for smarter, outcome-focused evaluation methods.

While tests and quizzes measure knowledge retention, they don’t reflect whether employees can apply their learning in real-world scenarios.

To improve measurement accuracy, organisations must adopt AI-driven assessments that:

• Personalise learning evaluations by adapting test difficulty to individual learners.
• Measure real-world skill application with competency-based testing instead of simple multiple-choice quizzes.
• Track knowledge transfer on the job through structured on-the-job evaluations.

By moving beyond passive assessments, L&D teams can evaluate learning in context, ensuring employees don’t just complete training but actively apply it.

3. Manager Feedback as a Performance Indicator

With 30% of organisations relying on manager feedback and 21% focusing on CSAT scores to gauge training effectiveness, it’s evident that companies are prioritising on-the-job application. However, manual feedback processes are often inconsistent, making it difficult to accurately measure employee training ROI.

To overcome this challenge, organisations must shift to structured, data-driven feedback mechanisms that:

• Embed performance tracking into LMS dashboards, enabling real-time skill application tracking.
• Collect continuous feedback loops rather than relying on annual performance reviews.
• Use AI-driven sentiment analysis to assess employee confidence, engagement, and perceived skill gaps.

By formalising feedback mechanisms, organisations can ensure that training drives practical skill application, rather than being just a checkbox activity.

4. Strategic Upskilling: Building a Future-Ready Workforce

The need for continuous upskilling has never been greater, yet only 13% of organisations actively track upskilling for role fulfilment. Without a clear understanding of how training contributes to long-term career growth, businesses risk losing talent and falling behind in industry competitiveness.

To future-proof the workforce, L&D leaders must focus on:

• Mapping skill acquisition to career progression, ensuring employees see direct benefits from training investments.
• Developing AI-driven learning paths that evolve based on industry trends, employee interests, and company goals.
• Using predictive analytics to identify skill gaps before they emerge, enabling proactive workforce planning.

By making upskilling an integral part of corporate training for employees, organisations can increase workforce readiness and ensure that training investments drive measurable career and business growth.

Conclusion

Organisations that rely solely on basic training metrics will struggle to prove L&D impact. To truly assess workplace learning, L&D leaders must transition to advanced, performance-driven measurement strategies that track skill application, business impact, and workforce development.

Whether you’re looking to measure skill application, optimise learning pathways, or track corporate training impact for employees, the Tenneo Industry Report provides the insights and solutions you need.

Download the report now to build a smarter, impact-driven L&D strategy.

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