Dusseldorf The salary round at SAP is met with clear criticism from the workforce. Eberhard Schick, chairman of the works council at the parent company and chairman of the IG Metall list for participation, speaks of a “slap in the face” in view of the “very good profit” and the current inflation rate.
“It has nothing to do with appreciation, and it will certainly be difficult for many to get motivated to go back to work tomorrow,” said the employee representative in a statement from IG Metall.
SAP announced last week that it would pay its employees in Germany an average of 3.7 percent more salary retroactively to January 1. However, only just under 1.5 percent can make firm plans for this.
The remainder of the total is awarded based on a performance appraisal by supervisors. In addition, there is an inflation adjustment of 1500 euros. In other national companies, the conclusions are likely to be similar according to estimates in circles of employee representatives.
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The Group sees this as an appropriate result. “Given the macroeconomic circumstances and compared to the competition, this is good news for our employees,” says Cawa Younosi, Head of Human Resources at SAP in Germany.
The increase is roughly what other non-tariff companies paid, plus the one-time payment. In addition, “the clear majority of employees” benefit from share programs.
SAP is under pressure to increase profitability. For the current year, the management has given the shareholders the prospect of a double-digit increase in the adjusted operating result. One result: The group is cutting 3,000 jobs in order to focus on the strongest areas of the portfolio, as CEO Christian Klein put it when presenting the annual figures.
Claims of up to 10.5 percent
However, the employees had hoped for a significant increase in salary, and there were demands of up to 10.5 percent. On the one hand because prices are rising, on the other hand because SAP is still very profitable despite the strategic realignment: in 2022 the software manufacturer generated an operating result of eight and a net profit of 4.5 billion euros.
“After the last two salary rounds, which were already well below the inflation rate, we are experiencing a significant real wage loss overall, with high profits at the same time,” explained Andreas Hahn, representative of the Verdi Upgrade list and chairman of the European works council. When it comes to adjusting for inflation, SAP doesn’t even make use of the tax-privileged framework.
“The fact that SAP adjusted its price list on the grounds of high inflation almost sounds like mockery,” criticized Hahn. The software maker announced several price increases last year, including for its cloud products and maintenance, citing the cost increases as an argument.
The large trade unions have traditionally struggled with the software manufacturer with its many well-paid IT specialists. There is currently no representative of a DGB association on the Supervisory Board. Despite significant gains in the last election, IG Metall and Verdi only have 15 of the 45 seats on the works council of the parent company.
Due to the low assertiveness, unions have not yet entered into collective bargaining with SAP. Therefore, the board of directors of the Dax group determines many components of the payment. The employee representatives have no influence on the amount of the contract – the so-called collective agreement reservation applies here.
More: SAP is cutting around 3,000 jobs