People & Communities

Our People & Communities

In CEMEX, we know we cannot thrive in a world of poverty, inequality, unrest, and environmental stress, so it is in our vital interest to take collaborative action with governments, businesses, and members of society to transform our business and our world. Here are some of the most outstanding stories, examples, and testimonials.

By 2020, we had collaborated with 23.2 million people in more than 5,000 communities, we had advanced 77% towards our 2030 goal

Post Disaster Recovery Project

Through our Post Disaster Recovery Project (PIR), we have participated in the reconstruction of housing affected by the 2017 earthquake in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. To date, we have built 139 houses through a mixed finance schemed including public and private partnerships working with 1,796 people through our integral response program.

The Gómez Mandujano family was amongst those affected by the earthquake that occurred in Villahermosa, Villaflores, Chiapas, by the end of 2017. The Post Disaster Recovery Project allowed them to get back on their feet and learn the construction trade. They have built four dwellings since, for them and their neighbors. After the dwellings were built, Francisco, Luis Octavio, Fredy and Christian, from the Gómez Girón family, can complement their farming activities with construction, allowing them to increase their income and enhance their quality of life.

Interview: Francisco Gómez Girón

Background

Francisco Gómez, or "Chico", as he is referred to by his family and friends, was born in Tenejapa, de los Altos de Chiapas.
He arrived looking for stability in the Community of Villahermosa and a livelihood in agriculture, 27 years ago, as Tenejapa experienced conflict.
Along with Francisco, 5 more families arrived, the community was home to only 14 families by that time.
It was in Villahermosa where Francisco married Marisa and where they raised their 11 children.

Earthquakes in September 2017

It scared them and damaged their house, where 10 people lived.
It was a simple home made out of adobe bricks and sheet metal roof, with an outside kitchen and latrine, where they suffered when weather got rough.

During the Chiapas PIR

Chico had never worked in construction, he had only performed some self-construction jobs with adobe.
He and his family attended the participatory housing design sessions and training workshops.

During the participatory sessions

They did not understand why it was best to have the bath inside... architects explained them thoroughly and they acknowledged the benefit.
When they saw the scale model they were thrilled....they confirmed that was the house they would like to live in.
"The room divisions are a very good idea... we understood it was adequate for the needs of each family".
Francisco mentions..."My older sons, Luis Octavio, Freddy and Christian have found the workshops really useful as means of work, they have learnt to work on the trade, they will not forget about it".
"Being able to work locally is quite valuable...we will not have to move to look for jobs and people will live near their families".
He considers that the money that has entered the community...is very important for its growth, things look different.

Other learnings

It has been a challenge to adapt to using safety equipment...but it is important.
During the project, the family's active participation on carrying materials has been crucial...Francisco hopes this is the start for them to support each other in the future...the project has set the example.
They have strengthened their community bonds through making blocks and moving materials, they now spend more time with each other.

What do you think of the new house?

Francisco mentions he was ecstatic when he saw it... it was what he had dreamt of.
They never thought a project like PIR could exist in their community.
When in 2012 Francisco left to work in USA (Phoenix) for a year, he dreamt sending money to build his house in Chiapas, but life at Phoenix was very expensive and it did not allow him to save after paying the rent.
Initial benefits perceived by the family:
- Thermal comfort ("No cold or heat").
- Protection from wind and rain ("We are not afraid to lose our roof").
- Adequate and effective lightning achieved by the white walls ("Kids can study in the evening with only one lightbulb").
- Prevents mosquitos and snakes from getting in the house ("We do not sleep with sheets on our faces, nor are we afraid of snakes crawling out of bed").
- The interior bath raised expectations ("We won't need to come out at night with fear of falling, we will not wait to go to the bathroom in the morning and we will be able to bathe without getting sick in winter").

COMMUNITY PARTNERS (i.e. individuals positively impacted from our social initiatives) (Thousand)
2017	2018	2019	2020
14,108	16,133	17,616	23,227

Exemplary CEMEX-TEC Award Winners

The CEMEX-TEC Award annually recognizes entrepreneurs and students who develop high-impact projects that foster sustainable development and social innovation.

CPlantae is a Mexican company that designs and commissions innovative water treatment systems based on biotechnology. They observe nature’s processes to replicate in their products, what took millions of years of evolution. Through water access and sanitation, their solutions contribute to SDG 6. The company’s systems have gained national and international recognition.

"The CEMEX-TEC Award has been one of the most enriching experiences we have had at CPlantae. It has not only provided us with an expanded vision for our social business model, but also equipped us with the necessary tools... It has welcomed us into a family of social entrepreneurs, in which we take care and support each other, regardless of how long it has been since we last met. There is no doubt that the shared experiences have enriched and optimized our model, as well as the way in which we make decisions today."

José Luis Robles | Co-founder and Director of CPlantae

En Pro de la Mujer is an organization that fosters women´s economic empowerment in rural Oaxaca, a state with high poverty and a pronounced gender gap. The vision of En Pro de la Mujer is to facilitate income creation and capabilities to women they work with, so in the future, they can find rural enterprises with a cooperative spirit. They achieve this goal through sustainable production projects, as well as the consolidation of rural production societies led and made up of women. To date, they have worked with 65 women to grow and harvest hibiscus, the women also run a bakery.

"The women they work with require just a little push for them to believe in their own worth and be able to create their own ventures. The Award allows these women to keep moving forward and reach their goals… What we have experienced this week, along with other winners of the CEMEX-TEC Award, is teachings, lectures and lots of reflection, for us to absorb and make our organization better."

Haydée Reyes | Founder of En Pro de la Mujer

What Our Employees Think

Two of our intrapreneurs were selected to participate in the Young SDG Innovators Program for the UN Global Compact, in order to accelerate our contribution to the 2030 Agenda.

Here is what they think.

"I’m passionate about using my work and expertise to enable society to find sustainable ways of development and community benefit. I was encouraged by my supervisors to participate. This kind of initiative implies both a challenge and an opportunity to create a competitive advantage. I hope that this program will help us to ignite the implementation of our ideas and see them transformed into effective actions to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all."

Oscar Bautista | R&D, CEMEX Central

"Over the next months, I’ll be working on developing an innovation ecosystem for CEMEX in Mexico, in which all private, public, and civil society organizations can collaborate to benefit society. I think the UN Global Compact is doing something great by bringing together young people from different backgrounds, industries, and countries and giving us the tools to further develop the vision that we all have in mind, which is contributing to a better world!"

Jesús Arcos | Planning, CEMEX Mexico

"Participating in the YSDG Innovators program has allowed me to witness the level of commitment and all the efforts the company is making to build a better future for everyone. So far, it has been an amazing learning experience, a little bit daunting at times as my perspective grew, making me realize there are still many things we can do to contribute to a more sustainable future. Moreover, everyone we have reached out to has been very open to share their expertise and help us identify areas of opportunity, innovate, and bring value, not only to CEMEX, but also to our communities."

Nelson Aldo Velasco | CEMEX

"In order to achieve the SDG´s, businesses need to collaborate in developing and innovating on their business models. The Young SDG Innovator Programme is giving me the opportunity to reach to different fronts inside CEMEX and collaborate with the extended network of UN Global Compact to try to contribute with an idea that will add value to the company and have an impact on the SDG´s."

Gonzalo Daniel García | CEMEX Go Digital Stores

Diversity and Inclusion

Different perspectives and inclusive thinking are key drivers of innovation; therefore diversity, equality and inclusion are essential in the development of creative solutions. When team members use their different experiences and unique set of competences to create an idea or bring a different perspective forward, they increase the chances of developing truly transformative solutions. Moreover, active listening and enabling a space where individuals with different mindsets, from different backgrounds and of different genders can share and exchange ideas, is a way to foster imagination and creativity. Diversity is a relevant component of our Human Rights Policy, we support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights principles, as expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. CEMEX people are free to express their opinions, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and we support equal opportunity and treatment for all men and women. No individual should experience discrimination, marginalization or have their talents or contributions excluded because of conscious or unconscious bias. CEMEX’s commitment is to look for ways to provide all our employees with equal opportunities to pursue and advance in their professional and personal careers.

CEMEX believes that a diverse and inclusive environment benefits not only individuals but also society, allowing for economic and social growth, as well as healthy competition. CEMEX works locally and globally with different institutions on implementing several initiatives with the common goal of promoting education, encouraging social entrepreneurship, and providing tools for empowering women in the cities and communities in which it operates. We will continue leveraging our workers´ different backgrounds to build a stronger CEMEX, focusing on encouraging an inclusive work environment in which different people from diverse backgrounds can thrive and succeed.

To learn more, visit our Position Paper on Diversity and Inclusion.

Human Rights

Human rights are the fundamental rights, freedoms, and standards of treatment to which all people are entitled. Respecting human rights is reinforced in our core value of “Acting with Integrity”, which is embedded in the way we do business.

At CEMEX, we aim to align our strategy and operations with universal principles of human rights. We understand that these principles constitute a global standard of expected corporate conduct applicable to all our operations.

Accordingly, we are actively and continuously determined to meet our responsibility to respect all human rights while fostering their respect among our business partners.

As a signatory and active participant in the UN Global Compact (UNGC) since 2004, we reaffirm our support of its 10 principles on Human Rights, Labor, Environment, and Anti-Corruption. To demonstrate our strong commitment to these principles, we annually submit an Advanced Communication of Progress (COP) to the UNGC. We currently preside the UN Global Compact Network in Mexico, working towards integrating these principles in other Mexican companies.

In 2018 we upgraded our Human Rights Policy reflecting our support and respect for the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights principles, as expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. In addition, it recognizes employees, communities, contractors, and suppliers as main areas of impact and reaffirms our commitment to the promotion of and respect for human rights throughout our worldwide operations, local communities, and supply chain.

We have carried out a Human Rights Compliance Assessment, which led to the overall identification of the main potential impacts on people in our operations and value chain. After classifying these issues based on their likelihood of occurrence and impact severity, we prioritized them and confirmed that the assessment indicated CEMEX's five potential salient human rights impacts, which are:

Health and Safety
Environmental Footprint
Community Impacts
Diversity and Discrimination
Work-life Balance

Functions such as: H&S, Operations, Procurement, Human Resources, Sustainability, Social Impact, Legal, Public Affairs, and ERM work as ONE CEMEX on mitigating actions.

Examples of actions conducted include:

Monthly environmental and social incidents report, detailing all events in the period, used to register and track events and actions to solve them, through direct messaging from our CEO.
Social Impact Committees across all geographies, which enable us to learn from our neighbors and incorporate insights into our human rights promotion and respect strategy.
Inclusive business models tackling poverty and housing needs.

Moreover, our global grievance mechanisms enable us to maintain permanent communication with our key stakeholder groups, especially those that might be vulnerable under certain circumstances. These open communication channels enable us to obtain valuable feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented mitigation actions based on identified risks to people.

Our main grievance mechanisms include:

a. ETHOSline: We seek to pursue that our values remain alive and our Code of Ethics is properly managed. Therefore, we encourage our employees, stakeholders, and the general public to submit suggestions, inquiries, and possible violations through our ETHOSline communication channel available 24/7.

b. Global and Local Ethics Committees: Composed of representatives from different functions in each of the countries in which we operate, these dedicated taskforces seek to ensure awareness and enforcement of our Code of Ethics. All of them receive, investigate, and collaborate to resolve reported ethics breaches, including those related to human rights.

c. Stakeholder Dialogues: Aimed at getting to know and understand our stakeholders’ needs and concerns, these dialogues enable us to identify potential impacts on people and properly address them.

d. Social Impact Committees: Composed of each plant’s director and local environmental officials, trade union representatives, local mayors of nearby towns, neighborhood representatives, and other local institutions, these groups aim to build positive, sustainable relationships with neighboring communities.

Women's rights are human rights

In 2010, the United Nations’ Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact, collaborated to establish a set of principles providing businesses with guidance on how to empower women at work, at home, and in their lives. The Women's Empowerment Principles are as follows:

Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality;
Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination;
Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers;
Promote education, training and professional development for women;
Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women;
Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy and
Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

CEMEX is a signatory to the principles and works inwards and outwards to ensure their recognition and application.

To read more about how we comply with the principles within our Company please follow the link.

Women Economic Empowerment in the Communities

Although we have observed a worldwide change in the de-stigmatization of social roles traditionally allocated to certain genders, there is much to be done in this realm. According to the latest UN Women Figures (2018), it is estimated that gender gaps cost the economy an average of 15% of GDP. In addition, while educational attainment has increased for the majority of women, this does not necessarily translate to better opportunities. Women’s inclusion is not only a matter of social justice, but also an economic and business imperative.

Our Community Diversity and Inclusion Model fosters women's economic empowerment through education and capabilities development, enabling them to become agents of social change within their families and communities through four pillars:

Self-esteem
Education and Health
Development of Technical Capabilities
Development of Entrepreneurship and Employability Capabilities

We develop the technical and leadership capabilities of women of all ages to empower them economically, through employment or entrepreneurship, contributing directly to SDG targets 10.2 and 8.5.

CEMEX is a signatory to the principles and works inwards and outwards to ensure their recognition and application.

We Are All Hope

More than 30 years ago, CEMEX partnered with ANSPAC, a not-for-profit organization that offers technical training and counselling to women that live near our operations. This partnership later evolved into the project called: “We are all hope”, this project provides training and education to women on the communities we work in. Students learn technical and soft skills they can directly apply towards conducting productive activities. Women are also provided with mentoring for developing their own businesses. This project has empowered women locally and for them to act as agents of change in their families and communities. In 2016 alone, more than 6,000 people took part on the workshops within this project.

For any inquiries on this page, please send an email to socialimpact@cemex.com.