Member Service Highlight: How to Develop an HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy

Workplace policies are a fundamentally important component of the business fight against HIV/AIDS. The GBC HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy Toolkit will help companies to develop comprehensive workplace polices on HIV/AIDS when it’s released online later this month. It will provide guidance in establishing antidiscrimination policies, awareness programs and drug treatment for employees.

The online application will include a number of tools, including: An overview of the 10 key elements of an HIV/AIDS workplace policy; a checklist for drafting an HIV/AIDS policy; and, for GBC member companies, access to several top HIV/AIDS best practice best practice case studies. An HIV/AIDS workplace policy provides the basic framework for company action to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and to manage its impacts.

Workplace HIV/AIDS policies should:

  • Make an explicit promise for corporate action;
  • Commit to confidentiality and non-discrimination for all employees;
  • Assure consistency with appropriate national laws;
  • Lay out a standard of behavior for all employees (whether HIV-infected or not);
  • Provide guidance to supervisors and managers;
  • Explain to employees living with HIV/AIDS the type of support and care they will receive, so they are more likely to come forward for counseling and testing;
  • Help stop the spread of the virus through prevention programs;
  • Be made available to all employees, in a format that is easily understood; and,
  • Manage the impact of HIVAIDS with the ultimate aim of cutting business costs.

HSBC and Virgin Group have recently launched workplace policies in close collaboration with GBC, while other companies like Deutsche Post, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, and AIG Kenya have utilized GBC’s expertise in developing their policies. GBC’s new online tool can help your company begin implementing its own workplace policy to safeguard its most valuable resource: Its employees.

GBC’s new online tool can help your company begin implementing its own workplace policy to safeguard its most valuable resource: Its employees.

» Sign up to be notified when the workplace policy toolkit is available