Thread regarding SAP layoffs

If they trimmed the army of line managers — currently deployed at a rate of one per 10–20 employees — the resulting productivity boost might briefly confuse everyone before making life better for all involved.

@k3 Which area is this?

@jc one third of SAPs money is generated in the US / US techs are aligned with the current adninistration. Finding a way to navigate the newnstructures and concepts in order to maintain and grow the revenue and grow revenue there is the role of the executive board. Are there templates and easy answers / NO!

Chuck will tell the board to stop it.

Stop spreading rumors about Christian Klein. It doesn't help anyone. Or are you just mad because your career is stagnant and you don't get invited to the party?

In an area all hands meeting last month, an area head said that the SAP stock is falling because most young people don't go to church anymore. Mind you, this is the person dictating the strategy for an entire area. I can't take our executives seriously anymore. They're far too concerned with getting higher bonuses and saving their jobs than trying to save SAP.

Christian Klein has always been a fanboy of Musk and Thiel. He's trying to shape the SAP culture to something similar to what they did at their companies. It's just harder for him because of worker protections in Europe. But when AfD takes over, Christian Klein, Musk and Thiel will all have their wet dream come true.

Let us not forget that the US government is preparing to fund MAGA-aligned think tanks and charities across Europe to promote what it calls “American values” and challenge perceived threats to free speech. Surely Christian Klein's loyalties lie with the administration if he cares more about Palantir than SAP and more about the US than the EU.

From 2025 to early 2029 alone, which is the current legislative period of the German Bundestag, the AfD will receive a total of around €500 million ($580 million) in state funds for its party and parliamentary work.

Christian Klein is speaking out against the AfD in public.
https://www.stern.de/news/sap-chef-warnt-vor-folgen-eines-politischen-erfolgs-der-afd-37073152.html

So why is he wanting to lay off employees and reduce worker protections? This is what Elon Musk wants from Germany and also the AfD position.

Klein also took time to show his frustration on the limited digitization in Europe. At the same time, he is at odds with European governments.

But I know why we aren't able to sign government contracts.

European governments want to use Hetzer and local data center companies. Klein wants to force them to use AWS or Azure.
European governments want to restrict data that will be shared with third parties in countries outside of Europe, even to allies like the US. Klein is not ready to sign any government deals that restrict access to Palantir and he's influencing the governments to use Palantir.
European governments want to decide on a fair price which they say will be a bit lower than what SAP charges corporate customers. Klein wants to charge the governments more than corporate customers due to their niche demands.

Why is Klein working for the betterment of US companies and the US government instead of SAP and Europe? And why is he saying no to millions in government contracts when SAP has a chance to increase their cloud backlog by a lot? It's not like SAP will lose money, we'll make a ton of profit because more than 20 European governments are involved in these contracts. His actions seem so anti business. Is it so important for him to lay off people that he's ready to sacrifice profits and the company future to do so? Why does he hate SAP employees so much. They're the ones paying for his bonus by giving up their salary appraisals and benefits.

Giving more power to managers and expecting the culture to be better is the same as giving bailouts and tax breaks to the rich and expecting the economy to be better.

@fb The last time when the workers council put a stand against the executive board, they and their families got threatened. The executive board members have so much money that they could coerce half of the workers council to leave with the P23 layoffs. When the supervisory board tried to make a stand, they got threatened too. The outcome was that CK was rewarded 18 million as a bonus in cash (not even RSUs). The system is rigged and the millionaires are an elite class that rules over us peasants. There is nothing that the workers council or supervisory board can do. CK, DA and others are literally untouchable.

@f1 HR represents the employer. The Betriebsrat represents the employee. There have been numerous cases where employees have changed team because of mistreatment by bad managers. Due you think this fixes the culture? No. These managers get more bold and act worse towards their other reports. That is how we ended up in the situation we are today where some managers act without impunity and are rewarded for bad behavior. Because their managers and executives aren't any better. It is worth speaking to the Betriebsrat not the HR. We don't want to be in a culture where employees get exploited by or mistreated by managers. And some bad managers have gotten into trouble or were fired due to misbehavior. But of course if walking away from the situation is better for your sanity, you should do that. Just don't go to the HR.

I apologize for pi----g on chips here……But, the naivete and denial on display in this thread is astounding. Reset and focus.

No layoffs, CK gets great scores from employees, the supervisory board loves CK and DA and won’t replace them etc. the performance management system blah, blah, blah.This may all be “true” AT THIS TIME: One or two bad quarters in 2026, and all of the above changes! Ask yourself, do you have faith in the clowns to fix it. The markets or an activist investor will dictate what will happen - the supervisory board will just pull the trigger. A new CEO will cut costs etc.

It su-ks musty ba--s, but being cynical about everything they do, say and promise is going to save us from a lot of wasted time diving down into rabbitholes of hope and rumour, that probably don’t exist. The boards aren’t our friends here. HR isn’t on our side, the works councils only kind of work for their particular countries. Yes things were different in the past, that’s gone and we should cease with those comparisons.

Let’s work with the sh---y hand we have. Cut out the racism, s-xism, xenophobia, s-xism, ageism and all that other cr-p that gets in our way, and keep our collective dignity, respect and wellbeing together while this sh-t show plays out!

@dz I completely disagree with you.

Disagreement on performance rating by manager are not covered by anything: did you try to report it to HR once ?

I did some times ago and I can tell you that it's bad bad experience: you find yourself not only "fighting" with your manager but also with HR because you realize that HR is here to support the managers not their reports.

I advice anyone who is not happy with her/his manager to change the team instead especially if the manager has been here for a long time: it will save you time, energy and your internal peace. It will also prevent you from getting bad reputation and put in a situation where no other manager will accept you in case of in restructuring.

Hope this helps anyone in this situation.

@d4 Well, managers certainly have the power of life and death over their reports at SAP. Doesn't mean that this is right though. Performance Management takes some of the power away from corrupt managers because performance rating disagreements are covered under Betriebsrat and employees can get help if managers disagree. We should strive to become a company where managers don't have so much power. I hope further improvements take more power away from managers. For too long, appraisal season meant too much a5$ kissing and managers giving more salary appraisals and RSUs to their friends and family. I want to see SAP get to a point where this power is taken away from them. I don't mean to generalize but many managers have abused this for too long.

Not sure why so many people are creating a big deal out of this. At SAP, management has power to do anything they want. Employees that get along with their managers and do what their manager tells them will always grow and do well. That’s what you should focus on. Who cares if there are layoffs in other areas or not. As long as your area is doing well and your manager is happy with you, you’ll be fine. Layoffs are targeted at immigrants and employees who have less than 5 years of tenure with SAP so they won’t affect most of us anyway.

Yes, I think there will be no layoffs.

A year or two ago CK and Iceman could tell the world that AI can make companies save trillions of dollars (per company) and allow them to lay off 250% of their employees.

This story no longer holds water. People know how limited the gains from AI are. Therefore layoffs would be perceived as what they are: a sign of weakness.

SAP is a place where the needs of a few outweigh the needs of many. Money from SAP profits is being funneled into the pockets of executives and area heads and managers making upwards of 300k. But it is also a culture puritan cause for many of them.

There are 73 box moves planned within Signavio, Leanix and Walkme acquisitions that will allow the old guard employees to take over important positions with them. The founders and original acquisition leaders are already being forced out. And new HR policies are directing more stock options to SAP employees than acquisition employees to make them leave. Once all other employees have left, they will fire the rest of them.

So the objective is two-fold. Money and Creating a pure SAP culture.

CK and the Sunshine band are lost. The want to get there fast. Now.

Where’s there? Customers don’t know.

100% they created a fear driven company where nobody can thrive but only comply with the dictate from the top. Still some employees thinking that a** kissing the board members with their comments on articles or on social media will save their back. It's been 2.5 years that the board is constantly acting as employees are only a cost, resources to be used and then flush out...look at the trust in the board in the last unfiltered (which l honestly thought it was too high based on their behaviours), 41% of the company does not trust them, yet they haven't talk about it in the Q4 employee meeting and their actions to increase forums where employees will listen (exposed and not anonymozed) to their ridiculous reasons for keep reducing salaries, benefit and keep laying off employees. The board will full their pockets in the short term and then move on to other companies with a rich severance package...all what they care about.