Our commitments

FROM A RESPONSIBLE COMPANY TO A COMMITTED COMPANY

We are committed to a process of progress that combines field experience and functional expertise to improve the social, environmental and economic impact of our activities.

The NGE Group and its subsidiary TSO are determined to make CSR a pillar of their strategy. We are convinced that a company cannot live in isolation from its ecosystem and that its growth must be aligned with its values.

We must be exemplary in the way we do business – ethical, respectful, responsible – and in the way we conduct our projects.

Our CSR ambition involves a combination of 4 approaches: human, ecological, territorial and cultural, closely involving management: show more

Health & Safety

In our business, safety is a priority. In all entities and on a daily basis, NGE ensures the physical and moral integrity of each and every one of its employees.

We have implemented a proactive policy to prevent and reduce work-related accidents and illnesses. Each manager personally ensures that safety is a constant concern and participates with his or her teams in working towards zero accidents.

We have also set up a health unit with an occupational psychologist and an ergonomist to prevent the risks associated with our activities.

Our occupational health and safety plan is revised every year based on analyses of accidents in previous years, changes in our business, and changes in regulations and standards. It is deployed daily in the field in 17 countries by a network of 195 QSE employees.

2024 objective: a workplace accident frequency rate of less than 10

Well-being at work

NGE strives to maintain and improve the quality of life at work for its employees. To this end, triennial surveys are conducted by the specialized independent firm, Great Place to Work, to measure the quality of life at work and identify new proposals for improvement.

The results of the latest survey conducted in October 2021 showed an improvement in the quality of life at work compared to the previous survey in 2018. The avenues for improvement have led to corrective actions deployed from 2022.

68% of employees believe that “overall, NGE is a really good place to work” (versus 65% in 2018).

Formation

All employees have a fundamental right to career development, regardless of their profession or position. To this end, we have set up a talent identification program for workers and supervisors. Our forward-looking skills management action plan for all employees should also help us to achieve this.

68% of employees have taken at least one training course in 2021.

In addition, our in-house school, PLATE FORME, the first school in the construction industry to be certified as an “Apprentice Training Center”, is an excellent way for each employee to grow, acquire a lasting profession and take on new responsibilities.

In 2021, 127,500 hours of training were provided to 5,300 trainees.

Diversity

Created in 2018, the NGE Mixité network enjoys strong support from management and now brings together more than a hundred women and men from the Group. In collaboration with the Human Resources Department, NGE Mixité has initiated concrete actions focusing on integration, working conditions, professional development, life balance and the fight against stereotypes.

2022 plan :

• 200 women in management positions by 2022, followed by a 13.5% increase per year
• Guarantee equal treatment at every stage of the forward-looking management of jobs and skills (pay, training, career development, etc.)
• Develop and lead a network of 50 local ambassadors to promote gender equality in the field
• Raising awareness among managers about the fight against sexist behavior and sexual harassment

Gender equality index, TSO obtains 85 points out of 100 for 2021

The new law “For the freedom to choose one’s professional future” (2018-771 of September 5, 2018) introduces new obligations for companies to reduce the pay gap between women and men by analyzing 5 professional equality criteria.

For the year 2021, the gender equality index score for TSO is: 85 points out of 100.

Calculation of the index :

• pay gap 35/40
• individual increase gap 20/20
• promotion gap 15/15
• percentage of employees receiving a raise after returning from maternity leave 15/15
• number of employees of the under-represented gender in the 10 highest earners 0/10

In the face of the environmental emergency, NGE is mobilizing its teams to accelerate the reduction of the impact of its own activities on the climate, biodiversity and natural resources. As a pivotal player in urban development, public infrastructure and regional planning, the Group develops solutions that help its customers reduce their own footprint and preserve or restore natural environments.

NGE is committed to an integrated environmental approach, with collective actions directly linked to all its businesses.

The Environment 2022 plan is based on 4 pillars:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4% per year by 2030 to be compatible with the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the global temperature increase to a maximum of 1.5 / 2°C.
• Preserve natural resources by deploying material recovery platforms, monitoring our drinking water consumption and recovering 80% of our waste.
• Acting in favor of biodiversity and the climate by developing eco-design and low-carbon solutions, devoting 1/3 of the R&D budget to environmental issues and targeting business acquisition in “environmental” work.
• Incentivize all employees by initiating actions at the international level and having no negative feedback from our customers regarding the environment.

Greenhouse gas reduction

In 2021, NGE joined the French Business Climate Pledge, a cross-sector community of companies and organizations working together to address the climate crisis and solve the problems associated with decarbonizing our economy.

NGE is investing heavily in its equipment fleet, €103 million in 2021, to acquire more efficient, less emissive machines and adopt alternative systems such as hybrid and electric engines.

52% of our construction equipment is equipped with the latest technology, which considerably reduces our polluting emissions of fine particles and nitrogen oxide (Tier 5 engines).

78% of the trucks are less than 3 years old and meet the latest Euro6 pollution standards.

Biodiversity

NGE has two ambitions:

• Devote 1/3 of the annual R&D budget to environmental and biodiversity issues
• Targeting business acquisition in ecological engineering

The Act4 Nature/ Entreprise engagée pour la Nature label formalizes the Group’s commitment to biodiversity. This national initiative, supported by the French Office for Biodiversity, aims to encourage concrete commitments and to ensure the gradual increase in the importance of the subject within companies, as part of an approach based on progress.

Circular economy

NGE is continuing and expanding its efforts in favor of the circular economy, a major lever for better preservation of resources, while reducing the carbon footprint of its activities.

NGE has set itself the goal of recovering 80% of its waste. To achieve this, the Group is setting up materials recovery platforms throughout France. Having a transit platform for the reuse of these materials on other worksites limits the extraction of new natural resources and reduces the pollution emitted by transport. 12 out of 13 multi-trade regions already have at least one platform.

In 2021, 76% of construction site surplus was recovered.

Local economy

NGE wishes to be a player in the local economy and development, in particular by entrusting a significant portion of its spending to SMEs, 43% in 2021.

We are committed to fostering local employment by recruiting and training employees as close as possible to the work sites, in collaboration with a network of public players throughout the country.

For the 25th edition of the Trophées de l’économie, the members of the HUB de l’économie, brought together by La Provence, elected NGE as the company of the year. The HUB de l’économie brings together some thirty public and private socio-economic players who work for the economic development of the southern region. This award recognizes the Group’s growth and its action in favor of employment and local development.

Inclusion

For NGE, the richness of a company also lies in the plurality of its profiles, their professional backgrounds and life experiences, considering that we always have something to learn from each other and that we are stronger together.

Our ambition is to recruit people who are far from our businesses and/or from employment by offering them a permanent integration within the company.

As part of the government’s “One young person, one solution” plan, the Arles sub-prefecture, NGE and a consortium of employers from the Arles construction industry have worked together to recruit young people living in the city’s priority neighborhoods, by going directly to meet them in the neighborhoods. In 2021, 11 of them will have completed a work-study program for VRD masons, which is provided in-house. The success of this initiative has led NGE to replicate this program in other cities where the Group has a strong presence, starting in 2022.

Business Ethics

In recent years, NGE has strengthened its ethical approach in response to the French law on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernization of economic life, known as the “Sapin 2” law, and in accordance with the recommendations of the AFA. The Group has thus implemented a series of measures organized into 3 pillars:

• Commitment of the management body: the ethics committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the compliance program has been set up under the direction of the Group’s Chairman, in order to foster a genuine culture of ethics.
• Risk mapping: the risk mapping process was extensively overhauled in 2020, making it possible to identify and prioritize scenarios that could present a risk for NGE. It has become the cornerstone of the corruption prevention process.
• Risk management: to manage the risks identified, the Group has reorganized its system around the following actions:
  • preventive measures, based on our code of ethics, our training programs and our third-party assessment system,
  • detection, with monitoring procedures and a reporting system,
  • remediation, including the disciplinary system and the periodic review of the entire program.

Customer satisfaction

Creating lasting relationships with our customers, through the construction of quality works and ongoing dialogue, is a fundamental part of our strategy. To measure our performance and anticipate future needs, NGE regularly conducts customer satisfaction surveys.

97.3% of customers ready to work with NGE again (2021 data).

Respect for Human Rights

In its code of ethics, NGE is committed to respecting and applying the major supranational principles governing the United Nations, such as those of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the additional covenants, the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and the OECD guidelines for multinational companies.

NGE is committed to respecting and applying the law in the countries where it operates, and at a minimum, the standards defined by the ILO conventions. In 2020, a survey conducted by the HR department among the subsidiaries and international establishments showed that all subsidiaries and local establishments are in compliance with ILO standards.

Employee shareholding

With 21% of the capital held by 8,000 employees in 2021, NGE is among the leaders in the sector in terms of employee shareholding. And with 72% of the capital held by employees and members of the governance, the freedom of action leaves NGE in control of its strategic choices.

Responsible purchasing

Each year, a dedicated committee defines and deploys an action plan to increase the integration of CSR criteria in purchasing processes and to encourage our suppliers to adopt responsible behavior.

In 2021, the NGE Group’s Chief Executive Officer signed the Supplier Relations and Responsible Purchasing Charter, steered by the CNA (Conseil National des Achats) and the Corporate Ombudsman, to promote responsible business through its 10 commitments.

New Generations Fund

Through its endowment fund, NGE supports associative projects in favor of education and environmental protection.

Since 2020, the New Generations Fund has been providing financial support to the Marseilles 2nd Chance School, a partner selected by employee votes.

• E2C Marseille: The E2C’s mission is to ensure the social and professional integration of young adults aged 16 to 25 who have left the school system without a diploma or qualification and without employment.

In the summer of 2021, the New Generations Fund launched its first call for projects to encourage and reward the solidarity commitments of its employees. An envelope of €50,000 was allocated to finance the 11 projects selected by an ad hoc committee.

From the Casablanca Science Festival to raising awareness of plastic issues among schoolchildren in Arles, these projects are concrete solutions, rooted in their territory and often using innovative and collaborative methodologies.