Beyond the 'happy sheet'

It’s the end of the financial year and your CEO corners you in the lift and asks: ‘How’s that £2 million training programme going? What impact has it had on our productivity?’ Would you be able to answer?

UK businesses invest significant sums of money in training and development every year – investment that should be objectively reviewed to calculate a return and evaluate its impact. However, the CIPD’s Learning & Development Report 2015 illustrated that the evaluation of training and development initiatives is far from widespread in the UK.

According to the CIPD, one in seven organisations surveyed undertake no form of training and development evaluation at all. Whilst over a third of organisations reported limiting their evaluation to measuring the satisfaction of employees taking part in the activity - what is often referred to as the ‘happy sheet’.

What’s wrong with the ‘happy sheet’?