SAP SE in India announced the launch of FlexBen, a new flexible benefit plan for its 11,500 employees in the country. As a part of this SAP will provide core benefits and a variety of 25 optional benefits that employees can choose from. The initiative aims to grant employees the freedom to choose benefits based on their individual need covering both insurance & non-insurance options and accordingly customize a relevant benefit plan. SAP is among the first organizations in India to formalize the process of providing flexible benefits to all its employees.
Designed to foster innovation by embracing differences and by creating an inclusive work environment, the FlexBen initiative enables an agile and flexible workforce which is an important pillar of our people strategy. It moves away from the model of pre-defined and common benefits for all employees to an innovative framework which is tailor-made and caters to the diverse workforce. Employees can redeem the Flex points beyond the conventional mediclaim top ups or insurance to a range of forward-thinking platforms including buying a bicycle, enrollment into a snorkeling course, spending on their pets, or opting to buy a water/ air purifier.
“Our workforce is spread across five generations each with differing needs and aspirations,” said Shraddhanjali Rao, Head of Human Resources, SAP India. “Reaffirming our commitment to bring best practices that can redefine the industry, SAP in India undertakes policies conceptualized by focusing on employees. We proudly launch this initiative that holds great promise and ties back to our vision – bring everything you are and become everything you want,” she added.
The optional benefits under this initiative can be chosen from Health & Wellness, Lifestyle, Diversity & Inclusion and Personal Development. To help employees pick relevant benefits that cater to them or their family’s needs, they are segregated into ‘personas’. For example, employees who are single, those with family (spouse and kids) or having family with dependent parents.
Employees play a pivotal role for SAP to help its customers succeed in the new digital economy. Hence, it is a business imperative to provide an environment where people can engage, develop their skills, and draw on the support they need to create and innovate. For this reason, over the years SAP has introduced many industry first initiatives like fellowships to employees wanting to work out of the SAP’s in-house startup accelerator studio – Entrepreneurial Sabbatical, Care For Life fund to give long-term financial support to an employee’s family members in case of their death, among several others, all of which helping SAP win numerous industry awards for its best-in-class employee policies.