The Group therefore collaborated several years ago 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 universities in France, the United States and the Gulf region, bringing its experience directly to students. The Group plans to step up this effort, especially in engineering and business 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.
Preventing social risks and illegal work in subcontracting
These risks are not confined to regions far outside France. Tensions in the building and civil engineering markets, together with issues relating to labour flows in Europe, have led the Group to strengthen its duty of vigilance with regard to preventing workforce-related risks and illegal work in its supply chain, beginning with France. It represents a major undertaking, considering the volume of business conducted by the Group in France, which began in 2018 with the launch of several pilot projects in construction businesses in the Greater Paris area. The methodology was then implemented at VINCI Construction throughout the rest of France before being gradually rolled out in a broader mix of business activities. The approach is regularly presented to the members of the European Works Council and the Group Works Council, and several Group companies in Europe and elsewhere have begun to show interest in taking similar steps.
The methodology followed involves three phases:
In all, in France, several hundred participants in the chain of operations contributed their input to the assessments. Each regional division was asked to develop a responsible subcontracting policy, tailored to its business activities, organisation, local issues and the region’s socio-economic situation, and build an action plan covering the entire subcontracting process, from the initial decision to subcontract, to selecting the subcontractor and assessing their performance after completion of the work.
To support these efforts, a solution was developed to help maintain a database of reliable subcontractors. Works managers can use it to assess the subcontractors employed at their worksites against a shared set of criteria, which incorporates social risks. Assessments entered by other departments can also facilitate the initial selection of a subcontractor. This data sharing enables VINCI companies to take a more consistent approach to their work with subcontractors, quickly issue warnings in the event of a risk or non-compliance and provide support as needed.
At the same time, control processes were redesigned. Social audits of subcontractors at worksites have been carried out since 2019. The audit procedure has been adapted to different types of worksite – for example, major projects conducted as joint operations, smaller worksites fully controlled by VINCI, or worksites in the launch or finalisation phase. During these audits, particular attention is given to aspects involving the onboarding and management of subcontractors’ workers, such as employment contracts, payment of wages, and compliance with obligations in respect of working time, workplace health and safety and employee representation. The audits serve to detect potential non-compliance, constructively help subcontractors improve their practices, provide feedback to fine-tune prevention initiatives and update, as applicable, the risk map or the vetting of partner companies. Follow-up audits are performed to ensure that action plans are being carried out and to continue to provide support to operational teams, who are demonstrating growing knowledge of these issues.
To strengthen in-house skills in this area, since 2021, VINCI has developed in-house training in conducting social audits of subcontractors and service providers. The Group’s goal is to continuously monitor subcontractors associated with higher risks, while also expanding social auditing practices. These custom training sessions presented the workforce-related issues involved in subcontracting and the corresponding duty of vigilance of Group companies. Trainees were provided with a comprehensive guide to the methodology and a toolkit including an auditing scorecard and an interview scorecard for interviews with employees of subcontractors. The sessions ended with a module on interviewing techniques, along with case studies and role-playing activities. By end-2025, nearly 250 people had been trained, including directors and managers in procurement, human resources, social affairs, legal, health and safety and internal control as well as operational directors. Follow-up sessions are held twice a year to provide support with social auditing, share lessons learned from various internal audits, or work collectively on an approach to solve a particular problem.
The responsible subcontracting auditing scorecard used was aligned with European regulations, in preparation for its rollout in Group companies in Europe, and translated into English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. It also plays a role in responsible procurement practices (see paragraph 3.2, “Human rights and health and safety in the value chain (ESRS S2)”, of the sustainability report, page 269).
