In 2022, employee absences due to strikes totalled 7,046 days worldwide (excluding Cobra IS), of which 4,883 days in France, out of a total of 52 million days worked in the year (compared with 3,195 days and 2,850 days respectively, out of 51 million days worked in 2021). In France, national pension reform was the main cause of the strikes.
Health and safety is a top concern at the Group and a key point discussed at each meeting of employee representative bodies. Frequency, severity and fatal accident rates are systematically reported to the officers of the Group Works Council and the EWC, and management endeavours to answer all questions on these subjects with full transparency. As part of these efforts, a representative from VINCI’s Health and Safety Coordination unit presented to the CSR Committee the action plans implemented at Group level to improve results (especially for risks related to handling, lifting and roadworks in traffic areas, risks of heart disease and electrocution, and H&S plans for subcontractors and temporary workers). A meeting has been scheduled to present progress made under these action plans.
With VINCI’s launch, via Leonard, of an innovation and foresight approach in health and safety, members appointed by the CSR Committee were interviewed to identify the ways forward for applying this approach in the field. The CSR Committee asked the person in charge of this project to present an initial progress report.
As every year, the entire EWC was involved in identifying risks and defining the measures to be taken relating to the Group’s vigilance plan. Held in October 2022, this hybrid meeting also included a presentation for employee representatives on VINCI’s social protection framework offering minimum guarantees, which will be implemented in all countries where the Group is present and where EWC members will act as correspondents.
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 EWC worked together to implement a platform for EWC members with two key objectives:
This tool was rolled out 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 2022, training topics included innovation in CSR and environmental issues, collective intelligence within the committee, Spanish trade union law, EWC negotiations and the integration of new entities at VINCI. 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 VINCI Manifesto commitments. In 2022, 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. This year, sessions took place in Bordeaux.
As social dialogue is a key principle in the VINCI Manifesto, several Group companies have decided to ensure that their employees are familiar with how it works. For example, in France, VINCI Energies provides training for its managers who chair social and economic committees. VINCI’s Social Affairs Department also holds annual meetings with the entire human resources network in France to teach HR staff about these practices. In 2022, this took place at the “Préparer sa rentrée sociale” event attended by more than 300 HR professionals in France.
The collective agreements negotiated and signed by VINCI companies 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 2022, negotiations focused on quality of life in the workplace resulted in the signing of 101 agreements. Among the other collective agreements, over 43% related to employee remuneration.
In countries that have not ratified the International Labour Organisation’s conventions on trade union rights, VINCI companies are working to give employees the means to exercise their freedom of expression and of association, for example in Qatar (see paragraph 4.4, “Duty of vigilance with regard to human rights”, of the Group’s duty of vigilance plan, page 269).
In 2022, two Group agreements, applicable to France, were negotiated and signed with the representative trade union organisations at Group level. The first is an amendment to the agreement to promote social dialogue signed in 2019, which stipulates the annual budget paid to trade unions (total of €230,000). The second is an agreement on the exceptional early withdrawal of money locked into the Group’s employee savings funds, for up to €10,000 net per employee, in line with purchasing power protection laws.
