View FHI HIV/AIDS publications and tools for prevention and care.

View online resource: Workplace HIV/AIDS Programs: An Action Guide For Managers

Overview of FHI's HIV/AIDS Programs

Our HIV/AIDS program provides state-of-the-art interventions to identify what is needed, tailor programs to local needs, and advocate for compassionate, realistic and appropriately resourced responses.

Through our HIV/AIDS projects, we help countries and communities to:

Change behavior Protect health Promote prevention and care Build strong infrastructure Improve care and access to treatment

Maximize resources Prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission Protect and support children Monitor and evaluate programs

FHI's Workplace HIV/AIDS Programs

Successful business relies on a productive labor force. Where the number of AIDS deaths continues to rise, businesses feel the financial pinch. Some studies have projected losses of up to 56 percent of annual profits for selected companies in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Companies incur many added expenses when employees or their families succumb to AIDS. Absenteeism soars as workers grow weak, attend funerals, or tend ailing relatives. Productivity plummets because of their absence, and the pool of available labor shrinks. Health care costs rise since companies need more healthy staff and have to pay higher medical insurance costs, life insurance premiums, disability benefits and pensions. In addition, they must hire and train new workers to replace disabled employees while covering burial costs and death benefits.

Although the business sector alone cannot end the spread of HIV/AIDS, businesses are well positioned to contribute resources and skills, help influence employee attitudes and sexual behaviors, and provide clinical services. The workplace offers a structured environment for sharing information, reinforcing notions of acceptable behavior, and implementing interventions. Businesses have learned that community outreach through involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention and care not only meets community needs but also enhances a company's image and helps sustain the workforce.

It is useful to note that no single workplace model has emerged that is regularly shared across businesses. But lessons learned and points of commonality from a range of business coalitions and individual workplaces suggest appropriate responses.

Lessons Learned

The lessons that arise from experiences with workplace HIV/AIDS initiatives include:

Leadership commitment demonstrated within the workplace and beyond: This is to ensure that HIV/AIDS prevention leadership at all workplace levels is conspicuous to all employees and their dependents. It can involve:

• Training managers–especially human resource and supervisory managers–to address and respond to HIV/AIDS issues and concerns in the workplace.
• Providing adequate annual financial and logistical investments to assure that programs run effectively and efficiently.
• Committing to programs in the community–thereby demonstrating recognition that HIV/AIDS does not stop at the company gates–and interaction with government, other missions, and U.S. companies operating in the country.

Comprehensive responses within the workplace: Piecemeal programs, programs for single categories of workers, outdated information, responses that cover prevention but neglect post-infection needs–all these convey a lack of employer commitment and tend to diminish employee commitment.

Clear, consistent, and up-to-date information: This should include information on the disease, workplace issues relating to the disease, and the employer's responses to the epidemic.

• Employees want regular information, especially given the ever-changing nature of the epidemic and research on aspects of the disease.
• Employees want to feel there is a safe environment for getting information and consulting with workplace managers and peers on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

Workplace policies: These should clearly target specific employee groups–such as senior staff or dependents–and be consistent with and support workplace prevention and care programs. They should also be as consistent as possible across employee groups to avoid the perception of discrimination.

HIV/AIDS prevention and care initiatives: These should be available to employees and dependents within the workplace or readily accessible outside the workplace, and are likely to include:

• Up-to-date information;
• Male and female condoms;
• Sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis and treatment;
• Care support (including flexibility in work schedules and assignments);
• Access to all appropriate drugs (employers are increasingly recognizing the value of providing antiretroviral drugs);
• Legal and caregiving support for dependents of infected employees; and
• Annually updated information on employee benefits.

A pro-active commitment to avoid stigma and discrimination and maintain confidentiality: Special training for managers and peer educators on these issues is part of this commitment.

Employee involvement: Employees should be involved at all levels and in all aspects of workplace responses to the epidemic, including:

• Involvement in designing or revamping of workplace policies and programs.
• Selection of peers within the workforce who can provide information, counseling, and/or prevention supplies to colleagues.
• Peer educators among middle and senior management.

Monitoring and review: The effectiveness of HIV/AIDS initiatives should be monitored and reviewed regularly, with a willingness to adapt program and policies accordingly and as the epidemic and employee needs evolve.

Source: FHI HIV/AIDS website