Thales

Satisfaction with Work

"I really enjoy the work that I do on a day to day basis. Sometimes work can be frustrating, but mostly it's frustrating in a good way that means I have a job where I have to use my brain and solve problems and sometimes that isn't easy. The times when the frustration begins to affect my enjoyment of work is when I have to spend time fixing problems in things that should work or that aren't my responsibility, for example getting third party software to work as it should, or bug fixing code written by other developers who are no longer with the company." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"I feel I was given some interesting work at first but have since slipped into a testing role for too long. Although at first it was a useful role to allow me to get an insight into the project and the testing procedure, I feel I need more challenging work to develop." -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"The challenge of the work is unparalleled. The problems are so complex that many engineers take months to arrive at solutions. The solutions are interesting and very rewarding when it works." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"From the off, the work has been real. In my first year I was in support and meeting the customer to help solve their problems directly. This was fantastic experience, if you want to know how your product works there is no better way than supporting your customer when they are using it. The day to day support is also top rate. I am surrounded by people who are keen on their subject and are always ready to offer a patient helping hand in getting you up to speed where your knowledge of skills may need developing. I have recently succeeded in changing my role to development where I am less customer facing but where the experience gained in support can be readily applied to improve the products I develop. I work with a number of other engineers from different disciplines to develop a working product on time and budget. Having been here for only a few weeks the learning curve is steep but the work is really interesting and I am enjoying the buzz of finding the answers and knowing that I have contributed directly to the final product." -- Software Engineer, Glasgow
"Leicester gets less development work than Crawley. There are fewer opportunities, and grads become stagnant at this site. Much better opportunities are offered at Crawley." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"I used to be assigned quality work. However, with the reductions of orders entering the business there is limited work to be assigned to, and consequently the quality of my assignments has reduced recently." -- Graduate, Programme Manager, Wells

"I find that Thales is an interesting place to work but is limited by the defence industry’s slow development cycles and political influence. The company is in a transitional phase that promises to be very exciting for any young motivated employees willing to be sponsors for change and development." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer
"As a PM grad I feel that I get a lot of opportunity to expose myself to responsibility, different experiences, and working with the customer. I have a lot of opportunity to shape the direction of my career, including placement choices and divisional and location changes. I feel that senior managers at Thales are keen to give me responsibility, whereby within a year of joining from university I was solely responsible for 14 aircraft sets of equipment and managing their tracking and export across the world. Currently, two years in I am in a position where I will shortly be taking over some bid work, and aiming to win the company more business." -- Programme Management, Crawley
"The work I receive has so far been very varied, which certainly keeps it interesting and allows me to develop many new skills. It didn't take long for me to have real responsibilities and have real goals to aim for and deadlines to meet. It makes me feel valued as a member of the company. The nature of the business means that the technology that I get to use is also interesting, and the products we make have always impressed me. Processes aren't perfect but are always improving, and in recent process improvement drives everyone has been encouraged to contribute any ideas they have, as it is often the people doing the job who know best how to make it better." -- Electronic Engineer, Glasgow
"Some work is very good although it’s taken nearly two years to gain any responsibility. I graduated in Mechanical Engineering and have yet to do any tasks involving my area of discipline, despite specifically asking for more directed tasks." -- Graduate, Integration Engineer
"The level of the work given is generally quite good, in that it is the same as many more senior engineers (they don't give graduates ‘baby’ projects to do), but you can be left a bit too much on your own unless you make a clear point of asking for help." -- Hardware Engineer, Crawley
"There are a great many different projects, and so while the quality of the work will always be decent to high, it can vary. I have little to no interaction with the customer currently, although I am hoping this can be improved." -- Graduate, Software Engineer

What does your typical day at work involve?

"Working at a PC terminal connected to various bits of hardware, and working to defined packages of work against specific deadlines, often in conjunction with other members of both the software and hardware teams. Performing code reviews for other software engineers, and supporting hardware engineers who have software problems, with a view to identifying potential bugs." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"On a typical day after checking my email I spend the rest of the day coding, bug fixing, and testing code. I generally will take short breaks throughout the day to allow myself a moment to step back and reflect on problems. During this time I read interesting articles and occasionally web-comics and other amusing websites or talk to my colleagues via the office IRC. Some days I will be solving several problems simultaneously and move between them depending on my mood or if I have got stuck with one problem or another. Other days I will work sequentially, either working on one problem all day or on a series of problems, finishing one before I move on to the next. These ‘problems’ might be fixing bugs in code, working out how to implement some functionality, implementing my solution and getting it to work or testing my code to ensure it does what it should." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"Typical workday as an assistant PM involves managing my small project team, producing reports to our customer, monitoring project financial situation and running risk reviews." -- Programme Management, Crawley
"My work is extremely varied and can involve lots of meetings some days and not a lot else. Other days I may be stuck at my desk writing documents. Another day still I might spend in a lab playing around with equipment (either integrating or testing). There can be a fair bit of travelling to other sites/suppliers, etc. dependant on project. There are tons of opportunities to volunteer for things outside of my day job." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"I will liaise with hardware, software, and optical engineers. This can be to either get answers to things I don't know or to provide my knowledge to them. To some extent I am able to control the way that I work as we are quite goal orientated, there is not too much micro management of the day. I sometimes attend meetings, the most important one of which occurs twice a day where I meet my fellow graduates for coffee :-)" -- Software Engineer, Glasgow
"My days cover correspondence, meetings, overseeing the manufacturing and testing of products, and reporting; plenty of chances to get hands dirty." -- Entry level, Project Engineer

"Creating reports on competitors, products, countries, market segments, etc. by trawling the internet, databases and contacts." -- Graduate, Market Analyst
"My typical day involves: getting in, checking emails, deciding what to tackle that day: often design work or writing documents in the morning, and meetings/discussions/lab work in the afternoon, but I'm very much free to decide when and how to get things done." -- Hardware Engineer, Crawley
"My main requirement is ensuring that customer level requirements are incorporated into the design of our systems. This can involve speaking to the customer directly to confirm the intent of his requirements, and also to discuss our proposed solution, to check this will be appropriate for his intended use. It also involves speaking to sub-contractors to check that their delivered items are going to be on spec and collaborating with them and other members of the team to develop solutions to the challenge of the day." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"A typical day could involve organising and carrying out a series of prototype tests, analysing the mechanical aspects of a newly defined product or upgrade, qualification and EMC tests, or writing shock reports for our customer." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"I perform software research, which involves collaborating with other engineers to develop software prototypes of new concepts or technologies. I also create content on the internal wiki to inform others of my research. I regularly write technical reports of my research." -- Graduate, Senior Engineer
"Due to the task variety that I am exposed to, a typical day is difficult to describe. Having said this, responsibilities during my first six months with the company have included the following: creating and/or updating programme schedules (this includes: defining activities, identifying any relationships between tasks, assigning resources, and entering task durations), coordinating my department’s submission to the forward load (ensuring that schedules have been progressed, that they are resourced accurately, and that they are aligned with other software programmes), completing the monthly reporting process (for contracted programmes), and utilising Oracle to manage projects/programmes (e.g. initiating and managing deliveries and raising purchasing requests)." -- Entry level

Culture

"The company is keen to treat you as an engineer and not a graduate and if you are proactive you can gain responsibility quickly. Career progression is perhaps a little limited unless you are particularly proactive about it. There are regular team outings and sporting activities and there is a strong graduate population that regularly socialise together." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer
"The graduate community is fairly active with most sites having enough to do activities together such as paintballing, NNQs and nights out. Also the training throughout the year allows grads to get to know grads from other sites and the yearly grad conference brings together all the grads from Thales UK for a two to three day activity led schedule with socialising in the evenings. Apart from the grads there is little other socialising with other Thales employees apart from Christmas parties, as most of the workforce is 40+ and have responsibilities outside of work that prevents this type of activity." -- Graduate, Market Analyst
"The company has a fairly strong hierarchy. However, roles are available so there is opportunity to move up frequently. Working in a project team means that there is a very strong support and team network. Functions are also very supportive, e.g. Engineers/PMs/Software, tend to support their own. There is a very active graduate social life. Non-graduates tend not to socialise as they have families, etc. However the company does organise social events and parties occasionally." -- Programme Management, Crawley
"The company is structured into different Business Units, understanding what other areas of the business do is very useful. Colleagues do support each other; graduates have the extra support by being assigned a line manager, mentor and an HR representative. Employees at this site like to socialise (meals, football, drinking, gym) but the location and high percentage of commuters affects this." -- Graduate, Information Systems
"Team working is highly effective and strongly promoted within Thales. A lot of our work involves liaising with other disciplines to ensure product development progresses smoothly. Nights out and social activities are encouraged as well. I have worked at Thales for just over two years now and have taken part in the Three Peaks Challenge, the annual graduate conference, go-karting, paint-balling, curling, badminton, several charity events, and of course, the Christmas party. I am really happy with the social aspect of Thales. The people are really friendly." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"In the office there is quite a lot of banter. It is mostly relaxed and none of the mangers are too concerned about taking a long tea break or socialising with colleagues during office hours. After hours many of the employees socialise and go out for drinks together. There is an excellent touch rugby club that meets for a game on Tuesdays after work." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"There is a fairly well-defined structure, with perhaps too much management, but this is being addressed. Graduate employees tend to socialise heavily with each other, specifically graduates living in the same area. Socialising with other colleagues happens frequently with lunchtime trips to the pub or curries in town, etc." -- Graduate, Software Engineer, Wells

"Socialising outside of work is prevalent between younger and lower ranked staff. Many higher ranked staff can be aloof, arrogant, and disinterested." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"The company operates a matrix organisation, which means I have two areas of management. I have a project manager for my work commitments and I also have a functional manager who is concerned with my professional development and what projects I am assigned to. The support network on my project is excellent. There are a number of social activities arranged by the company and the project. These are not regular events, but due to site integration most people live some distance away from work, making socialising a little more difficult." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The structure and hierarchy is generally well defined, but slightly complicated due to the size of the company. I also feel at times I have too many managers and that the company in general has too many managers and not enough people doing the actual work. In general, colleagues are very helpful and willing to provide support. However, when I first started I found it hard to find help, but now that I know people it is much easier and people are more willing to help. There is an extremely good social scene at Thales, particularly among the graduates. We socialise outside of work hours two or three times a week." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The company's culture is certainly one which is friendly, supportive and which keeps in mind team goals. A mixture of the history of the site/business unit (over 120 years old) and the new ideals of the company as a whole mean that employees generally seem proud to work for the company. The wealth of expertise within the company has greatly aided me in my formative years in industry. There are various socialising groups within the company, including many subsidised clubs such as golf and hill-walking, who have regular outings. A general employee society organises one-off events such as go-karting or cruises with an emphasis on it being open to all. In addition I visit the pub regularly with a large network of friends from work." -- Electronic Engineer, Glasgow
"In the workplace there is a great sense of teamwork, as numerous departments are working together to achieve the collective goal. A strong advantage of working in this environment is that you can learn from others on the job, as well as the number of training courses the company have endorsed. In terms of the graduate scheme, there is also a great sense of teamwork as all graduates are working to complete their further qualifications. The ability to work together and network across departments has also allowed us to create a great social group of friends who often spend time together out with the office." -- Strategic Marketing Analyst, Glasgow
"There is a good atmosphere in the office, with a lot of banter. Senior management is very approachable and easy to talk to – there is a hierarchy, but it doesn't stop anyone talking to anybody. We're going through a bad transition at the moment with a site move, and immediate colleagues are supportive of each other. Employees do socialise outside work together, but the most social interaction is probably among the graduates." -- Graduate, Commercial Officer, Wells

Relations with Management

"Large scale company changes to structure and direction are communicated. There are many communications about changing the way we work, but no actual detail about what I should do differently." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"While my immediate line manager is very good, Thales management in general is very poor at communicating. They have made attempts to improve internal communications; however all that now happens is that we receive the occasional email updating us on the occasional project/programme/event. Generally staff know very little about the direction the company is heading in, and we have ZERO opportunities to try to influence this. While claiming to be a modern and up-to-date company, Thales is VERY old-fashioned in its ways. The average age within Thales is very high, and there is a culture that the older staff do not trust, respect, or really listen to the ‘dynamic and young minds’ that they strive so hard to attract to the company in the first place!" -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"At the lowest level, I have a monthly meeting with my discipline manager to update him on my progress and for him to inform us of any discipline related news or changes coming up. At the company level, we receive presentations roughly quarterly on the progress of our business unit, domain, and the company as a whole. This often gives me a boost as I can see my place within the system and know why I am doing my job. There are various feedback mechanisms including surveys, which can influence company decision making." -- Electronic Engineer, Glasgow
"Senior management have recently re-acted very positively to an employee-wide survey and are improving overall internal communication and visibility of the senior management team." -- Graduate, Marketing Manager
"Since Sam Keayes has come in as head of NS&R four months ago, there has been a great deal of transparency and improved communication with regard to our performance, the way forward and with regard to other key decisions that affect our business group." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells

"Your local managers (site, line, etc.) are good at talking to you, keeping you in the loop and just interacting with you, however the senior managers can be a bit distant as they are so busy and tend not to communicate to you well. However, that issue was identified recently at a conference and they have pledged to change that culture and keep us more informed in the future." -- Graduate, Market Analyst
"Upper management is very good at informing employees about firm-wide decisions, however due to the size of the company, these managers feel disconnected from the employees and there is a belief that what employees are told may not be the full story. Due to the size of the company, there is no way I could contribute to these decisions, however from time to time surveys are conducted, which gives employees a chance to voice their concerns." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The management do keep the employees fairly closely up-to-date with what's going on company-wide but the employees don't have any say in what is going on, for the most part neither do the managers in the office." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"My relationship with management is very good, and I know I can approach various people on the management team when I have a problem. I also contribute to decisions at certain levels, and I am able to express disagreement without fear of retribution! However, to some less proactive employees, senior management can seem distant, and sometimes all employees aren't informed about things as quickly as they should be." -- Graduate, Commercial Officer, Wells
"Project/Programme management are very down to earth, easy to talk to, and keep us informed. I am actively involved in creating statements of work for future prospects, and estimates for work packages to be given to the customer. Departmental management and above are more aloof though do presentations every couple of months to say what’s going on." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells

Formal Training

"The Graduate Development Programme provides excellent training in key areas. However, I have received no job specific training since I started due to budget constraints. The GDP provides me with an excellent mentor who helps with my progression towards professional registration." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The formal training that is provided on the Graduate Development Programme is very good. It is a well defined program of training courses that follow visible objectives. However, all of these courses cover soft skills and business skills, not technical skills. Getting training for technical skills is much more difficult, even when it is necessary for my job. When I started I requested training for the new technologies I would be working with for my job. Seven months later, I still haven't received this training, which would be largely irrelevant now, as I have, by necessity, picked up bits and pieces relevant skills, enough to get by with my job, but not enough to be really confident. However, informally I have found my colleagues always ready to teach me how to do things that I do not know how to do, and in this manner I have picked up sufficient skills to do my job." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"There is an extensive graduate training programme with structured courses as well as the opportunity to request additional training if needed. For example, I have attended a report writing course and geometric tolerance training. Managers are extremely approachable and mentors are fantastic." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"Mentoring is relatively new in the company, but good advances are being made and more mentors are becoming available. Mentors can be as involved as you want them to be, ranging from merely checking and commenting on reports, through to having regular meetings. The amount of contact is generally the graduate's decision. Soft skills training is extensive on the grad scheme (programme management, bid process, quality & improvement), however the amount of job-related training is still relatively low (although there is some, maybe four-five courses a year). Plans are in place to improve this. Managers can be approached, but the decision on training generally comes at a corporate/senior level." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"From what I have experienced so far, the graduate training has been useful for soft skills although at times it is noticeable that the course is more suited towards the engineering aspect of the company." -- Graduate, Contracts Officer
"I am scheduled to attend a lot of training courses over the year to September, the courses I have attended have been worthwhile, well run and I feel I have gained something from each of them. Thales puts a lot of effort and money into their training for their graduates. We have a good mentoring scheme, I am paired up with a senior engineer and meet monthly to discuss my progress, any events/ projects I have coming up and any issues I have been having at work." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells
"Graduate training centres on soft skills and aiming people towards management, whether or not they want to go that way. With the graduate training taking up a few weeks a year for the four years, technical training is more difficult to come by as projects would like us in the office to do their work occasionally! I have managed to get on a one week technical training course though, and the on the job training is excellent. The depth of experience within the department, and the willingness of the experienced engineers to share this, is immense." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells

"While there is a lot of training offered on the Thales Graduate Scheme, a lot of it is very generic indeed. Thales has taken a 'one size fits all' approach to its graduate training programme, meaning that no training is particularly specific to any of the graduate roles. Additionally, while Thales do encourage graduates to work towards an engineering chartership (e.g. CEng), when a graduate does achieve this qualification (typically after four years), Thales makes no attempt to reward them or retain them, resulting in a very low graduate retention rate since jobs can be found elsewhere that offer a better package and more promising career progression for chartered engineers!" -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"There is a well established Graduate Development Programme that offers structured training and development over four years. There are numerous training courses, typically focusing on non-technical training, and other graduate events throughout the year. Mentors are available for all graduates and in general provide valuable support. The allocation of technical training is much harder to gain." -- Mechanical Engineer, Crawley
"The Graduate Scheme encourages training and taking the opportunity. I am roughly out of the office at least once a month on training. In my six months with the company I have already been to Crawley, Reading, Basingstoke, and Cumbria on training courses. I have learnt about quality and business improvement, what is expected from me as a graduate, about the company, and about different business units. The training course in Cumbria was an opportunity to meet graduates from other sites. We worked together on a number of classroom and outdoor activities, and had the opportunity to volunteer to lead these exercises. At the end of the course everyone in your group (in my case 12) gave feedback on what you did well, how you contributed and what your weaknesses are! From this an action plan is developed to help you improve overtime with the support of the group." -- Graduate, Information Systems
"As with all graduate entrants to the company I am enrolled in the company's graduate training scheme which is primarily aimed at developing soft skills. With a few exceptions, technical training is on the job. As mentioned previously, the people I work with are very good at giving me the space to learn and develop my skills. The company encourages professional registration and assigns every graduate with a mentor to help guide and encourage you towards gaining the experience required to register. It was one of the great attractions to me that this was embedded into the company culture." -- Software Engineer, Glasgow
"As previously discussed, Thales has an extensive and well-structured Graduate Development Programme. Training opportunities are plentiful, well structured and provide a useful opportunity to further learning. To date, I have attended the Way Ahead Part 1: a residential in Windermere, which focuses on teamwork and the importance of effective feedback; a Quality and Business Improvement Course; and a Supply Chain Management Course." -- Entry level
"The graduate formal training is very good, though I'm not sure how easy it is for non-graduates to get formal training. I've always found managers very accessible, and have arranged informal training on occasion. I've learnt many useful soft skills on the graduate training scheme, and have also gained a formal Project Management qualification." -- Graduate, Commercial Officer, Wells

Career Progression

"It is fairly easy to move up the ranks, and in the future I believe it will be even easier as there is a very high age profile at Thales, and so in the coming years there will be tons of people retiring and leaving behind plenty of vacancies. I firmly believe the work is not as important as how people perceive you within Thales. If you are very good at what you do but don't stand up for yourself, it is difficult to get anywhere quickly. Also, if you are good at selling yourself or are well liked/respected, it appears you don't necessarily have to be excellent at what you do to move up quickly. Some people (in particular Commercial graduates) seem to get more opportunities than others; there is a fair amount of luck involved." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"I feel that growth will be very possible, but obviously may take some time." -- Supportability Engineer, Basingstoke
"The age demographics of the company mean that soon there will be a large number of staff retiring, and the intention is to fill a large percentage of these roles with employees on the graduate scheme, so there is a possibility of moving up the ranks. To get to the top, it is important to make strategic career decisions and probably change roles within the company to continue developing and gaining relevant skills." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"If an individual has the attributes and motivation they can be very successful. Details of worldwide job vacancies are advertised internally. Reviews take place every six months." -- Graduate, Information Systems
"The graduate development program encourages promotion prospects and expects the resultant graduates to become the engineering leaders and managers in future years. From what I can gather in my relatively short time, as long as people are hard working and enthusiastic, there will be promotion prospects after completing the program." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer

"For the right people with the right managers it is easy. Mostly it takes a long time and there is no assistance. To get to the top, you need to produce good-ish work and befriend those who have influence over your position." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"It is difficult to get promoted for the first two years, after that it depends on how proactive you are and if there is a business need for you to get more responsibility." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer
"Not very easy at all! Thales is already very top-heavy. Until the current management start to retire (could be in the next 5 years or so), graduates will never make any real moves into higher ranks." -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"Grad scheme seems fairly set in stone, four years then application to become chartered. Although there is no direct recognition of chartership in the company (I expect this to change in the next few years), it is expected that graduates will move up a few levels in the company once they've completed the grad scheme. This will bring increased responsibility and higher pay. After this, grade reviews can be applied for and are at the discretion of the line manager. A formal nomination and discussion is required." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"At the start of the year we set objectives. Performance is reviewed annually against these objectives and against the expected behaviours for the job role. Pay increases reflect the rating received from this review. There are also additional pay increases for graduates, which are related to how up-to-date your documentation is (training course reports, quarterly reports). Promotions are on merit – if you show that you have met the behaviours for your current role and some of those for the role above, you will be promoted. I have had two promotions in three and a half years." -- Graduate, Senior Engineer

CSR

"Thales mandates that you spend at least two days a year doing corporate social responsibility work. I work with STEMENT in Northern Ireland, judging at innovation events and mentoring school kids." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer
"Every employee is granted one or two days each year for community work, which across the company in the UK should be 44 man years. Take up of this is variable, some sites arrange specific activities, other sites expect the employees to find the activity, and release them for the time." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"STEM ambassador status is actively encouraged, which involves once a year visiting a school or event and helping out, to help try and get kids interested in science and engineering. This is a nationwide-recognised scheme and looks excellent on the CV." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"HR rarely offers opportunities to become involved in community work. However STEMNET offers many opportunities, although it is unpaid work in your own time." -- Graduate, Integration Engineer

"There are two days per year per employee allocated for outreach/community work. It is actively encouraged in the graduate community but little elsewhere. I have completed STEM events, been into a local school to present on the work I do and arranged for a class to visit our site." -- Mechanical Engineer, Crawley
"The company is always holding events for charity and supports Marie Curie Cancer Care as its main charity. Also Thales is very big on promoting science and engineering to the community and sponsoring awards and fairs. A recent example of this is Thales’ presence at the big bang fair." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"Thales, especially our site in Glasgow, actively engages with the local community. We host regular school visits with the aim of encouraging children towards engineering. A number of us are now STEM ambassadors as a result of a push to increase numbers internally." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow

Diversity (women, minorities & LGBT)

"My company is an engineering company. There are very few women in technical roles. There are some women in business roles. Ethnic minorities are woefully under-represented. However, I have not seen any discrimination in the work place and there are people who are openly L/G/B/T in my office." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"As a company that employs a large number of engineers, the staff is generally very male dominated. In more business-related roles there are more women, and they do hold several senior positions. Some of the defence work that the company does is ‘English Eyes Only’, which means the company can be very wary about employing foreign nationals." -- Graduate, Software Engineer
"Thales is the least diverse workplace I have been in." -- Project Manager, Crawley
"I don't believe there's any discrimination at all, besides needing UK nationals for security based work." -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"There is a good proportion of women working in a lot of business areas, and many ethnic minorities working in Thales. In a recent graduate training course I attended last week, around 10 of the 30 graduates were from ethnic minorities." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells

"Although the community in NI is yet to become as multicultural as many mainland UK countries, Thales has a strong commitment to diversity, in particular policies are in place to ensure that sectarianism is not an issue in the workplace, which is refreshing." -- Graduate, Systems Engineer
"All ages, races, and sexes work at Thales, both in lower and management positions. Thales tends to have a high number of very long term employees (20+ years) as it has a certain reputation for looking after staff. Childcare vouchers are given and maternity and paternity leave allowed." -- Programme Management, Crawley
"Pretty poor. Mostly male, mostly 40 years plus (excluding the graduate population). Graduate retention is poor due to focusing too much on recruiting new grads than caring for those they already have!" -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"There is a low proportion of women working in engineering here. At TRT there are currently four female engineers out of about 70. However, this is symptomatic of the low numbers of women studying Engineering. Across Thales it is about 10% female. There are policies against discrimination on gender, sexuality, religion, and ethnicity." -- Graduate, Senior Engineer

Offices & Dress Code

"The offices are a great environment to work in, having previously worked at the Gatwick road site; it’s now a pleasure to come into work each day and the facilities are excellent. The location is not though, I guess it could be worse but as a commuter, being so far from mainline station is hard as it means either a long walk or an extra expense of a bus! The dress code is smart casual which makes a nice relaxed working environment." -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"The office is very modern with good facilities. However, there is a desk sharing policy due to having more employees than desks. This is frustrating for individuals who are not assigned permanent desks. The dress code is fairly relaxed, I wear trousers and a shirt most days except 'dress down' Fridays." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The company is governed by a charter which covers things like not being allowed to drink water at your desk. Yet whilst it can seem restrictive, these things have usually come from some sort of sound reasoning. For instance, not being able to drink water at your desk forces you to take a break and usually have a chat with colleagues over a coffee. Dress code is formal Monday – Thursday with a dress down half day on Friday. The half day is a great idea and really makes the week seem that little bit shorter." -- Software Engineer, Glasgow
"The Glasgow site is relatively new and in a decent location out of the city centre. Eating and drinking at desks (even water) is strictly prohibited for some reason, which is extremely annoying. Dress code is unofficial. Standard shirt and tie for many, but this is relaxed. Many factory workers are casual all week." -- Bid Manager, Glasgow
"Office is relatively new and vast in size. There is a very large manufacturing area at the back, with open plan offices at the front with huge windows letting in lots of light. Location is okay; about 15 minutes drive from city centre. Dress code is business dress, which is suit trousers and shirt for gents (tie encouraged but as far as I'm aware is optional). Wearing a blazer is l not necessary. Smart business attire for ladies is recommended." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow
"We are currently moving from an old prisoner of war camp in Wells (bit ramshackle, but lovely commute through the countryside, and everybody's happy here) to a new build in Bristol (much nicer building, but horrendous commute which is responsible for many people leaving). The facilities are fine and dress code is business attire Monday – Thursday and dress down on Friday. The business attire is not always observed by the engineers!" -- Graduate, Commercial Officer, Wells

"We have relaxed smart working dress with ‘dress down Fridays’. Offices are generally well kept and modern, and the IT facilities are adequate most of the time." -- Software Engineer, Basingstoke
"The Crawley site is very impressive. Opened in early 2009, the buildings are modern, airy and light. Our site offers a gym (though not terribly impressive), Costa Coffee outlets and a restaurant/canteen (Hot lunches for around £3-£4, sandwiches for £2-£3). Green travel is encouraged (car sharing, buses, bikes), though mostly due to the somewhat limited parking on site! " -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"Being more of a high tech company, more of what we do is now in shiny offices, with employees wearing suits, but we still have manufacturing and development facilities, where lab-coats and special clothing is required. We also visit customer sites regularly so we could find ourselves pretty much anywhere, including aircraft and ships! Fridays are dress down days." -- Systems Engineer, Crawley
"The site in my opinion is second to none. Purpose-built over 15 years ago, it still looks modern and inviting. It consists of a very large open plan office on 2 levels with good natural light in one half, and also an extensive manufacturing facility where we put together all our specialist products in the other. Because of the size of the facility (~800 employees), it allows the company to provide an excellent and varied canteen. We also have a garden outside for sitting in during the summer. The dress code is relatively smart but largely up to the employee depending on their preferences/role. Some wear only an open shirt, while others wear suits, and everyone wears casual jeans, etc. every Friday (obviously unless meeting customers)" -- Electronic Engineer, Glasgow
"The office is situated near the M4 and is on a main bus route into the town centre and train station. The office is slowly being redecorated. The main open plan office decor is dated, but we have plenty of desk space. The dress code is smart casual with dress-down Fridays. Suits are only worn when meeting customers or performing interviews." -- Graduate, Senior Engineer
"Current facilities are perfectly fine and easy to get to. As this relocated later in the year I can’t comment how this will be in the future. There isn’t an enforced dress code. Anything from jeans and t-shirt to full suit is fine. I wear shirt and tie by choice, though if I decide to cycle to work after the site move I would go more casually." -- Graduate, Hardware Engineer, Wells

Green Initiatives

"The company has recycling points throughout the office and encourages shutdown of equipment when not in use. There are automatic sensors for the lights. There is also some effort to provide facilities for alternative methods of transport." -- Mechanical Engineer, Crawley
"Thales wants to be greener, but sometimes it seems incapable of doing do. They encourage recycling and green travel to work, however they will still fly a group of graduates from Glasgow down to Crawley to teach them what they already know about carbon footprints and green working!" -- Software Engineer, Crawley
"Thales encourages that travelling is only ever used when necessary. Recent upgrades have seen HD video conferencing facilities installed in several meeting room. All urinals are on automatic flush, lights are on automatic, we recycle cans, plastic, and paper." -- Mechanical Engineer, Glasgow

"The company periodically offers ‘cycle to work’ schemes and preferential parking for car share partakers." -- Graduate, Market Analyst
"At a site level we recycle numerous materials, and we are briefed on the importance of keeping printing to a minimum and switching off water/electricity where possible. In addition, environmental considerations are a large part of our work when designing new products, so we try to keep abreast of the latest regulations." -- Electronic Engineer, Glasgow
"There are initiatives to try to reduce the company's carbon footprint by 10%. We have recycling bins for paper and card and ceramic mugs for drinks from vending machines to reduce the number of paper/plastic cups used. The company is also open to suggestions for ideas." -- Graduate, Senior Engineer