Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
At Shoal we understand delivering capability in complex environments can bring risk within projects, to our clients and our team. We strive to reduce risk in our delivery and have a positive impact on the community in which we operate.
Led by our company values, Shoal believes that ESG goes beyond sustainability and corporate social responsibility. It addresses the challenges we face as a company and how we engage with our staff, clients, suppliers and the community.
Our environment and sustainability
Shoal has a climate-conscious workforce, who are personally motivated to take action on environmental issues and enabled in the workplace to do the same. We take a ‘think globally, act locally’ approach to get involved in our community. Headed by our Environment Officer, the Shoal team identifies and implements programs and initiatives that make a tangible and meaningful contribution towards environmental stewardship. A great example of this was our Systems thinking and volunteering day with The Forktree Project, a re-wilding initiative in South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
Social
One of our Values at Shoal is ‘sociability’. To us, sociability means supporting each other, seeking connections, starting conversations, building relationships and engaging with our community. As a team, we like to support causes (like the Cancer Council and Australia’s biggest morning tea, Movember, Foodbank drives and Rail RU OK? Day). One of the contributions we are most proud of is a project we call ‘Tackling Poverty Holistically’.
Indigenous Action Plan Working Group
At Shoal we recognised that our Indigenous Action Plan needed to consist of relevant and tangible action items that would have real impact. We took inspiration from Reconciliation Australia’s dimensions of national reconciliation and have built an Indigenous Action Plan that focuses on two key objectives ‘Enhancing race relations through historical awareness’ and ‘Equality’. We will continue to evolve our action plan as we develop greater cultural awareness and understand the steps we can take as individuals and as an organization.
So far, we have embarked on a group knowledge sharing exercise to better understand the local Traditional Owners or Custodians of the lands where Shoal staff reside and work, so that our Acknowledgement of Country held real context and meaning and we be pay our respects by adding an Acknowledgment of Country to our meetings and events.
As a company that values education and ongoing learning, particularly in the field of STEM, our Indigenous Action Working Group members are undertaking cultural awareness training to help build towards a plan to provide meaningful educational opportunities to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
At Shoal we believe there is real value in even the smallest steps and hope to make a meaningful difference by driving positive change within our sphere of influence. We look forward to building on our action plan year after year as we go on the journey to collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.
Governance
Shoal’s systems and processes allow us to manage operational quality and risk management.
Quality Management System
Our ISO 9001:2015-certified Quality Management System, encompasses industry best practice. This ensures that we will meet and sustain consistent quality outcomes across personnel, services, and deliverables to clients.
It is maintained through our corporate continuous improvement processes and is regularly audited internally, as well as externally to ensure continued compliance with ISO standards.
Essential 8
The Essential 8 is a list of essential cyber security mitigation strategies published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). The ACSC recommends the implementation of these essential eight strategies as a baseline to make it harder for adversaries to compromise systems.
Shoal has committed to implementing the Essential 8 strategies and is working to ensure compliance. Through this commitment the company recognises the importance of ensuring the safety of our systems and protection from cyber threats for the benefit of our clients, the company, and our staff.