It is our employees who enable SAP to help enterprises of all sizes in all industries increase efficiency, improve business processes with SAP solutions and services, and become best-run businesses. Our employees and our entire ecosystem constitute a global community pursuing a common goal: using SAP solutions innovatively to support our customers’ business processes. We will continue to strive for a workforce that is diverse, integrates local and global skills, supports collaboration and cooperation across the company, and continually foster employee engagement.
We are committed to our open corporate culture and five core values:
On December 31, 2009, SAP employed more than 47,500 people from more than 120 countries. For SAP, a diverse workforce is not only a reality, but also a fundamental driver of our business results. We are proud of the unique contribution each individual makes at SAP and recognize that our diverse human capital is the essence of our success. We are committed to our open corporate culture and embrace diversity as a force for innovationinnovationLiterally, the introduction of something new. At SAP, "innovation" means that we are intellectually curious. We look forward, we never accept the status quo, and we constantly seek solutions that will work today and in the future. As an innovator, SAP will accelerate the delivery of higher business value through new technologies.
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Through numerous policies, we seek to be open to the different conditions that apply wherever SAP is present in the world, and to leverage the power of our diverse employee base for the benefit of the company. Examples of our policies and initiatives include numerous work/life balance options, such as flextime at many of our locations, part-time, sabbatical, and early retirement working models, home offices, support for working parents (parent-and-child offices, for example), performance-based compensation programs, and targeted recruitment and training strategies, as well as comprehensive health plans.
At SAP, we promote an environment where respect, trust, and openness reign, motivating our employees to share their knowledge and experience with others and helping SAP foster innovative ways of working. All employees are encouraged to share their diverse competencies, engage their full potential, and generate innovationinnovationLiterally, the introduction of something new. At SAP, "innovation" means that we are intellectually curious. We look forward, we never accept the status quo, and we constantly seek solutions that will work today and in the future. As an innovator, SAP will accelerate the delivery of higher business value through new technologies.
. Not only do SAP and its employees benefit from diversity in our Company, but so also do our partners and customers.
Our approach to recruitment also supports diversity among our employees. We strive at all times to identify the most diverse pool of qualified candidates for any open position. Each region devotes appropriate resources to ensure that open positions are advertised in a manner designed to reach the most diverse population possible. The SAP global recruiting policy is a compilation of all existing human resources policies that regulate the areas of internal and external recruitment.
Our global diversity policy seeks to provide a framework that positively supports business processes and procedures by considering, integrating, and leveraging diversity globally. Our policy is to do better than merely complying with legal requirements. For example, one of the business imperatives addresses the efficient and effective cooperation of every team member within our global organization based on a common understanding of the Company’s values and objectives as well as a respectful way of thinking and acting toward each individual.
In 2006, SAP established a global diversity office with a charter to continue expanding diversity efforts and make them sustainable throughout the organization. Programs include GlobeSmart, an online intercultural tool designed to help employees work more effectively with colleagues, partners, customers, and vendors around the world, as well as support for diversity-related employee networks, global diversity events, and special workshops for employees.
Our Code of Business Conduct, binding for all SAP employees, sets the standard for how employees interact with customers, partners, competitors, and vendors. The code reflects our continuing commitment to maintain our reputation as a serious, professional business partner. It is part of SAP’s business policy to carry out all Company activities in accordance with the letter and spirit of applicable legal requirements and maintain high standards of business ethics. We see our code not just as a collection of legal requirements to be fulfilled; it contains the principles that inform how we do business and it reflects our moral and ethical obligation.
As a socially responsible organization, SAP is engaged in initiatives that are based on our Company values. “Clear Purpose” is the global SAP employee engagement program. Activities focus on education, bridging the digital divide, and environmental stewardship. Employee engagement activities are meant to improve the communities where we live and work. All of our corporate social responsibility efforts should be a source of pride for our employees and provide opportunities for individual involvement. SAP employees participate in a great variety of volunteer events throughout the course of the year. For more information and examples, see the Sustainability section.
As a global corporation, SAP recruits its employees from all over the world. In an era of mobility and globalization, we attract an increasingly international workforce according to the varying demands of local and regional labor markets and the qualifications of available applicants. This strategically important step allows us to target activities according to the strengths and expertise of our people in various locations, while also keeping us close to our customers and local ecosystems for co-innovationinnovationLiterally, the introduction of something new. At SAP, "innovation" means that we are intellectually curious. We look forward, we never accept the status quo, and we constantly seek solutions that will work today and in the future. As an innovator, SAP will accelerate the delivery of higher business value through new technologies.
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Recruiting highly qualified personnel from around the world allows us to cultivate a broad base of culturally diverse talent from which we can develop our future leadership teams. We actively encourage all our talented people, including careful attention to those in the early stages of their careers, offering them performance-driven development to prepare them for their future positions. In 2009, we introduced the Value University program, an approach to leveraging learning to attract, retain, and develop our sales talent and to deliver value to our customers and shareholders. Value University delivers foundational knowledge and essential tools through role-based educational sessions for sales and sales support professionals – to drive success for SAP customers and our employee’s career. In 2009, over 6,000 employees took over 150,000 Value University training sessions.
SAP invests in learning and development for its employees. Our enterprise portal contains a Career Success Center for employees and a Manager’s Success Center for people managers. Both are effective tools for career planning and provide guidance, tools, and support information to help our people succeed in their roles. In 2009, SAP provided an average of around nine days of training per employee. The Skills On-Demand library provides employees with access to approximately 13,000 e-learning courses, books, simulations, and other learning materials that can help employees expand their skill sets and drive their career development. HR processes for talent management support our innovationinnovationLiterally, the introduction of something new. At SAP, "innovation" means that we are intellectually curious. We look forward, we never accept the status quo, and we constantly seek solutions that will work today and in the future. As an innovator, SAP will accelerate the delivery of higher business value through new technologies.
and performance strategy. Also, all employees actively work to achieve our business goals. Customer response from around the world, employee surveys, awards in multiple markets by the Great Place to Work Institute, among others, and recognition from magazines such as Fortune and German publications such as manager magazin and Capital validate this strategy.
Only highly motivated employees deliver the top-quality work that our customers demand. To retain them, we must offer competitive employment conditions. We therefore provide benefits to our employees that reflect our business success. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer our employees many additional benefits. We awarded stock appreciation rights (STARs) to about 30,000 employees in 2009 in recognition of their performance with the cash-out tied to the outperformance of the SAP share price over the TechPGI index. The TechPGI is composed of peer companies of SAP in the technology sector worldwide. In addition, more than 3,000 executives and selected top performers were awarded SOPs under the SAP SOP Performance Plan 2009. The STARs awarded under this program are also tied to the SAP share price outperforming the TechPGI index. By offering stock purchase programs in 35 countries so that employees can buy subsidized shares, we also encourage them to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to their work.
SAP is regularly recognized as a preferred employer in markets around the world. These are examples of recent awards and recognition we gained in 2009:
At the beginning of 2009, SAP announced that it would adapt its size to today’s market conditions and reduce its workforce from 51,544, the total on December 31, 2008, to 48,500 by the end of 2009, taking full advantage of attrition as a factor in reaching this goal. This reduction took place in all functional areas and in all regions.
At the end of 2009, our total worldwide full-time equivalent headcount was 47,584 (2008: 51,544). About three thousand positions were eliminated under the cost-containment program announced at the beginning of the year. Approximately 1,000 employees who were not covered by this program left the Company. Of our 47,584 employees, 14,925 were based in Germany (2008: 15,582). In 2009, the average age of our employees was approximately 38 (2008: 37). The average length of service was about 5.2 years (2008: 5.1 years). About 29% of our employees were women (2008: 29%). Headcount in the field of software and software-related services decreased 1% to 6,422 (2008: 6,466). Our R&D headcount decreased 5% to 14,813 (2008: 15,547). Professional services and other services counted 12,349 employees at the end of 2009 – a decrease of 12% (2008: 14,051). Reflecting overall business activity, sales and marketing headcount declined 11% to 9,513 (2008: 10,701). General and administration headcount decreased 6% to 3,051 (2008: 3,244). Our infrastructure employees, who provide IT and facility management services, numbered 1,436, a decrease of 6% (2008: 1,535).
The largest number of SAP employees (53%) work in the EMEA region (including 31% in Germany), while 25% are employed in the Americas region and 22% in the APJ region. The year-over-year headcount decreases were 1,488 or 11% in the Americas region; 1,466 or 5% in the EMEA region; and 1,006 or 9% in our APJ region.
There were various important changes in our organization in 2009 and early in 2010:
