1.5.2 Measures to promote gender equality
Gender equality is one of the major components of the Group’s inclusion and diversity policy. This policy permeates every aspect of an employee’s career path, aiming to enhance equality in employment, training, career development, promotions and pay increases.
This issue is endorsed at the highest level of the Group’s organisation and discussed regularly at Executive Committee meetings. The document listing measures to be taken to help more women move into higher management roles was reviewed by the Executive Committee. This document is intended to establish the Group’s course of action and provide business lines and subsidiaries with steps to follow. Several initiatives were confirmed:
- conduct people reviews at each business line for women occupying managerial positions in operational as well as central functions;
- for each vacant managerial position, especially in operations, systematically include at least one female applicant in the shortlist of candidates;
- simultaneously stress efforts to recruit women, especially outside France, and step up their training in management to help them reach executive positions more quickly.
Women managers are given special attention in people reviews. The percentage of women in management positions was 23.1% at 31 December 2023, rising 5.5 percentage points in 10 years (17.6% in 2013).
As a result of the special attention given to management committee positions, six women are now on VINCI’s Management and Coordination Committee: Alexandra Boutelier, Chief Executive Officer, Consortium Stade de France, VINCI Stadium; Virginie Leroy, Chairman, VINCI Immobilier; Belen Marcos, Chairman, VINCI Highways and Executive Vice-President, VINCI Concessions; Isabelle Spiegel, Vice-President, Environment, VINCI; Jocelyne Vassoille, Vice-President, Human Resources, VINCI; and Valérie Vesque-Jeancard, Chairman, VINCI Railways and Managing Director for France, South America and the Caribbean, VINCI Airports. At 31 December 2023, 56 women were members of management committees across the Group, representing 19.5% of all management committee members.
To drive this policy, the Group monitors its targets set for 2030 and has set a new goal to increase both the percentage of women in management positions and the percentage of women members on the Group’s management committees to 30%.
Gender equality index: In 2023, 577 Group companies in France and around the world with 50 employees and over were eligible to report the gender equality index. These organisations all showed positive results, reflecting measures already taken by the Group, with room for improvement remaining for companies with the lowest scores. The average score was 84/100 in France. Companies are implementing action plans to improve their score. The index methodology continues to be adapted internationally.
84/100Average score for companies eligible to report the gender equality index in France
VINCI is also active in fighting gender stereotypes, for example through its partnership signed in 2018 with Elles Bougent. This non-profit organisation works to encourage women into the engineering professions around the world. At 31 December 2023, 740 VINCI employees (up 15% from 2022) in 25 countries had signed up to participate as sponsors or company representatives in events for high school students to raise their awareness about working in technical fields. Since 2022, Jocelyne Vassoille, VINCI’s Vice-President for Human Resources, has been honorary president of the organisation.
In 2023, VINCI continued its vast campaign to combat everyday sexism and rally all its employees around an issue that the Group identifies as an obstacle to diversity. A video and an awareness module are now available in five languages (French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese) on the Up! platform.
To continue these efforts, International Women’s Day on 8 March 2023 provided the opportunity to hold a major web TV event to discuss and share ideas about these issues. The continuous 24 hour stream was available in five languages to all Group employees, featuring multiple testimonials on how people at VINCI around the world experience diversity and apply its principles on the ground.
Group performance in promoting gender equality
- Percentage of women managers in 2023: 23.1% (22.2% in 2022 and 21.6% in 2021, up 5.5 percentage points in 10 years)
- Percentage of women non-managers in 2023: 15.3% (14.9% in 2022 and 15.2% in 2021)
- Percentage of women in the Group’s total staff in 2023: 16.8% (16.2% in 2022 and 16.5% in 2021)