Thread regarding SAP layoffs

@m7 Great article, it could use a little less ambiguity ! :)

@OP https://e3mag.com/en/minus-40-percent-loss-at-sap/

RISE is a flop, word is out. Nobody trusts SAP to run their systems and the early adopter reports confirm the fears are completely founded.

5-7x more expensive and lifecycle management and innovation slows to a crawl.

@bf CK goes to bed with Trump, then blames tariffs and uncertainties for the miss.
Bloomberg: “The lower current cloud backlog was partly due to negotiations taking longer, Klein said in the Thursday call. “It’s a reflection of what is happening in the world,” he said, adding that clients are asking about potential sanctions, export restrictions and new regulations. “This is not a reflection of a demand issue.””

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-29/sap-forecasts-cloud-revenue-to-grow-in-2026-as-customers-switch

@bg don’t forget the share buybacks artificially inflate EPS for those who bonuses are based explicitly on EPS

@dv+1kg5kvawg Employees spoke up internally and externally since 2024 but nothing happened to these powerful mafia like employees with deep connections.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-20/sap-promoted-manager-after-repeated-accusations-of-harassment?

https://www.cio.com/article/3629432/does-sap-reward-systematic-bullying.html

@d6 It is interesting that employees like these keep getting promoted and don't get laid off. On the other hand, other employees who are just doing their work get laid off. From the names you mentioned, all of them are working on larger projects or getting promoted or moving into a managerial role.

But in any case, it is important to speak up. Someone spoke up and because of that even Juergen Mueller got fired. SAP may have no accountability for executives to do their job properly but they have plenty of accountability for bad behavior. At all levels. So always speak up.

@d6 Naming people anonymously here. Boy what a coward you are.

And if they find out who you are, you will be sacked straight away. Even in Germany.

@cv+1kg5kvawg S.Kaim is again getting promoted after design director?

He was not the only one - There is F.Herrmann who was also promoted as a design manager as a reward after 3 female designers left his team after complaining to compliance and sending open emails sharing his bad toxic behavior.

Even his manager A.Vonnemann was accused of harassment in the past by a South American designer but she didn’t filed a complaint because no actions would have taken place like in the case of others.

All these 3 are German white sc-m who moved from SAP to Signavio.

@ch There was also a guy in Signavio design who was promoted after it came out that he molested some woman. She quit the company after HR wouldn't do anything and Bloomberg published a story under this. He's getting promoted again this year.

Signavio comes up in these discussions because the work culture is horrible in the P&E teams in Signavio. The design team is severely affected since couple of years where harassment (mental and physical) has happened and no actions were taken against the design managers and directors. They were promoted and rewarded with 10% salary hikes. A lot of designers have left and before leaving filed complained and sent open emails sharing their stories but nothing happened. Search for SAP Signavio and Bloomberg on google and read one of the investigative articles and your blood will boil and it was just the tip of the iceberg!

@c8 They come up a lot, but are in no way representative for the rest of SAP. I saw none of what the same person posts time and time again in my environment. Hence these contributions are of limited value.

@by I’m all in for rotational managers. Without this, we have managers who promote or give performance ratings based purely on their rapport with their reports. This encourages employees to focus more on creating a better rapport than creating better products. And this sentiment becomes even worse when managers don’t have the aptitude or knowledge to evaluate their reports.

A classic example is what they did at Signavio. They promoted HR employees to engineering managers and they are unable to properly evaluate anything technical or business related.

@bf I agree that many unnecessary/incompetent employees were recruited by the manager team, the manager should be rotation based and some of them should be getting fired

Share buybacks are great for companies that have a good operating cash flow and have reached the pinnacle of innovation and don’t know what to spend money on next.

SAP is the opposite. The incompetent executive board doesn’t have any ideas on how to improve the company so they are trying layoffs and share buybacks to prop up the share price temporarily. This works for them personally because they want to take their million euro bonuses and leave before things get really bad.

One question we all need to ask is this:
Why are SAP employee bonuses now paid in stock while executives get immediate cash?

Do they want to take the cash and run away before they can be held accountable?

The article is stupid. Even Microsoft fell 12% after sharing their results.

But I agree with the sentiment that we have an inexperienced and incompetent executive board.

All they have done is blame macroeconomic conditions and blame employees. They haven’t penetrated new regions, haven’t grown business in new industries, haven’t created new revenue streams and haven’t taken any measures to capitalize on new deals that Europe is making with other countries. All they do is parrot “AI” and “layoffs” and their buzzwords all day.

But they aren’t only ones to blame. The supervisory board is refusing to hold them accountable and they also think that employees are to blame. Executives in most areas haven’t done anything either and they’re only trying to maximize their bonuses. HRBP is trying to sc--w the company by positioning their employees as engineering managers. Gina is working hard to create frameworks like the new performance management to make layoffs easier and to create stupid benefits plans to reduce overall salary and benefits to employees. Mohd Alam made Juergen Mueller’s HPOM worse and has started the stupid rhetoric that there are too many useless roles at SAP that should be laid off. Everyone is blaming employees but employees only work on what executives decide. And the current SAP semester plans are just not good enough. And the current and new acquisitions are just not good enough.

This goes all the way to the top. The solution starts with changes in the executive board. I think we need a general strike. Where is Dr. Eberhard Schick when you need him?

This is what happens when a green and arrogant “CEO” runs with whatever plans the consultants shared with him, AND they never get it wrong, am I right?

Bumbling amateurs, egotists, grifters and psychopaths….This is our executive board!

@OP the problem is that the executive board is playing with themselves

RISE is a complete and total failure. The early adopters are talking and the word is out.

Have to agree with the previous post. Leadership has been lost for a while now. It’s evident from the one-upmanship from each of the board leaders. Reminds us of the common saying that a camel is a horse designed by committee. CK lacks the vision and conviction of a leader.

all this fluff and this and that. the bottom line is that the exec leadership is lost and unless we get someone visionary we are fu---d. everything else is noise