Training needs assessment questions that show what to fund
Fourteen questions that show where the work is hard, which topics to fund first and what stops people finishing training.
- 14questions
- 4 to 5 minto complete
- Job familythe one cut
- 5-pointagree scale
The 14 training needs assessment questions
A training needs assessment survey asks employees where their job is hard today, whether training would fix it, which topics they would fund first and what stops them finishing a course. These fourteen questions take four to five minutes, and you can create a free survey from them with your own job families and topics swapped in.
Your job family
The one cut every answer is read by. Swap in your own job families before you send.
- Which job family best describes the work you do?
Where the work is hard
Where question 5 scores high, a mentor matching questionnaire pairs the people already doing the teaching.
- I can do every part of my current job well today.the gap measure every topic is ranked against.
- I am confident with the tools and systems I use every week.
- When the work changes, I can pick up what is new without waiting for help.
- Most of what I need to learn for this job, I learn by asking a colleague.high agreement means colleagues already do the teaching.
Is training the fix?
Two questions that tell a training gap from a tools, time or process gap.
- Think of the part of your job that goes least well. What is most in the way?only the first option calls for a course.
- If someone showed me how to do that part of the job, my work would change.
What to fund
Replace the eight sample topics with the tasks each role has to do well this year.
- Which of these would help you most in the next three months? Choose up to three.
- If only one of these could be paid for this quarter, which would you pick?the forced choice, and the list to rank.
What stops training landing
A funded topic needs people free to attend it. When the answers name the learning platform, follow up with an LMS survey.
- What usually stops you finishing training that is offered? Choose all that apply.
- My manager would give me time in the working week for the one topic I picked.low scores mean booking release time before the course.
In their words, then willingness
Two optional boxes, then the rating that closes the survey.
- Describe one task you were asked to do this year that you did not feel ready for.
- What can you do well that someone else in your role could learn from you?the answers name your in-house teachers.
- I would put time into training this quarter if it were offered.
Who to send it to, when, and how to rank the answers
Send it to everyone in the job families whose training you might fund, and close it a week before the budget is set. Tell people that answers are read by job family and that no question asks for a name. Combine any family with fewer than five responses into the next one up.
Read question 6 first: its first option calls for a course, and every other answer goes to whoever owns the tool, the process or the workload. Then rank each topic by the share of its pickers who disagree with question 2. Where question 11 scores low in one family, the manager effectiveness survey lets that team rate its manager. Once a topic is booked, a pre-training survey sets the baseline. Afterwards, the post-training survey shows what changed.
Training needs assessment FAQ
What questions should a training needs assessment ask?
Ask which job family the person works in, how well they can do the job today, what gets in the way, which topics they would fund first and what stops them finishing training.
What are the three levels of a training needs assessment?
Organizational, occupational and individual. US federal guidance names those three and defines a needs assessment as finding the gap between performance required and current performance.[1] This survey gathers the individual view and reports it by occupation.
How often should you run a training needs survey?
Once a year, timed to close before the training budget is set. Run it again mid-year for any group whose work has changed, such as a team moving to a new system.
Can one survey cover upskilling and refresher training?
Yes. Put both kinds of task in the topic list, then report them apart: refresher topics are work people already do, and upskilling topics are work they will take on next.
Michael Hodge, survey methodology · Updated 2 October 2026 · How templates are reviewed
Sources (1)
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Planning and Evaluating. Training and Development. opm.gov
Know what to fund before the budget meeting
Fourteen questions, four to five minutes, read by job family. Swap in your roles and topics, then send.
Use this template