Stevie-winner Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, founded by Shri Gautam Adani in 1988.

Adani envisions training the youth of India and making them capable enough to earn their daily bread with self-respect and pride, resulting in the establishment of their Gold Stevie^® Award-winning Adani Skill Development Centre (ASDC).

The ASDC was registered on May 16, 2016, as a section 8 not-for-profit company to focus on skill development activities to contribute toward nation-building by bridging the skill gap demand & supply, in line with the Government of India’s Skill India Mission.

Adani Skill Development Center 
ASDC started its operations pan-India in 2016 with the project “SAKSHAM,” which has reached more than 100,000 beneficiaries. The program helps to teach parents, communities, and employers about gender equality, equal opportunities, and economic empowerment for females, as gender equality is embedded in all the courses. 

“SAKSHAM” means “capable” and is an ideology of the ASDC to enable the youth of India to become more capable of achieving their goals by becoming skilled professionals. This ideology has no borders and boundaries. SAKSHAM is working to bring world-class skills development training to India through partnerships with various corporations and other organizations.

The environment is designed to encourage young girls and boys to take up training and employment opportunities to build a well-trained, skilled workforce. ASDC aims to help India's youth achieve their goals by turning them into skilled professionals.

It is an initiative to provide disadvantaged youth, especially those who have been deprived of mainstream education, with essential life and market-oriented vocational skills. This not only helps them to access decent employment but also gives them the independence to be themselves.

Project Impact and Expansion
Thus far, the program has impacted over 100,000 young adults by equipping them with livelihood skills, thereby making ASDC the fastest-growing skill development company in India. Interestingly, 60% of the total trained youth are females.

ASDC has since launched additional programs, including:

• Special Project for FISHERMEN community in Kutch district of Gujarat state, which provides assured placement in nearby industry after training to the highly isolated community of the area.

• Special Project for Prisoners of Jail in Gujarat State, which provides basic digital literacy training to soon-to-be-released prisoners to help them integrate into the digital world after release.
• Training offerings for technological advancement in Welding, Crane Operation, Electrical Wiring & Heavy Motor Vehicle programs by introducing Mixed reality (Augmented + Virtual) -based simulator training.
• Four new training centers in India created the presence of Saksham in 11 states, enabling an overall annual training capacity of 30,000+.

ASDC is one of the biggest non-government-funded training partners in India to provide training in employable skill domains and providing livelihood opportunities to the upskilled youth of the Nation. 

They have now started to offer diplomas, postgraduate diplomas, and certificate programs affiliated with State Government recognized universities in skill development. They also provide experience-based learning opportunities through On Job Training (OJT), Exposure Visits, and Project work in almost all the courses to ensure that the Skill Gap is appropriately addressed. 

Adani Skill Development Centre won a Gold Stevie Award for Organization of the Year among Medium-sized Non-Profit or Government Organizations in The 2022 International Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The 2023 International Business Awards?

Twenty outstanding technology executives from across the United States have been named Finalists in four HCLTech Supercharging Progress categories in The 21st Annual American Business Awards®, the top honors for achievement in the workplace in the USA.

A jury of technology professionals from around the world will determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie® Award placements from among the Finalists. The placements will be revealed during The American Business Awards’ banquet at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Tuesday, June 13.

The Finalists are:

Excellence in Transforming Business
Finalists:
Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wisconsin: Samir Ghuge, Head Strategy & Planning, Office of COO
Marriott International, Memphis, Tennessee: Naveen Manga, CTO
Papa Johns, Louisville, Kentucky: Yasaswi Pulavarti, VP, Digital Transformation and Engineering
Tenet Healthcare, Dallas, Texas: Paola Arbour, CIO
Verizon, Irving, Texas: Senthil Muthusamy, VP
WestRock Fulfillment Company, Duluth, Georgia: Joseph Hinkle, Vice President

Leadership in Next Gen Technology
Finalists:
Canadian Tire Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Linda Siksna, SVP
Legend Biotech, Somerset, New Jersey: Dadong Li, Head of Information Technology
Sonoco Products Company, Hartsville, South Carolina: Andrea White, CIO
Verizon, New York, New York: Praveen Atreya, VP

Leading Through Uncertainty
Finalists:
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, Durham, North Carolina: Jo Abernathy, Chief Information Officer
Disney Parks Experience and Products, Orlando, Florida: Gail Evans, EVP-Chief Digital & Technology Officer
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan: Sucheta Walimbe, Global Head Infrastructure
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., Boston, Massachusetts: John A. Gigerich, CIO
Stanley Black & Decker, Hartford, Connecticut: Stephen Desiderio, VP Global IT Operation

New Normal Digital Transformer
Finalists:
GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Agam Upadhyay, SVP & Chief Technology Officer
Portland General Electric, Portland, Oregon: John Kochavatr, CIO and VP, Customer & Digital Solutions
IHG, Atlanta, Georgia: Alvin Smith, Vice President Global Infrastructure Architecture
The Walt Disney Company, Seattle, Washington: Diane Jurgens, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer
True Value, Chicago, Illinois: John Armbrecht, CTO & CIO

HCLTech is a long-time sponsor of The American Business Awards. HCLTech is a global technology company, home to more than 225,900 people across 60 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending March 2023 totaled $12.6 billion. To learn how we can supercharge progress for you, visit hcltech.com.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller commented on the Finalists: “We’re privileged to have HCLTech continue as a sponsor of the ABAs and to have so many accomplished technology executives as Finalists for Stevie Awards. All of them will be recognized as Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie winners, and we look forward to welcoming them on stage to receive their due recognition on June 13.”

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace, from customer service and marketing to management, new product development, and technology. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in other categories in the ABAs were announced in April. The full list of those winners is featured at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Sponsors of The 2023 American Business Awards include HCLTech, Melissa Sones Consulting, and SoftPro.

AT&T Wins Organization of the Year for the Second Year in a Row

The Stevie® Awards announced today the Grand Stevie Award winners in The 21^st Annual American Business Awards^® competition. Winners will be honored during the ABAs’ awards banquet on June 13, 2023 in New York City. Registration for the event is now open.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. - large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development.

This year more than 3,700 nominations were considered in the judging process by more than 240 professionals, whose average ratings determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners announced earlier this month. For a complete list of the 2023 Stevie Award winners, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

The Best of the ABA Awards are best-of-competition prizes awarded to the organizations that submit the best body of work to the competition, in their own name or in the names of one or more clients, or have the highest-rated nomination in the competition. Grand Stevie Awards cannot be applied for directly.

2023 Grand Stevie winners in The American Business Awards are as follows:

Highest-rated New Product or Service of the Year: There is a tie this year for this Grand Stevie Award, with both nominations receiving average scores from the judges of 9.0/10.  Both are in the competition’s categories that recognize excellence in education-related products and services:

• The Chief Information Security Officer Business Simulation, nominated by Advantexe Learning Solutions, West Conshohocken, PA, also won a Gold Stevie for Best Game-based Curriculum Solution
• Kiddopia, Wilmington, DE, a subscription-based early learning app for kids ages 2-7, also won Gold for Best PreK / Early Childhood Learning Solution 

Highest-Rated Nomination of the Year: With a perfect score from the judges of 10.0/10.0, the “Ask The Question - Suicide Awareness PSA Campaign,” submitted by Avera Health, an integrated health system based in Sioux Falls, SD, also won Gold for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Healthcare in the competition’s public relations categories.

Most Honored Marketing Agency of the Year: FG|PG, Huntington, CA is one of the largest WBENC-certified woman-owned marketing experience creative and production agencies in the country.  The agency earned 27 award points for nine Gold Stevie Awards in the competition’s event categories, all for the immersive experience event it created for Marvel SNAP, a partnership among Bytedance, Marvel, and Nuverse.

Most Honored Public Relations Agency: Lumina Communications, with offices in New York and Silicon Valley, earned 27.5 award points for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie wins for nominations submitted on behalf of clients Aryaka, Cowbell Cyber, DoControl, Gluware Inc., Keysight Technologies, Salt Security, SlashNext, Solvo, and Whatfix.

Organization of the Year: For the second year in a row the winner is AT&T, Dallas, TX, which earned 39 points for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies earned primarily by AT&T Business Multimedia Solutions. As the first truly modern media company, AT&T has been changing the way people live, work and play for the past 145 years. AT&T also won Grand Stevie Awards in the ABAs from 2013-2016. This award is determined by the total number of awards won in the ABAs, with a Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5.  

Sponsors of The 2023 American Business Awards include HCLTech, Melissa Sones Consulting, and SoftPro.

HIVE by Income (HIVE), an Insurance-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform by one of Singapore’s leading composite insurers, Income Insurance, enables insurers and digital platforms to launch innovative embedded insurance propositions with speed and agility. 

With pre-built InsurTech integrations and seamless customer journeys, HIVE brings innovative product offerings to new segments of digital-first customer segments across the region, empowering greater financial well-being for all.

Recently, HIVE collaborated with Vietnam's leading housekeeping service, JupViec.vn, and third largest non-life insurer, Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Corporation (PTI), to launch a pay-as-you-earn microinsurance product that addresses the needs of vulnerable gig economy workers - domestic helpers.

Empowering Lives Through Stackable Microinsurance: Protecting The Underserved, One Policy At A Time
JupViec.vn is a mobile app that connects domestic workers with customers for on-demand housekeeping services. Known as the “Uber for maids,” its objective is to provide regular jobs and skills upgrading necessary for these women to earn a higher income and improve their lives and social status.

HIVE launched “JupViec Care” with the gig platform and PTI to provide a pay-as-you-earn personal accident microinsurance product that is embedded into every successful job completed. Designed to be simple and flexible even for tech illiterates, premiums are adjustable starting from as low as S$0.12. These domestic helpers can stay protected against death and disability, with a sum assured of up to SGD6K.

“Helpers are at high risk of getting injured while working such as climbing as they are cleaning. In the event of injuries, treatments would mean a financial loss which could take away their humble income. JupViec Care cleverly fits as a perfect solution, by allowing the helpers to purchase insurance with an amazingly small, affordable amount and making coverage stackable, giving them extra confidence and protection as they carry out their shifts.” —Mr. Phan Minh, Founder & CEO of JupViec.vn

The availability of this innovative microinsurance model allows informal gig economy workers access to relevant financial services, putting them on a path toward greater financial security and social mobility. HIVE's approach to financial inclusion prioritizes customer-centric partnerships and allows for flexibility and customization to address the specific needs of different communities.

HIVE InsurTech offerings, which are compatible with any insurance core system and adaptable to multiple customer channels, allow new embedded insurance propositions to be launched in as short as 3 months. HIVE integrated with PTI and JupViec wallet within 3 months to serve the needs of the domestic helper segment.

Together with like-minded partners, HIVE aspires to transform the insurance industry and create a fairer and more sustainable economy, embedding insurance into our lifestyle activities, one activity at a time.

HIVE By Income won a Gold Stevie Award for Innovation in Business-to-Business Services in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. 

View the full list of 2023 winners.

Over 50 years ago, the founders of Pharmavite sought to improve health and wellness by focusing on complete nutrition through essential nutrients and minerals. Since that day, they have been a leader in the health and wellness industry, earning the trust of consumers, healthcare professionals, and retailers.

Pharmavite’s purpose is to bring the gift of health to life. As a pioneer in the health and wellness industry and makers of Nature Made^® vitamins—the leading national vitamin and supplement broad-line brand that’s ranked the #1 Pharmacist Recommended vitamin and supplement brand—this purpose starts with its employees.

Their employee wellness program, PharmaFit, brings their company's purpose to life by offering a holistic approach to support employees’ health and well-being. This program earned them a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Workplace Health & Well-being in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers. This was Pharmavite’s fifth HR-related award in 2022.

The PharmaFit Employee Wellness Program
Pharmavite offers wellness challenges and onsite activities including massage, yoga, vaccine clinics, nutrition & financial wellness education, and meditation. They also partner with Virgin Pulse, a digital platform to support workplace culture change and provide easy access to wellness resources. 

The PharmaFit Program is grounded in its unique wellness strategy. The program launched in 2017 and has grown to a strategic company-wide wellness program with 95% employee enrollment, a full-time Manager of Wellness, an innovative digital platform, and a generous medical premium reduction.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Pharmavite redesigned its wellness program to also be delivered virtually and to offer bi-weekly themed wellness guides; monthly wellness challenges to promote engagement on a variety of topics and keep employees connected; virtual yoga and meditation (still offered today), and webinars focused on stress, anxiety, and burnout in partnership with the company’s EAP.

As mental wellness needs grew, the company curated special programs to support employees and families. Yearly, they sent “self-care” wellness gifts to each employee to remind them of mental health support along with wellness items to promote good sleep and relaxation. When they returned to the office in 2022, an EAP therapist was on site to help employees adjust.

Drive-through flu shot clinics opened in the Fall of 2020 with outdoor COVID-19 vaccine clinics at all Pharmavite locations for employees and family members; booster shot clinics continue to be offered.

Pharmavite also broadened its wellness benefits to support the changing needs of employees, including:

• Free digital memberships to ClassPass@Home and Peloton with discounts on bikes and treadmills so employees could stay active in the safety of their own homes
• Care.com to support caregivers
• Free tutoring for the children of employees
• Zoom fitness classes for kids at home, giving parents a much-needed break 
• Lyra Health to provide free emotional support for employees and families
• Onsite wellness rooms including a Peloton bike and space for yoga and meditation 

In Pharmavite’s 2020 employee engagement survey, 72% of employees responded favorably to “I feel supported with Pharmavite-provided programs, tools, and resources to help me effectively manage my health and well-being during the pandemic.” In the 2021 survey, 81% responded favorably to “I feel my benefits are competitive,” which is 16% higher than external benchmarks.

Pharmavite won a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Workplace Health & Wellbeing in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers.

Interested in entering the 2023 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers? 

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world's premier business awards programs, announced the winners of five Grand Stevie Award trophies, plus nine winners of a People’s Choice public vote, in its 10th annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the only awards to recognize innovation in the workplace throughout the entire 29-nation Asia-Pacific region. All organizations in the region are eligible to submit nominations to the competition.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners in the various categories were announced on 6 April. Those awards were determined by the average scores of more than 150 executives worldwide acting as judges. Winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday, 27 June at 2:00 pm KST. Tickets for the event are now on sale.

The 2023 Grand Stevie® Award for Most Honored Organization of the Year goes to Cisco Systems, Bangalore, India with 28.5 award points.  This award could not be applied for directly. The award is determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the competition, with a Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5.

Grand Stevie Awards are also presented to the highest-scoring nomination from each of the four nations that submitted the most nominations to the competition. Three of the four highest-rated nominations in the competition are in the Innovation in Thought Leadership awards categories.

• Australia: Street Science, of Brisbane, Queensland, for their “Creating Future Innovators” nomination, a Gold Stevie Award winner for Innovation in Thought Leadership, with an average score of 8.78/10.
  
  
• China: Wharf China Estates Limited, Hong Kong, winner of a Gold Stevie for their nomination “CQIFS -The Gate” for Innovation in Consumer Events (8.56/10).
  
  
• India: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, New Delhi, for their nomination “Parivartan - Prison to pride by IndianOil,” a Silver Stevie winner for Innovation in Thought Leadership, average score 8.70.
  
  
• Philippines: The nomination of Kelvin Lester K. Lee, SEC Commissioner, by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, which won a Gold Stevie for Thought Leader of the Year with an average score of 8.83/10.

More than 9,300 votes were cast over the past three weeks in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, a long-time feature of Stevie Awards programs but a first-time public vote as part of the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Each People’s Choice winner received at least 100 votes; the minimum number required to be eligible to win:

• Business Products & Services: VA Platinum, Bright, Victoria, Australia
• Startup – Business Products: m360, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines
• Startup – Business Services: Aedium Design Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• Consumer Products & Services: Empire East Land Holdings, Inc., Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
• Health Care Industries: TCI Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan
• Non-Profit Organizations and NGOs: ANUDIP Foundation for Social Welfare, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
• Social Impact Companies: Newport World Resorts, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines
• Technology Industries: HP India Sales Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
• Tech Startup – Services: m360, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines

These honorees will receive crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award trophies.

The 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 19 markets including Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China including Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. More than 800 nominations about innovative achievements in the 29-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year in categories such as Award for Excellence in Innovation in Products & Services, Award for Innovative Management, and Award for Innovation in Corporate Websites, among many others. 

"Organizations have had to become more creative than ever to serve their customers and stay ahead of the curve since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Thought Leadership achievements shown in the Grand Stevie-winning nominations are exceptional and are paving a new standard for business in the Asia-Pacific region, " said Maggie Miller, President of the Stevie Awards. "We commend all of this year's Grand and People's Choice Stevie Award winners for their achievements, and we look forward to celebrating them on 27 June."

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the 27 June awards ceremony, and the list of Stevie Award winners, are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, today announced the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners in The 21st American Business Awards®.

All organizations operating in the USA–large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit–are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development. More than 3,700 nominations were considered in the judging process this year by more than 240 professionals worldwide, whose average scores determined the winners.

Winners of three or more Gold Stevie Awards include:

Align Technology (Tempe, AZ), AT&T Business Multimedia Solutions (Huntington Beach, CA), Bursali (Bursa, Turkey), Cisco (San Jose, CA), Delta Dental of Kansas (Wichita, KS), EY (London, United Kingdom), FG|PG (Huntington, CA), Hearts & Science (New York, NY), IBM (Armonk, NY), Lumin Digital (San Ramon, CA), Mayfield Consulting, Inc. (Conford, NC), Praxis AI (Clemson, SC), Premier Inc. (Charlotte, NC), Radicle Science (San Diego, CA), Shoe Gummi LLC (Calabasas, CA), Skillsoft (Nashua, NH), Tek Leaders Inc (Frisco, TX), Texas Department of Transportation (Austin, TX), The Home Depot Backyard (Atlanta, GA), and Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. (New York, NY).

Among other winners, organizations with five or more Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie wins include:

AutoLeap (Atlanta, GA), C-Strategies Inc. (Chicago IL), Evisort (San Francisco, CA), Fidelity Investments (Smithfield, RI), George P Johnson Experiential Marketing (Auburn Hills, MI), Innovation Refunds (Des Moines, IA), Matrex Exhibits (Addison IL), MetLife Legal Plans (Cleveland, OH), Nuance Communications, Inc (Burlington, MA), SnappConner PR (Lehi, UT), SoftPro (Raleigh, NC), Squarespace, Inc. (New York, NY), SucceedSmart (Los Altos, CA), Tata Consultancy Services (New York, NY), and Vanguard (Malvern PA).

For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced today, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Winners of six best-of-show prizes will be awarded Grand Stevie Award trophies, to be announced the week of May 8. Also in May, Stevie winners in four HCLTech Supercharging Progress categories, sponsored by HCL Technologies, will be announced.

2023 Stevie winners will be celebrated during an awards banquet on Tuesday, June 13 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Tickets for the event are now on sale.

The categories that recognize outstanding new products and services introduced in the USA are among the most heavily subscribed in the ABAs. Every new product or service nominated in The 2023 American Business Awards is included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a worldwide public vote. Voting opens April 28 at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com and will conclude on May 26. People’s Choice Stevie winners will be announced the week of May 29 and will be honored during the June 13 awards presentations.

“We are thrilled to be able to recognize such a wide array of American organizations in The 2023 American Business Awards. American organizations have had to pivot in the face of COVID-19, remote and hybrid work, and other challenges,” said Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller. “This year’s Stevie-winning nominations in The American Business Awards are testament to the commitment, passion, adaptability, and creativity of American professionals. We look forward to celebrating Stevie winners on June 13 in New York City.”

Sponsors of The 2023 American Business Awards include HCL Technologies, Melissa Sones Consulting, and SoftPro.

ValueLabs is a global technology company specializing in software product engineering, data technology, design, and consulting.

The multinational corporation delivers success to its clients by designing and implementing digital transformation tailored to their needs. ValueLabs believes that a prosperous digital journey is ensured by prioritizing the business strategy & business model, tools & technologies, and people & processes.

One of the frameworks that ValueLabs developed and employs is the “The Digital Flywheel™”, a solution design playbook to drive digital transformation for companies with varied business needs. Focused on business strategy at the core, “The Digital Flywheel™” uses cross-functional elements such as User Experience, Analytics, Automation, and Product Development to tailor solutions to the clients' unique business needs. Their client NPS stands at an industry-high of 90, a testament to their commitment to delivering value to clients.

They had humble beginnings in 1997, starting with a philanthropic act of building free-of-cost, computer-based learning programs for school students, and have since expanded to a global operation spanning 26 locations, 7,000 associates, and 300 clients worldwide.

Combining their expertise with the ability to take risks on clients’ behalf as strategic partners, they successfully create tangible value for all things technology and design.

Core Values & Employee Benefits
The company’s leaders have succinctly captured their founding principles and purpose within the statement, “Doing the Right Thing, Always.” – emphasizing their unwavering commitment to ethical conduct and moral integrity. ValueLabs’ commitment to improvement and evolution has led to their employee NPS rising to 80 since 2020 (compared to the industry benchmark of 50).

The company fosters a merit-based culture by identifying and promoting high-potential individuals to leadership positions, regardless of factors such as gender, age, or ethnicity. Employees have the freedom to explore areas they enjoy working on as they accord equal importance to talent, experience, and education. Additionally, the company endeavors to provide accelerated career paths for promising young graduates.

ValueLabs’ commitment to the well-being of their employees and their families is exemplified through their Employee Assistance Program. This program provides a range of support services, including vaccination drives and wellness activities to address social anxiety, work-life balance, and depression. They have made significant strides in enhancing their medical insurance benefits, increasing coverage by up to five times over the past two years. They also proactively introduced COVID-19 insurance at no additional cost to employees and created financial trusts for the families of employees who passed away in an untimely manner. 

Moreover, ValueLabs demonstrates its commitment to investing in the future of its employees and their families by sponsoring top-rated international tutors through its “ImagineEd” program. This program has been designed to help children develop a well-rounded education and establish a strong foundation for their academic and personal growth.

To encourage continued innovation, they created the “Ideathon” framework to solve client and internal business problems. They implement this through their “ThinkTank CoE” to provide a structure for regular brainstorming on novel, out-of-the-box ideas. Additionally, through its "Imagine" entity, the company encourages its employees to explore their technological interests and bring their ideas to life in the form of real-world projects.

Since Winning Their Stevie Award
ValueLabs is focused on building trust with businesses and continues to prioritize its two key stakeholders: Customers and employees and has achieved industry-leading employee and client NPS.

They have also extended the “ImagineEd” program to various areas such as education, culture, and art. To ensure the best quality of learning, the program carefully selects some of the best teachers globally who bring insights, questions, and methods that strengthen fundamental knowledge.

ValueLabs won a Gold Stevie Award for Employer of the Year in Computer Software among Companies with More than 300 employees in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers.

Interested in entering the 2023 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers?

Friska Wirya is the powerhouse behind Stevie-winner Fresh by Friska, a change management consulting, facilitation, and personal development service for executives, teams, and large businesses.

Friska guides complex organizations through the people side of change; she has helped industry-leading organizations shift tribulation into transformation.

Friska is the former Head of Change at the biggest gold miner in the Southern Hemisphere, leading digital transformation changes to achieve US$170m annual savings, skyrocket innovation and improve safety. She infiltrated a digital-first culture across four countries to create a solid foundation to drive the adoption of new and emerging technologies, achieving recognition such as the Most Innovative Hard Hat Company from Apple and various industry awards.

Before this, she was the Global Change Lead for multi-million dollar projects spanning technology, structure, process, and people, impacting +23,000 at Tier 1 engineering firm Worley. She brought the digital future of policing to life for the world’s single-largest policing jurisdiction.

Friska started her own business after leaving her corporate job in the mining, oil & gas, and engineering industries on the precipice of the global pandemic. As COVID-19 spread, restrictions came out fast, borders closed, and Friska’s pipeline was eliminated in the blink of an eye – organizations were not investing in change management, ironically when they needed it the most. Friska invested time in the online space to develop her virtual brand.

In response to the COVID curveball, Friska offered workshops to the public she’d previously only offered in-house and even welcomed big brands like Salesforce and Microsoft on board as clients. She spoke at Microsoft’s first D&I event in Asia and at conferences such as The Future of Mining, Female Influencers in Tech, and Women in Construction and Engineering.

Friska was then engaged by the #1 university in Australia, The University of Melbourne, to pivot rapidly to a fully remote campus, impacting 65,000 students and 15,000 staff while maintaining operational efficiency and blitz-scaling programs to aid student financial and mental health during the global pandemic.

With a speedy turnaround, Friska’s team created a country-first digital portal for students to remain connected to their lecturers, lesson materials, access COVID-19 safety information, financial support information, and mental health resources. This portal also connected university departments and had them working together in ways they had never done before. The results were astounding:

• Transitioned to a fully remote campus in five business days
• Built a one-of-a-kind connection portal where everyone may have been physically distanced - but in heart and mind closer than ever
• Held virtual open days—the University of Melbourne had a two-week Open Day event. The first visual open day saw more than 40,000 people registering from around the world. People could take a virtual tour, join a sample lecture, ask questions, and network with other students.
• 300+ live events over six separate days
• ~45k event registrations and ~14k platform registrations

Friska’s work made students feel supported and empowered the university to adapt and continue to operate. The scale and speed at which the COVID response was executed make it noteworthy. During this process, there was zero downtime. 

The open days, and the positive feedback from these virtual events, were phenomenal. This program was the most comprehensive of its kind and a fully immersive experience. In numbers, this initiative impacted 65,000 students, 16,000 staff, and 250 vendors/consultants. It received exceptional media coverage in major newspapers. The marketing data for the virtual open days indicated that, over two weeks, over 45,000 visitors joined events from around the world, which suggests that a virtual event opened the university to more people.

Aside from keeping current students supported and extending the university’s credibility during a pandemic, this work also gave Friska’s business a chance to demonstrate her commitment to excellence and exceptional capabilities, seeing her pull off many incredible “firsts'' under challenging circumstances.

Friska has created a blueprint for change that is relevant for large workforces with central hubs where the workplace is more than just an office. Since then, she has gone on to consult for the world’s largest family-owned business in the automotive industry headquartered in the USA and enable a large Australian engineering company to implement sustainability principles across APAC.

Friska Wirya’s Fresh by Friska won a Bronze Stevie Award for Company of the Year among Small Advertising, Marketing, & Public Relations Organizations in The 2022 International Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The 2023 International Business Awards? 

Stevie-winner Glass of Learning, Inc. is a Toronto-based leadership development and design firm focused on changing businesses. Chief Experience Officer, Nancy Priest says, “to change results you must change behavior. At Glass, we’re learning strategists and behavior-change specialists.” 

During COVID, Glass revolutionized its well-known Leadership Road™ training virtually via VirtualGlass™ and applied it to great success. This platform is now available for facilitators to access and run virtual learning. 

The VirtualGlass program earned Glass of Learning both a Silver and Gold Stevie Award in the 2022 edition of the StevieⓇ Awards for Great Employers, for Most Innovative Leadership Program and for Achievement in Leadership Development, respectively.

VirtualGlass™ Program
Approximately 95% of organizations invest in leadership training, an investment that equates to a whopping $366 billion globally. However, most leaders are still not trained on how to properly step up to the plate—leadership training rarely if ever “sticks.”

After 25 years of training Fortune 500 leaders, Priest quit in 2014 to start Glass. She wanted to customize programs (versus templates), develop programs quickly (in days instead of months), and for training to be effective in practice. Priest decided to take on the challenge of working with large manufacturers and specializing in training frontline leaders and plant management—nearly all men.

In early 2018, Priest launched her revolutionary global leadership training program, Leadership Road™ for frontline Supervisors, a groundbreaking 27-week “journey,” with the timeframe chosen as it is thought to be the required time for training to “stick” psychologically. The journey begins with in-depth “discovery” aimed at finding the “burning issue” at hand. The Program is based on the premise that adults learn through play as children do. 

In 2019 Priest launched the Manager version of Leadership Road™. Then as COVID ravaged the globe, the 27-week program went virtual and was called VirtualGlass™, fully customizable because one size never fits all.

For example, Glass had a large international manufacturer whose managers were increasingly overwhelmed and disenfranchised during COVID. The Glass team created virtual activities to teach them how to move forward in their thinking vs engaging in perceptions and paradigms that block progress; how to transition easily in challenging situations; and how to avoid assumptions that can disrupt teams.

As more and more managers and staff became ill, missing out on entire skill sets, Glass customized VirtualGlass™ to teach emotional intelligence as well. Teaching empathy increased problem-solving and professional coaching skills.

Next, complementary videos taught teams how to work and manage remotely. Glass released the “Leadership to Life” program, customized for graduates of Leadership Road™. This program took the Journey’s leadership principles and extended them to daily and family life and activities. Many participants have since reported being better partners and parents.

Finally, Glass was asked to create an innovative Supervisor Peer Mentoring program, enabling graduates now working off the floor to continue learning and growing by taking on the role of coach and mentor to new participants moving through the 27-week program. This program was designed to increase confidence in the Supervisor graduates and enable new participants to quickly take on the learning role with a mentor to help escalate the learning process.

As of mid-2021, the VirtualGlass™ became available for facilitators to purchase subscriptions and access ready-made content.

Glass of Learning won a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Leadership Development and a Silver Stevie for Most Innovative Leadership Program and in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers.

Interested in entering the 2023 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers?