If someone asked you what your learning and development programs do for your business, would you have an answer ready? What about what it does for your employees? Most business leaders can explain the purpose of employee training programs, but few have the data to support their answers. Knowing how to track employee training makes all the difference.
Most employees expect their employer to provide the training and education they need to stay up-to-date in their industry. Employers are expanding their training budgets to meet these needs. But many organizations have no framework in place for measuring learning success. Perhaps this is why executives often overestimate employee satisfaction with L&D programs compared to actual employee feedback.
Without a system to track learning success rates, you cannot know how well your training program works. You also can’t see what you can do to improve it.
Wondering how to track employee training in the best way to optimize your L&D success? Here, we’ll talk about:
- Reasons why you should track employee training
- The best metrics for tracking training
- How to track employee training
Why should you track employee training?
The most common reasons business leaders and HR professionals track employee training progress are to calculate ROI or to meet compliance regulations. While there’s no doubt these are essential business functions, your training data has the potential to do more. By tracking specific key performance indicators (KPIs), you can also use your data to improve the employee learning experience and L&D outcomes.
Your employee training data can take the guesswork out of whether your training efforts are meeting your employees’ expectations. It can even clarify whether learning progress aligns with your business objectives.
Identify knowledge gaps
Data ranging from participation and course completion to post-training assessment scores gives you insight into how your employees are interacting with training materials. They also display how much employees’ skills improve due to training. If employee performance fails to improve as expected after training, you can pinpoint areas where training content falls short.
Improve employee training programs
When you combine hard data like performance metrics with employee feedback about training activities, you can learn more about how your employees feel about the training modules available and how well the training courses help them advance their business knowledge. Direct answers from questionnaires and surveys can also help you gauge employee engagement. Then you can learn more about the types of training that work best.
Calculate ROI
If you currently calculate the ROI of your training programs for your financial records, you may be wondering what this data has to do with improving L&D outcomes. But for most businesses, this calculation is the one that holds the highest level of importance. If training programs improve the company’s bottom line, they’re worth the investment.
As such, this calculation has the biggest impact on your future training budget. It also shapes how you can improve overall employee performance with effective training programs. ROI calculators can help you effortlessly track and report the business value of your employee development programs.
What training metrics should you track?
Unfortunately, understanding the ‘why’ behind tracking doesn’t give you much insight into how to track employee training. The KPIs and metrics you use to gauge your employee training efforts will play an important role in the information you gather.
These are some key metrics you should consider tracking to gauge the effectiveness of your L&D programs.
Completion rates
For mandatory courses, like compliance training, you need a high course completion rate. However, not all development programs are mandatory. When online training or scheduled events in a classroom setting don’t yield high completion rates, you need to know why. By analyzing dropout rates, you can gain insight into why learners leave. For example, poor scheduling or insufficient resources may make the program challenging or impossible for busy employees to stick with.
Employee engagement and learning effectiveness
Most business leaders are familiar with the importance of employee engagement in the workplace. But did you know that learner engagement is equally essential when it comes to effective learning? Engaged learners who are invested in the program are more likely to retain the information over time. They’ll also use what they’ve learned in the workplace.
Track these key engagement indicators:
- Time spent actively learning (not just logged in)
- Interaction with multimedia content and assessments
- Participation in discussion forums or collaborative features
- Return rates for optional or recommended training
- Mobile learning adoption rates
Consider the importance of knowledge retention for new employees. An engaging training process can play a major role in onboarding success.
Modern LMS platforms can track micro-engagement signals like pause patterns in videos, time spent on specific slides, and assessment attempt behaviors to give you deeper insights into how learners interact with your content.
Pass/fail rates
Training completion means little if learners don’t gain usable information from training sessions. Employee training should align with business goals such as improved productivity, increased sales, better customer service, or using new tools. By conducting pre- and post-learning assessments, you can establish how much your training courses teach employees. If pass rates are low, it’s time to examine your program. Determine why it fails to deliver the knowledge it’s designed for.
Employee performance
When used for cross-skilling, upskilling, or improving satisfaction metrics, how your employees use their new skills in the workplace will play a pivotal role in measuring learning success. By using KPIs to track employee performance before and after training, you can determine if training programs achieve their goals.
Advanced tracking capabilities with AI-powered automation
Today’s most effective training tracking goes beyond manual monitoring. Modern platforms leverage AI and automation to streamline the entire process, making tracking more accurate and less time-intensive.
Automated compliance management
Your LMS should automatically assign required training based on employee roles, departments, or certification expiration dates. Look for platforms that send smart reminders before deadlines and escalate to managers when training becomes overdue. This automation ensures nothing falls through the cracks, especially for compliance-critical training.
AI-driven learning analytics
Advanced platforms use AI to identify patterns in learning behavior, predict completion likelihood, and recommend interventions before employees fall behind. These systems can automatically flag learners who might need additional support and suggest personalized learning paths based on performance data.
Real-time dashboard insights
Instead of waiting for monthly reports, modern tracking systems provide live dashboards showing completion rates, engagement levels, and compliance status across your organization. Managers can drill down from company-wide metrics to individual employee progress without generating manual reports.
How to track employee training
As with other business objectives, your tracking system needs to be efficient and cost-effective. The tracking tools you use for measuring training KPIs can streamline the process and improve your insight into your training efforts. While tracking training progress manually requires a lower cost investment, automatic tracking through specialized employee training tracking software is typically more efficient.
These are the three most common ways to accurately and efficiently track training success.
Learning Management System (LMS)
Your LMS already plays an important role in managing training content and delivering training materials to learners. A comprehensive LMS platform can also help you gather and analyze essential training data related to the activity that occurs within the platform. An LMS is an end-to-end solution for internal staff training. High-performance LMS options can automate repetitive tracking tasks such as gathering data, grading, and processing statistics.
With the right LMS, you can perform a self-assessment to measure your learning program against benchmarks and add depth to the types of analysis performed with your training data. The results enable you to gain insight into employee engagement levels, completion rates, and impact on employee turnover. Features like survey templates and built-in reporting give you access to vital data about employee engagement and performance improvement. With clear insight into how your employees respond to your training programs, you can eliminate what isn’t working and add new options for better results.
Training Management System (TMS)
If you have a very small business or a scaled-back training system geared toward a single objective, you may think that an LMS goes far beyond your basic needs. Businesses seeking a cloud-based system to track course completion and generate reports may be more comfortable with a training management system or a less complex employee training tracker tool. A TMS enables professionals to track in-person training and e-learning. But it doesn’t have the varied features and learning modalities offered by an LMS. If your goal is simplicity, a TMS might align more with your needs.
Excel and Google spreadsheets
If you’re on a shoestring budget, you may have reservations about investing in a learning portal. While they’ll require a larger time investment and more manual input, spreadsheets can be used to track learning success. Both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets can be used to record training logs and track results.
You may be able to find a template to use as a starting point to organize your tracking requirements. Manual data entry will be required after each training session, and you may find it’s best to have each table rechecked by a second set of eyes to avoid errors.
Choosing the right tracking approach for your organization
The most effective tracking system depends on your organization’s size, compliance requirements, and learning objectives. Here’s how to match your needs with the right solution:
For compliance-heavy industries
If you operate in healthcare, finance, manufacturing, or other regulated sectors, prioritize platforms with:
- Automated certification tracking and renewal alerts
- Audit-ready reporting with timestamped completion records
- Role-based training assignments that update automatically
- Integration with compliance management systems
For growing organizations
Scaling businesses need tracking systems that grow with them:
- Cloud-based platforms that handle increasing user volumes
- API integrations with existing HR and business systems
- White-label capabilities for customer and partner training
- Multi-tenant architecture for different business units
For global enterprises
Large organizations require sophisticated tracking capabilities:
- Multi-language support and localized content tracking
- Advanced analytics with custom reporting dashboards
- Enterprise-grade security and data governance
- Extended enterprise features for customers and partners
Your tracking system should integrate seamlessly with your existing tech stack, automate routine tasks, and provide the specific insights your business needs to measure learning impact.
Implementation best practices for training tracking success
Getting your tracking system right from the start saves time and improves data quality. Follow these proven practices:
Start with clear objectives
Define what success looks like before you begin tracking. Are you measuring compliance adherence, skill development, or business impact? Your tracking approach should align with these goals.
Establish baseline metrics
Capture current performance levels before implementing new tracking. This gives you a benchmark to measure improvement and calculate ROI accurately.
Set up automated workflows
Configure your system to handle routine tasks automatically:
- Assign training based on role or hire date
- Send reminder emails before deadlines
- Generate compliance reports for audits
- Alert managers when team members fall behind
Train your trainers and managers
Your tracking system is only as good as the people using it. Ensure L&D teams and managers understand how to interpret data and take action on insights.
The most successful organizations treat training tracking as an ongoing process, not a one-time setup. Regular review and optimization of your tracking approach ensures you continue getting valuable insights as your business evolves.
An efficient tracking system is your pathway to improved L&D outcomes
Without an effective system for how to track employee training, your perceptions about your L&D programs can only be called an educated guess. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to keep employees engaged or result in performance improvements that increase your bottom line. Learning how to track employee training is essential for developing strong L&D programs that help employees advance their careers and meet your business objectives.
When you use your learning platform to gather data and analyze the results of training, you can prove whether learning programs are effective or find ways to improve them. An advanced LMS like Docebo is the most powerful way to track learning and improve L&D outcomes. With optimized survey techniques and built-in reporting, you can gain insight into what’s working and what isn’t to make the most of your L&D programs and improve results. To support your company’s growth and learn more about the importance of ongoing education in today’s workplace, reach out to our team.
