Verizon rang in the New Year with a new number: The telecom company earned the No. 1 spot on the 2012 Training Top 125. Farmers Insurance claimed the No. 2 spot, while Top 5 newcomers Miami Children’s Hospital, Mohawk Industries, and McDonald’s nabbed Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively.
Some 24 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year, with Capital One and Sprint Nextel Corp. debuting in the Top 50. The majority of the companies are in the health/medical services, real estate/insurance, business services, and finance/banking industries.
Here are some overall statistics from the quantitative analysis of the 2012 Training Top 125 applications:
• The mean revenue was $5.9 billion U.S. and $11.3 billion world-wide. The mean training budget was $145.5 million, representing 4.52 percent of payroll.
• The mean number of total employees trained per organization (including independent contractors and franchisees) was 41,890, with 18,462 trained in the classroom and 38,438 trained online. A mean of 557 courses were offered as instructor-led sessions; 1,494 as online self-paced modules; and 113 as virtual instructor-led classrooms. Some 94 percent of applicants have a technological infrastructure to support the delivery and management of training.
• The average number of full-time and part-time trainers was 232 and 395, respectively.
• Some 96 percent of applicants have a tuition reimbursement program. A mean of 8 percent of eligible employees made use of tuition reimbursement programs in the last year. Organizations spent a mean of $3 million on tuition reimbursement programs.
• Some 97 percent of applicants use employee satisfaction surveys, and 98 percent use competency maps and personal/individual development plans. Only 64 percent tie managers’ compensation directly to the development of their direct reports.
• On the evaluation side, 57 percent of applicants utilize Return on Value; 72 percent utilize Return on Investment; 56 percent utilize Balanced Scorecards; and 45 percent utilize Six Sigma. The Kirkpatrick Levels of Evaluation are more widely used: Level 1 (96 percent), Level 2 (95 percent), Level 3 (90 percent), Level 4 (82 percent).
• The average length of employee service is seven years, and the average turnover rate is 16.5 percent.
• Internal candidates filled a mean of 33.8 percent of job openings, while employees referred a mean of 21 percent of new hires.
Two companies were inducted into the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame in 2012: Microsoft Corporation and SCC Soft Computer. See the Top 10 Hall of Fame article for more on what makes their training so effective.
New for 2012, the Training brand launched an extensive social media campaign. See p. 4 for links to our pages on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+. We look forward to even more interactive interaction with you!
