VINCI Construction’s Journey to Inclusivity
At our FREDIE Awards 2022 we were joined by Lenka Vošvrdová, from VINCI Construction to talk about VINCI’s journey to FREDIE, here Lenka has joined us a guest contributor to reflect on her experiences at the awards.
Thursday, 9th June, I had the opportunity to represent VINCI Construction UK at the 7th Annual FREDIE awards presented by the National Centre for Diversity. For those of you who don’t know, FREDIE stands for Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement. Last year, VINCI Construction UK swept the top 3 categories winning Organisation of the Year, Construction Company of the Year and No.1 in the top 100 list of inclusive workplace.
This year, we were invited as a guest speaker to talk about the journey towards this major achievement, to inspire other companies and explain how we got where we are now.
The event was held at Aston Villa’s stadium in Birmingham with representatives from a large variety of sectors, from the educational sector, through consulting and construction. That was quite a difference from last year, when the award ceremony was streamed over Teams due to the COVID restriction. It was an opportunity for us to engage and exchange in person with like-minded people about our business strategy towards a more diverse workspace.
Throughout the evening we had the chance to listen to other interesting guest speakers such as Ian Reid, CEO of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee, who explained how the games are about bringing people together regardless of their socio-economic or cultural background creating legacy of inclusive experience, and David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, who talked about the importance of equal education opportunities for everyone based on people’s potential.
“We have simply listened to what people have to say”
As for VINCI Construction UK, we have gone a long way from where we were more than 10 years ago to being No1 of inclusive workplaces last year. This award recognized a work which has been done gradually over the last decade by a number of enthusiastic people within the team who brought together others with them along the journey. We have not done anything groundbreaking or innovative, we have simply listened to what people have to say through various surveys, working groups and other initiatives including people from various projects, cultures and backgrounds. Step by step we have been improving our approach to diversity in the workplace with National Centre for Diversity being by our side, helping us, guiding us and providing support and direction where needed.
Apart from the short speech, we have introduced a short video highlighting the milestones on our journey, which was played to the guests – and it is fair to say, it certainly left an excellent impression. A number of attendees came to our table to discuss our approach and exchange contact details so that they could understand in more detail the work we have done.
Overall, it was a lovely evening and even though we didn’t win this year (we came 5th in the top 100 which is a great results nevertheless), we had a great time speaking with interesting people and it was an honor to represent VINCI as one of the most diverse and inclusive companies in the UK.
