Social Value

The company’s Human Rights Policy makes visible the commitment to transparency in all matters relating to the protection of human rights, and makes explicit Ferrovial’s commitment to the right to digital disconnection, respect for confidentiality and the right to intimacy and privacy, and analyzes the implications for the company in its relations with all its stakeholders:

• Employees: child labor, forced labor, modern slavery, human trafficking, sexual harassment, work-life balance, digital disconnection, right of association, etc.
• Customers: quality, safety and health standards.
• Communities: rights of indigenous and local communities, minorities and vulnerable populations and environmental protection.
• Suppliers, contractors and partners: due diligence procedures in selection processes and repair and remediation of negative impacts.

The policy is available to all stakeholders. However, employees and executives in particular are responsible for ensuring compliance in all Ferrovial activities. Periodic training is organized to reinforce knowledge of some of the policy’s commitments. In 2023, an internal campaign was relaunched to raise awareness of the Human Rights Policy, identifying it with one of Ferrovial’s five values: integrity. These communication actions are reinforced with periodic courses on the Code of Ethics and anti-corruption, which include specific modules to understand the possible human rights implications of the employee’s activity.

Human and labor rights throughout the value chain

One of the pillars of Ferrovial’s commitment to human rights is safety throughout its value chain, which is why the company strives to create a safe and healthy working environment for its employees and contractors, and promotes the safety of its infrastructure users.

In addition to ensuring safety, Ferrovial pays special attention to its commitment to the preservation of labor rights. The company rejects any type of child or forced labor in any form, guarantees equal opportunities and non-discrimination, protection against harassment, the right to strike, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining in all countries in which it operates. There is a reinforced commitment to work-life balance with specific measures detailed in the equality plan. Its employees are protected by the labor regulations of the different territories. In addition, 62.5% of Ferrovial’s workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Dialogue and communication, key aspects

Ferrovial has an Ethics Channel available to employees and other stakeholders that incorporates and makes visible several points related to human rights to facilitate the identification of people who are suffering a situation of violation of rights.

In addition, to facilitate dialogue with local stakeholders, the works and concessions establish specific dialogue channels to bring them closer and make them more accessible to local communities. The communications received are classified according to their nature and all of them are managed.

Ferrovial has internal communication channels to facilitate a collaborative and dynamic work environment that responds to the company’s needs. In 2023, the intranet was renewed, creating a new platform common to the entire company, which in turn allows specific messages to be launched in each geography, favoring communication and interaction with employees, adapting messages to their needs. An example of the application of this segmentation is the different campaigns and training on healthy work habits and environments in the different geographies. In total, Ferrovial’s intranet registered more than 615,000 sessions and 846,000 page views in 2023.

Dialogue with stakeholders to advance in the preservation of human rights is continuous. The company participates in several forums and working groups on human rights and due diligence with other companies, universities and third sector organizations such as the Forética Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Human Rights Lab of the Seres Foundation, the Human Rights Workshop of the Business Observatory for Inclusive Growth, the Executive Committee of the Global Compact Network, the CEO Alliance for Diversity initiative or the Diversity Charter, a European initiative within the framework of the European Union’s anti-discrimination directives. As part of this ongoing dialogue, since 2021 Ferrovial has been involved in a program to analyze and identify modern forms of slavery in the construction sector led by Sustainalytics.

Diligent in the protection of human rights

The company operates in countries with stable legislation and low risk of human rights violations. Around 99% of its turnover is obtained in Spain, USA, Canada, Poland, the UK, Chile and Australia, all OECD member countries. Despite this, the company remains vigilant and has the appropriate mechanisms in place to prevent possible risks related to human rights.

Ferrovial has a set of tools that promote the protection and respect for human rights to ensure due diligence on human rights in the company’s activities. In this regard, Ferrovial periodically evaluates potential risks to human rights within the framework of the global risk identification and assessment process, called Ferrovial Risk Management (FRM). FRM makes it possible to identify and prioritize risk events according to their probability and impact. The list of risks defines 8 categories related to human rights, which in 2023 have registered 46 potential risks in all the company’s projects, most of them related to data protection or safety (93%). Most of the risks identified are slight or moderate (98%). All of them are monitored with controls in place to mitigate or eliminate the risk, either its impact or its probability of occurrence. Apart from the risks identified, no relevant human rights violations have been reported in the company in the last two years.

Similarly, the company has a procedure for the approval of capital allocation operations, so that the analysis of all corporate operations carried out considers whether they may undermine Ferrovial’s ethical principles, with special attention to human rights, social, good governance and environmental aspects.

Access to education

Education is the key to building a strong society. Ferrovial contributes to the achievement of SDG 4, with a special focus on promoting STEM vocations in a balanced way, placing special emphasis on working with girls, who have less presence in this area. This commitment is reflected in several actions in the main countries in which it operates.

In Spain, Ferrovial has been collaborating with the Princess of Girona Foundation since 2016 in the Generación Talento initiative, a mentoring program in which company professionals accept the challenge of accompanying young people between the ages of 18 and 30 for a year to help improve their employability. So far 86 professionals have been volunteer mentors. Also in Spain, the company has been collaborating since 2017 with the Junior Achievement Foundation’s OrientaT program, in which volunteers from the company give workshops in educational centers to awaken STEM vocations among students.

In 2023, Ferrovial has joined the Women and Engineering Excellence mentoring program of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAI), as one of the initiatives included in its Diversity and Inclusion plan. The aim of this program is for professionals with a technical profile to share their experience and points of view with outstanding female students in STEM careers who are about to finish their studies, to facilitate their incorporation into the labor market.

In the United Kingdom, the company supports several actions focused on schools in the communities near the company’s activities, with employee volunteering as a common denominator. In 2023, 271 employees took part in educational activities to bring children and young people into contact with engineering leaders. Support is also provided to university students to help them make the transition to the labor market.

In line with this strategy, in the United States the company collaborates with schools with educational programs focused on fostering STEM vocations through programs such as the TEXpress STEM Scholarship and Teacher Grant, which in 2023 benefited five educational districts. In addition, for the second consecutive year, LBJ and NTE partnered with the Tackle Tomorrow Foundation and Dallas ISD to hold a camp with interactive STEM training for 20 students in which 16 Ferrovial professionals participated.

Since 2009, the Domofon ICE program in Poland has been promoting the safety of children in schools, also involving employees.

Responding to social emergencies with the help of employees

Ferrovial’s commitment to responding to humanitarian crises dates back to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Unfortunately, its response and mobilization capacity has been put to the test in recent years with the social and health crisis generated by COVID-19 and the one caused by the war in Ukraine. But the company is also alert to the day-to-day social crises taking place in local communities to help achieve a socially integrated society. Most of the initiatives are carried out by employees who get involved on a voluntary basis.

One of the actions in which this commitment is embodied is the support to food banks in the United States, with initiatives such as San Antonio Food Bank Drive, food collections for various food banks in Georgia, Food Drive and Food for Others in Virginia, Fighting Hunger in North Carolina or TEXpress Drive Away Hunger Campaign in Texas, which in 2023 has supported the Tarrant Areas Food Bank and the North Texas Food Bank.