Along with nine client-partners, SweetRush won 40 awards at the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Awards in 17 categories, including multiple wins for learning and development, leadership development, new hire onboarding, and upskilling.
San Francisco, Calif., August 22, 2023 — SweetRush, the industry-leading provider of custom solutions for talent empowerment and people success, along with its client-partners, has won a record 24 Gold, seven Silver, and nine Bronze awards (40 total) at the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Human Capital Management Excellence Awards. SweetRush was named a top overall winner for the ninth consecutive year.
SweetRush shares these awards with client-partners the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA), Bayer, Bridgestone Americas, Capgemini, Hilton, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Wells Fargo.
“These awards reflect the remarkable relationships and craft we have built together with our client-partners to impact the lives and work of people in some of the world’s most impactful organizations,” said Andrei Hedstrom, SweetRush Cofounder, President, and CEO. “The challenges and rewards of serving so many organizations in so many industries, profit and nonprofit, has made us a rallying point for effective and progressive forms of learning and development. Increasingly, year by year, the advances in consulting, designing, and developing for digital learning experiences are becoming a strategic force in the transformation of people and their organizations.”
Highlights of SweetRush’s 2023 wins include:
- Awards in 17 unique categories focusing on learning and development, leadership development, sales performance, talent acquisition, talent management, and the future of work.
- 15 Gold awards for learning and development.
- Nine Gold awards in multiple categories for professional development certification programs.
- Four Gold awards for leadership development, including learning programs for frontline leaders.
- Four Gold awards for learning innovation.
- Three Gold awards for upskilling.
- Two Gold awards for blended learning.
- Gold wins in hybrid learning, learning in the flow of work, custom learning content, and learning technology implementation categories.
SweetRush’s high-impact collaborations with its clients span subject matters and audiences and drive positive change.
In the words of Jaimie Francis, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Vice President:
“We’re honored to be recognized by the Brandon Hall Awards for the impact of our Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) framework and the TPM Academy® to advance employer leadership in building high-performing talent pipelines. SweetRush has been an invaluable partner in taking the next step in our evolution to transform our in-person TPM Academy trainings to an engaging, interactive online learning experience. Their stellar team helped us navigate how to create the best experience for our learners so that they are empowered with the tools and information necessary to co-design talent supply chains to help students and workers access and succeed in career pathways. We look forward to continued collaboration and bringing this learning experience to more communities across the world in search of workforce strategies and solutions.”
SweetRush’s other award-winning collaborations with clients:
- Reimagine the virtual new hire onboarding experience with a game-changing, socially vibrant technology platform.
- Help employees step into the shoes of colleagues experiencing microaggressions and recognize the power of small actions to support diversity and inclusion.
- Upskill new people managers with human and technical skills, increasing their confidence and creating more inclusive and effective teams.
- Address challenges in diabetes patient care by teaching healthcare professionals how to treat the whole patient.
- Support leaders managing the “new normal” of hybrid workplaces with impactful approaches to leading with purpose and care.
- Create better career pathways for high-potential employees.
- Develop skills for high-level consultants working with enterprise accounts.
- Offer just-in-time resources that directly impact internal sustainability goals and encourage positive behavior change at home and in communities.
The awards also highlight SweetRush’s breadth and depth in learning design and technology—blended learning, video, storytelling, games and gamification, custom learning platforms, dynamic behavioral assessments, and marketing communications—and its collaborations across industries, including business services, banking and finance, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, hospitality, nonprofit, and pharmaceuticals.
“Beyond the giddy moment of winning so many awards, what’s truly rewarding is knowing we are changing the lives of so many people, helping them advance in their careers,” said Arturo Schwartzberg, SweetRush Cofounder and Board Chairman. “It’s true we are improving the bottom line of our clients, but we never forget the work we do has tangible impact on real people, and that is symbolically what these awards recognize and what feels good and fuels our celebration.”
SweetRush’s 2023 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards include:
24 GOLD AWARDS
Best Advance in Creating an Extended Enterprise Learning Program (4)
Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program (4)
Best Program for Upskilling Employees (3)
Best Advance in Leadership Development (2)
Best Development Program for Frontline Leaders (2)
Best Use of Blended Learning (2)
Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development
Best Advance in Custom Content
Best Advance in Learning in the Flow of Work
Best Advance in Learning Technology Implementation
Best Hybrid Learning Program
Best Program to Improve Individual Development Planning
Best Sales Leadership Development Program
7 SILVER AWARDS
Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development
Best Advance in Custom Content
Best Advance in Learning in the Flow of Work
Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy
Best Learning Team
Best New Hire Onboarding Program
Best Use of Video for Learning
9 BRONZE AWARDS
Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development (2)
Best Advance in Leadership Development (2)
Best Advance in Succession and Career Management
Best Development Program for Frontline Leaders
Best New Hire Onboarding Program
Best Program for Upskilling Employees
Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program
“Excellence Award winners are shown to be organizations that truly value their employees and invest in them through their human capital management programs. These HCM programs have been validated as best in class for business value and the impact on the employees themselves,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, HCM Excellence Awards program leader.
Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based on these criteria:
- Alignment to their business need and environment
- Program design, functionality, and delivery
- Adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, and creativity
- Overall effectiveness, impact, and measurable benefits
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. Beyond custom learning, we offer clients temporary staffing, the latest in immersive technologies (VR, AI), and LMS consulting. Our collaborations with clients have earned us long-term successful relationships, which we value greatly. Discover more at www.sweetrush.com.
About Brandon Hall Group™
Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era.
For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized, and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.”
The awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. We are honored to receive applications from organizations worldwide ranging from small, medium, large, and global enterprises to government, not-for-profits, and associations.
