Employees
Headcount Increase
Headcount Grows with Business Success
Reflecting our success in business, we hired many highly qualified professionals over the course of 2007, thus creating a foundation for future success and continued growth. Our outlook for 2007 originally assumed there would be around 3,500 new positions. Later in the year, we reported that headcount would increase because of acquisitions. In fact, we filled a total of 4,668 new positions in 2007, of which some 500 were related to acquisitions. At the end of 2007, we had 44,023 employees worldwide (2006: 39,355; 2005: 35,873), of whom 162 were allocated to activities discontinued in 2007 and 43,861 to continuing activities. (These headcount figures are measured in FTEs.) Our headcount numbers in the remainder of this section refer to our continuing operations only. Of those 43,861 employees, 14,749 were based in Germany (2006: 14,214; 2005: 13,916). Of the overall headcount increase, 485 resulted from acquisitions.
The average age of our employees was approximately 37 (2006: 37). The average length of service was about 5.4 years (2006: 5.3 years). About 30% of our employees were women (2006: 30%).
Reflecting increased activity, headcount in the field of software
and software-related services grew 11% to 5,831
(2006: 5,243; 2005: 4,460). R & D headcount grew 10% to
12,951 (2006: 11,801; 2005: 10,215). Professional services
and other services counted 12,785 employees at the
end of 2007 – an increase of 11% (2006: 11,518; 2005:
11,430). Sales and marketing headcount grew 17% to
8,282 (2006: 7,050; 2005: 6,426). Finance and administration
headcount increased 13% to 2,797 full-time-equivalent
positions (2006: 2,472; 2005: 2,261). Our infrastructure
employees, who provide IT and facility management
services, numbered 1,215, a rise of 9% (2006: 1,114;
2005: 1,081).
The largest number of SAP employees (54%) work in the EMEA region, while 24% are employed in the Americas region and 22% in the Asia Pacific Japan region. The percentage increases were 17% in the Americas region, 6% in the EMEA region, and 24% in the Asia Pacific Japan region. Acquisitions accounted for 206 of our 1,520 new positions in the Americas region. We filled 1,315 new positions in the EMEA region. Of the 1,828 new positions in the Asia Pacific Japan region, most were in India (1,021) and China (476).
SAP employs people of more than 120 nationalities. We embrace this diversity as a valuable resource. We seek to create and maintain an environment in which people of every cultural and ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and learning and physical ability are positively valued in all our variety. Our global diversity office is charged with ensuring that our approach remains positive and that every employee’s contribution to the success of our business is properly recognized. In 2007, we trained 2,010 of our employees and managers in matters relating to intercultural skills at 185 learning events. We also held more than 200 single-sex workshops at which over 2,200 women and men explored and learned about the value of gender differences.
