LeadingRE Leads the Way

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World moved into the No. 1 spot on the 2018 Training Top 125. Some 31 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE) earned the prime No. 1 location for the first time on the 2018 Training Top 125, while New York Community Bancorp, Inc., retained its hold on the No. 2 spot. The Top 5 was rounded out by Sonic Automotive; BNSF Railway Co.; and Dollar General Corporation, LLC, at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. In addition, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Keller Williams Realty, Inc., were inducted into the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame after earning a spot in the Top 10 for four consecutive years.

Some 31 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year. The majority of the companies are in the business services, health/medical services, finance/banking, insurance, and hospitality industries.

Here are some overall statistics from the quantitative analysis of the winning 2018 Training Top 125 applications:

  • The mean revenue was $8.7 billion U.S. and $13.5 billion worldwide. The mean training budget was $33.8 million, representing 4.33 percent of payroll. The mean amount of training cost savings was 17.7 percent.
  • The mean number of total employees trained per organization (including independent contractors and franchisees) was 42,116, with 17,872 trained in the classroom and 47,689 trained online. A mean of 494 courses were offered as instructor-led sessions; 4,154 were offered as online self-paced modules; and 151 were offered as virtual instructor-led classrooms. All but one of the 2018 Training Top 125ers have a technology infrastructure.
  • The average number of full-time and part-time trainers was 126 and 319, 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 $215,815.
  • Some 98 percent of winners use employee satisfaction surveys, while all use competency maps and personal/individual development plans. Some 75 percent tie managers' compensation directly to the development of their direct reports.
  • On the evaluation side, 86 percent of winners utilize Return on Value; 94 percent utilize Return on Investment; 78 percent utilize Balanced Scorecards; and 67 percent utilize Six Sigma. The Kirkpatrick Levels of Evaluation are more widely used: Level 1 (99 percent), Levels 2 and 3 (100 percent), and Level 4 (98 percent).
  • The average length of employee service was 7.5 years, and the average turnover rate was 18 percent.
  • Internal candidates filled a mean of 38 percent of job openings, while employees referred a mean of 25 percent of new hires. The median number of new employees hired was21 percent of the organization's workforce.

Congratulations to all of the 2018 Top 125 winners! To see the rankings, visit: https://trainingmag.com/training-magazine-ranks-2018-training-top-125-organizations

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.