VIEWPOINT : Firms Should Set Up Task Force to Deal With AIDS in the Workplace

The specter of AIDS brings forth deep feelings about sexuality, chastity, drug use and death. It is understandable that we resent having these ideas intrude into the workplace. Nevertheless, it is important to have in-house training programs--preferably before the first case appears in your workplace--for at least three reasons that are important to the business community.

The first reason is that feelings about AIDS vary widely, from those who greatly fear contagion to those passionately committed to the rights and feelings of AIDS victims and their families. The actions and interactions of employees can be very disruptive when an AIDS case appears, unless there have been effective educational programs.

The second reason is that until effective vaccines and treatment are available, preventing spread of the disease is our only powerful weapon against it. As the disease spreads into the general population, it is our whole work force we are protecting--and our children and grandchildren.

Prevention is also our only present hope for limiting the financial costs of AIDS, whether to health plans or to taxpayers.

Must Deal With Fear

Third, even though AIDS is not casually transmitted in the workplace, there is no effective way for an employer to exclude AIDS except by helping through education to prevent the disease’s spread. This is true for several reasons. Despite a recent Justice Department opinion, anti-discrimination laws still affect most employers, and several laws protect most clients and customers. Antibody tests still give false negatives as well as false positives. And many U.S. companies with overseas subsidiaries may also have to deal with AIDS cases among overseas clients, customers and employees.

There is no practical possibility, then, for an employer simply to decide to hide its head in the sand; most employers, sooner or later, will deal with AIDS cases here or abroad. And this means dealing also with the fear of AIDS.

Managers can address such concerns through in-house education and training. Without educational programs, many people who do not understand the epidemiological facts about AIDS will continue to fear workplace contagion.

Those who have been reading about the disease know that the AIDS virus is considered “fragile” and that it has never been known to be spread by ordinary workplace contacts (sneezing, handshaking, coffee cups, toilet seats, etc.). But managers and workers who do not yet know the facts may be extraordinarily and unreasonably afraid of contagion.

Every manager should become informed about the epidemiological facts concerning AIDS and ARC (AIDS-related complex) here and abroad. Employers should be sure they are up-to-date on the legal issues and laws governing the handicapped--for employees, clients and customers--in every jurisdiction relevant to them.

If a medium-size or large company has not yet pulled together an AIDS task force, this is the time to do so. The task force should include managers from human resource, equal opportunity, employee assistance, medical and legal departments. Others who should be included are those who deal with benefits, safety issues, complaint handling (for example, on hot lines or in ombudsman offices) and security (for example, emergency medical technicians and police).

Should Review Issues

This task force should review medical and legal issues, policy-making, management and employee training, communications methods and plans for dealing with concerns and complaints. Companies should especially plan for the possibility that some line and human resource managers may need to spend a lot of time with employees who are afraid and angry about AIDS--or who are angry at others who are afraid.

Most management consultants recommend a company approach that deals with AIDS victims on a case-by-case basis (usually under the rubric of a general policy that deals with all catastrophic accidents and illnesses). This point of view, recently affirmed by the American Medical Assn., emerges as the most practical and humane approach in the face of a disease whose progress varies greatly from individual to individual.

Case-by-case handling works best where there has been good planning and where managers are well-informed about the disease, about special legal considerations (for example, respect for privacy) and about company resources and plans. Then the manager who is confronted with a rumor or a case of AIDS can deal effectively in a gentle, direct way with all concerned employees--including the victim of the disease.

It is particularly important that managers be prepared for powerful feelings and a wide divergence of opinion among themselves and among employees. Anyone who doubts this phenomenon need only ask several colleagues how they would deal with an employee who is upset with a customer or co-worker who has AIDS or who is AIDS-antibody positive.

Provoke Conversations

Provoking such conversations, in a responsible way, is a good idea. While many managers will believe (or wish) that everyone else believes as they do, there is more likely to be sharp disagreement, strong emotion, considerable anger (in many directions) and little understanding of the epidemiological facts or the complicated legal issues.

Tension about AIDS also has been amplified by the recent Justice Department opinion that appeared to suggest that casual transmission of AIDS in the workplace is a distinct possibility.

Any manager faced with this tension about workplace contagion should read the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control rebuttals; call the Center for Disease Control hot line (800-342-AIDS), or call the Bureau of National Affairs (202-452-7889) or the American Management Assn. (212-586-8100) for information booklets.

The hardest task for executives may be to face their own fears about the disease. We should, however, try to do this, beginning with a straightforward reading of facts. Then it will be much easier to deal with fear of AIDS in the workplace. Good tools exist: resource materials, rational discussion, realistic planning and information dissemination.

And compassion.