Ethics management
The Budimex Group creates a working environment in which ethical conduct is respected and promoted. Diversity of employees is an asset of the Budimex Group, and any discriminatory behaviour or any other breach of established rules of ethical conduct is not accepted. The Budimex Group reacts adequately to changes occurring on the labour market, taking them into account as factors in risk studies and adapting its system regulating the framework of ethical conduct. For example, an increase in the share of foreign workers in the Polish labour market may result in an increased risk of xenophobic behaviour. The Budimex Group is prepared for the eventuality of a demand for the possibility to make a report in another language. The Budimex Code of Ethics is available in the Polish version, while the Ferrovial Group Code of Ethics is available in the English version. Messages may be sent to the e-mail address used to communicate violations and to the e-nform Platform (dedicated to anonymous reporting) in Polish and in foreign languages – during the 4 years of functioning of the Compliance channels, no information or reports in foreign languages have been sent.
The Budimex Group takes due care to ensure respect for human rights within the organisation and at the entities with which it has relations. The Group ensures full, undisturbed freedom of operation for trade unions: Intercompany Trade Union Organisation NSZZ “Solidarność” and Trade Union “Budowlani”. The following apply at the Group Company Collective Labour Agreement.
The document “Principles of Corporate Responsibility Policy” obliges all employees of the Budimex Group, among others, to respect fundamental human rights. In turn, the “Principles of Human Rights Protection”, addressed to persons employed in the Group, its clients, suppliers and contractors, speak about respecting the provisions of the “Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work” of the International Labour Organisation. They commit to non-discriminatory actions that promote equal opportunities, to recognising the value of diversity, and to respecting the prohibition of child and forced labour and freedom of association, as well as the right to industrial disputes. As regards its customers and local communities, the Budimex Group does not accept any form of discrimination and undertakes to provide information on its activities in a quick and transparent way.
The documents that, at the operational level, ensure that human rights are respected in daily work are the “Code of Ethics” and the “Compliance Policy”. Human rights violations are governed by the same procedures that define how to deal with the prevention of corrupt behaviour (see “Ethical standards”).
The Code of Ethics
The Code of Ethics is an internal document available to the employees of the Budimex Group. The aim of implementing the Code of Ethics was to create a stable point of reference for ethical conduct of the Budimex Group’s employees. The Code describes the Group’s Values and determines the conditions of acting in compliance with them.
The values defined by the Code are:
The Code also specifies Areas of specific compliance to ethical values. This section describes the principles and guidelines of conduct in the specified types of relationships and in the areas of influence of the Budimex Group. The topics regulated in this part include:
The provisions of the Code of Ethics are guarded by the Ethics Committee appointed by the President of the Management Board of Budimex SA.
The Ethics Committee is composed of the Director of the Human Resources Management Division, Director of the Legal and Organisational Division and Director of the Internal Control Office. The role of the Committee is to monitor compliance of the applied standards of professional ethics with the provisions of the Code of Ethics. The Commission investigates breaches of the Code of Ethics and provides guidance on compliance with the principles contained therein, while maintaining standards of confidentiality. Breaches of the Code can be reported using the reporting mechanism described later in this chapter.
Principles of Human Rights Protection
The Principles of Human Rights Protection is a document of the Ferrovial Group, the strategic investor of the Budimex Group. The purpose of this document, which applies throughout the Ferrovial Group, is to raise awareness of human rights within the company and to increase the company’s capacity to deal with issues related to this issue. The obligations detailed in the document cover all employees, clients, suppliers and contractors in their relations with the Group. The principles described in the document have their origin in the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions.
Ethics in the supply chain
The Budimex Group cares about due diligence in its supply chain by entering into cooperation only with entities acting ethically. In the process of selecting a supplier of materials and services, one of the qualification criteria is compliance with human rights by the company with which Budimex intends to sign a contract. The qualification process consists of an initial assessment and an assessment after completion of supplies/services. In both cases, the issue of respect for human rights is examined. The aforementioned issues are regulated in the document entitled Instruction to the purchasing procedure.
For 99% of contracts, Subcontractors sign a Rulebook that includes a commitment to respect human rights.
In the reported period the Budimex Group was not informed about any actions of its subcontractors that could amount to human rights violations.
These aspects were also included in the “CSR Strategy 2016- 2020”, where an important objective was “Eliminating the risk of unethical behaviour” (individual business areas and objectives were assigned indicators and measurable target values). These issues were also included in the “CSR Strategy for 2021-2023”.