|
Featured Stories
|
| Story Description
Daimler Chrysler is Reaching Out to HIV/AIDS Infected Employees
Daimler Chrysler is putting its sustainable development into practice in many ways, all of which are documented in its Sustainability Profile 2005". However, it has placed its highest priority on the battle against HIV/AIDS faced by many of the workers at its South African plant. Since the early 1990's, Daimler Chrysler South Africa's Workplace Initiative on HIV/AIDS has been working to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome and for the social integration of HIV-positive persons at its headquarters just outside Pretoria.
Primary Sources
Daimler Chrysler -written by Janet Roberts
Worldwide a total population of 43 million people is infected with HIV. In 2003, 5 million new infections occurred and 3 million people died of AIDS. In addition to the human tragedy caused by this disease, the economic impact on companies due to increased absenteeism, compassionate leave, early retirement, reduced productivity, increased benefit costs and a decrease in human capacity has been enormous.
In 1991, the then Mercedes Benz South Africa responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by adopting its first HIV/AIDS workplace policy to address discrimination in the workplace and begin an important workplace-based awareness and education campaign. Several years later, in 1996, the company revised its workplace HIV/AIDS policy to focus on occupational health services and employee assistance programs providing basic information and education about the disease, promoting and distributing condoms, treating sexually transmitted diseases, supervising the treatment of tuberculosis, counseling and support and promoting employee wellness.
When Daimler Chrysler took over the company it continued the work of its predecessor. With the personal involvement of its then CEO, JŸrgen E. Schrempp, and the cooperation of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Daimler Chrysler S.A. has developed a program and comprehensive workplace policy to address the needs of its employees in the areas of prevention, care, and treatment of HIV/AIDS. In 1999, DCMED, its closed, corporate medical aid scheme which extends coverage to all employees and dependants, initiated access to prevention and treatment of AIDS-related opportunistic disease and anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. The program is administered through the MEDSCHEME Aid for AIDS Management Programme. In 2000, the company initiated this jobs program for all of its approximately 5,000 employees and their families in South Africa. It entered into a 3-year long, public-private partnership with the GTZ GMBh of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development to create the Daimler Chrysler South Africa/PPP HIVAIDS Workplace Project. It is not yet known whether the departure of Schrempp - who was criticized for his plan to expand the company globally - from the company on July 28, 2005, will affect the company's growth globally or Daimler Chrysler S.A. HIV/AIDS programs which are already in place.
The HIV/AIDS Project at Daimler Chrysler S.A., commonly known as "HAP", focuses on preventing new infections through peer education services, coordinating an integrated health care services approach, and improving the management of HIV risk and increasing community involvement and public education. Each component of HAP is coordinated by a team consisting of both senior management and union employees. The HAP prevention program uses peer educators who are responsible for meeting with all employees. They sit with employees during lunch breaks, walk the shop floor with them, set up educational meetings after work, plan for company-wide educational programs, and participate in community health fairs. The integrated health care component used a traditional employee health benefit approach and, through an agreement with a vendor, is able to offer every individual living with HIV an expanded medical benefit to cover the cost of HIV positive individuals to make their status known to their health care providers. Individuals are then registered for Aid for AIDS, an expanded benefit program.
To determine the medium and longtime output of the HIV/AIDS project, all components are closely monitored using an indicator-based process, according to the company's 2005 Sustainability Report. Based on the South African experience and guided by the corporate HIV/AIDS policy, the global roll-out in second wave countries such as China, the Russian Federation, India and South East Asia is ongoing. With its membership of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC), Daimler Chrysler spearheads its advocacy role at the global level.
For its fight against HIV/AIDS, Daimler Chrysler won the Business Excellence Award 2002 from the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, the Achievement Award 2002 from the Global Competitiveness Centre in Engineering, the Grand Prix 2003 from T-Systems Age of Innovation & Sustainability Award, Investing in the Future Award 2003 Mail and Guardian, NOSA Excellence Award 2003 for the HIV/AIDS Workplace Program, Stevie Award 2003 from the International Business Association, and the NOSA Best Global HIV/AIDS Workplace Program Manager Award 2004.
Further Reading
Daimler Chrysler 2005 Sustainability Profile
Climbing the Mountain: Aids in Action
Auto Spectator: Sustainability Profile 2005: Daimler Chrysler is committed to sustainable development
Daimler Chrysler CEO to step down
Acknowledgements
Writer: Janet Roberts
© 2005 World Benefit Productions, All Rights Reserved
| | 
|
|
|
