Impact of the pilot project
VINCI aims to expand and share the project methodology, tools and results so that they can be replicated in other countries and sectors. Accordingly, as co-chair of the human rights and forced labour working group set up by Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG), which merged with the WBCSD in January 2024, VINCI collaborated with other member companies to develop the B4IG Fair Recruitment Toolkit for Employers & Service Providers. This work was largely inspired by the pilot project conducted with the ILO by QDVC and VINCI. The open-access toolkit was published on B4IG’s website in September 2023. (*) It applies the ILO’s fair recruitment principles, the IOM’s guidelines, the Dhaka Principles and best practices developed by the working group’s member companies and contains tools to be used throughout the recruitment process. These resources provide operational guidance on selecting a recruitment agency, implementing a no-fee recruitment policy, conducting checks, interviewing workers and building an effective complaint system.
In 2024, VINCI and the WBCSD delivered an in-person toolkit training workshop in Dubai, to which member companies were invited. Participants gained hands-on experience using the tools. Similar in-person skills-building workshops for operational teams will continue to be provided, whether by WBCSD or in-house by VINCI. VINCI and WBCSD have also co-developed an e-learning module, which will be launched in 2025 and allow a wider audience to access training on using the toolkit. The module will be promoted and made available throughout the Group.
VINCI collaborates with other construction companies, mainly as part of the Building Responsibly initiative, whose principles include fighting against forced labour and promoting responsible recruitment practices. Since the initiative’s launch in 2017, VINCI has made a significant contribution to drafting the policy brief on recruitment and has also published a case study on its recruitment practices in Qatar. (**) In 2024, the Group held a series of fair recruitment webinars throughout the year to share tools, methods and existing projects with members. VINCI took this opportunity to present the toolkit to the other companies. Many leading voices in the area of responsible recruitment, such as Verité, Impactt, Fair Hiring Initiative, Brac, Asia Philanthropy Circle, Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment and more, presented their work and solutions at these webinars. Recruitment agencies having audited and transformed their processes to uphold responsible recruitment principles also contributed their experiences. The main aims of these webinars were to promote the spread of existing solutions to enable each member to recruit responsibly and, over a longer term, drive ideas for initiatives to be implemented using a collective, sector-wide approach in some geographical regions. A working group explored the latter goal at the members’ seminar in November 2024, and discussions will continue in 2025, coordinated by BSR in its secretarial role.
VINCI understands that working with its peers is important, but so is raising awareness and training the next generation of engineers. The Group therefore collaborated with independent experts specialising in business and human rights to build a VINCI business case study for students. It contains a detailed examination of the risks of forced labour in Qatar, the measures implemented by QDVC and how VINCI integrated these practices into its overall approach. It has been made available to a large number of universities, in several countries. VINCI took part in the case study analysis at several French universities and in the Gulf region (for example, through the Ensaniyat Youth Fellowship led by the NGO MigrantRights.Org), bringing its experience directly to students. The Group plans to step up this effort, especially in engineering schools, which are training the company’s future managers.
The Group continues to report transparently on its practices. It shares the measures it has adopted and the remaining challenges to be met by regularly providing testimonials to other companies, government authorities and customers, including through training programmes delivered by the ILO. In recent years, VINCI has been actively involved in an engagement cycle for construction companies, led by Sustainalytics. Its objective is to promote dialogue between investors and construction companies to find out how the latter combat forced labour risks and identify potential improvement areas for a more rigorous due diligence process.
Risk prevention in Qatar VINCI has been present in Qatar via Qatari Diar VINCI Construction (QDVC) since 2007. QDVC has now completed nearly all the infrastructure projects for which it was mandated. At the end of 2024, the company employed fewer than 80 workers, mainly carrying out finishings and maintenance. In a challenging context of exposure to human rights risks, this company took concrete steps to improve the living and working conditions of migrant workers employed at its worksites and to prevent the risk of forced labour at every stage in the migration cycle. Some of the measures taken, which have inspired the Group’s current approach in Qatar as well as other countries, are presented below. VINCI also has a dedicated page on its website to provide easy access to information and documents on the initiatives taken in Qatar. (***)
