New ATD Research

The Association for Talent Development publishes numerous data-driven research reports focused on industry trends, benchmarks, and best practices. ATD’s analysts survey industry professionals and analyze the data, conduct interviews with talent development executives, and collaborate with well-known subject matter experts. ATD’s research is well-respected in the business community and is frequently cited in publications such as Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.

Three of our latest research topics are safety training, evaluation, and performance management. All reports are available for purchase at td.org/research.

Safety Training: Protecting Employees and Organizations

ATD recommends that organizations provide more safety training than is required by law. ATD also found that organizations that excel in safety compared to their peers are more likely to incorporate simulations into their safety training and train all managers on safety-related topics such as identifying and reporting safety violations and coaching employees to correct unsafe behaviors.

Effective Evaluation: Measuring Learning Programs for Success

ATD surveyed 779 talent development professionals and found that only 38 percent of organizations measure the business results of learning programs and only 16 percent measure return on investment. Those numbers have not changed significantly since 2015, when ATD last looked at the state of evaluation.

The report explains that this may be because organizations continue to struggle to attract and retain talent development staff with evaluation skills. One possible solution may be to train current staff in evaluation skills.

Performance Management: Driving Organizational and Personal Growth

ATD surveyed more than 500 talent development professionals to better understand what performance practices are currently in place at their organizations and what practices are associated with organizations that excel in performance management. Organizations where managers and employees had performance conversations at least quarterly were more likely to have effective performance management processes.

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