SAP Battles Gender-Diversity, Harassment Claims

SAP SE ADS SAP chief Christian Klein failed to impress critics with his response to the lack of gender diversity at a cloud computing event, Bloomberg reports.

While Klein retracted his comment, it highlighted SAP's struggle to elevate and retain women in some of its senior-most positions.

Former Co-CEO Jennifer Morgan quit in 2019, less than a year after being promoted, following disagreements with Klein on critical issues.

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Eight months after Morgan's exit, Adaire Fox-Martin, an executive board member and the former President of SAP's Asia Pacific Japan business since 2017, announced her departure. 

Fox-Martin's exit was particularly demoralizing for women in SAP's Asia-Pacific region, which has experienced inappropriate behavior in and out of the office.

Instances of inappropriate advances also occurred in Sydney and Barcelona during 2019-2020.

Multiple SAP employees disclosed that networking events involve heavy drinking, resulting in unwelcome advances from senior male managers toward female colleagues. 

Some women who have complained about unfairness, like bullying, unfair treatment, or offensive sexual advances, found HR to be unhelpful or hostile, moving women to other roles or pushing them out of the company entirely.

SAP acknowledged a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and unlawful discrimination of all kinds.

Europe's most significant technology company shares lost 25% of their value in 2022, reflecting the pandemic-related drop in demand for its Concur travel expense management software and concerns over its strategic shift toward cloud-based products.

Price Action: SAP shares traded lower by 2.24% at $97.58 in the premarket on the last check Friday.

Photo by mohamed_hassan via Pixabay