A true work of heart, with a renewed strategy, passion, and purpose added, SAP Corporate Social Responsibility (SAP CSR) launched the third edition of its annual eBook under the theme “Helping the World Run Better – Together.”
Developed for SAP’s entire global ecosystem of staff, customers, and partners that played their part in helping the world run better, the theme couldn’t be more fitting as SAP CSR announces that a staggering 5 million lives have been impacted throughout 2022, thanks to more than 20,000 SAP employees who spent 117,000 hours volunteering.
The third edition of our eBook brings 12 months of purpose-led work to our digital fingertips. It showcases flagship SAP CSR initiatives, fruitful partnerships, and personal success stories from around the globe. For instance, you can read about our three-year partnership with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited (GenU) that enabled more than 7.6 million youth in India, Türkiye, and Vietnam to access critical digital and life skills training – significantly more than the original goal of 1.5 million.
“It’s evident that our massive strides are turning the company’s vision into reality,” says Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
“An imperative and strategic component for strengthening the business, SAP CSR set clear 2022 priorities and directed attention under the three focus areas: accelerate social business, build future skills, and collaborate for sustainability. The third edition SAP CSR eBook demonstrates that, together, we really can change the way the world operates and create a better environment for people and planet,” adds Alexandra van der Ploeg, global head of Corporate Social Responsibility.
The key education initiatives featured in the eBook include SAP’s commitment to continuing its partnership with UNICEF from GenU. Based on the achievements of the past three years, SAP will support GenU and the Youth Marketplace Agency (Yoma), an online learning platform, to enable young people to find jobs in the digital and green economy. This will also include piloting a new program called SAP Educate to Employ. The program supports ‘learning-to-earning’ pathways in the digital and green economy for young people deprived of access to the skills they need. These youth can gain on-the-job experience and critical future-oriented skills while also benefiting from coaching and mentorship to help them launch their careers in the SAP customer and partner ecosystem.
To accelerate social business, we launched the TRANSFORM Support Hub in partnership with Unilever and MovingWorlds, a global, one-stop, online shop for non-financial, free business support for social enterprises worldwide. Through the hub, these organizations can gain access to pro bono consultants, mentors, and coaches, personalized guidance, introductions to sales and partnership opportunities, and connections to potential funding prospects.
In 2022, we also worked with external partners to validate our intended social impact and business value for our pro bono consulting offering. In the last decade of our SAP Social Sabbatical program, more than 1,400 SAP employees provided business know-how to over 450 social enterprises. In addition to proven social impact for social enterprises, the program also created significant business value for SAP by contributing to our employees’ professional and personal growth, as well as their leadership development.
Following their participation, the majority of employees, social enterprises, and their beneficiaries reported a positive impact:
- 74% of the employees experienced a positive long-term career impact
- 96% of social enterprises enjoyed a positive long-term impact
- 77% of beneficiaries of social enterprises saw improvements in their quality of life
Van der Ploeg explains that SAP’s evolved CSR strategy powers equitable access to economic opportunity, education and employment, and the green and circular economy: “We are continually striving to drive tangible and transformative social impact. Our work over the years has helped us to achieve a leading software industry score for Corporate Citizenship in the most recent Dow Jones Sustainability Index.”
“Looking ahead, with sustainability at the core of everything we do, SAP CSR is well equipped for the future. In 2023, we will focus on driving social impact through radical collaboration in our multi-stakeholder partnerships and expanding our portfolio of pro bono consulting opportunities for our employees to support social enterprises to run at their best,” she concludes.
Read the SAP CSR eBook third edition. For further information about SAP Corporate Social Responsibility, visit www.sap.com/csr.
Maximilian Herrmann is part of Social Impact Measurement & Operations for Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.
This article first appeared on the SAP News Center.