Software company is looking for hundreds of autistic people

Focus on the essentials: software giant „SAP“ wants to hire hundreds of autistic people

21/05/2013

As the software company SAP announced on Tuesday, the company plans to hire hundreds of autistic people in the coming years. By 2020, one percent of the current 65,000 jobs at SAP will be staffed by people with an autistic disorder. In 2011, the company already had positive experiences in a pilot project in Bangalore, India. In the affected departments, both productivity and customer satisfaction increased.

„SAP“ appreciates special abilities of autistic people
SAP sees its future employees mainly in the areas of programming, software testing and quality assurance. In the IT field, autistic people could benefit from their special skills such as meticulousness, attention to detail, outstanding memory and their special way of thinking logically, explained Friedrich Nolte from the Federal Association for the Promotion of People with Autism to the news agency „dpa“. What would often be pathological for those affected in everyday use is ideal for testing software or technical devices. Unfortunately, so far only a few large companies would deal with the topic, so Nolte.

SAP plans to occupy one percent of its jobs with autism by 2020. This is about the proportion of the population suffering from autism. At present, jobs in Ireland are already being awarded to people with autistic disorders, according to the group. Germany and the USA should follow until the end of the year. SAP works with the Danish initiative „Specialisterne“ together, which wants to bring one million non-intellectually impaired autistic people to work.

Also other companies like the IT company „Auticon“ in Berlin, autistic people. By the end of 2013, 20 of the 28 jobs will be filled with autistic people because the company wants „Use and promote the special skills of Asperger Autists in Quality Management“.

Autists have a hard time on the job market
As a rule, people with autistic disorder have a very difficult job. This also applies to the mild form of autism, Asperger syndrome. As Matthias Dalfert, Professor of Applied Social Sciences at Regensburg University, told the „dpa“ explained that only about five percent of the autistic work in the labor market, in Asperger's syndrome, it was 20 percent. „With appropriate funding, the number could be three times as high.“

Also Maria Kaminski, chairman of the association autism, confirmed opposite the on-line edition of the „Frankfurter Rundschau“, that for autistic people it is still very difficult to work. „We are happy about every job for people with autism.“ It is important for the SAP employees to know what autism is. Usually an Autist needs an assistant to take care of him, says Kaminski. People with an autistic disorder often can not socialize and communicate with others like others, making teamwork difficult. However, an assistant can help the autistic person better understand his working environment. SAP already announced that it would specially train employees to take care of the needs of the autistic people. (Ag)

Image: Pierroa