WALLDORF, Germany, Oct. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE SAP today announced that it has recertified on the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) global standard, recognizing its strategic commitment to creating a gender-equal workplace that benefits employees, customers and partners.

The company's worldwide recertification process began March 2018, two years after it became the first multinational IT company to achieve EDGE certification. The recertification was awarded after a third-party review of SAP's company data, gender practices and employment policies, and employee survey results represented by 80 percent of the organization in 12 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

"Our vision to help the world run better and improve people's lives can only be fully realized when our workforce represents the beautiful diversity of the world we live in. While there is still work to do, we stand proud of the progress we've made with EDGE — a pride felt by SAP colleagues everywhere," said Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP.

The EDGE Certification is the premier standard and methodology for evaluating corporate commitment to gender equality. Launched at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2011, the EDGE assessment is distinguished by its rigor and business impact. Global EDGE recertification every two years sends a clear and holistic message of SAP's commitment to the equal treatment and well-being of employees, potential employees, investors, consumers and all external stakeholders.

"Since it first broke ground two years ago by being the first globally certified technology company, SAP has now turned the tide on industry norms by demonstrating unprecedented progress towards achieving workplace gender equality," said Aniela Unguresan, co-founder, EDGE Certified Foundation. "This success was due to unwavering top leadership support, accountability and transparency, and the use of the certification to drive strategic transformation. One country in the group has moved from the first level of certification, EDGE Assess, directly to the third level of certification, EDGE Lead — a global first. Meanwhile a third of all countries assessed progressed to the second certification level, EDGE Move. This proves where there is a will there is a way."  

Gender equality is a core company value and a strategic priority for SAP's comprehensive human resources strategy. In June 2017, SAP met the Board-level goal of having 25 percent of management positions filled by women globally, with a continued commitment to increasing this number each year by 1 percent, to reach 30 percent by 2022.

Additionally, SAP offers several programs to empower and educate employees, including the Leadership Excellence Acceleration Program (LEAP), a four-month-long leadership development program aimed at helping women at SAP rise into management positions; a monthly Women's Professional Growth Webinar Series, which has reached more than 6,800 employees in more than 40 countries; and a Business Women's Network (BWN), which offers numerous opportunities for women to meet new colleagues, engage with leaders and connect on key topics of interest. Besides offering these significant opportunities for women, SAP actively engages men to participate in the gender discussion.

"Gender equality is an essential part of our organization's ability to innovate as well as retain and attract top-level talent," said Stefan Ries, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and chief human resources officer (CHRO). "It is linked not only to better employee engagement and customer satisfaction but also to the ability to innovate and drive revenue. We are proud of our continued commitment to foster a gender-equal workplace and encourage other organizations to follow suit as we make a positive impact for our employees, customers and partners."

For more information, visit www.edge-cert.org or follow EDGE on Twitter at @EDGE_CERT.

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About EDGE Certification

EDGE is the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. EDGE Certification has been designed to help organizations not only create an optimal workplace for women and men but also benefit from it. EDGE stands for Economic Dividends for Gender Equality and is distinguished by its rigor and focus on business impact. The methodology uses a business rather than theoretical approach that incorporates benchmarking, metrics and accountability into the process. It assesses policies, practices and numbers across five different areas of analysis: equal pay for equivalent work, recruitment and promotion, leadership development training and mentoring, flexible working and organization culture. EDGE Certification has received the endorsement of business, government and academic leaders from around the world. The EDGE assessment methodology was developed by the EDGE Certified Foundation and launched at the World Economic Forum in 2011.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 404,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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