Category: News

The recognition, based on employee feedback, reflects how SweetRush cares for its people, communities, and the world.

San Francisco, Calif., January 12, 2023 — SweetRush, a leading provider of people empowerment and talent success solutions, is proud to be Certified™ as a Great Place to Work® for the first time. As a culture-forward organization that strives to be human-centered, this recognition reflects the leadership philosophies, activities, and behaviors that make SweetRush’s work environment unique and special. 

“We’ve been focused on building, maintaining, and evolving our life-centered culture since our founding in 2001,” said Andrei Hedstrom, SweetRush Cofounder and CEO. “In fact, clients often ask us the secret to our unique culture. Receiving the Great Place to Work® certification validates that our culture really is built on caring, commitment, and doing Good Things.” 

SweetRush received a remarkable 100% rating for the statement, “People care about each other here,” with additional high scores related to trust, honesty, and ethics.

SweetRush is a leading provider of culture, leadership, and learning solutions with a trusted client base of over 100 of the world’s most successful organizations, including Google, Capgemini, Hilton, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and 40 nonprofits. SweetRush’s thought leadership includes advocacy of human-centered culture, which was captured in the eBook, It’s All About Your People. 

A 100% remote organization since 2009, SweetRush constantly innovates new approaches to promote connection in a remote work environment. The highly successful program “36 Questions,” now on its fourth cycle at the company, brings together groups of three to five people from different areas of the company to share their stories, insights, and dreams through a thought-provoking question each week. These sessions have generated supportive professional connections and lasting friendships across the company. 

SweetRush’s Good Things division focuses on social responsibility and amplifying the impact of nonprofit organizations and foundations. A recent accomplishment is creating training for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to bring critical safety training to its staff and over 175,000 volunteers, many working in humanitarian crisis situations. 

Another example of SweetRush’s Good Things is a carbon-neutral reforestation project in Costa Rica called La Maestra (“teacher” in Spanish). SweetRush team members traveled to the Limon province to plant trees as an act of service and moment of connection. SweetRush devotes a portion of each project to tree planting and invites clients to participate in the effort.

“It’s a dream come true to receive the Great Place to Work® recognition for the very first time,” said SweetRush Human Resource Leader, Maricruz Vicente. “Surveying employees is so important because it gives us deep insight into how our culture is actually being lived and experienced at any given time. We’re able to assess how things are working throughout the employee journey. It also shows us data and metrics related to our people and teams, so we can continue to improve the experience for our employees.”

Looking to grow your career at a company that puts its people first? Visit SweetRush’s Careers page to find the latest openings.

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and mastery of performance improvement is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients has earned us gold awards from our peers and high ranking on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile learning, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

About Great Place to Work Certification™

Great Place to Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience—specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified. 

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 12, 2022 — SweetRush is honored to be named No. 1 Content Provider for Team Building Training by eLearning Industry.  

eLearning Industry Founder Christopher Pappas notes that the list celebrates content providers with “the tools to help you manage, lead, and develop strong teams, even when working remotely.”

A human-centered organization since its founding in 2001, SweetRush is also an early adopter of remote work. Since its transition to a fully remote organization in 2009, the SweetRush team has accumulated a wealth of experience, best practices, and lessons to share with leaders looking to build stronger remote and hybrid teams.

Clients trust SweetRush to help their leaders and teams become more connected, innovative, and aligned on their shared purpose. In addition to its team-building skills training and leadership coaching programs, SweetRush also helps L&D managers build their teams with industry-leading learning and performance management talent.

Three core areas of focus define SweetRush’s approach to team-building: 

• Leadership and power skills: Effective teams need connected leaders and “power skills” such as communication, collaboration, and empathy. SweetRush’s custom learning solutions facilitate the mental model shifts new and experienced leaders need to level up their power skills. Exemplary programs include unique, innovative, and highly engaging leadership development learning experiences created in partnership with Bayer, Capgemini, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. 

SweetRush’s work with these and other forward-thinking partners has been recognized with 23 Gold Brandon Hall awards and three Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards in 2022. 

• Team connection: Teams with mutual understanding are more likely to be creative and innovative and achieve their goals. SweetRush’s Transforming Leaders & Culture (TLC) team helps teams authentically connect and care for one another as individuals while also taking ownership of the team’s shared purpose.

SweetRush TLC’s expert facilitators and coaches engage leaders and teams in activities that inspire collaborative learning, mutual trust, and shared insights into how the sum of the team is truly greater than its individual parts. 

SweetRush TLC helps leaders drive culture transformation by valuing their people and aligning around a life-serving purpose while creating robust financial value for their organizations.

• Staff augmentation: When leaders need to build their own L&D teams with additional capacity or specialized skills, SweetRush’s Talent Solutions team has an experienced pool of talented L&D professionals ready to help. With years of experience in building the right team for every project, they excel at finding, onboarding, and mentoring industry-leading L&D talent.

With connection and care at its heart, from recruiting to retirement, it’s no surprise that SweetRush enjoys sky-high ratings on Glassdoor, near-zero team turnover, Gold awards from Stevie Great Employers and the Learning & Performance Institute, and recent certification as a Great Place to Work. 

To speak to SweetRush about its award-winning human-centered approach to team building, visit the company website.

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and craft is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients, custom solutions for talent empowerment, and people success have earned us gold awards from our peers and high rankings on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

San Francisco, Calif., Nov. 28, 2022 — SweetRush is honored to receive three Learning in Practice Gold Awards from Chief Learning Officer for Excellence in Community Service, Excellence in Content, and Excellence in eLearning. 

Chief Learning Officer’s Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief Ashley St. John describes this year’s 46 Learning in Practice Award recipients as representatives of “a transformative era in L&D: one marked by resilience, creativity, compassion, and the constant willingness to stretch outside the box.” 

An L&D industry disrupter since 2001, SweetRush meets this transformative era by blending outstanding instructional design with agency-level creative design to create innovative, engaging, learner-centric custom learning solutions. 

SweetRush Chairman and Cofounder Arturo Schwartzberg credits SweetRush’s success to partnerships with like-minded clients who dare to think creatively, act boldly, and build transformative learning solutions. 

Each of these Learning in Practice Gold Awards represents a relationship founded in collaboration—with client-partners who care deeply about crafting highly engaging and effective learning experiences.  

Here are the stories behind the awards: 

• Excellence in Community Service: American Diabetes Association (ADA)/American Heart Association (AHA) 

AHA, ADA, and SweetRush joined forces to create Know Diabetes by Heart, a story-based learning program that helps health care professionals reduce the incidence of cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks, and strokes in people living with type 2 diabetes. The program equips specialists with the tools they need to step out of a compartmentalized view of patient care to a holistic approach that treats the whole patient. 

SweetRush’s Arturo Schwartzberg observes, “Know Diabetes by Heart was the perfect opportunity to use our L&D craft in service of life potential. For the 537 million people living with type 2 diabetes, ADA’s and AHA’s willingness to think creatively with us is nothing short of heroism.” 

• Excellence in Content: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 

Through extensive research, SHRM discovered that new managers were often left on their own to sink or swim, risking team morale and productivity. Inspired by the opportunity, SHRM partnered with SweetRush to create a best-in-class leadership certification program that helped new people managers become great people managers. 

Thinking boldly together, SHRM and SweetRush created the People Manager Qualification (PMQ): a high-interest dramedy that follows a group of friends as they clash, cringe, and grow together as managers and people. PMQ’s binge-worthy seasons and episodes keep learners clicking “Play Next” through 13 hours of vital management content. 

Jeanne Morris, SHRM’s Vice President of Education, shares, “SHRM sought the very best when committing to elevating workplace culture by developing stronger people managers through the PMQ. SweetRush exceeded our expectations and helped us to raise the bar on how to deliver this learning experience. Developing high-potential employees into powerful leaders of the future can have a profound effect on your business and employee experience. SweetRush shares our vision, and our teams have a deep understanding and respect for each other, which results in world-class programs. It is the way every client/vendor relationship should be.”

•  Excellence in eLearning: Bayer

Bayer needed a fresh, bold, and unique approach to help its managers embrace new mindsets and skills and put them into action. They called on SweetRush to collaborate and create something Bayer leaders had never seen before.

Enter Rise & Thrive, a colorful, impactful microlearning experience that opens with a thought-provoking challenge: Think small to make big changes. Bite-sized video content, weekly “dares,” and reflections reinforce the power of thinking small and help learners build new leadership habits. 

Rachel Lamb, Bayer’s Global Performance & Development Learning Experience Lead, explains, “Learning today should look very different than it did a few years ago. Screen fatigue is real, and attention spans have decreased. We need to make learning fun and experiential. Bold, bright, bite-sized, and beautiful is our secret sauce for creating learning that is memorable and impactful.”

The SweetRush team extends its heartfelt congratulations to its client-partners and all Learning in Practice award winners who work to transform and elevate the L&D craft. 

To speak to SweetRush about its award-winning approach to learning and development, visit the company website.

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and craft is reflected in loyal clients, a uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients, custom solutions for talent empowerment, and people success, has earned us gold awards from our peers and high rankings on the top industry lists.

 We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

“When we can create engaging learner experiences that transform performance and that learners enjoy and have fun doing, we know we’re doing something right.” – Adrian Soto, Director of Immersive Technologies

San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 10, 2022 — SweetRush is honored to join Training Industry’s list of the “2022 Top Experiential Learning Technologies Companies.” 

“Learning by doing,” the heart of experiential learning, is woven into the fabric of SweetRush’s instructional design philosophy. Best known for its learner-centric, custom learning solutions that blend instructional design best practices with agency-level creative design, SweetRush has been leading the Learning & Development industry since 2001. This human-centric company is judged by many to be the world’s most innovative learning provider.

Experiential learning allows learners to gain skills through hands-on experience using game-based learning, scenario-based learning, and immersive technology solutions, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). In this safe space, learners can practice, fail, and make mistakes in a simulated environment rather than in real life.

As SweetRush Chairman, Arturo Schwartzberg, says, “Learners want a learning experience and not an exercise in force-feeding or memorization. Would you rather read about playing tennis or actually practice playing tennis?”

He continues, “As we explore the intersection between experiential learning and immersive technologies, which now include VR and AR, there are several things we consistently hear from clients. First, they need consultation. The technology is new, it’s understandably confusing, and they want to understand the landscape, their options, and what makes sense based on their specific needs. Second, they want to know how these new technologies overlap with custom learning and how the DNA of instructional design is embedded.”

He adds, “Third, just like in the early days of eLearning, clients want to understand how project management, such as the steps, timelines, and review cycles, is similar to or differs from more ‘traditional’ learning projects. It’s a new medium and preexisting eLearning templates no longer apply. And the final element that clients need? Trust. Our clients need to trust that even as things change in real time, SweetRush is dedicated to getting the project done right.”

 Adrian Soto, SweetRush Director of Immersive Technologies, agrees: “I love the consultation process with clients. It’s so exciting to come together to understand their needs and then show them just how far we can take experiential learning with immersive technologies. When we can create engaging learner experiences that transform performance and that learners enjoy and have fun doing, we know we’re doing something right.” 

To learn more about immersive technologies, read SweetRush’s recent eBook, Ready, Learner One? The L&D Innovator’s Gateway to Immersive Learning and the Metaverse. 

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and mastery of performance improvement is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients has earned us gold awards from our peers and high ranking on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile learning, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

SweetRush is helping its clients achieve a competitive advantage by developing top leaders, supporting employee well-being, and fostering a purpose-driven culture.

San Francisco, Calif., August 25, 2022— SweetRush, the industry-leading provider of custom solutions for talent empowerment and people success, is thrilled to announce the launch of SweetRush Transforming Leaders & Culture (TLC). This new service is backed by the power of SweetRush’s award-winning custom learning and communications solutions and its 20-year track record of successful client partnerships with global businesses and nonprofits.

The SweetRush TLC team of specialized coaches and consultants, led by former CEO and culture expert Gregg Kendrick, helps top leaders striving for innovation and success to create the optimal environment for growth, stability, employee well-being, and impact. A strong focus is guiding leaders to the right-fit approach—understanding what is already working in their organizations and what needs to be improved to evolve into a unified, connected, and empowered culture. 

“When you approach us to say that you’re interested in culture or leader development, we show up as a partner to you,” says Kendrick. “We start from the very beginning: We help you explore and get clarity around your current situation, goals, and where you want to go. From there, we design a response that will integrate your strategic goals with the cultural shifts that you want to see.”

SweetRush Cofounder and Chairman Arturo Schwartzberg adds: “As companies grow, face disruption, and are impacted by external forces, old ways of leading are no longer successful—that’s normal and inevitable. Yet taking on a culture or leadership initiative is daunting and confusing. Clients are concerned about spending a lot of money with consultants to develop plans that never gain traction. We take a different approach: SweetRush TLC eliminates confusion and shows you a clear path forward.”

Helping shift leaders’ mindsets—showing them how to build a culture of caring and accountability, and how to lead through trust, is core to SweetRush TLC’s offering. “We teach leaders how to ignite people’s intrinsic motivation to show up, contribute, and belong to something bigger than themselves,” says Kendrick. 

“Our clients felt and experienced our culture and asked us to help transform theirs—so we created our culture and leadership transformation service,” says SweetRush CEO and Cofounder Andrei Hedstrom. “SweetRush TLC’s approach creates alignment and harmony in organizations that have infinite potential but recognize they need to change to better support their people and have a positive impact on the world. This life-centered approach is being embraced by the world’s top leaders and organizations, and it’s possible for everyone.”

Reach out and get started with a free, exploratory call with the SweetRush TLC team by contacting [email protected] or learn more at tlc.sweetrush.com.

SweetRush won 28 awards at the 2022 Brandon Hall Group Awards in 15 categories, including multiple wins for leadership development, sales training, and blended learning.

San Francisco, Calif., August 19, 2022 — SweetRush, the industry-leading provider of custom solutions for talent empowerment and people success, has won a record 23 Gold, three Silver, and two Bronze awards (28 total) at the 2022 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards along with its client-partners.

One of the top winners overall, SweetRush was honored in 15 distinct categories. These accolades are shared with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA), adidas, Bayer, Bridgestone Americas, Capgemini, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), The Kraft Heinz Company, Sally Beauty, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

“Once an afterthought, our L&D craft is being better understood by organizational leaders as an essential way to embrace and unleash potential,” said Andrei Hedstrom, SweetRush CEO. “As our amazing team and client-partners discover new applications for our work together, we are reminded by these awards just how blessed we are to be in service of life potential. Education, still tragically under-resourced and underutilized, is a solution to much of the suffering in the world. We are proud to meet the challenges of our times with a way to help.”

Highlights include:

• Awards in 15 categories
• Seven Gold awards for leadership development
• Five Gold awards for unique or innovative learning programs
• Three Gold awards for association professional development, highlighting SweetRush’s deep expertise in developing certification-type programs 
• Gold wins in diversity, equity, and inclusion and social/collaborative learning categories

SweetRush’s winning collaborations with its client-partners have significant positive impact on learners, their organizations, and their families and communities. These initiatives:

• Support new leaders as they move from individual contributor to supervisor roles
• Help leaders of all levels become more connected and human-centered
• Teach health care professionals how to take a holistic approach to patient care
• Help R&D professionals prepare for their functional roles
• Allow salespeople to practice in safe environments and improve selling skills
• Help humanitarian teams save lives in crisis situations

These learning programs also represent the breadth and depth of SweetRush’s L&D capabilities and expertise, including eLearning, video, learning games, scenario-based learning and simulations, social/collaborative learning, virtual reality and augmented reality, virtual instructor-led training, learning artifacts, and marketing/communications.

SweetRush works with clients in a wide array of industries, including business services, banking and finance, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, retail, nonprofit, and pharmaceuticals.

SweetRush’s 2022 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards:

23 GOLD AWARDS
Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Program (3)
Best Association Professional Development Program (3)
Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program (2)
Best Advance in Leadership Development (2)
Best Program for Sales Training and Performance (2)
Best Development Program for Frontline Leaders (2)
Best Advance in Custom Content (2)
Best Use of Blended Learning (2)
Best New Hire Onboarding Program
Best Learning Program that Supports and Promotes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Best Advance in Creating an Extended Enterprise Learning Program
Best Use of Social/Collaborative Learning
Best Use of Video for Learning

3 SILVER AWARDS
Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development
Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program
Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Program

2 BRONZE AWARDS
Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development (2)

“Excellence Award winners distinguish themselves through their growing understanding that all the functions of HCM are integrated and must work together to move businesses forward,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, leader of the HCM Excellence Awards program. 

“It is a pleasure to see more organizations collaborating across functions and getting more sophisticated and accomplished at delivering measurable benefit through groundbreaking HCM practices,” she said. “For example, it was inspiring to see how diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are increasingly embedded into people and business strategies and cultures. We saw more alignment between HCM and business objectives than ever before.” 

Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts and executives based upon these criteria: fit the need, design of the program, functionality, innovation, and overall measurable benefits.  

If you’d like to speak to SweetRush about its award-winning approach to learning and development, visit the company website.

View the winners on the Brandon Hall Group website. Congratulations to all!

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and craft is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients results in custom solutions for talent empowerment and people success, earning us gold awards from our peers and high ranking on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile, gamification and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and immersive technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com. 

About Brandon Hall Group

Brandon Hall Group operates the largest and longest-running awards program in Human Capital Management. As an independent HCM research and analyst firm, they conduct studies in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Talent Acquisition, and HR/Workforce Management. These benchmark studies help organizations by providing strategic insights for executives and practitioners responsible for growth and business results.

Coupling the research studies with the best practice from the awards, Brandon Hall Group has helped more than 10,000 clients globally and more than 28 years of delivering world-class research and advisory. At the core of our offerings is a membership program that combines research, benchmarking, and unlimited access to data and analysts. Membership enables executives and practitioners to make the right decisions about people, processes, and systems, coalesced with analyst advisory services that aim to put the research into action in a way that is practical and efficient.

Brandon Hall Group has also launched professional certifications for business and human capital management professionals to upskill themselves and gain credentials for career advancement. (www.brandonhall.com)

San Francisco, Calif., Aug. 8th, 2022—SweetRush is honored to be named the No. 1 Content Provider for Immersive Learning by eLearning Industry. SweetRush’s XR/Immersive Tech team prides itself on an end-to-end consulting strategy that helps clients navigate and leverage the ever-changing possibilities that immersive technologies present for L&D leaders. 

Best known for its learner-centric custom learning solutions that blend instructional design best practices with agency-level creative design, SweetRush has been disrupting the L&D industry since 2001 and has been judged by many as the world’s most innovative learning provider.  

Adrian Soto, SweetRush Director of Immersive Technologies, credits the team’s success to a passion for research of immersive technologies and their L&D applications. He adds, “Everyone on the team is deeply committed to applying these new tools effectively to learning.  This recognition by eLearning Industry is validation that we’ve chosen the right path.” 

eLearning Industry Founder Christopher Pappas observes, “Clients count on SweetRush to be innovators, so their team jumped into VR/AR early. SweetRush is delivering exciting, high-quality immersive learning programs. They’re ready to collaborate and show you how you can put these tools into practice.”

Collaboration and care are the guiding principles of SweetRush’s immersive learning innovators. Before building—or even blueprinting—the team thoroughly explores each client’s organizational learning strategy, business needs, learners, and work environments to understand the optimal immersive learning experience for their needs. To help clients understand the landscape and possibilities, the team provides brief, highly informative workshops. This end-to-end consulting practice is one of the main reasons so many leading organizations choose SweetRush as their provider of custom immersive learning. 

As more L&D leaders get curious about immersive learning, the SweetRush XR/Immersive Tech team is committed to helping them make an impact at their organizations with new, exciting, and effective ways to learn. In their recent eBook, Ready, Learner One? The L&D Innovator’s Gateway to Immersive Learning and the Metaverse, the team level-sets on XR technology, needs analysis, and L&D use cases for immersive learning in the metaverse and beyond.  

As a life-centered company, SweetRush is honored to work with client-partners who share a passion for building a better world and for creating learning experiences that touch lives, empower people, and create connections. Through SweetRush’s La Maestra initiative, every learning project also leaves a lasting legacy in the form of trees planted in Costa Rica’s Limón province. 

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and mastery of performance improvement is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients has earned us gold awards from our peers and high ranking on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile learning, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

San Francisco, Calif., August 1, 2022 — SweetRush is proud to announce its collaboration with Casa Rara, a Costa Rican foster house foundation that provides care and shelter to LGBTQ+ youth in need, and local real estate developer Core to create a colorful new mural in San Pedro, Costa Rica, that celebrates families, inclusion, and acceptance. Employees from SweetRush and Core, as well as youth from Casa Rara, painted the mural, which features uplifting and empowering messages and images. The effort was led by Natalia Porrás, a local trans artist, and SweetRush Illustrator and 2D Animator Ana Xochilt Guillén.

Inspiration for the mural came from a question posed by Casa Rara: What does “family” mean? The question is a powerful one for the organization, which supports a young and vulnerable LGBTQ+ population when their biological families no longer accept them because of who they are. 

“We celebrate the possibility to contribute with these thoughtful messages so the people who see them can reflect upon them and think about the importance of strengthening the values and family ties aiming to support equality and respect for all people,” said Shi Alarcón, Cofounder of Casa Rara.

SweetRush’s relationship with Casa Rara began in 2019 through collaborations with SweetRush’s Partners in Pride employee resource group (ERG), a dedicated group of talented, cross-functional teammates working together to positively impact the LGBTQ+ community and its allies through a variety of programs around the world. 

 Gonzalo Solorzano, SweetRush Client Experience Manager and Partners in Pride ERG lead, said: “The mural serves as a reminder that we are not only honoring those who came before us but also that the impact we are making right now serves the future. It’s living in the past, present, and future: a three-dimensional impact.” 

“This incredible mural is a prime example of how a life-centered business shows up and expresses itself in a community,” said SweetRush CEO and Cofounder Andrei Hedstrom. “It’s also an example of how firms that work 100% remotely, like SweetRush, can reach out in the world and reshape physical spaces to reflect their values.”

About SweetRush

SweetRush is trusted by many of the world’s most successful companies to help them improve the performance of their employees. We are known for exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of instructional design with highly engaging delivery. Our work has earned a long list of awards and accolades in collaboration with our clients. 

 About Casa Rara

Casa Rara is a foster home created for Costa Rican LGBTQ+ youth who feel unsafe in their current situations. It provides both guided psychological, emotional, and financial support, as well as education designed to teach youth important health, wellness, and empowerment lessons.

San Francisco, Calif., June 6, 2022 — SweetRush celebrates its inclusion on Training Industry’s coveted Top 20 Custom Content Development Companies list for the eighth consecutive year. SweetRush met the rigorous acceptance criteria through its multidisciplinary approach to learning experience design, a portfolio of global brands who trust SweetRush with their high-profile projects, and its contribution to and positive impact on the L&D community as a whole.

Best known for its learner-centric custom learning solutions that blend instructional design best practices with agency-level creative design and immersive technologies, SweetRush has been disrupting the L&D industry since 2001 and has been judged by many as the world’s most innovative learning provider. 

At SweetRush, challenges are met with creativity and innovation by a team united by craft and culture whose capabilities include blended learning, eLearning, games, AR/VR, vILT, social learning, microlearning, self-reflection, and performance support. 

Numerous world-class clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, trust SweetRush to take on their complex, important, and even lifesaving programs. Additionally, the company is proud to have supported 40 nonprofits in the past five years.

Other SweetRush services include culture and leadership development and staff augmentation for L&D. SweetRush is known as a culture-forward organization valuing commitment, caring, and respect. 

“Never before has learning and development been so central to business strategy,” said Andrei Hedstrom, SweetRush CEO and Cofounder. “What’s more, we know that our clients have a choice, and so we feel truly humbled when we’re chosen to be their partner. For us, there is no greater honor than sharing our craft with like-minded, human-centered, and forward-thinking organizations who want to guide and shape the workplace by serving the potential of their people.”

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and mastery of performance improvement is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients has earned us gold awards from our peers and high ranking on the top industry lists.

We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our five service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile, gamification and classroom training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), SPARK (VR, AR, and immersive technologies), Cultural Transformation (expert coaching and consulting to create high-performing cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com. 

 About Training Industry

Training Industry, the leading research and information resource for corporate learning leaders, prepares the Training Industry Top 20 report on critical sectors of the corporate training marketplace to better inform professionals about the best and most innovative providers of training services and technologies.

San Francisco, Calif., May 31 — SweetRush, a culture-forward, industry-leading, award-winning learning and development company, will “bump elbows” with its HR friends and peers in booth #3140 at the upcoming SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2022 (SHRM22) in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

SHRM and SweetRush recently created SHRM’s highly engaging leadership training program, the SHRM People Manager Qualification (PMQ). Inspired by streaming TV and classic shows like “Friends,” the self-paced eLearning contains episodes and seasons rather than modules and lessons. PMQ covers all the responsibilities, tasks, challenges, and opportunities new leaders face as they transition into their new roles. It features creative storytelling, diverse characters, gamification, and behavioral assessments. 

“There is such a high level of trust and caring between the SHRM and SweetRush teams,” said Arturo Schwartzberg, SweetRush Cofounder and Chairman. “Our combined team designed and developed a ‘binge-worthy,’ 10-hour eLearning journey that is making a significant impact on SHRM’s clients as they seek to upskill their newly minted people managers.” The training has won numerous Gold awards, and SHRM and SweetRush are now engaging in new and exciting collaborations. 

At SHRM22, SweetRush will share its work with SHRM along with its custom learning, culture, and leadership services for a wide variety of clients. “HR is a large ecosystem that covers all the people-related facets of an organization. Clear areas of focus for HR in 2022 are leadership, culture, and learning, which are essential for attracting, retaining, motivating, and upskilling the very best people in your organization. These are the places where we jump in and help our clients,” said Schwartzberg. 

In addition to leading the industry with its award-winning custom training content and certifications over the past 20-plus years, SweetRush also provides expertise on issues that keep HR professionals up at night, such as culture and leadership transformation, and unlocking the full potential of people and organizations. SweetRush is also a dynamo in staff augmentation, providing temporary talent to augment its clients’ Learning and Development teams. ​​And as a guide and collaborator for clients ready to explore new and immersive technologies, SweetRush specializes in leveraging augmented and virtual reality for learning. 

“To everyone attending SHRM22, I’d like to personally extend an invite to come by the Expo and say hello. We’d love to connect with you and hear about the challenges you’ve been facing in your role and see how we can help you and serve your organization,” said Schwartzberg. “Meeting you would make our day. If you’d like to learn more about our team that will be attending, please visit us here.”

ABOUT SWEETRUSH

SweetRush is trusted by many of the world’s most successful companies to help them improve the performance of their employees. We are known for exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of instructional design with highly engaging delivery. Our work has earned a long list of awards and accolades in collaboration with our clients. Discover more at www.sweetrush.com