Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) has announced that Training magazine named the company for the fifth consecutive year to its Top 125 list of businesses that excel in employee learning and development.

In addition, PPD’s training program for clinical research associates (CRAs), who play a critical role in conducting clinical trials that help deliver life-changing medicines, was singled out for recognition with an Outstanding Training Initiative Award.

PPD is committed to employee development and engagement in the company culture of excellence in the enterprise of improving health. By deploying innovative initiatives to recruit, retain and develop talented individuals and teams, PPD provides biopharmaceutical customers a deep talent base of scientific, medical and operational experts dedicated to driving success.

“The entire PPD organization places priority on employee learning and development to offer our clients an unrivaled level of expertise,” said Ed Murray, executive vice president and chief human resource officer for PPD. “Our learning and development initiatives empower our people to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations, as we work together to increase the efficiency of the drug development process and improve the health of patients worldwide.”

The Training Top 125 list honors companies that demonstrate measurable results from effective employee learning and development, tied to strategic goals. PPD ranked in the Top 50, moving up nearly 70 places since debuting on the list five years ago.

The Outstanding Training Initiative Award, determined by Training magazine editors and select prior-year honorees, known as the Top 10 Hall of Famers, recognizes innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices. PPD won the award for its Virtual Clinical Foundations Program 2.0, which prepares CRAs for success in monitoring clinical trials.

“The award for our clinical foundations program recognizes PPD’s commitment to providing enriching programs that position our employees at the leading edge of industry knowledge and best practice to deliver high-quality results for our customers,” said Mike Wilkinson, executive vice president and chief information officer for PPD. “Our innovative approaches to learning and development keep our professionals engaged and focused on building their skills.”

PPD employee learning and development initiatives span leadership and high-potential employee development, key talent programs, technical skills, job-specific training and individual contributor soft skills training, which are integrated and aligned with business goals and objectives. These initiatives are driven from the highest levels within PPD and supported by PPD’s global learning council, an enterprise-wide, cross-functional group of leaders working to ensure that PPD is a high-performing learning organization.

PPD designs, develops and deploys a wide range of employee learning and performance programs to meet the specific needs of biopharmaceutical clients in advancing their clinical research programs. PPD offers ongoing training and development that engages employees for optimal performance, leverages technology, develops staff and measures outcomes. PPD’s culture of quality and process-centric focus includes a robust change management methodology that ensures learning and development programs have the desired impact.

PPD’s training programs develop knowledge, skills and expertise for employees across the entire span of clinical research. Through these well-rounded career and skill development programs that are the foundation of PPD employee success, opportunities for serving customers through both enhanced skill sets and leadership programs have been cornerstone of PPD’s success. For example, PPD’s process improvement training and leadership programs are designed to increase expertise and employ methodologies to ensure that PPD teams constantly strive to not only meet, but exceed, industry benchmarks for cycle times and delivery standards

PPD training manager Georgina Havers, who was named a 2015 Emerging Training Leader by Training magazine, received her award at a special ceremony at the conference in Orlando. The honor recognizes training professionals who have been in the industry for two to 10 years and have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, business savvy and training instincts.

Now in its 16^th year, the Training Top 125 rankings are based on benchmarking statistics such as total training budget; percentage of payroll; number of training hours per employee program; goals, evaluation, measurement and workplace surveys; hours of training per employee annually and detailed formal programs.