Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Australia

The importance of creating this shared respect for one another is formalised in our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy; Respect@Thales. This strategy outlines our commitment to our employees and the communities in which we operate to continuously contribute to an inclusive, safe and respectful environment.

Here are our key initiative to support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) at Thales in Australia and New Zealand:

Family Inclusive Workplace

Thales Australia is partnering with Parents At work, joining the ranks of progressive organisations dedicated to fostering a Family Friendly Workplace culture. This achievement reflects our commitment to creating an environment that supports the needs of our employees and their families. At Thales, we are strong advocates of work-life balance and pride ourselves on providing a supportive atmosphere that empowers our team members to excel in both their personal and professional lives.

LGBTQ+

Firmly committed to fighting all forms of discrimination, Thales Australia strives to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion. We are a Bronze Employer of the Australian Workplace Equality Agency (AWEI), a national benchmark on LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Just some of the activities in this space are: joining the Pride in Diversity Group, creation of the Thales LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, provision of online digital LGBTQ+ training to staff, creating educational videos, launching visual cues such as rainbow lanyards and pins and hosting online keynote events around inclusion and recognition. For the LGBTQ+ community of Thales, this means having support networks available which work collaboratively to develop and maintain inclusion, safety and prosperity.

First Nations

Thales’s vision for reconciliation is for all Australians to understand, respect and be proud of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Our journey represents our commitment to respect the past, acknowledge the diversity across Australia, and come together as one to build an inspiring future. 

Just some of our activities are:

Reconciliation Action Plan Committee: A collective of Thales Australia employees involved in the development, monitoring and reporting on Thales Australia’s progress against our Reconciliation Action Plan. The Group is sponsored by a Thales Australia Vice President and also provides strategic advice to relevant committees.  

Trusted and enduring partnerships with: The Clontarf Foundation, Mirri Mirri, CareerTrackers, Supply Nation and Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. 

Guluwa Scholarships: This scholarship offers students opportunities to work with Thales Australia.

CareerTrackers: Thales Australia has committed to employing 10 Career Trackers students each year for 10 years.

Veterans

Thales prides itself on supporting the Australian Defence Force, both while they are serving and when they leave service.

To support our commitment to the Australian Defence Force, the Respect@Thales council launched the Thales Australia Veterans’ Committee. The purpose of the Veterans’ Committee is to provide advice and governance to Thales Australia’s leadership and employees on the issues facing Veterans and their families.  The key pillar of the committee's strategy is to assist veterans with transitioning from Defence to private industry. This reflects and acknowledges the highly valuable contribution that veterans make to a variety of industries and furthers Thales's goal to be an employer of choice for veterans; where they can use their talent to continue supporting Australia's national interests.

At Thales we embrace diversity and it takes a mix of minds, experiences and perspectives for innovation to flourish. We recognise that veterans bring a wealth of knowledge and insight about our key customer, the ADF.

Thales Australia offers up to 30 days paid leave for Reservists. Thales recognises that by supporting Reserve employees, we are further assisting Defence capability and supporting the safety and wellbeing of all Australians. Reservists bring back into Thales direct skills and knowledge developed during military operations, exercises and training courses that enable us to better anticipate and meet the needs of our customers.

Gender Equality

We are committed to creating a culture of equality across our business, where opportunities for growth, experience and career advancement is not affected by the gender that our employees identify as. We want our people to feel respected, safe and included at work and our Gender Equality Actions outlines our commitment through:

Challenging gender stereotypes to promote equality. For example, our Parental Leave Policy is inclusive of all genders and we encourage gender neutral parental care, men’s participation in caring, and recognise a broad definition of families.

Strengthening positive and equal relationships through supporting employees affected by domestic and family violence

Championing equal opportunities at work by educating our leaders about inclusive decision-making, pay equity analysis, and monitoring gender equality in leadership.

Listening to our people to understand their experiences through Respect@Thales initiatives, Employee Resource Group activities and by analysing data from our engagement survey.

WGEA Compliance: Every year Thales Australia submits Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report. The WGEA is an Australian Government statutory agency created by the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. The Agency is charged with promoting and improving gender equality in Australian workplaces.

Additionally, Thales Australia is endorsed by WORK180 as a workplace committed to equity and inclusion, promoting flexible work arrangements, shared caring responsibilities and career development.

In August 2021 Thales Australia signed partnership with ‘Parents at Work’ a membership-based organisation providing work and family education and policy advisory services. The goal for this partnership is to bridge the work and home divide by embedding flexibility, wellbeing, parental transition and wider caring services to enable Thales and their people to thrive.

Thales Australia provides 20 weeks of fully paid leave to primary carers and 10 weeks for secondary carers and applies regardless of a new parent’s eligibility for government paid parental leave, to all new births and adoptions from 1 September 2022.

Thales Australia partners with The Future Through Collaboration which provides women working in the Defence Industry the opportunity to work with a senior Defence Industry mentor over 12 months.

Thales in Australia's Airspace Mobility Solutions (AMS) business is proudly partnering with Aviation/Aerospace Australia, a not-for-profit independent association whose overarching objective is to contribute to the long-term health and sustainability of Australia's aviation and aerospace sector. A/AA is also working towards changing the status quo in relation to the participation of women in this exciting and dynamic sector. At Thales, we celebrate women’s achievements, and both highlight and work to address barriers that continue to perpetuate gender inequality in the aviation/aerospace sector. Thales closely work with A/AA on initiatives to encourage more women to consider a career in aviation or aerospace as well as supporting retention strategy.

We partner with UTS Women in Engineering and IT (WiEIT) Program and our employees act as mentors for the Lucy Mentor Program; connecting women studying engineering or technology at UTS to professionals for a one-on-one mentoring relationship.

Accessibility & Neurodiversity

At Thales in Australia, we seek to promote Respect@Thales and become a company that’s reflective of the demographic makeup of society by celebrating and supporting disabilities and neurodiversity, including those that are hidden, within our current and future workforce

Enabling all employees  to participate fully in employment opportunities is an important part of our social responsibility as an organisation. We are active in promoting events that raise awareness of physical, as well as hidden, disabilities and the positive effects that being engaged in meaningful work can have on these individuals lives.

We are committed to providing support throughout our current/future employee’s entire experience at Thales. From offering reasonable adjustments throughout the job application and selection process, to the ability to participate in the Accessibility and Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group 

We are also partnering with the Australian Network on Disability; a national not-for-profit that helped us to develop the Accessibility and Inclusion Plan, review current policies, improve recruitment process, provide disability confidence training etc.