Not Business as Usual

The document details a holistic framework for managing HIV/AIDS in the workplace, emphasizing a combination of prevention, treatment, and institutional mitigation strategies. It advocates for policies based on non-discrimination and human rights, the use of institutional audits to determine threat levels, and the implementation of knowledge management to preserve operational capacity despite personnel loss. Successful execution is tied to senior management leadership, dedicated resources, and continuous capacity building.

• An effective workplace response to HIV/AIDS should be guided by principles of responsibility, non-discrimination, the protection of human rights, the involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS, and the safeguarding of health and well-being.
• The ILO's Code of Good Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work provides ten specific guidelines, including the recognition of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue, gender equality, confidentiality, and the prohibition of screening for employment exclusion.
• A holistic response must address the epidemic both internally for employees and externally for clients, integrating HIV/AIDS responses into core institutional functions, a process termed 'mainstreaming'.
• Institutions can determine the nature of the threat through statistical models or institutional audits, which include personnel profiling, critical post analysis, assessment of organisational characteristics, liabilities, productivity, and organisational context.
• Workplace policies can be either HIV/AIDS-specific or broader chronic/life-threatening illness policies; the latter can help avoid the stigmatisation of any one particular illness.
• Prevention programmes are most effective when they provide basic knowledge, motivate action, develop decision-making skills, and utilize peer education, as peers are often viewed as more credible sources of information.
• To mitigate the loss of personnel and knowledge, institutions should adopt non-replacement strategies including knowledge management (recording individual knowledge), work design (multi-skilling and automation), and career development/succession planning (mentoring).
• Successful implementation requires leadership from senior management, the establishment of a dedicated coordinating unit with a specific budget, capacity building for staff, and clear communication strategies to ensure employee 'ownership' of the programmes.

APA

Pharoah, R. (n.d.). Not Business as Usual. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/NOTBUSINESSCHAP3.PDF

Chicago

Pharoah, Robyn. Not Business as Usual. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/NOTBUSINESSCHAP3.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pharoah |first1=Robyn |title=Not Business as Usual |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/NOTBUSINESSCHAP3.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pharoahndnot, author = {Pharoah, Robyn}, title = {{Not Business as Usual}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/NOTBUSINESSCHAP3.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }