Measuring the ROI of Learning and Development for Employees

Measuring the ROI of Learning and Development (L&D) is critical to tracking the impact of the L&D outcomes, especially when it comes to revenue and profits over a given year. Learning and development is the most direct route to aligning employees’ capabilities with a program’s business goals. Learning and development programs include courses on compliance, soft skills, upskilling, product training, onboarding, and reskilling. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more companies have invested in training. 

How can professionals calculate ROI? Simply put, ROI is calculated by subtracting the cost of L&D from the benefits of L&D, dividing this number by the cost of L&D and multiplying it by 100. It is an important metric for measuring the impact of L&D. 

However, it can be difficult to effectively measure ROI due to the time, effort, and money that is involved. Research finds that companies spend up to 71 hours of training per employee, which adds up to $1,065 per employee based on a $15 per hour salary. Furthermore, despite the benefits of going digital with training, online models often come at a significant cost, as well. For instance, Articulate, a common online course authoring tool, costs $120K per 1,000 employees. Along with these costs, most employees are not satisfied with their learning outcomes. Research finds that 35% of organizations say that they lack access to the right training content and 21% say their training content is out of date. Therefore, ineffective training costs companies $1.35 million per 1,000 employees. 

With a science-backed microlearning platform, companies can effectively measure ROI. Along with acquiring a learning program with purpose and accessibility, companies that utilize corporate learning can also expect a boost in confidence among employees, an increase in employee retention, and more. It saves companies time, money, and energy when creating and measuring their corporate learning.