Etihad Airways deploys SAP solutions

Etihad Airways is deploying SAP's state-of-the-art, cloud-based solutions across its human resources, finance and procurement and supply management functions.

The technology transformation will enable Etihad Airways to redesign its vital back-office processes entirely, standardise across its subsidiaries and partner airline Air Seychelles, and scale up to support its continued growth. 

In the first phase of implementation, the airline has modernised and simplified the recruitment process by introducing new capabilities through SAP’s SuccessFactors. 

A new Etihad Airways careers website, with easy-to-use digital functionalities, has been launched to enrich the candidate recruitment experience. Latest features include a fresh layout, job alerts, and integration with the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn. It also offers real-time visibility on the status of job applications for candidates, hiring managers and recruiters. 

The website has gained a lot of interest and within a week of its launch received 160,000 visits and 6,000 job applications. In addition, 14,000 candidates have signed up as Talent Community Members - a new capability that further strengthens Etihad Airways’ global position to recruit the best aviation talent. 

Other capabilities that will benefit internal managers include an improved job requisition management process to help track job openings and applicants, new internal and external job posting procedures, standardised job descriptions, and optimised recruitment management and onboarding workflows to attract and engage high-quality candidates. 

Mona Walid, Etihad Airways’ vice president of Talent Acquisition, said: “As Etihad Airways crosses the 25,000 employee milestone and witnesses phenomenal growth, we needed to redesign our recruitment processes to benefit us, our HR team and the 250,000 applicants who apply to work at the airline each year. 

“SAP SuccessFactors plays a pivotal role in helping us do this. It will change the way we work for the better, help us maximise the potential of our people, while aiding the growth of our international and UAE national talent pool - which alone is expected to reach 6,000 by 2020.” 

Robert Webb, Etihad Airways’ chief information and technology officer, said: “This deployment reinforces our technology and innovation strategy of connecting Etihad Airways, our partners and ultimately our guests through modern, scalable and sustainable solutions."