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Grands projets au féminin: both sexes committed to gender equality

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The “Major Projects for Women” initiative is the result of a process of reflection initiated at the end of 2019 by a steering committee made up of 14 employees of VINCI Construction Grands Projets, representing all functions and levels of management in the company, whether at headquarters or on French and international sites. The group’s ambition is to formulate and support the implementation of proposals to increase the number of women in the company.

An action plan to promote gender diversity and professional equality

An analysis of the data provided by the human resources department enabled the Steering Committee to establish the precise objectives to be achieved in each identified category: junior manager, manager and executive.

This was a key step in constructing an action plan divided into 6 objectives to be achieved:

Act for sustainable change in mindset and fight against stereotypes regarding the place of women in the construction sector,
Promote the company’s image to students with the help of ambassadors,
Create initiatives to increase diversity in recruitment,
Increase gender balance in jobs, particularly in projects, and facilitate women’s career paths,
Take action to ensure long-term equal pay,
Put forward solutions in terms of parenthood and improved work/life balance.

More than half of the proposals approved by the Management Committee

In October 2020, despite the pandemic, discussions continued and a first set of proposals was presented to the Management Committee: more than half of the proposals were greenlit, and the Steering Committee officially obtained dispensation from the General Management to implement them!

This was a victory for “Grands projets au féminin” with the support of management, which has approved the following proposals:

Promote the mutual trust contract between employees and their managers, which is expressed through a working relationship based on performance, listening to each other’s expectations and independent action in assignments.
Bring about a gradual and lasting change in mindset in order to increase gender diversity within the company for the benefit of individual success and collective performance. The steering committee therefore planned several measures: awareness-raising activities, conferences and films aimed at gradually changing attitudes, and support for women in overcoming their self-censorship through coaching (for example, via the Ariane programme).
Promote female access to positions through an inclusive approach to vacancies and the selection of at least one CV from a minority gender for each short list, giving women and men access to the same hiring and career opportunities within VINCI Construction Grands Projets.
Develop gender diversity in the company’s communication activities in order to present a more diverse and equal image of the company (equal representation of visuals and content on the company’s website, intranet and newsletter).
Monitor and analyse the development of women’s careers each year through dedicated people reviews and the implementation of a public indicator to measure comparative promotions by gender and level.
Tailor international career support to both genders, making changes to on-site facilities and offering a job search assistance service for expatriate spouses.

Gender equality in the workplace is not a matter of faith or belief, but a self-evident requirement that must be imposed on everyone, on the basis of equity and justice.

Encouraging results from the “Grands projets au féminin” initiative

Most of these proposals have now already been implemented.

In 2021, nearly 50 people received awareness training on the fight against stereotypes, and 200 additional people will be trained on this topic by the end of 2022 via a day of face-to-face training and discussions designed and organised by the “Grands projets au féminin” steering committee for all the company’s employees.

The company’s intranet sets out all the measures, actions and indicators transparently, in a multi-page section specifically dedicated to professional diversity. Although there is still some way to go, gender diversity is a central concern for management. This was one of the themes of the last Major Projects Division e-convention, and since 2020 it has featured prominently among the issues and actions to be implemented in the company’s annual General and Specific Policies. The company’s Management Committee also holds people reviews specifically for high-potential women, and conducts a quarterly review of gender indicators and the progress of initiatives being implemented by the Steering Committee.

In figures

50 000

views of the “Vous avez dit stéréotypes?” videos, also developed by the Steering Committee, which are being circulated on internal social networks to encourage a more open mindset towards gender diversity and its benefits.