How to Collect Employee Feedback During and After Training

The average cost of training per employee is a little over $1,200. Considering that employers are investing so much in teaching their workers the essential skills they need for a job, it only makes sense that they would want to make sure it is money well spent.

There are a lot of different metrics you can use to determine just how effective your employee training is, and one essential tool at your disposal is collecting employee feedback.

The more able you are to receive honest feedback from your workers during and after training, the better you can adjust your training programs to produce the desired outcome.

Let's dive into the different methods you can use to collect employee feedback during and after training.

Why Is It Important to Collect Employee Feedback During and After Training?

When you gather employee feedback as part of the training process, you can tap into valuable information that will allow you to improve your training programs over time.

Ensure Training Is Effective

When you go through the trouble of implementing employee training, your goal is for your workers to come out of training with the abilities they need to do their job. Collecting feedback can help ensure that your training accomplishes the key objectives you set out to meet.

Highlights Areas of Improvement

No matter how bomb-proof your training sessions are, there is always room for improvement. When you collect employee feedback, it can help you view your programs from a different perspective. This can clue you into valuable insight you might not have picked up on otherwise.

You'll also learn that additional training might be necessary for some areas through feedback.

Demonstrating the Value of Training

You can also demonstrate the purpose and value of your training program using your collected feedback. You can learn how the program benefitted your workers and your business overall. Assessing how effective your training is is crucial, and collecting feedback is one method of evidence gathering to this end.

Are you wondering how much money you should allocate to employee training? Check out this guide to creating a training budget.

What Are The Challenges of Employee Training Feedback?

Getting feedback from your employees can feel like pulling teeth. Even when you go out of your way to ask for honest feedback, you might be met with the sound of crickets.

There are many reasons this can occur, but they are predominantly driven by two primary issues– fear and futility.

In the case of the former, your workers might be afraid that there will be repercussions for airing their honest opinions about the training they received. They might worry that they'll be treated differently after stating their concerns or criticisms, even if you've gone out of your way to encourage feedback of all kinds.

Employees might fear that their comments will be taken personally by management or leadership and that there will be negative consequences for their careers. Whether they're worried about not getting a promotion, getting fired, or simply existing in an uncomfortable work environment, this can be enough to keep employees from saying how they feel.

The other reason, futility, can come about when workers believe there won't be any action based on their feedback. If they have witnessed a pattern of good ideas arising and then dissipating without any action, they might feel like there isn't any point in giving feedback. After all, why bother if nothing is going to change?

To overcome these issues, leaders have to be willing to display that it is genuinely safe for employees to speak their minds. They have to be willing to be vulnerable if they want their workers to put themselves in a vulnerable position.

Here are a few strategies to be the example your employees can emulate:

• Model honesty: Share your struggles with your employees to help them realize it's ok for them to share their work-based struggles as well.
• Acknowledge vulnerability: When someone steps up and offers honest feedback, thank them for sharing their opinion, and reiterate that their perspective is important.
• Play the devil's advocate: Show that you are open to suggestions by proposing a viewpoint you hold and then sharing an opposite view.

When you're considering the potential obstacles in your way when it comes to collecting employee feedback, it can be helpful to put yourself in their shoes. Your team might feel shy or nervous about giving their opinions for many different reasons, and it's worth going out of your way to communicate that you legitimately want honest feedback. If you find that you are taking the feedback personally, it's worth stepping back and remembering that this information can help you build the most efficient training system possible.

Do you feel like your employees' eyes are glazing over during training sessions? Check out this post about how to keep employees engaged and motivated during training.

How to Collect Employee Feedback During and After Training

You might find that combining several different feedback collection methods allows you to have all of the most vital information during and after training. While conducting one-on-one interviews at large organizations can be difficult, you might find it worth the time and effort.

One-on-One Interviews

The most personalized strategy for gaining employee feedback is the one-on-one interview. This is an opportunity for management and employees to meet in a quiet space to share their honest opinions about the training.

Workers might feel much more comfortable stating how they feel when the entire office isn't present. This interview is a chance for them to bring up issues, challenges, or sensitive matters that they might not feel inclined to discuss in a larger group environment.

While this can be a great method in many circumstances, you might find it isn't particularly beneficial if your workforce is mostly introverted. These individuals might prefer more privacy to offer their feedback and desire the anonymity of other feedback collection strategies.

AI Apps and Bots

Businesses have increasingly been using the power of AI to collect employee input. One tool that is gaining popularity in the workplace for collecting feedback is the chatbot.

Chatbots can introduce surveys to your employees and elicit feedback on everything from policies and performance to training and events.

Are you wondering how to measure ROI for training programs? Check out this post to learn more.

Surveys

Probably the most common way that businesses collect feedback from their employees is through surveys. Surveys are an incredibly efficient way to gather employee input, and they are prevalent in large companies with many workers.

Anonymous Suggestion Box

Another way to collect feedback is to have a physical or virtual suggestion box where employees can post their feedback during and after their training sessions. When workers know that their opinion will be kept anonymous, you might be able to tap into much more valuable insight and input from your staff.

How to Analyze Employee Feedback From Training

Once you've gathered all your info, you will need to make sense of it. Let's look at the steps you can take to analyze your employee feedback during and after training.

Sort the Comments Into Categories

When you've got a lot of employee feedback during and after your training sessions, you might feel overwhelmed by what to do with all of this information.

One of the first things you can do is sort them into categories and subcategories.

You might consider breaking your categories into groups like process, productivity, company culture, etc. Depending on how many responses you receive for each category, you might find that further sorting the feedback into subcategories helps you identify where employees feel change is most necessary overall.

Sort the Feedback By Positive and Negative

Once you've sorted everything into categories, consider further breaking things down into positive and negative feedback. Doing so can show you what seems to be working and what isn't in your training sessions. You will likely find that some feedback you receive is glowing while other feedback isn't so great.

Notice Patterns, Create a Summary, and Make a Plan to Implement Changes

Once you have organized your employee feedback to be more comprehensible, it's time to analyze your collected data. You might find that several employees share the same concern about some aspects of your training, which indicates that a change would be appropriate. On the other hand, you might find one-off comments that may or may not be something you want to consider changing in your training practices.

One of the best ways to encourage employee feedback is by demonstrating that you hear their feedback and take action when necessary. You can summarize your findings for your team, so they are aware of the training feedback and know that you have read and considered all of their comments. Then, you can propose strategies for making changes in the future.

What Kinds of Questions Should You Ask in a Post-Training Survey?

A great way to measure your training program's efficiency and ensure that your workers feel heard is to offer a post-training survey. This can help improve your training programs and create a positive culture that encourages honest communication.

Some examples of questions you might ask on this type of survey include:

• Did you find the training material and content helpful?
• Did you find the program engaging and interactive?
• Did you feel the training was relevant to your role or potential role?
• Were all of your questions answered during the course of training?
• Did the pace of the training session feel comfortable to you?
• What did you like the most about the training?
• Did you feel the material was easy to understand?
• Did you feel you were offered enough resources and time to finish the training?
• Do you think anything should be improved or added to the training material?
• Was the trainer supportive and engaging?
• How would you rate the quality of the session from 1-10?
• Do you have any feedback or suggestions about how we can improve the program?
• Do you feel confident in the skills you learned during training?

Post-training surveys can measure the effectiveness of your training, improve your programs, and track your employees' progress during training. It can also help to improve employee communication and show your workers that their feedback is meaningful.

What Tools Can You Use to Collect Feedback From Employees?

There are many digital tools you can use to make your feedback collection efficient and easy.

Here are some of the most popular options out there:

• SurveyMonkey: Offers user-friendly survey templates that will let your HR team create custom training surveys.
• Google Forms: A simple way to collect and organize survey results through an interactive interface.
• SurveyLab: Easy-to-use questionnaire software that lets you collect and analyze valuable employee feedback.
• Betterworks: A powerful employee engagement software that has impressive survey functionality.

There are also several options for one-stop-shop training software and feedback management. Depending on your needs as an organization, you might find that this is the best option for your team.

Is It Time to Offer Soft-Skills Training to Your Employees?

While some training deals with the specific skills required to get a job done, it's important not to overlook soft-skills training in your workplace. When your employees learn essential soft skills, they are more effective and happy at work, which can positively impact productivity, absenteeism, and employee turnover.

On top of that, soft-skills training can help to:

• Improve customer service.
• Boost self-confidence.
• Improve job satisfaction levels.
• Boost flexibility and adaptability.
• Improve team dynamics.

At HRDQ, we deliver soft-skills training programs that can help your workforce learn valuable skills that will help them professionally and personally. Ranging from topics like diversity and assertiveness to leadership skills and problem-solving, our collection of courses can help ensure that your employees are well-rounded and well-suited to their job.

How do you normally go about collecting employee feedback? Do you use any of the methods we listed? We'd love to hear what you think, so be sure to leave a comment in the section below. Additionally, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask those, as well! We'll gladly assist you however possible. 

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