SAP

SAP’s TechSaksham programme aims to train graduating women and teachers in digital skills for careers in technology. The company also commits to integrating accessible design principles and has product features, such as screen readers and screen magnifiers, for users with visual impairments. Furthermore, the company discloses employment figures for its significant subsidiaries.

SAP has several programmes to teach digital skills at all levels. The company has coding programmes focused on Africa and Latin America to promote coding among young people. It also partners with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on a programme for developing digital workforce skills among teachers and students in India, Turkey and Vietnam. For most of its programmes, the company follows best practice by reporting participation metrics, often also disaggregating this data by women participants.

SAP discloses how responsibility for cybersecurity is managed at a senior level in the company as well as how information security is monitored. The company also follows best practice by disclosing a copy of its information security management certificate.

SAP supports open innovation by participating in standards organisations and sharing source code. It also demonstrates its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by clearly outlining the potential direct and indirect impacts of its work in relation to specific SDGs and linking these to relevant company policies in its integrated report. The company assists the tech innovation ecosystem through its venture capital fund and its network of start-up accelerators SAP.iO Foundries, spread across several cities throughout the world. It also has a venture capital initiative to support start-ups founded by people from underrepresented groups. Furthermore, SAP has an AI Ethics Committee and has developed principles outlining its approach to AI which include human rights considerations.

SAP can support initiatives to expand access to digital technologies. It also has an opportunity to disclose the number of people with disabilities it employs and the steps it takes to create an inclusive workplace for them. Additionally, SAP should indicate how the economic value it generates is distributed among its stakeholders, as well as the income taxes it pays in its main markets.

SAP can bolster its digital skills programmes by carrying out third-party assessments to understand their impact and identify areas of strengths and improvements.

SAP can disclose information on the government requests it receives for user information. Further, as a digital company, it should demonstrate support for child online safety through a high-level commitment.

SAP should report the proportion of its women employees working in tech roles and/or in its research and development (R&D) activities.

SAP commits to respecting human rights in a publicly available policy document. However, the company’s commitment to respect the ILO core labour rights can be stronger. For example, the company does not have a policy statement mentioning whether it requires its business relationships to respect workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. SAP has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. Additionally, it describes how it identifies salient human right risks in its own operations. However, it does not disclose a process to assess and act on the salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships. The company describes the stakeholders it engages with on human rights in general. But it does not specify whether it engages with stakeholders whose human rights could be affected by its activities, nor does it provide specific examples of stakeholder engagement.

SAP publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and expects its business relationships to do the same. The company does not disclose a policy commitment stating that it does not require workers to work more than regular and overtime hours. However, SAP has publicly committed to promoting women’s empowerment, and it has a time-bound target on women’s representation at the management level in the company. It also has 50% women on its board. In relation to workforce diversity, the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender. However, it can disclose employee numbers in different categories for other indicators of diversity as well, such as age group.

SAP has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. Furthermore, the company takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption and has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints on the topic. The company also has a global tax strategy. The company discloses the income taxes it pays in two categories – German and foreign taxes. However, it does not disclose its income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. SAP discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement and states that it does not make political contributions.