It is a dynamic time of year as we navigate the world around us, return from well-earned breaks, and prepare for a busy set of activities across our business. With so much happening, it’s important we continue to update our more than 100,000 employees worldwide, along with our customers, partners and other stakeholders, about our workplace principles.
Looking at the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of multiple virus variants indicates that our flexibility and resilience will remain critical as we navigate the coming weeks and months together.
The health and safety of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities in which we live and work remain our number one priority, and our policy of action combined with prudence has proven effective. For example, infections among SAP employees have been extremely low, enabling our teams to deliver our products and services to customers with quality and without interruption. Our employees have found our new Workspace Booking app instrumental in making their return to office life comfortable and safe. Add to this our office testing and vaccination stations and it is clear we remain committed to doing everything we can to reduce the risk of infection at our locations around the world.
With this in mind, we are constantly assessing the situation globally to ensure our policies represent the best way to support our employees’ health and safety. Today, we are updating our COVID-19 global guidance. Going forward, SAP premises will be accessible only to colleagues and visitors who either have been vaccinated against COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2), have recovered from a COVID-19 infection within the last 90 days, or have a certified negative SARS-COV-2 test result. In those cases where employees have recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection, a formal medical certificate is required for reentry.
These measures will be rolled out over the coming weeks, and their implementation may vary according to local conditions and regulations.
I am optimistic that the additional steps we’ve communicated to our employees today will not only offer reassurance to any of you visiting SAP’s offices, but will also enable more opportunities to be together in person again when the time is right. While we have demonstrated the strength of our capabilities in conducting business virtually, we know that we all crave more opportunities for greater human connection and collaboration to achieve more together.
Sabine Bendiek is chief people and operating officer, labor relations director, and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
