It is Airbus’ belief that its values are best chosen by those who embody them. The company therefore invited its employees to brainstorm a list of principles that would complement the foundations Integrity and We are One, which had been proposed by the executive management team. In an online poll, employees were able to choose from a list of 12 values, or make their own suggestions.

The suggestions which received the most votes, Teamwork, Customer focus, Reliability, Respect and Creativity, were developed further in stage two. This involved more than 120 focus groups, across 17 countries, during which 1290 employees discussed the meaning and behaviours linked to each of the selected values. Later in July 2017, during a collaborative event that brought together over 150 employees representing all areas of the company and all of the Values focus groups, it was suggested to merge, “We Are One”, with the value of “teamwork” to reflect the importance the company places on collaboration and working together.

With its six core values defined, the company has embarked on the journey to live them in everything it does, every day. To support this next phase of the journey, a variety of tools and training sessions have been developed. “Our ambition is to create a company-wide common and shared understanding around the values, translate them into professional behaviours and embed them in the way we work and relate to our colleagues, customers, suppliers, partners, and stakeholders,” says Thierry Baril, Airbus’ Chief Human Resources Officer.

The six Airbus values

• We feel, act and behave as one large family – We are One – and create an engaging and inclusive workplace that favours wellbeing, fun and trust to drive team work.

• We partner with our customers to deliver valuable and sustainable solutions together.

• Our reliability drives our competences and mindset to deliver on time, on cost and on quality.

• We treat each other and all stakeholders as we wish to be treated, with respect, embracing diversity.

• We are curious, courageous, passionate, open-minded and recognize creativity at all levels.

• We act with integrity and take appropriate consequences to eradicate unethical and non-compliant behaviours.