Keller Williams Moves Into #1

Some 23 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year. The majority of the companies are in the finance/banking, health/medical services, insurance, business services, and hospitality industries.

Keller Williams Realty, Inc., recaptured the No. 1 spot (up from No. 2 last year) on the 2017 Training Top 125, while New York Community Bancorp, Inc.’s investment in training and development earned it the No. 2 spot. The Top 5 was rounded out by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; BNSF Railway; and Sonic Automotive, Inc., at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. In addition, Capital Blue Cross; CHG Healthcare Services; and Jiffy Lube International, Inc., were inducted into the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame after earning a spot in the Top 10 for four consecutive years.

Some 23 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year. The majority of the companies are in the finance/banking, health/medical services, insurance, business services, and hospitality industries.

Here are some overall statistics from the quantitative analysis of the winning 2017 Training Top 125 applications:

  • The mean revenue was $7.9 billion U.S. and $7.7 billion worldwide. The mean training budget was $35.5 million, representing 4.53 percent of payroll. The mean amount of training cost savings was 12 percent.
  • The mean number of total employees trained per organization (including independent contractors and franchisees) was 34,815, with 25,160 trained in the classroom and 64,516 trained online. A mean of 641 courses were offered as instructor-led sessions; 3,853 were offered as online self-paced modules; and 215 were offered as virtual instructor-led classrooms. All of the 2017 Training Top 125ers have a technology infrastructure.
  • The average number of full-time and part-time trainers was 147 and 316, respectively.
  • Some 95 percent of Top 125 winners have a tuition reimbursement program. A mean of 11 percent of eligible employees made use of tuition reimbursement programs in the last year. Median spend on tuition reimbursement programs was $352,915.
  • Some 99 percent of winners use employee satisfaction surveys, while all use competency maps and personal/individual development plans. Some 76 percent tie managers’ compensation to the development of their direct reports.
  • On the evaluation side, 91 percent of applicants utilize Return on Value; 94 percent utilize Return on Investment; 82 percent utilize Balanced Scorecards; and 71 percent utilize Six Sigma. The Kirkpatrick Levels of Evaluation are more widely used: Level 1 (100 percent), Level 2 (99 percent), and Levels 3 and 4 (98 percent).
  • The average length of employee service was eight years, and the average turnover rate was 19 percent.
  • Internal candidates filled a mean of 39 percent of job openings, while employees referred a mean of 27 percent of new hires. The median number of new employees hired was 24 percent of the organization’s workforce.

Visit https://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/2017-training-top-125-organizations to see the rankings. Congratulations to all of the 2017 Top 125 winners!

Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.