SAP evolves its approach to neuroinclusion beyond Autism

SAP began its neuroinclusion journey more than a decade ago, as conversations around and understanding of Autism grew.

But earlier this year, the company changed course and began to implement a broader framework for neurodiversity that goes beyond Autism, to include people who have ADHD, dyslexia, and sensory processing disorder, too.

New progress

SAP launched its global Autism at Work program in 2013, when an estimated 85% of Autistic adults were unemployed and the world was just beginning to understand how much they could add to the workforce, the Wall Street Journal wrote at the time. But 13 years later, as knowledge of neurodiversity has expanded and evolved, SAP realized that its program was outdated, Rashmi Verma, chief inclusion and social impact officer, told HR Brew.

“We kept in touch with our employees,” Verma said, adding that the company checked in with its Autism employee network group (ENG) to understand what the community needed. “Neurodiversity [has] its own broad spectrum of dimensions.”

Based on feedback and directives from neurodivergent workers, SAP announced its new neuroinclusive strategy in March, during its Neurodiversity Celebration Week.

As part of its new strategy, SAP now provides public resources, including application tips and disability accommodations options for neurodivergent job seekers. Internally, the company is upskilling its recruitment teams to ensure they’re well versed in neuroinclusive hiring practices, according to Verma.

The company has also expanded its approach to include work flexibility, established sensitivity checks to ensure neurodivergent workers can thrive in its offices, and introduced AI translation tools.

“But what we are very clear about is the basics, or the foundational elements, are going to exist everywhere,” Verma said. “So whether a person in India wants to join…or the person is then, let’s say, in the US or Germany for that matter, the basics, the accommodations and the tips, as well as the application experience from a hiring process they would get, would be consistent.”

The new Neuroinclusive Network

As part of the shift away from Autism at Work, the company disbanded its Autism and ADHD ENGs and created the Neuroinclusive Network, open to neurodivergent individuals and allies.

Ingrid Stevens, who works in compensation and joined SAP UK more than 13 years ago, previously led the ADHD network group. “We had to think about, what is going to be our vision, our purpose, and all those things you don’t get to do every day in your job,” she said, adding that they had to think about not only the spectrum of neurodiversity but how it differs across geographies. “How it is lived in each place, and what is important for some regions, and what you should or should not say. What you should do depending on the region you’re addressing.”

Cayo Betancourt, who joined SAP Colombia less than a year ago after 30 years at the tech company Ericsson, explained that they’re working on a variety of initiatives for employees. “We have programs, we have events, we have communications, and we have finance in our team,” he told HR Brew. He and Stevens are also developing a governance framework to determine how to best develop and grow.

Thankfully, Stevens and Betancourt don’t have to do all the ENG work on their own. SAP’s chief operating officer, Sebastian Steinhaeuser, is the network’s executive sponsor, and has quarterly meetings with the co-leads, something experts believe is crucial to an ENG’s success.

“I think for any organization, all employees look up to the leaders and especially the executive board to set the tone for the different topics,” Verna told HR Brew. “[The ENG leaders] are the ones who give us feedback. They are the ones that tell us, ‘Okay, these are the topics that we want to progress on.’”

Looking ahead

“Our journey [with neuroinclusion] is pretty new,” Verma admitted. She is excited to see the program grow beyond its current framework and show neurodivergent talent that the company is there to support them. “We have a neuroinclusion careers page, which basically segments all the aspects of how we support the elements of neuroinclusion within the company.”

Verma is eager to dive into neurodiversity from an intersectional standpoint, across gender, ethnicity, geography, and other factors that could impact an employee’s experience. “This is where I would like to explore a little bit more deeper because that would be for me the next phase in terms of looking at the different locations, because our program is a global program, how the location situation, the existing geopolitical is and what kind of influence it has on the intersectional dimension of neuroinclusion.”

SAP also wants to use AI to help advance neurodivergent talent, a strategy that has been discussed recently among some disability experts. “We are also looking at involving more closely for our journey of autonomous enterprise with AI and the progress that we are working with the community very closely as we design our new processes.”