Employers and AIDS: Dealing with the Psychological and Emotional Issues of AIDS in the Workplace

Kemp, Donna R.

doi:10.1177/027507409502500304

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…30 Some employees would rather leave their current employment rather than associate with an infected co-worker, others may request reassignment or transfer, refuse to work with the employee, or protest about being required to work with the employee, while others may not react at all. 31 In these different circumstances, managers are often torn between compassion for the employee and concerns about the needs of co-workers. 28 Confidentiality also makes it difficult to maintain a work environment based on trust and open communication as some employees with AIDS refuse to waive confidentiality, perhaps because of a strong sense of privacy or fear of stigmatization.…”

Section: Employee Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This creates a distressing situation for managers who do not want to take away the job, an important element of the employee's life, but who must address concurrently, declining performance, attendance and dependability. 31 All employers responding to a question in an IRS survey in 1997 stated they would treat employees with HIV and AIDS in the same way as those with any other serious illness. Dismissal of employees with HIV/AIDS usually occurs when there is prolonged absence, incapability, because of another substantial reason, or where the employee would continue to perform exposure-prone procedures if employment were to continue.…”

Section: Dismissalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

McLean¹,

Moore²

2000

J Con Stud Home Econ

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Despite recent scientific advancements, Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a serious health issue for those involved in employee management. The introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) has meant that increased numbers of HIV/AIDS infected workers are able to remain in employment, fully protected by this legislation. Because of the nature and characteristics of retail employment, it is suggested that retailers have an increased likelihood of encountering employees and/or customers with the disease, compared with most other industries. This paper examines one particular aspect of the challenge facing retailers, notably that of the 'operationalization' of their HIV/AIDS policies into practices, especially in terms of company selection rocesses, education and training, employee relations and employee assistance programmes. Data were collected from a number of leading retail companies, 1 from which, important observations can be made with regard to retailers' attitudes towards employee welfare in general, and in relation to HIV/AIDS in particular. The research results indicate potential discrimination in terms of employee selection involving a significant number of major retailers, and little comprehensive education/training on HIV/AIDS occurring, despite evidence of disruptive behaviour by staff. In addition, the findings provide evidence that even major companies find it difficult to balance issues of employee welfare against the financial concerns of the organization, in terms of assisting affected employees.

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Section: Employee Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dismissalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

McLean¹,

Moore²

2000

J Con Stud Home Econ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This fear that is generated has two aspects: the first is that people are afraid of contracting AIDS from the infected person, while the second is concerned with the discomfort they feel because of being around someone with a (potentially) terminable disease 30 . Some employees would rather leave their current employment rather than associate with an infected co‐worker, others may request reassignment or transfer, refuse to work with the employee, or protest about being required to work with the employee, while others may not react at all 31 . In these different circumstances, managers are often torn between compassion for the employee and concerns about the needs of co‐workers 28 .…”

Section: Employee Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Difficulties can occur where employees refuse to acknowledge the nature and extent of their illness or disability. This creates a distressing situation for managers who do not want to take away the job, an important element of the employee's life, but who must address concurrently, declining performance, attendance and dependability 31 . All employers responding to a question in an IRS survey in 1997 stated they would treat employees with HIV and AIDS in the same way as those with any other serious illness.…”

Section: Dismissalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

McLean

Moore

2000

Journal of Consumer Studies & Home Economics

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Despite recent scientific advancements, Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a serious health issue for those involved in employee management. The introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) has meant that increased numbers of HIV/AIDS infected workers are able to remain in employment, fully protected by this legislation. Because of the nature and characteristics of retail employment, it is suggested that retailers have an increased likelihood of encountering employees and/or customers with the disease, compared with most other industries. This paper examines one particular aspect of the challenge facing retailers, notably that of the ‘operationalization’ of their HIV/AIDS policies into practices, especially in terms of company selection rocesses, education and training, employee relations and employee assistance programmes. Data were collected from a number of leading retail companies,1 from which, important observations can be made with regard to retailers' attitudes towards employee welfare in general, and in relation to HIV/AIDS in particular. The research results indicate potential discrimination in terms of employee selection involving a significant number of major retailers, and little comprehensive education/training on HIV/AIDS occurring, despite evidence of disruptive behaviour by staff. In addition, the findings provide evidence that even major companies find it difficult to balance issues of employee welfare against the financial concerns of the organization, in terms of assisting affected employees.

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Anticipatory and Actualized Identities: A Cultural Analysis of the Transition from AIDS Disability to Work

Ghaziani¹

2004

The Sociological Quarterly

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Throughout the course of their lives, many people living with HIV/AIDS have prematurely retired onto AIDS disability. A new trend, however, has swept across the nation. Where once people were getting sick, leaving work, and embracing inevitable death, now, with advances in medical technology, many people with HIV/AIDS are renewing their lease on life and discovering a desire to go back to work. To learn how gay men's identities are impacted as they transition from AIDS disability back to the labor market, I conducted three months of fieldwork at an employment placement agency in San Francisco. During fieldwork I distributed informal questionnaires to 120 gay men and then formally interviewed 10 additional gay men who had either transitioned or were considering transitioning from AIDS disability back to work. Analyses reveal that cultural, structural, and medical contradictions typify the return to work. As gay men experience and live through these contradictions, their identities split into anticipatory and actualized components. By facilitating a reassessment of meanings and values, anticipatory identities cognitively and emotionally prepare individuals as they brave the road back to work. This version of identity represents a romanticized confluence of worker (role) identity, gay (statudmaster) identity, and overall sense of self (self-concept). Personal experiences with stigma, shame, and discrimination along with complexities of the workplace and medical services, however, prevent the maturation of anticipatory identities when seeking reemployment. This results in loosely coupled and situationally informed actualized identities. The relationship between these two identities suggests that many people living with HIV/ AIDS-and indeed others who experience stressful life transitions-face complex choices between quality-of-life issues and the ability to survive according to external cultural and structural constraints. John F. Kennedy wisely noted that it is not intentionally proliferated lies but rather cultural myths, ill-informed and insidious, that serve as roadblocks in America's march toward social justice. With regard to persons with disabilities, there are two particular myths to which Americans persistently subscribe. First is the idea that people with disabilities do not wish to work. Second, and perhaps even more destructive in its policy impact, is that workers are happy when they develop compensable illnesses or injuries Direct all correspondence to Amin Ghaziani,

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Employers and AIDS: Dealing with the Psychological and Emotional Issues of AIDS in the Workplace

Cited by 4 publications

References 29 publications

Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

Theory to practice: HIV/AIDS policies in operation within British retailing

Anticipatory and Actualized Identities: A Cultural Analysis of the Transition from AIDS Disability to Work

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