What are the best practices for designing and conducting employee training surveys?

Determine the purpose: Clearly identify why you are conducting the survey. Are you seeking feedback on a specific training program? Are you looking to assess overall training effectiveness? Understanding the purpose will help you craft your relevant objectives. Identify key areas to measure: Think about the specific aspects of the training program or desired outcomes that you want to evaluate. For example, you might want to measure knowledge gain, satisfaction with the trainer, or the applicability of the training material. List the key areas you want to focus on.

Links out to these measurement tools would be good. Often time La training output can only be measured over a set period of time. That should be considered.

Set measurable goals: Transform your identified areas into specific, measurable goals. For instance, instead of stating "assess knowledge," you could specify a goal like "determine whether employees' knowledge increased by X% after the training." This will allow you to track progress and measure the success of the training.

As a tool to measure you can do a pre-Training survey to set a baseline. This may help to measure comfortability around different topics from beginning and end.

Consider the survey design: Determine the type of survey questions that will best help you achieve your objectives. Options include multiple-choice questions, rating scales, open-ended questions, or a combination. Ensure the survey questions directly relate to your objectives to obtain accurate and relevant responses.

When I conduct learning opportunities in-person, I ask participants to participate in completing evaluations electronically through their cell phone. I use an electronic survey tool, such as Survey Monkey, where a QR code is populated at the end of the training. Participants can scan the QR code to easily gain access to the survey tool, and promptly provide their feedback. Providing the survey tool in this format often provides a higher response rate and the experiential data (such as employee satisfaction) reflects the most valid real-time responses from participants. If evaluations are emailed moments after the event, participants may be less likely to participate and may not recall the most accurate reflection of their experience.

To get quality and quantity of data from employee training surveys... ensure you do these steps: 1. Keep it simple and don't use jargon or too many open ended questions that can be confusing 2. Avoid leading questions or anything that can cause bias data 3. Use anonymity to avoid any fear of judgment and to get uninhibited feedback 4. Make it look professional 5. Incentivise employees and motivate them at several points 6. Show them the value and what's in it for them if they give the feedback

Identify trends and patterns: Look for patterns and trends in the survey responses. Group similar responses together and identify common themes or issues that emerge. This can help you understand the overall sentiment and identify areas of strength or improvement. Create a comprehensive report: Compile all the findings, insights, and recommendations into a comprehensive report. Include visual representations of the data, clear explanations of the analysis, and actionable recommendations. Present the data in a way that is easy to understand and digest for stakeholders.