OREANDA-NEWS. June 23, 2016. SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced its participation in the inaugural White House Tech Inclusion Pledge, a commitment to fuel American innovation and economic growth by increasing the diversity of the United States technology workforce.
Company Drives Industry-Leading Diversity and Inclusion Programs

SAP’s commitment came as part of President Obama’s Global Entrepreneurship Innovation Summit 2016, taking place at Stanford University on June 22-24. Participating companies resolve to take action to make the technology workforce representative of the entire American people, treating diversity as a top management priority and business imperative.

“We embrace the unique magic of every single individual at SAP,” said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP. “It’s no longer about our differences as ‘accepted.’ This misses the point completely. It’s the differences that define our world view. It’s the differences that create the fabric of our culture. We’re a company that believes in trust, love and the unqualified right of every person to be exactly who they are and live exactly how they choose.”

As part of its pledge, SAP is committing to build upon existing company goals to create and sustain an inclusive culture; publish related data and progress metrics on the diversity of its workforce; and invest in partnerships to build a diverse pipeline of technology talent.

SAP is committed to building on existing company goals to create and sustain a more inclusive culture

“There is no more important ingredient to innovation than diversity and inclusion,” said Jennifer Morgan, president of SAP North America. “We’re proud of our culture and our industry-leading programs that embrace the unique qualities and contributions of every individual. The future will be won by those who understand the value and impact of diversity on your business and bottom line, and we look forward to continuing to lead our industry and the world on this critically important topic.”

SAP’s diversity-related efforts are rooted in well-defined goals and tangible results. The company has a global commitment to increase the percentage of women in management to 25 percent by 2017. SAP North America has already surpassed that goal, with women accounting for nearly 30 percent of the company’s North America leadership positions and an industry-leading 33 percent of SAP North America’s total workforce.

SAP is extending its support of diversity and inclusion through its product portfolio. Earlier this year, it announced its commitment to build new capabilities for SAP SuccessFactors solutions, which help companies review job descriptions, performance reviews and similar people processes for potential bias and suggest changes to encourage equity.

The company is proud to have many industry-leading initiatives for diversity and inclusion, and has implemented concrete measures to ensure it can attract, retain, develop and promote people of diverse backgrounds. Some examples include:

EDGE certification: Earlier this year, SAP became the first technology company in the United States to be awarded the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) certificate in recognition of its commitment to gender equality in the workplace. Launched at the World Economic Forum in 2011, the EDGE certificate is the leading global standard in its arena and is recognized across all industries. SAP is currently working to gain global EDGE certification by the end of 2016.

Early College High Schools program: Launched in 2013, these six-year schools focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and are designed to address the growing shortage of young adults entering the technology workforce. Students take college coursework side-by-side with high school curriculum, are mentored by SAP professionals, receive real-world business technology experience, and graduate with a diploma and an Associate degree at no cost to them or their families. SAP’s three Early College High Schools include BTECH in New York; Templeton STEM in Vancouver, Canada; and C-Town Tech in Boston. SAP is launching a fourth school this fall at Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

Project Propel: This elite SAP initiative is dedicated to enabling historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) across the United States to build the next generation of technology talent. The program focuses on training and empowering students on the latest SAP technologies such as SAP S4/HANA, Big Data/predictive analytics and design thinking/innovation, to better prepare them with critical digital enterprise skills in demand in the SAP ecosystem.

LGBT rights: SAP North America achieved a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index for 2016, the third time this has been achieved, and signed on in support of the HRC Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness in late 2015. In addition, SAP has most recently signed the HRC Equality Is Our Business Pledge opposing anti-LGBT legislation in states across the country, and endorsed The Equality Act, a bill in Congress that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex.

Autism at Work: SAP’s groundbreaking Autism at Work program integrates people with autism into the workforce, with a goal to have 1 percent of the SAP workforce represented by people on the autism spectrum. The initiative currently includes over 100 colleagues – with more than half of the program participants located in North America. The Autism at Work program is a worldwide model for engaging employees with autism, and has currently been rolled out in eight countries around the world.

Veterans: SAP’s Veterans to Work program helps U.S. veterans acquire the skills and training they need to be successful in today’s IT workforce. In addition, SAP National Security Services Inc. (NS2), an SAP subsidiary, established a three-month in-residence program to train post-9/11 veterans in SAP software solutions and place them in high-tech careers.

“For us, creating a diverse and inclusive culture isn’t about ‘nice to have’ initiatives,” said Anka Wittenberg, chief diversity and inclusion officer, SAP. “It is part of our corporate DNA, critical to making SAP a great a place to work, a leader in innovation and a successful company.”

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable approximately 310,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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