At the same time, business lines and divisions have developed indicators to track the implementation of human rights policy. For example, VINCI Construction Grands Projets developed a set of indicators that are monitored and presented monthly to the management committee. The indicators provide information on assessments, monitoring, progress and nonconformities to be corrected.
(*) The 2022 action plan is based on data at 31 December 2021.
Besides carrying out additional assessments of human rights compliance, the Group monitored certain action plans in 2022, including those of entities located in high-priority countries such as Benin, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt and Brazil.
In the next few years, the CSR Department will develop and test performance indicators to better measure the effectiveness of human rights risk mitigation. In 2022, VINCI collaborated with other companies – in particular, fellow members of Businesses for Human Rights – to identify the most meaningful human rights KPIs. This initiative will continue in 2023.
For example, the human rights audit of Lima Expresa, the concession operator for the Lima expressway in Peru, identified risks relating to the country’s significant informal economy, especially in the subcontracting supply chain. The entity’s ensuing action plan involved terminating work with certain subcontractors that did not properly declare their employees, introducing ad hoc clauses in all its contracts and conducting field inspections to ensure that everyone working at its construction and operating sites had a valid employment contract and proper social protection coverage. Lima Expresa applied all of the Group’s recommendations, and in addition, its 600 employees, along with its subcontractors’ workers, completed the human rights e-learning programme.
In the United Arab Emirates, where the law provides only limited freedom of association, 1,600 workers on a rail depot project were able to elect employee representatives in 2022. VINCI Construction’s partner and the six main subcontractors involved in the project participated in the elections. Their representatives participate fully in the dialogue that has since been initiated, with regular meetings between employee representatives and the project’s management team. In a VINCI Energies entity, also in the United Arab Emirates, a system is in place to ensure that workers take their holidays every year instead of asking for financial compensation in lieu of paid leave.
Elections of employee representatives were also held on an ETF rail worksite in Cairo, Egypt. At the same site, human resources managers received specific training in employment law, to enable them to create a learning module for all project workers to increase their knowledge of the legislation and their rights.
At a hydroelectric dam construction site in Senegal, as a result of the human rights policy, high-standard worker accommodation facilities (at least 24 sq. metres per four-person unit) were built. The number of workers recruited and locally trained is expected to reach one thousand at the peak activity level on this site. Another accommodation facility meeting the standards set out in VINCI’s Guide on Human Rights was built in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
The human rights performance assessments conducted by several French subsidiaries of Soletanche Bachy (VINCI Construction) led to action plans focusing on greater attention to health and safety, improving control of subcontractor activities and fulfilling contractual obligations. The companies will look for signs of poor performance in these areas and increase their monitoring of working conditions by conducting follow-up audits in 2023.
Generally speaking, in all the entities where audits were carried out, these were followed by monitoring, corrective action and improvements to recruitment practices and working and living conditions. The entities also formalised certain processes and showed a greater awareness of the risks related to the potential impacts of VINCI’s activities on local communities.
The Group has long been committed to the fight against forced labour. Because forced labour is such a serious risk, VINCI is particularly aware that special scrutiny must be paid to the conditions in which migrant workers are recruited and employed, whether directly or indirectly via labour suppliers or subcontractor companies. Many problems may arise early in the recruitment phase, even before workers arrive at the project site or are hired by the Group.
The underlying factors driving forced labour can vary from region to region. VINCI considers that this issue must be handled close to where the problem occurs in order to take effective actions that are adapted to the on-the-ground realities. The risk of forced labour can come from certain legislative frameworks that do not align with international conventions or arise from unfair local practices, which are sometimes deeply embedded. The risk intensifies when an activity depends on a high volume of low-skilled workers or where labour migration flows are significant.
Some workers migrate to another country to seek higher wages, and the construction sector offers attractive job opportunities. Although VINCI promotes local sourcing of labour, the Group’s companies may recruit migrant workers to meet their business’s needs in certain regions, mainly due to local labour shortages. Once workers migrate for work, they become dependent on their employer not only for their employment but also with regard to their living conditions and accommodation. They are more vulnerable than other workers and face a greater risk of exploitation. This risk is amplified if they do not speak the language of the host country, are unfamiliar with cultural norms or have a limited understanding of their rights.
