For Standard Bank, HIV/AIDS Workplace Policies in South Africa are a Template for the African Business Community

Click here to view Standard Bank's workplace policy, the business case, the CEO's call to action and other supporting documents.

 

A FOURFOLD FRAMEWORK

As a South-African based financial services company of 45,000 employees that operates in 18 African countries and 21 countries abroad, many of which are emerging markets, Standard Bank understands the importance of investing in the vitality of its workforce. In the vanguard of private sector-led efforts to address high HIV levels among workers and their families, SB has had in place a progressive HIV workplace program since 2002 and continues to drive harmonization of best practices as a founding member of the South African Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS (SABCOHA).

• Developed in 2002, SB’s HIV workplace program is a fourfold framework with the following components:
  External psychosocial support structure, known as Independent Counseling and Advisory Services (ICAS);
• Medical aid program (BANKMED) for the provision of treatment, support and care;
• Internal department, Corporate Health, with the mandate of managing occupational health and wellness; and
• A supportive role played by HR though alignment of HIV issues with policies and programs.

The program’s four components are anchored by a team of around 650 Wellness Champions across its operations in Africa. Wellness Champions are SB employees who volunteer as peer educators. The Wellness Champion cadre is trained for the purpose of disseminating wellness, health, and HIV-related information across multiple channels. In conjunction with its policies, SB employs some creative communication initiatives to disseminate HIV/AIDS awareness from broadcasts to bathrooms to brochures. For example, male condom dispensers and accompanying “Know Your Status” pamphlets are placed in men’s and women’s lavatories. Champions’ influence often extends beyond the workplace as they take part in community activities designed to promote HIV awareness, known as “Social Project Campaigns.” So far, over 450 Wellness Champion participants have received training for constructive health-related communication in the workplace and beyond.

Independent Counseling and Advisory Services (ICAS), an international provider of employee assistance programs, performs psychosocial support services for infected bank employees and their family members. Support services entail confidential advice and counseling for contending not only with HIV but also other life issues such as stress management, trauma, divorce, bereavement, legal issues, and wellness.

In order to gain a strong understanding of how HIV poses risks for and impacts the bank’s workforce, the SB program takes a data-driven approach to policy creation. ICAS supplies SB with aggregated statistics on employee health, as well as expert advice so the program’s committee can take proactive actions to mitigate the impacts of HIV on SB employees. All this is accomplished while maintaining privacy and confidentiality.

THE VIRTUES OF “CORPORATE HEALTH”

SB’s HIV program is part of the Employee Relations department and is run from corporate headquarters. The Corporate Health department is comprised almost entirely of outsourced professionals who operate not only from the Head Office but from “health units” at Cape Town and Durban provincial offices. SB’s Corporate Health philosophy demonstrates a paradigmatic shift in employee healthcare. Rather than view HIV/AIDS as a unique set of controversial issues, the disease is “accorded” a “non-contentious” status similar to asthma, heart disease, cancer, TB, malaria and other afflictions that can be mitigated by a consistent wellness philosophy. Just as an employee would receive a cholesterol or blood pressure check when visiting the doctor, Corporate Health encourages that its preferred healthcare providers assign HIV testing with the same level of “normality,” the goal being to lessen its stigma over time. In order to steer this wellness philosophy, SB has recognized BANKMED as its preferred supplier for personal health assessments, ART treatment and other medical aid schemes.

SB’s Corporate Health department also works in conjunction with its HR department for the purpose of policy alignment. The bank’s HIV program contains a supporting framework that prohibits workplace discrimination, ensures access to medical treatment, and covers temporary, long-term, and permanent disability. Even funeral benefits are available at affordable monthly premiums.

BUSINESS COALITION SECONDMENT

As a founding member of the South African Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS (SABCOHA) and a member of the GBC, SB exemplifies proactive businesses citizenship and cooperation in private-sector led efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. SB has agreed to second valuable human resources to help form new business coalitions, improve upon existing ones, and engage in cross-sector projects for economic development in African countries in which the bank conducts its business. Out of goodwill and a commitment to the intersection of business and health infrastructure across Africa, the company has seconded staff to develop and strengthen coalitions in other African countries for specified time periods and specified duties. Current projects for which SB has seconded South African staff members include:

• A venture between Stanbic Botswana, a Standard Bank subsidiary, and the Botswana Business Coalition to implement a HIV program for the Bank’s supply chain;
• A venture between Stanbic Swaziland and a newly formed coalition of Swazi companies to form a new business coalition;
• Secondment of two seasoned Standard Bank Namibia employees to a USAID project to identify “problematic” businesses organizations and providing assistance to these organization for 3-6 months; and
• Secondment of an employee of Stanbic Malawi to work with USAID Malawi, the Malawi Ministry of Health and various NGOs.

All of these examples of employee secondment and business coalition strengthening combine to serve as a testament to the bank’s role as a champion for Africa-wide policies adopted by businesses to combat HIV. In keeping with this role, Standard Bank will serve as one of the sponsors for the 2008 Pan African Business Coalition Conference on the private sector response to HIV.

ROLLING OUT STANDARD BANK’S HIV/AIDS WORKPLACE PROGRAM

Standard Bank’s commitments to its workers and the greater continent are deepening as the bank rolls out plans to extend its HIV workplace program to all its African operations. This transition is taking place in phases, with the first phase consisting of ICAS service provision for employees in all African countries where the bank operates. Next, Standard Bank identifies and trains Wellness Champions to promote HIV awareness among employees and disseminate useful information such as the group’s life threatening disease policy and the ICAS referral process. Wellness Champions in other African countries are already at work, 10 of whom were able to attend a Wellness Champion workshop for top performers in South Africa.

As Standard Bank extends its HIV workplace policies into other African countries, its strategy for doing so is informed by research. In 2007, the bank conducted an extensive Prevalence Survey for its employees, a body of research that builds on past studies conducted in South Africa in 2003, Namibia in 2005, and Swaziland in 2006 (where prevalence was in the double digits). Recent staff surveys have shown a fairly widespread lack of knowledge regarding transmission and human anatomy facts, hinting that programs need to be more thorough in covering HIV basics. Such efforts to continually inform the bank’s inter-African HIV workplace policies through research enables the bank to monitor and manage the impact on its operations, evaluate the effectiveness of its programs, and share data with other members of the banking sector for purposes of collaboration.

A HEALTHY WORKFORCE = SOUND INVESTMENT

The range of Standard Bank’s activities in leveraging the banking sector to tackle HIV/AIDS is exemplary. Through a comprehensive, four-fold framework for its HIV workplace program, the extension and advancement of its program to all African operations, and active involvement in the formation and strengthening of business coalitions and public-private partnerships throughout the continent, Standard Bank is sending a clear message to its stakeholders and the African community at large: an educated, nurtured, and wellness-focused workforce is an investment that will keep paying dividends.