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SAP Africa recognised as best place to work in Africa

The 2012/13 Top Employers Institute Awards ranks SAP Africa as the Best Employer on the continent.


Johannesburg, 02 Sep 2013

SAP Africa has been recognised as Africa's best place to work by the internationally accredited Top Employers Institute, at a gala awards ceremony held in Johannesburg. As well as securing first place in the category 'Overall Top Employer Africa', SAP Africa also secured first place in the 'Industry IT Top Employer' in South Africa category, as well as fifth place in the 'Overall Top Employers South Africa' category. The company was praised for its skills development efforts and its focus on education, learning and employee development.

The Top Employers Institute (formerly known as Best Employers) certifies excellence with regards to the conditions that employers create for their people. The global institute has just completed this year's research into the employee conditions of a large number of employers in the Africa 2014 certification.

Key to the Top Employers review process was that participating companies meet stringent research criteria in order to receive certification. Participating organisations were assessed on the following employee-specific criteria: primary and secondary employee benefits and working conditions; training and development; career development opportunities; and culture management. Based on independent research conducted by the Top Employers Institute, SAP Africa offers its employees outstanding working conditions and looks after its staff exceptionally well.

"Optimal employee conditions ensure that people develop themselves personally and professionally. Our comprehensive research concluded that SAP Africa provides an outstanding employment environment and nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation," said Samantha Crous, Regional Director Africa & Benelux, Top Employers Institute. "SAP Africa offers a wide range of creative initiatives, from secondary benefits and working conditions, to performance-management programmes, that are well-thought-out and truly aligned with the culture of their company."

One of the factors that distinguished SAP Africa for these prestigious awards is SAP's social investment strategy, which focuses on education, skills development and entrepreneurship. SAP recognises that promoting education and training is one of the best ways to improve the problem of skills shortages and chronic youth unemployment, an issue affecting the technology industry as a whole.

SAP Africa launched its Skills for Africa programme in May this year, to support EMEA-wide workforce of the future efforts. Skills for Africa is targeted at five countries on the continent. Working in close partnership with government, customers and partners, the initiative aims to upskill students from disadvantaged backgrounds, not only with ICT skills, but with basic business acumen. Critical to its value proposition is that it focuses on upskilling for employability, and this is where SAP partners and customers come into play, by offering internships to students post-training.

"As part of SAP Africa's ambitious plans to accelerate SAP's footprint into the African continent, it's critical that we are recognised as an employer of choice, in order to retain our valuable workforce and attract the best talent," said Pfungwa Serima, SAP Africa CEO. "In order to be sustainably successful, winning organisations know that they cannot only focus on profits, but that they must prioritise human capital and motivate their employees. Putting measures in place to ensure that employees' professional and human needs are met is key to optimising the overall employment experience."

SAP prides itself on the development of a diverse workplace environment, which values risk-taking, respects individual talents and allows employees to work in such a way that is conducive to high performance in a fast-paced, global company.

Globally, SAP is also championing world-class exciting new initiatives, like a supportive Early Talent programme and an initiative that specifically employs autistic individuals with their unique skills to aid it with software development.

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

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SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: 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 organisations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 238 000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

CRF

The CRF Institute awards organisations that meet the highest standard in establishing and promoting excellent HR strategies and practices that attract, retain and engage the right talent. During the CRF Institute's research, all critical areas of the HR management are assessed. SAP Africa demonstrated exceptional investment in its employees from a skills development and training perspective, as well as having a commitment to recruit and develop the best talent, recognised for its ambitious employee value proposition strategy, found to have competitive remuneration packages as well as embracing diversity and leadership within the organisation.

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For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
SAP Africa (within SA): 0800 981334
SAP Africa (outside SA): (+27) 11 235 6045
Global Customer Centre: (+49) 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872 1SAP (1 800 872 1727)

Editorial contacts

Andrea Slater
Flieshman-Hillard
(+27) 11 548 2000
andrea.slater@fleishman.co.za
Antonia Stafford Ashton
SAP Africa
(+27) 21 528 1700
antonia.ashton@sap.com