In the age of information, organizations are more transparent about their business goals and have incorporated new technology to support a vibrant learning culture. The momentum of innovations like virtual reality (VR) training isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In fact, a new wave of strategy for measuring the success of these training programs is transforming the way organizations see ROI. The overwhelming majority of companies hope to motivate their workforce to upskill and align with company-wide goals. With these intentions in mind, extended reality programs are making a big impact on corporate training. We ran a survey and found that measuring the success of training programs sometimes is divided between departments. As one of our participants put it:
Success Metrics are difficult to come by and they don’t always translate into useful information for both parties involved. What operations (teams) find helpful as a metric doesn’t help the L&D teams define success and vice versa.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
1. Employee Turnover
- According to Forbes, 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days, but 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience a quality onboarding process.
- The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that in January 2023, 260,000 workers quit jobs in the manufacturing industry and 232,000 left the transportation, warehousing, and utilities industries.
- Workhuman says that the cost of employee turnover is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of the existing employee’s salary. Imagine spending twice the amount you’d pay for someone to work at your organization only to walk out the backdoor!
- The cost of turnover is more than just a dollar amount. While the average cost associated with yearly turnover has been estimated between $57,150 and $100,000, the organizational impact of turnover burdens the remaining workforce and negatively impacts team morale.
2. Onboarding Time
Onboarding is a first impression without any re-dos. The metrics tied to onboarding measure both employee satisfaction and productivity. Effective onboarding reduces turnover, engages employees, and can improve the level of future productivity. But we know decision makers like to follow the bottom dollar, so let’s take a look at a few stats.
- According to Glassdoor, the average U.S. employer spends an average of $4,000 on every new hire.
- While getting new hires up to speed, it’s inevitable that production slows down. From the new hire to the training supervisor and the co-worker filling the gap – each salary is costing their organization for a slowed pace of work.
- The onboarding process for warehouse employees takes an average of 6-8 weeks. That’s up to 15% of a new hire’s yearly salary and doesn’t even guarantee proficiency.
The onboarding process, when done correctly, prepares new hires to perform their roles as quickly and efficiently as possible. Measuring the time to proficiency (from the first day of training to demonstrated capability in a role) provides useful insights to the success rate of your onboarding program.
3. Safety Incidents
Employee safety seem like an obvious win, but the decrease in safety incidents like personal injury has a direct correlation with sound safety training programs and proves an easy case for your ROI.
- The National Safety Council reported that the total cost of work injuries in 2020 was $163.9 billion. The cost of injury per worker in 2020 was $1,100, $44,000 per medically consulted injury, and $1,310,000 per death.
- Work-related medically consulted injuries totaled 26 million in 2021. Ouch! (Pun intended)
- Occupation Health and Safety says an alarming alarming 38 percent of workers had to spend their own money to keep themselves safe at work in the last 12 months.
While no business is the same and each has its own method of madness in defining and measuring what success looks like for them – investing in a new training method can be expensive, even risky.
Turnover, onboarding, and safety never miss the mark on displaying successes and failures on a pedestal. Deciding which metrics to focus on in measuring success should reflect the objectives for each of your training program. As organizations adopt newer training methods at a faster pace, measuring the recommended KPIs above will prove how XR programs save you, big time.
Data Tells A Story
Businesses use all kinds of strategies to measure training effectiveness, including employee surveys and post-training exams. And while word of mouth is a nice starting point, numbers don’t lie. VR training metrics can be collected with an (XRS). A standard XRS can maximize the value of your VR training by bringing all your essential KPIs to one web-based dashboard. With an XRS, real-time training metrics are automatically tracked and received in easy-to-read digital reports. These reports can help organizations gain a deeper understanding of the impact that training is having on their company culture and production efficiencies.
For example, Learning & Development (L&D) teams can analyze results by comparing each individual learner’s performance to what’s considered ideal. They can track what parts of the training learners need to practice more, determine the average time to proficiency and plan production schedules accordingly, all while identifying which areas of the job pose safety risks based on failure rates and body ergonomics and solve for them.
At the end of the day, people want to see results. They want assurance that learning has taken place and that it translates to higher productivity, safer working conditions, meaningful cost savings, and employee satisfaction.
The Measure of Success
The measure of success can be subjective, but it’s safe to say that onboarding, turnover, and safety incident rates keep organizations conscious of costs. Have you been looking at your training program with rose-colored glasses? If you’re looking to save on expenses, it’s a smart move to get a clear picture of the effectiveness of your XR training program with metrics that support your top objectives. KPIs prove the effectiveness of training programs but, perhaps more importantly, influence the way you implement programming in the future. To quote Maya Angelou – when you know better, you do better.
The cost of XR training is no drop in the bucket, nor is it a trivial investment. The measure of success starts with your XR training program and the KPIs to deliver meaningful results. Don’t worry, ROI is just over the horizon! Want to learn more? Check out more on our YouTube Channel.
