Avangrid Wins HCM Awards for Simulation-Based Learning and Employee Upskilling

As energy companies navigate grid modernization, new technologies and changing workforce requirements, traditional corporate training is increasingly being asked to do more than deliver information. Avangrid is using simulations and mentoring to make employee development more closely connected to the decisions workers face on the job.

The energy company and Iberdrola Group member has received two Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards for workforce-development initiatives: a Gold award for its Rate Case Financial Acumen program and a Bronze award for its Energizing the Evolution for the Open Mentoring Program.

The recognition highlights a broader HRTech trend: organizations are moving from course-centric learning toward experiential training, skills development and employee-led knowledge sharing.

For a regulated energy company, financial decisions can have consequences well beyond the finance department.

Understanding how rate cases work, how financial assumptions affect the business and how regulatory decisions influence operations requires employees to connect technical knowledge with commercial realities.

That was the challenge behind Avangrid’s Rate Case Financial Acumen program, which received a Gold award in Brandon Hall Group’s Best Use of Games or Simulations for Learning category.

Developed with learning consultancy Advantaxe, the program uses simulation-based learning to help employees develop financial acumen around rate cases.

The approach reflects a wider shift in corporate learning technology.

Instead of asking employees to absorb financial concepts through presentations or online courses and then apply them later, simulations can place learners inside a realistic decision-making environment. Employees can experiment with choices, see consequences and build an understanding of how different parts of a business interact.

For an energy organization, that type of training can be particularly relevant.

The industry combines complex infrastructure, regulation, capital investment and long asset lifecycles. Employees working outside traditional finance roles can still make decisions that affect costs, customer outcomes, operational performance and regulatory objectives.

Financial literacy therefore becomes less of a specialist capability and more of an organizational skill.

Turning learning into business capability

Avangrid’s approach also illustrates an important change in how enterprises measure learning and development.

For years, corporate learning programs were often evaluated through metrics such as course completion, attendance and learner satisfaction. Those indicators remain useful, but they do not necessarily demonstrate whether employees can make better decisions afterward.

Simulation-based learning provides a different measurement opportunity.

Organizations can assess how employees respond to realistic scenarios and whether they demonstrate the behaviors or decision-making capabilities the program was designed to develop.

That is increasingly important as companies invest in workforce transformation.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs research has repeatedly identified skills disruption as a central challenge for employers, with technology adoption changing the capabilities organizations need. For HR leaders, that means learning programs increasingly have to connect directly to workforce strategy rather than operate as a separate employee-benefits function.

Avangrid’s second award addresses another side of that equation: how employees develop through relationships with colleagues.

Its Energizing the Evolution for the Open Mentoring Program, developed with MentorcliQ, received a Bronze award in Brandon Hall Group’s Best Program for Upskilling Employees category.

Rather than relying exclusively on formal instruction, mentoring creates a mechanism for employees to exchange knowledge, experience and career guidance.

That can be especially valuable in industries where expertise is accumulated over years and where organizations face the risk of losing institutional knowledge as experienced employees retire or move on.

Mentoring as workforce infrastructure

Digital mentoring platforms have evolved considerably from the informal mentor programs common in large enterprises.

Technology can help organizations match employees, structure mentoring relationships, track participation and make development opportunities more accessible across a geographically distributed workforce.

For a large energy company, that matters.

Employees may work across different locations, functions and professional disciplines. A digital mentoring model can potentially connect people who would not otherwise interact, helping knowledge travel across organizational boundaries.

It can also make development less dependent on an employee’s immediate manager.

That is an important consideration for modern talent management. Managers remain central to employee development, but employees increasingly expect organizations to provide broader opportunities for career mobility, skills development and networking.

Mentoring can provide one layer of that infrastructure.

Upskilling is becoming a strategic HR function

Avangrid’s two recognized programs address different learning mechanisms but point toward the same underlying issue: workforce capability has become a strategic business concern.

The energy sector is changing rapidly as utilities invest in grid modernization, renewable energy, electrification, digital infrastructure and increasingly sophisticated operational technologies.

Those changes require new technical skills, but they also create demand for employees who understand how decisions connect across the organization.

That makes upskilling more complicated than simply teaching workers how to use a new tool.

Companies need to develop financial understanding, problem-solving, collaboration, leadership and domain-specific expertise alongside technical capabilities.

Technology can support that process, but it does not eliminate the need for thoughtful learning design.

This is where HR technology vendors are increasingly competing.

Platforms such as Workday, Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle and LinkedIn Learning are building increasingly sophisticated skills, learning and talent-management capabilities. AI is also beginning to help organizations identify skills gaps, recommend development opportunities and personalize learning.

The more interesting question is whether these systems can connect learning activity to measurable workforce outcomes.

AI changes the learning equation

Generative AI could eventually make learning programs even more personalized.

An AI assistant can potentially provide explanations, generate practice scenarios, simulate conversations and adapt difficulty based on an employee’s responses. That could complement the simulation and mentoring approaches represented by Avangrid’s award-winning programs.

But AI also creates a new requirement: employees need to learn how to work effectively with AI itself.

That means organizations may increasingly need to combine traditional domain knowledge with AI literacy, critical thinking and judgment.

For Avangrid, the significance of these awards extends beyond recognition from Brandon Hall Group. The programs illustrate two different approaches to a common HR challenge: how can enterprises turn employee development into a repeatable capability that supports business performance?

Simulation gives employees a safe environment to practice decisions. Mentoring connects them with organizational knowledge and experience.

Together, they point toward a workforce-development model in which learning is less about completing courses and more about building the capabilities employees need to perform, adapt and progress.

That shift will matter well beyond the energy sector as employers confront an increasingly fluid skills market.

The future of corporate learning may not be defined by how much training an employee completes, but by whether the organization can demonstrate that learning has changed what employees are capable of doing.

Market Landscape

Avangrid’s recognition reflects three important directions in L&D and HR technology:

• Experiential learning: Simulations and scenario-based training are being used to move learning closer to real business decisions.
• Skills-based upskilling: Enterprises increasingly want learning programs tied to specific capabilities rather than course completion.
• Digital mentoring: Technology is helping scale employee-to-employee development across large and distributed organizations.

The broader competitive market includes Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, Cornerstone and LinkedIn Learning, while specialist providers such as MentorcliQ focus on mentoring and employee development.

AI is likely to become another layer across this ecosystem. Skills intelligence can identify capability gaps, while AI-powered learning systems can recommend content, generate simulations and personalize development paths.

For HR leaders, however, the key metric is increasingly capability improvement rather than learning activity.

Top Insights

• Avangrid’s Gold-winning financial simulation shows how experiential learning can connect employee training with real-world business and regulatory decision-making.
• Its Bronze-winning mentoring program highlights digital mentoring as a scalable approach to employee development, knowledge sharing and career growth.
• The programs reflect a broader shift from measuring training completion toward measuring whether employees develop capabilities that support business outcomes.
• Energy-sector transformation is increasing demand for employees who combine technical expertise with financial, commercial and cross-functional decision-making skills.
• AI could extend these models through personalized learning, adaptive simulations and skills-based recommendations, while human mentoring remains important for organizational knowledge.

Join thousands of HR leaders who rely on HRTechEdge for the latest in workforce technology, AI-driven HR solutions, and strategic insights