The Group’s commitment to social dialogue is enshrined in its Manifesto. VINCI’s general policy reflects its fundamental principles:
On 7 February 2019, the agreement to promote social dialogue, renegotiated by the Group Works Council, brought further support for these principles by creating a basic set of actions designed to support and encourage this dialogue within VINCI companies in France. The main changes involve the recommendations set forth by labour representatives and by the Group following the effective application of labour legislation. For instance, companies and organisations with over 50 employees are recommended to set up a health, safety, and working conditions committee (CSSCT), while the current legal minimum is set at 300 employees. Furthermore, companies of any size are recommended to hold a regular economic and social committee meeting every month, and to check the organisation’s progress on prevention, health and safety indicators at every meeting.
In 2021, employee absences due to strikes totalled 3,195 days worldwide, of which 2,850 days in France, out of a total of 51 million days worked in the year (compared with 2,964 days and 2,396 days respectively, out of 49 million days worked in 2020). National pension reform was the main cause of the strikes.
Throughout the coronavirus health crisis, social dialogue has played a crucial role and taken on even greater importance. At the height of the crisis, the Group Works Council met more frequently to encourage dialogue and keep the whistleblowing system functioning, report measures taken by business lines, and discuss adapted prevention programmes and furlough arrangements. All Group sites were able to resume and continue operations, with the appropriate measures in place to ensure the health and safety of their employees, thanks to clear and transparent social dialogue at the local level on the impact of the health crisis and its changing conditions through the various waves.
As a driver of growth and progress, social innovation within an organisation like the VINCI Group builds new forms of dialogue that promote discussion and transparency. The Group and the European Works Council (EWC) worked together on implementing a platform for EWC members with two key objectives:
This tool was implemented in 2021 to facilitate exchanges between council members as well as the sharing of information about their work with the employees of VINCI’s European subsidiaries.
Three-day training sessions are available every year for EWC members. In 2021, training topics included environmental innovation, collective intelligence within the committee, German trade union law and EWC negotiations. During each of these training sessions, the Group also held a “hybrid” meeting, by which is meant a meeting organised to share ideas and discuss issues relating to a specific VINCI Manifesto commitment. In 2021, this meeting reviewed the Group’s achievements and goals for the environment, inclusion and diversity, corporate social responsibility and human rights. Group Works Council members also receive training every year. The Group was able to go through with training for its employee representatives, despite the health crisis, by postponing training for Group Works Council members initially planned in 2020 and 2021.
In France, the Group Works Council set up a consultation committee in 2019 to discuss VINCI’s upcoming move to its new headquarters, called l’archipel. Made up of employee representatives from business units, the committee deals with issues affecting all entities concerned
by the move. It met in 2021 to discuss the following points: progress with works, impact of the health crisis on the project, the presentation of different areas, site safety and security, and more. The task groups formed from the committee to work with employee representatives on defining needs for the common areas, including food service facilities, the fitness centre and the media library, continued to meet in 2021.
The collective agreements negotiated and signed by VINCI entities are a concrete example of the Group’s decentralised approach to human resources management, which takes account of the realities on the ground and aims to improve working conditions, health and safety, and the organisation of working hours. In 2021, negotiations focused on quality of life in the workplace, with 89 agreements signed over the year (53% more than in 2020). Among the other collective agreements, over 48% related to employee remuneration.
In countries that have not ratified the International Labour Organisation’s conventions on trade union rights, VINCI subsidiaries are working to give employees the means to exercise their freedom of expression and of association, for example in Qatar (see section 4.4, “Duty of vigilance with regard to human rights”, page 242)
