Your Employees Are the Most Valuable Resource You Have—Get Them Involved

By Bao Ong

Nomsa, a South African woman in her 30s, never believed she would contract HIV-until her brother did. Only after he died from AIDS-related complications did Nomsa get tested and realize she also was infected.

But Nomsa, who works as a consultant at a Standard Bank branch, decided to take action.

"I wanted to let people know that HIV is out there and they should take caution in their lives," says Nomsa. "A number of people don't think it's possible to be healthy and have HIV. I wanted to show them that I'm healthy and HIV positive."

Nomsa wanted to take her message to her peers and found support from somewhere she thought was rather unlikely-her employer.

She received training and became a "wellness champion"-a role model and peer educator in her bank branch and others. Standard Bank now has 750 such champions throughout its African operations.

"In that way, she had a bigger impact," says Peter Philip, the head of corporate health at Standard Bank Group. "The employee is the most important person in the whole mix. Without our staff, the bank doesn't exist. Their role is absolutely crucial in our fight against the pandemic."

The bank's employee engagement efforts, of which Nomsa is a part, have so far proved successful. The HIV rate among employees has remained steady despite rising rates throughout Africa. Earlier this year Standard Bank won the Coalition's Award for Business Excellence for its comprehensive workplace program. One of the critical success factors in its winning entry was the employee engagement component.

Companies rely on a number of platforms and people in the fight against disease. Activating employees is one crucial link in the chain of business action.

Depending on the needs and capabilities within each workforce, employee engagement can take many different forms. In endemic regions, where the workforce is at a higher risk for HIV/AIDS, TB and/or malaria, businesses are not only protecting their employees, but giving them opportunities and training to become a critical front line in the drive to end disease. In non-endemic regions, such as most parts of Europe and the United States, companies are mobilizing employees to volunteer in the community and leveraging their skills as part of broader global interventions.

Wherever they operate, businesses are finding that one of the most valuable resources in the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, is already working for them.

Tangible Returns on the Ground

"We need every company to do this," says John Tedstrom, Coalition president and CEO. "It's an area where all of our members can make a difference and make each other more successful by sharing their knowledge."

Companies regularly report tangible returns from engaging their employees, ranging from reduced infection and absenteeism rates to enhanced recruitment of skilled workers and leadership development.

"What it comes down to is if you have employees who are healthy and happy, they are more productive," says Nadia Hassan, program manager for HIV/AIDS at the U.K.-based Virgin Group. "You will get a better quality product because they take pride in what they do. They can give their best."

In 2006 Virgin's founder Sir Richard Branson launched a campaign to fight AIDS. With the help of GBC, Virgin took that campaign global in 2007-something that simply wouldn't have been possible without engaging their employees, adds Hassan.

"We recognize that our people are at the heart of our company," she says. "We want to focus on their wellbeing."

The result of that focus? In endemic regions throughout Africa, Virgin outlets have seen voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) rates among employees rise as high as 80 percent.

Another bank with operations in Africa, Standard Chartered, discovered that 10 percent of employees in one market were missing work on a regular basis for HIV/AIDS-related reasons-including illness, taking care of a sick relative or attending a funeral. Turning those numbers around for any company would simply be sound business practice.

Standard Chartered started its Living with HIV workplace program in 1999 and took it global four years later. The company now provides comprehensive HIV/AIDS education and promotes HIV testing among its worldwide workforce of 75,000.

The bank's 850 "HIV champions" in more than 50 countries have been an important component of the bank's health efforts. As local stakeholders, these employees possess a cultural sensitivity and understanding about how HIV/AIDS can be addressed within their communities. This people-driven approach ensures that messages resonate with their audience in each region, says Vanessa Green who leads Standard Chartered Group's sustainability efforts.

Standard Chartered's employee engagement efforts are part of a well-integrated HIV/AIDS program, which leverages a wide range of points of contact with customers and employees to raise awareness. The bank prints HIV/AIDS messages on paychecks, posts advertisements on its ATM machines and has even launched an online HIV/AIDS e-learning module targeting employees. "You have a captive audience," says Green of the company's workforce. "You're guaranteed to reach that number of people."

Nomsa, the wellness champion with Standard Bank, says that every vehicle for educating employees about HIV/AIDS plays an important role in the workplace. She sees a particularly valuable role for openly HIV-positive employees like herself in helping to reduce stigma. Many employees would rather forgo life-saving treatment than come out as HIV positive as a result of stigma, says Nomsa. "They end up dying because they hide their status."

Openly HIV-positive employees often want to be part of the solution and are important messengers to reach those who may be infected but are too afraid seek testing.

"If someone who's negative comes in and says ‘you must do this and do that,' and says ‘don't worry, you'll be fine,' I ask myself, what does this person know?" says Nomsa. "It's a very different situation if someone who's positive comes in and tells you about the disease."

"There are people who are coming out about their status and they are coming to talk to me, asking for advice. They call me from other branches to find out why I'm healthy and what am I doing," she says.

Leveraging Passion and Compassion

Employees become active in ending HIV/AIDS in other ways as well. Companies are putting their skills to work through corporate volunteerism, getting them involved in broader corporate health programs, and mobilizing them through community events and initiatives.

Through this kind of engagement companies garner benefits beyond preventing HIV infection and reducing stigma in the workplace. Research indicates that the best talent is increasingly interested in working for socially responsible companies and those businesses that have actively engaged their workforces have measured real improvements in reported job satisfaction.

Companies like Pfizer Inc and IBM have led efforts to engage their workforces through international corporate volunteerism (ICV), sending their highly-skilled employees abroad to fill critical management gaps in health initiatives on the ground.

A study of 25 corporations taking part in ICV by FSG Social Impact Advisors and co-sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Pfizer, found that there were strong benefits of such engagement-including improved employee morale, increased customer loyalty and leadership development. Pfizer also sees this approach as a way to spur fresh, innovative thinking among its employees.

Other companies are integrating employee engagement with their broader corporate health initiatives. DHL utilized employee volunteer hours and donations to support its malaria partnership with UNICEF, which leveraged the company's logistics and transportation infrastructure to deliver bed nets to 3.5 million people in Kenya.

But businesses in non-endemic regions don't need to send their employees abroad to make an impact. HIV/AIDS remains a critical issue within a number of communities in non-endemic countries.

At Viacom, developing "a corporate culture that includes a passion for this issue" has helped lure more employees to be engaged, says spokesman David Katz.

"We have a unique opportunity and a responsibility to inform our audiences about HIV/AIDS," says Katz.

"We are dedicated to raising awareness about sexual health issues and we are very fortunate to have employees who are passionate about prevention initiatives."

Natasha Malhotra is COO of Arab Television Network, part of Arab Media Group, overseeing MTV Arabia, Nickelodeon Arabia and an Emirati channel called Noor Dubai. Malhotra says that she got involved with MTV's corporate HIV/AIDS efforts because she saw what a tangible impact they were having on their customers-young people.

"I know how MTV influenced me growing up and I really believe it plays a powerful role in helping young people formulate their identity, opinions, values and thoughts," says Malhotra. "If we can in any small way help arm young people with information that could protect them from a disease that has taken more lives than both world wars, it's no small thing."'

Levi Strauss & Co. started raising HIV/AIDS awareness in the 1980s and that effort remains strong through its "community involvement teams" in 43 countries.

The company has put the workforce at the center of its corporate social responsibility strategy, providing each employee five hours of paid time each month to volunteer for a non-profit organization of their choice. Many choose to volunteer with HIV/AIDS organizations, says Levi Strauss & Co. spokesman E.J. Bernacki.

"Your employees are the ambassadors to the community," says Bernacki. "We not only encourage volunteerism but we reward it. Whether employees volunteer individually or in groups, we have programs that match time with grant dollars. An individual employee can volunteer at the nonprofit of their choice and have a personal volunteer grant up to $1,200 directed to that organization to reflect the employee's donation of time and talent. A group can direct more."

In 2008, Levi Strauss & Co.'s AIDS Action Group, which draws about 90 employees to its monthly meetings, directed $27,800 in grants to HIV/AIDS nonprofits and raised nearly $100,000 through the San Francisco AIDS Walk and other fundraising activities. Group members more recently supported Dining Out for Life, a program in which, for one night each year, restaurants across the country donate a portion of their profits to HIV/AIDS causes.

Maurice Kelly, a Levi Strauss & Co. new accounts manager, says he got involved with the AIDS Action Group because he cares about the issue and the company supported his interest. "One of the messages you get here from the beginning is to get involved with what you're passionate about," he says.

Levi Strauss & Co. recently expanded its employee engagement approach to include digital media. During World AIDS Day 2008, the company rolled out a new website targeting employees (www.levi.com/wad2008). The site first tests employee knowledge about HIV/AIDS and then links them up to resources where they can learn more and take action.

Training Matters

The success of such employee engagement efforts depends on company commitments and people, but also training. While many companies have developed their own training programs, a number have turned to the Coalition for support.

GBC's Health@Work program in Russia and Ukraine has trained more than 1,400 executives, managers and human resource personnel on how to best protect the health of their employees and stem the financial losses associated with HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases. The way in is not always the most obvious. In some places, there is a hunger for HIV information. In others, like Russia and China, there's little recognition of the risk.

"We found that engaging employees on HIV/AIDS can be eased by finding other entry points to talk about," says Tatiana Grechanaia, who oversees the Coalition's Health@Work program in Russia and Ukraine. "We try to frame HIV/AIDS within the broader health context, incorporating issues like alcohol abuse, which is much closer to the public consciousness here in Russia."

Health@Work has reached everyone from indigenous Russian companies like car maker AvtoVAZ to major multinationals-such as DaimlerChrysler, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo.

The model has proved so popular, that the Coalition is now developing an online e-learning module based on Health@Work to facilitate even greater member-to-member knowledge sharing.

With the support of Health@Work, global energy giant Shell Group was able to better coordinate the HIV/AIDS work of its Russia operations. After being advised by Health@Work, the company launched its first HIV/AIDS awareness campaign at the Moscow Office and hired a dedicated HIV/AIDS coordinator to oversee the company's workplace programs.

There is no limit to the ideas and methods that companies can use to engage their employees. Sharing between member companies is a highly effective way to spur innovation and also keep them from reinventing the wheel.

Hassan recalls that during a Coalition-led workshop in South Africa last August, a speaker brought up a fairly new concept to her at the time-creating incentives to encourage employees to get tested for HIV. She has since integrated those learnings into the company's HIV/AIDS program, with the aim of increasing the number of employees who seek out testing.

"It's been a tremendous affiliation," says Hassan of Virgin's collaboration with the Coalition. "We were able to tap into a truly global network of experts."

• Standard Bank’s Peter Philip: Engaging employees, talking taboo and the watercooler strategy
• Digital Engagement: Visit Levi Strauss & Co.’s employee-oriented HIV/AIDS site
• Living with HIV: Learn about Standard Chartered Bank’s peer education program
• Peer-to-Peer Impact: Critical success factors of Standard Bank’s workplace program
• Activating Skilled Employees: Read more about skills-based corporate volunteerism
• Coalition Tools: Learn how GBC helps members communicate with and engage employees