Horizons | Research Summary | The Role of Incentives in Promoting Workplace HIV/AIDS Policies and Programs

RESEARCH SUMMARY

November 2003

The Role of Incentives in Promoting Workplace HIV/AIDS Policies and Programs

Description of the Intervention

The initiative, known as the AIDS-response Standard Organization (ASO), was launched at a press conference that publicized the availability of incentives to encourage companies to implement HIV/AIDS workplace programs and policies. Afterward, TBCA staff built relationships with company managers to explain and promote the advantages of joining the initiative. Companies agreeing to implement at least three HIV/AIDS workplace policies would receive a reduction of 5 to 10 percent off their group life insurance premiums from AIA, Thailand’s largest insurance provider, if they were AIA clients (Box 1). As the initiative evolved, TBCA introduced the additional incentive of a certificate endorsed by the government and awarded at a high-profile public ceremony.

For each company agreeing to participate, TBCA offered assistance to enhance their activities, including providing educational leaflets, videos, and a mobile exhibition, as well as condoms, peer education training, counseling and referrals to support groups for HIV-positive employees, and assistance with writing company HIV/AIDS policies.

Box 1. Insurance premium reduction qualification criteria

Companies qualified for the minimum 5 percent reduction off their group life insurance premium if they signed onto a declaration acknowledging that they met the three key policy requirements:

No testing of job applicants for HIV.
No testing of employees for HIV.
No dismissal of employees known to be HIV-positive because of their HIV status.

Further reductions of up to 10 percent were awarded to companies that demonstrated a comprehensive workplace HIV/AIDS program for employees by adhering to the three basic policies and also:

Informing their employees of the company’s HIV/AIDS policies.
Maintaining confidentiality of the HIV status of employees.
Providing assistance to HIV-positive employees.
Making training and information on HIV/AIDS available to employees, including promotion and distribution of condoms.
Being involved with HIV/AIDS activities in the wider community.

Study Design and Data Collection Methods

The investigators explored the process and outcomes of offering incentives to encourage companies to improve their workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programs. The study was conducted among companies in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and neighboring provinces between May 2000 and April 2002. The researchers used a checklist to document the characteristics of the 857 companies that were invited to join the initiative, and conducted interviews with managers of 99 companies that agreed to participate in ASO (out of a total of 125) and 144 that declined to participate. Managers and employees (approximately 9,000) from the 125 participating companies twice completed self-administered questionnaires, first when they joined the initiative and then 18 months later. Data from the managers’ questionnaires were used to determine a pre- and post- accreditation score for each company.

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See Also

Population Council – HIV/AIDS

For additional information please contact:
Horizons
Population Council
4301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 280
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: +1 202 237 9400
Facsimile: +1 202 237 8410
E-mail: horizons@popcouncil.org

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This page updated
19 Oct 2007