In honour of National Indigenous History Month, SAP Canada is taking the opportunity to reflect upon our history and the informed future we must carve out to be in better relations with Indigenous Peoples and communities in Canada.
When SAP Canada began our journey, we wanted to ensure our strategy was comprehensive, culturally informed and effective. To achieve this, we engaged partners at the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) to provide expertise and to ensure our process was guided by Indigenous perspectives. The First Nations Technology Council worked with us to create an action plan focusing on learning enablement and systematic change to help SAP Canada become more inclusive to Indigenous Peoples. Working with FNTC and its Moving Beyond Inclusion cohort, SAP Canada has an opportunity to take action on TRCCTA#92 to create a corporate culture that embraces Indigenous worldviews, culture, and thought leadership.
In 2021, we provided decolonization training, hosted an Indigenous Artist showcase, launched an employee network group, and sponsored learning opportunities, including a six-week training by an Indigenous-owned training consultant focused on Canadian History through the Lens of Indigenous Women as part of our efforts towards reconciliation. We also honoured our first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a session on Canadian History and adopted a strong stance towards meaningful land acknowledgments. It was a year where non-Indigenous members of our company reflected personal and collective responsibility to decolonize our corporate systems in Canada.
SAP Canada is proud of the learning and cultural growth we have already seen in the first year of our initiative. This is a journey of reconciliation that must continue to grow and evolve.
With the leadership of our Indigenous Inclusion Steering Committee, we have laid the groundwork for 2022 and continue to move forward on our reconciliation journey. We have created a strategy that allows us to set attainable, impactful targets and engage our employees across Canada. In 2022 SAP Canada will continue to evolve through our designated workstreams. Our goals and priorities for 2022 include:
Corporate Social Responsibility
In 2022, SAP Canada is working to increase employee engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities focused on Indigenous initiatives and encouraging our employees to learn more about Indigenous cultures. Recently we announced that this year, our Pro Bono for Economic Equity program will focus on accelerating Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada. The program will allow SAP employees to leverage their professional skills and expertise as pro bono volunteer consultants for businesses and social enterprises to help address systemic and business challenges.
Internally, we will begin a benchmarking exercise to review our existing CSR portfolio and provide an assessment on which organizations support Indigenous programs, and at which level. We will then amplify our volunteerism to increase SAP Canada employee involvement in CSR activities that support Indigenous programs. Here, our goal is to build relationships and gain a stronger understanding of local Indigenous cultures and communities.
HR
To support an inclusive workplace our HR team is updating ethnicity options for employees in SuccessMap. With more inclusive selections, we hope more employees will choose to self-ID. Visibility into the demographics of employees ensures we are investing in programs and initiatives that align with our workforce. HR is also focused on continuing the great learning options provided in 2021 so employees can continue to grow their knowledge on such an important topic. For example, our HR D&I team has partnered with our employee network group to deliver a Territorial Acknowledgement workshop to SAP Canada employees in June.
Our recruitment strategy is focused on re-imagining the recruitment processes. This means looking beyond our typical hiring pools to identify Indigenous talent and enabling an inclusive hiring process where every candidate has an equitable opportunity to showcase their skills. With this goal in mind, our campus engagement strategy for our early talent and intern groups has been working to build relationships with universities’ Indigenous Employer Advisor and Experiential Learning offices and increased focus and presence at the campuses.
Communication
This year, we are focusing on creating meaningful and consistent communications centered around Indigenous initiatives at SAP. This will help our employees to be aware of the resources we are offering and the actions we are taking at an organizational level, while also outlining pathways for personal engagement.
Indigenous Ally Network
Finally, to ensure that these initiatives are carried out in a meaningful way, SAP Canada launched an Indigenous Ally Network in the first quarter of 2022. The Indigenous Ally Network brings employees together to learn about indigenous culture and history and to engage in supporting indigenous people and communities. The employee network group will help organize, compile resources and volunteer opportunities, and support the workstreams in executing their objectives to deliver meaningful actions both internally and externally. This network is a simple and powerful way to engage employees in reconciliation and inclusion company-wide.
2022 and Beyond
As we charter our course for 2022 and beyond, SAP remains committed to the work of reconciliation and eager to continue to evolve our strategy, ensuring that our organization reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. Through the first year or our work, we have found that a key factor in our progress so far has been the combination of taking a partnership-based approach working with Indigenous-led organizations, investment from key decision makers in our organization, as well as the engagement of employees company-wide all leaning in together to drive change at SAP.
