On 19 November 2008 FCC Construcción and unions signed the company’s Equality Plan, the sector’s first such document. After a year and a half, the plan is shaping up and the pertinent measures are being rolled out: hiring, promotion, training, pay, work/life balance and prevention of harassment and gender violence.

These actions, which are anticipated to be applied gradually throughout the company, including subsidiaries and investees, are for everyone who works in the FCC Group.

Foremost amongst the most important actions rolled out are these:

• Changes in job applications: Two changes have been made. First, family information on marital status and descendents has been eliminated, because it may cause some bias against applicants during screening. Second, in a second review, a specific clause has been included stating that there is no applicant discrimination on grounds of sex, with express mention of the applicable Spanish law.

• Training actions: In implementation of the Equality Plan, a training programme has been put together. The programme is embodied in three training modules: the code of ethics, training in equality and training in harassment prevention. The programme is run using an on-line tool with instructor support via e-mail.

The courses include practical issues that address situations that may crop up in daily activity.

Members of the company management were the first to undergo this training. When they had finished, the programme began to be deployed for the rest of the organisation. The result is an activity that targets over 4,300 people and has reached 93% of the FCC Construcción collective so far.

The training has been backed up by an intense communication campaign that has made it possible for everyone to know about this learning activity.

• Communication: The firm is making a big effort to spread awareness of the equality plan and the occupational and sexual harassment prevention protocol inside and outside the FCC Group.

Internally, all the information is available over the intranet. For easier access, a specific banner has been posted on the home page. In addition, an e-mail address has been set up to receive any reports of harassment.

Externally, FCC has participated in different workshops and forums, such as the Equality and Reconciliation Workshops organised by Madrid Excelente, where FCC and four other firms from different sectors were selected as examples of good practices that ought to be spread.

• Tracking committees: Equality plans are always supplemented with a tracking programme that schedules yearly reviews to examine the scope of measures and map out the next year’s strategy. To this end, tracking committees have been set up, whose function is to supervise how the plan is being implemented.

The committee members have taken the courses released by the Ministry of Equality.

The challenge is an exciting one, and there is a lot of work to be done, but we have on our side the conviction that the project is worth all the effort and enthusiasm put into it by each of us who make FCC what it really is.