Some nonconformities are generally identified through these audits and spot checks, and QDVC demands that its subcontractors resolve them. For example, observed nonconformities have involved the number of days of paid leave granted (including seniority entitlements), the calculation of termination benefits, differences between the salary announced in the employment offer and the pay actually received by the worker, and the return air fare to be paid by the employer, regardless of the reason for the worker’s departure (end of trial period, resignation, or dismissal). QDVC monitors all nonconformities until they are resolved.
Lastly, QDVC strives to continuously deepen and widen its due diligence. For example, it has expanded auditing procedures to include sales development and contract acquisition activities and now applies stricter CSR criteria in selecting partners, customers and projects.
QDVC also provides employee representation and grievance procedures to encourage and strengthen social dialogue in the company. A worker’s committee was formed as of 2011 and has gradually expanded its powers and scope over the years. It discusses issues such as working conditions, wages, living conditions and health and safety. QDVC has held regular elections for employee representatives since 2016. That year, QDVC’s election was the first of its kind in Qatar. The company also provides resources to candidates to assist them with their campaign and with their work as an employee representative, once elected. In accordance with the terms of the 2017 framework agreement, Building and Wood Worker’s International (BWI) trains employee representatives in Doha, with support from QDVC and VINCI.
QDVC is the first Qatari company to sign an agreement with a labour union and hold free elections of workers’ committees
Since 2016, QDVC has formally requested that all its subcontractors and temporary employment agencies facilitate the free election of workers’ committees. QDVC offers assistance to its partners in establishing these elections and verifies compliance during audits of human rights performance and living conditions. In 2023, 15 subcontractors set up worker’s committees and grievance mechanisms, as a result of the regular auditing and continuous improvement process implemented by QDVC and its subcontractors. In addition, QDVC has developed internal systems to enable workers to report concerns in their own language to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Quality, Safety and Environment (QSE) officers. Since 2017, an independent grievance procedure has been available to enable employees of QDVC or of its partners to approach BWI. This independent channel has proven effective, since BWI has handled complaints from employees, including those of subcontractors.
From time to time, QDVC conducts anonymous surveys of workers to assess their well being and the effectiveness of the measures in place. These anonymous surveys administered by the company’s CSR Department provide a channel for workers to openly share both positive and negative feedback about QDVC’s practices. The management creates an action plan after analysing the results. The latest survey, from the end of 2022, garnered responses from 151 workers (out of 300). Most considered that QDVC performs well overall in terms of QHSE and CSR (71%) and were satisfied with how QDVC managed the Covid-19 pandemic (93%). A majority were satisfied with their current job (88%), stated that their professional and personal lives were well balanced (82%), would recommend QDVC to a friend (89%) and planned to stay on longer with QDVC (76%).
One of the main challenges in the fight against forced labour is its complexity and systemic nature, which calls for collaborative, multi party action by governments, businesses, international organisations, labour unions, NGOs, professional organisations, etc. to comprehensively address the issue. VINCI and QDVC therefore work closely on this topic with many different stakeholders. Going beyond the aim to strengthen their own preventive measures, VINCI and QDVC collaborated with transparency, as partners, so that the practices developed together could be applied in all business ecosystems and, specifically, in the construction industry, whether in Qatar or elsewhere in the world. These practices, which range from procedures to promote responsible recruitment to introducing workers’ committee elections, were often innovative at the time they were first implemented by VINCI, and are now widely accepted and encouraged.
A notable example of this joint work is QDVC’s participation in a study on ethical recruitment run by New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. Based on quantitative and qualitative information provided by QDVC and interviews with workers, managers, recruitment and placement agencies and subcontractors, the report acknowledged the effectiveness of the due diligence measures in place and considered that “QDVC’s standard represents the most responsible recruitment practice that currently exists in the industry” (media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/files/documents/NYU_Qatar20SSP20Report_May29_v2.pdf). The study aimed to determine whether QDVC’s responsible recruitment practices could be replicated elsewhere in construction or other industries to promote the rights of migrant workers.
In another example, between 2018 and 2021, QDVC participated in a public-private partnership with the ILO Project Office in Qatar to create a migration corridor between Qatar and Bangladesh with no recruitment fees for workers. After an initial audit performed by the NGO Verité, a complete capacity building programme was rolled out for recruitment and placement agencies in Qatar and in home countries. Follow-up meetings to provide support have been held in Doha and Dhaka. To evaluate the impact of ethical recruitment on 343 workers and their employers, an independent assessment was conducted, based on interviews with workers at various stages of the recruitment process and during their employment. The findings of this pilot project were published at the end of 2021 (www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_820253.pdf). One of the conclusions was that the capacity-building workshops resulted in an immediate and profound improvement of placement agency practices. Placement agencies improved the drafting and terms of contracts with recruitment agencies in home countries and followed the use of subagents more closely, in particular by providing a transparent breakdown of costs.
