AUCKLAND, New Zealand — 8 May 2018 — SAP New Zealand (NYSE: SAP) today announced the launch of Autism at Work, an initiative that enables people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to find qualified employment in the company. The announcement came at the HR Connect 2018 conference in Auckland, a conference where local and global experts in people and culture discuss how to connect people to purpose.

“At SAP, we focus on everyone’s unique ability to contribute, rather than a person’s perceived limitations. By embracing differences, we help spark innovation – while challenging assumptions and inspiring change,” said Anka Wittenberg, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at SAP SE. “Those on the autism spectrum for example, add enormous value with their high-levels of attention to detail in software development and testing, and data analysis as well as other roles in our company such as customer support and marketing.

“It’s fantastic that this award-winning program continues to expand with the SAP New Zealand launch. This will enable the market to not only drive change within New Zealand, with the launch of the program here, our intent is to drive greater employment across all sectors and industries.”

Launched in 2013, the program currently includes over 120 colleagues filling over 22 different positions, and is active in ten countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Ireland and the United States.

SAP has an aspirational corporate goal to create opportunities for 650 colleagues on the autism spectrum. Following on from the launch of the program in Australia in 2015, SAP New Zealand will be the eleventh country to integrate people with autism into the workforce. SAP New Zealand will be supported locally by the DXC Dandelion Program and for recruitment and onboarding by Life Without Barriers, JobLife Employment, a leading social enterprise working in more than 440 communities across Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s a pleasure to support SAP’s Autism at Work program in Australia and New Zealand through the partnership we announced at the United Nations in 2015,” said Michael Fieldhouse, DXC Dandelion Program Executive. “Through our partnership, we share information, delivery partners and research that helps improve and innovate our own programs but also, together, helps promote these types of programs to other organisations globally.”

Claire Robbs, Chief Executive, Life Without Barriers said, “People with a disability who find sustainable employment benefit from greater independence, increased self-confidence and a number of other positive impacts such as improved overall well-being and social participation. This is a great opportunity to work with SAP and DXC Technology to help assist people on the autism spectrum to find employment opportunities within these organisations and beyond.”

Interested candidates and organisations should contact SAP New Zealand at to learn how to apply and for further information.

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About DXC Dandelion Program and Life Without Barriers

The DXC Dandelion Program was established in 2014 to assist people on the autism spectrum to build the skills needed to sustain IT careers. The program initially focused on roles in cyber security, data analytics and software testing. The program has established strong academic, industry, community and social enterprise partnerships to help innovate the program and develop evidence-based research to support decision making. Since 2015, SAP and DXC (formally HP Enterprise Services) have collaborated, sharing information and research about their respective autism employment programs to innovate and help with continuous improvement.

Life Without Barriers was established over 20 years ago as a leading social purpose organisation working in more than 440 communities across Australia and New Zealand. JobLife Employment is a new joint venture between Life Without Barriers and Angus Knight providing Disability Employment Services.

About 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 388,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visitwww.sap.com.

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