Businesses can no longer ignore HIV/Aids in the workplace if they want to continue to be a profitable enterprise, Aids experts have warned.
“It is not only right for moral reasons for businesses to have an HIV/Aids policy in place, but it also makes business sense,” said Scott Billy, a counselling and testing volunteer. “The cost to company is huge.”
He said Aids is the main cause of death in companies. Research done by insurance companies predicts that, by the end of this year, one in four working-age South Africans will be HIV-positive. By the end of the decade, average life expectancy will drop to 41 years.
In a 2003 review, the Human Sciences Research Council highlighted the negative effect of HIV/Aids on all levels of the economically active population, but particularly on the workforce with lower skill levels. The council warned that a complex solution needed to be found for labour and skills replacement, including the possibility of importing foreign skilled labour.
Companies have to deal with higher absenteeism, lower productivity and often lose workers in whom they have invested money to the disease, Billy said. Skills development is one of the biggest areas of concern. “Businesses spend a lot of money on training workers, developing the skills for that specific job and then they lose their worker to the pandemic. They have to start all over again, investing money in the new worker.”
He said research shows that when companies had not implemented an HIV/Aids strategy, the cost to company was much higher than for those companies which had been proactive from the very beginning.
When looking at businesses that had implemented a successful HIV/Aids strategy in the workplace, voluntary testing and counselling are at the forefront.
In August, Goedehoop Colliery in Mpumalanga won a Mail & Guardian Investing in Life award for its innovative HIV/Aids programme in the workplace.
Its 5GH HIV/Aids programme, which was launched in 2003, focuses on voluntary counselling and testing and countering the stigma associated with Aids. The 5GH refers to the five leading elements in the programme: status, awareness, care and support, partnerships and 100% personal protective equipment.
Through the programme, 90% of employees had had their status tested by December last year. Once an employee has tested positive, the colliery provides counselling, anti-retroviral treatment, nutritional supplements and home-based care to help improve the employee’s quality of life.
The trucking industry has particularly felt the effects of HIV/Aids, as truck drivers are a high-risk group. But trucking companies need healthy drivers to deliver cargo safely to its destination. “Therefore it is not only to our advantage, but a necessity to fight this pandemic and have a sustainable programme in place,” said Stephen Temple, divisional director of Barloworld Logistics.
Employees at Barloworld are encouraged to take responsibility for their health and to participate in the company’s programme to deal with the pandemic. Barloworld provides an anti-retroviral programme for its drivers to enrol in and will help them manage their condition for as long as it can. It also has proactive programmes in place to counter the spreading of the disease.
Temple said the company has just completed a voluntary testing cycle, and early indications are that the company’s infected workers are below the industry average.
Billy said whether a company should pay for anti-retroviral treatment for its workers depends on the company’s resources. If it can afford it, it is a worthy investment.
“The most important thing a business must realise is that if it introduces voluntary testing and counselling, it must be completely anonymous.
“The employees being tested should feel comfortable that managers will not have access to the results of the tests,” said Billy. “Trust is the key in the success of these programmes.”