Autism at Work at SAP China - walking the talk for more than 3 month

I have to say that when SAP launched the Autism at Work in China in April 2017, everyone applauded it as a great initiative, events were organized, media coverage set up, but there was an apparent long distance between talking about diversity and really doing it... I have been working in SAP, in China for the last 6 years and I believe we have embraced diversity and inclusion in many different ways inside and outside the company with the strong belief that as a company and as individuals we are part of a larger community and that we have a contribution duty. Nevertheless, at the time, it seemed like a arduous and unclear path forward, we knew what success looked like but how to get there was the big question mark.

Over the last 10 years with SAP, I have realized that one of its major strength is to put you and your team in the best condition to execute your work, it's often taken as a given. Facilities, equipments, accesses and of course processes and structures, when you work here you tend to forget it and while it seems a burden or barrier in certain occasion, it is also very practical when you need it!

So in October 2017, SAP China started a 4 weeks long “Autism at work” program. The program started with 6 candidates in SAP Beijing and 3 hiring teams from different board areas.

In Phase 1, they participated in a workshop with using LEGO Mindstorm. In this workshop we assessed the candidate’s capabilities and identify potential candidates who could proceed to phase 2. In the meanwhile we also started to prepare the existing teams in parallel with Autism Awareness sessions, with presentation and discussions about the competences and challenges of people within autism spectrum to prepare the teams who are involved in the project and who will be in contact with the candidates. This sessions were presented by Sebastien Biltz from Specialisterne who is SAP’s global partner supporting SAP in hiring and onboarding employees within the autism spectrum.

With support from HR and Specialisterne, we selected 4 of the 6 candidates in Phase 2 where we started to help the candidates understanding SAP by presenting our job profiles and the different departments. We also developed team specific tasks for the candidates to work on. Our team developed fairly complex tasks based on Real work. Those were 5 to 7 days long tasks with assigned buddies from our team guiding the candidates. by the end of phase 2, 2 candidates managed to complete our tasks. However, Steve showed more independence in completing all the tasks with good results. The 3 hiring teams unanimously decided to provide job offer to Steve. Finally Steve himself had to make a decision and guess what? He chose our team!! Why? Career path made the difference, indeed we did not only offered him a job we offered him a career path, like every young talent Steve was looking for more than a job he was looking for a future where he can make an impact!

Steve has been with us for 3 month, he is making good progress working with the team and more importantly contributing to our customers success. Indeed, Steve is not working on administrative tasks or doing some tedious tasks, he is supporting our top customers, resolving complex and urgent situation. As every new hire he is growing at his pace and like any other young talent we onboard he has become one of us, like everyone with his strengths and weaknesses.

Lessons learned from this experience, sometimes it is easier than it looks, the first one step to start the journey is the hardest one... Fundamentally it is a selection process, with different steps as you are looking for different skills but still your looking for the best candidate with the best skills and the best potential. Additionally, it makes it real for the team, no need for more posters, slogan or motivational speech it creates an environment where Diversity + Inclusion are embedded in.

Finally, I'd like to thanks the team and especially Irwin Leow, the man behind the wheel, and also Jens Trotzky who was one of the early driving force of the overall program.

Bests,

Sebastien,