The role of HR

WELLBEING: HIV AND AIDS, PREVENTION AND CARE:
The role of line managers

Tips and Tools

The impact of HIV and AIDS across geographic regions

Sample policy statement on HIV and AIDS (CIFOR)

Sample information brochure on HIV and AIDS (World Agroforestry Center)

Resources on the Internet for HIV and AIDS management in the workplace

CGIAR information resources on HIV and AIDS

1 Line managers and supervisors are responsible for promoting and implementing Center policy on HIV and AIDS. They must take every action necessary to enhance staff understanding of HIV and AIDS, and reinforce the need for responsible behavior.

2 Line managers and supervisors are expected to communicate clearly and periodically to their staff members that their Center has a policy on HIV and AIDS, and that the policy is taken very seriously. They must ensure that all their staff have access to HIV and AIDS information and participate in relevant education and training programs.

3 Line managers and supervisors are obliged to take responsibility for HIV- and AIDS -related workplace safety issues. They must be conversant with basic principles to control workplace infection. They also must ensure that their staff members have: HIV travel kits or information about them; access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits and education about them; and information on how to obtain safe blood in their region (including those districts to which they must travel in the course of their work). Finally, line managers and supervisors of staff living with HIV and AIDS must also have access to counseling.

4 A line manager must be prepared to act if she/he sees (or suspects) that an HIV-positive staff member is being discriminated against by her/his colleagues.

Diversity Alert
Zero tolerance for harassment of HIV-positive staff
Never allow harassers of HIV-positive staff to use the excuse that their offensive behavior is a normal aspect of their culture. Explain that the Center’s policies specifically do not condone such behaviors and that these are zero-tolerance policies as appropriate in a global, multi-cultural organization.

5 There is also an issue of accountability. If inappropriate behavior within a workgroup leads to a formal complaint from the person being harassed, the Investigating Panel may hold the line manager partially responsible if she/he was aware of, or suspected inappropriate behavior, but failed to act on it.