ViE’s employees work to support people on integration programmes, ensure their effective integration within their teams, monitor their missions and, if necessary, find solutions to their potential social issues (housing, administrative procedures, health, language barriers, etc.). In connection with its missions, ViE tests and carries out social innovation actions with a view to improving or establishing new forms of support. For instance, ViE is working on the employability of long-term job seekers and developing an innovative approach to map transferable skills and competencies. Launched a few years ago in key regions across France, a support strategy for the return to stable employment called “Stratégie territoriale pour l’emploi”, known by its French acronym Step, offers opportunities for people on integration programmes to develop their skills. The Step programme has an innovative learning approach because it is focused on taking action and enables beneficiaries to gain more independence. Based on the action learning principle, they manage and organise a real project, giving them opportunities to develop their technical, interpersonal and organisational skills. Group work and individual experiences are used to encourage deep thinking and develop both individual and collective skills in a specific work scenario. This approach makes it possible to establish a direct link between different professions across various business sectors in terms of multi-business capabilities, such as soft skills and know-how. This can help people to consider new career paths that they would not necessarily have looked at beforehand. ViE focuses specifically on professions that are under pressure, looking to recruit, monitor and support these voluntary participants in sectors where there is a real need for staff.
In terms of social engineering, ViE works with companies on their employee-related and social issues with a view to building and developing their corporate social responsibility strategies, while offering them support and training to handle professional mobility and career changes (voluntary departure plans, etc.). ViE also supports them with their procurement approach in order to develop their adoption of inclusive purchasing practices, working with microbusinesses and SMEs or social and solidarity economy (ESS) organisations, such as social enterprises (EA) and sheltered workshops (ESAT) that specifically employ people with disabilities. This initiative with the business lines and divisions is presented in further detail in paragraph 2.2.2, “Sustainable and long-lasting relationships with local suppliers and subcontractors”, page 198.
Currently, ViE receives no public funding and is testing solutions to improve employability, while exploring the ways in which it can promote social engineering and the most effective forms of assistance it can provide in line with a focus on continuous improvement.
Several Group entities are also applying this proactive approach to promote employment and integration at local level, including the following examples:
The Give Me Five programme was launched at the end of 2018 to help tackle social inequalities. Created, funded and coordinated by VINCI, this programme targeting young people from priority neighbourhoods is being put in place in 10 regions across France. It is structured around five initiatives, each associated with a key area for action:
- Guidance: Working closely with the French Ministry of National Education, VINCI is committed to welcoming up to 5,000 middle school students from priority education networks (REP) and reinforced priority education networks (REP+) for placements to discover the business world. In 2021, the Give Me Five programme’s work experience placements were carried out from February to December, based on a revised format, with the Amiens, Aix-Marseille, Reims, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Versailles, Nantes, Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nancy-Metz, Réunion, Nice, Grenoble, Dijon and Besançon education authorities, making it possible to welcome more than 4,000 middle school students from around 100 different schools. This year, dedicated work experience placements for students with disabilities from local academic inclusion units (Ulis) were organised in November, working with Trajeo’h, and benefited around 300 middle school students in the Reims, Metz-Nancy, Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux metropolitan areas and in the Paris suburb of Créteil.
- Individual support: since the start of the 2020 school year, an approach to provide personalised support for middle school students (guidance, academic support, etc.) has been rolled out in three pilot areas – Île-de-France, Lille and Lyon – in partnership with the non-profit organisations Viens voir mon taf, Institut Télémaque, Crée ton avenir and Unis Cités. By the end of December 2021, more than 1,000 students had already benefited from this initiative in the three areas.
- Integration: Working closely with Mozaik RH, a sourcing consultancy specialised in diversity and inclusion, VINCI is facilitating access to all its internships (gap year, graduates and summer jobs) for students from priority neighbourhoods, from those enrolled in high school vocational courses to those pursuing master’s programmes. In 2021, all of the recruitment days from the integration section were held online, with 12 events organised for all levels of students throughout France.
- Employability: With VINCI Insertion Emploi (ViE), VINCI is jointly leading the deployment of an employability programme to help secure a return to stable employment for young people living in priority neighbourhoods. Based on the social engineering model, this experimental regional employment strategy, under the name “Stratégie territoriale pour l’emploi” (Step), the winner of a “100% Inclusion” award, enables young people at risk of exclusion to benefit from a six-month contract, combining three months of training with a three-month immersive experience in a VINCI company. In 2021, three new Step programmes were launched in Strasbourg, Marseille and Orléans.
- Learning: This fifth component of the Give Me Five programme has been rolled out since spring 2021, enabling VINCI to continue building on its robust approach to recruiting young apprentices. In partnership with JobIRL, France’s leading social network for career guidance, the Group puts young people from the age of 15 in touch with training centres and its companies through a dedicated platform to find work-based training contracts within VINCI. From January 2022, events will be organised in France to help these stakeholders come together, with a particular focus on young people from priority neighbourhoods.
In September 2021, the Boost academic support initiative was launched for the children of all employees in France. Inspired by the Give Me Five programme’s individual support measures, this programme is funded exclusively by VINCI. Within four months of its launch, this initiative had benefited more than 5,500 children of VINCI employees.
