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IBM's global health promotion objectives focus on health risk reduction and helping low risk employees maintain low risk. Over the past several years we have improved the integration of wellness programs in order to help employees better navigate and access offerings.
Nowhere is prevention more evident than in our health promotion activities: from the broad array of health promotion options and disease prevention benefits (such as the new 2006 preventive care rebate), to our focus on health risk reduction and workplace accident/illness prevention, to providing tools to manage stress, to prevention aspects of our well-being and health promotion activities (20KB).
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Health and well-being initiatives are promoted as an integrated building block approach that begins with taking a personal health assessment, establishing a plan for lifestyle enhancement, and taking action. These steps provide employees with the education and tools they need to positively impact their personal health and work productivity.
The health promotion strategy is global, but programs are customized to address local needs and cultures. Programs include early diagnosis and disease prevention efforts, such as clinical screenings, immunizations, physical fitness activities, nutrition and weight counseling, and stress management. Other primary prevention efforts include ergonomics and injury/illness prevention programs. Secondary prevention programs focus on early treatment and prevention of complications associated with illness and injury such as condition management, case management and targeted examinations.
The HIV/AIDS Initiative
As mentioned in "Managing Well-being", one area of special emphasis in our WBMS (Well-Being Management System) is HIV/AIDS, with its own specific objectives and targets. This HIV/AIDS initiative will help drive additional improvement in HIV/AIDS prevention, education and access to health services. IBM's involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS has been particularly extensive since the disease became a global concern in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
Local Perspectives on a Global Epidemic
HIV/AIDS in South Africa
A 1998 IBM study estimated that 7.3 percent of our South African workforce would be infected with HIV/AIDS by 2006. Out of that alarming prediction came a comprehensive program of voluntary and confidential testing and counseling for all employees and contractors, plus an awareness campaign to increase enrollment in IBM-sponsored treatment programs, encourage safe behavior, and advance knowledge of HIV/AIDS.
After a successful pilot program that began in 1999, management approved IBM South Africa’s HIV/AIDS policy in October 2001, with revisions in 2003. Among the priorities has been ensuring that the policy was compliant with all relevant legislation.
While the disease remains at epidemic proportions in South Africa, not one IBM employee in that country has died as a result of or from complications involving HIV/AIDS since joining the treatment program. Indeed, only 0.7 percent of our employees in South Africa are currently enrolled in treatment—far fewer than the 1998 study predicted.
“IBMers can also afford good food and a healthy lifestyle, which helps enormously,” said IBMer, nurse, and director of IBM’s South Africa Medical Center, Sister Gwynneth Staples, who manages the HIV treatment program through an outside medical organization. She noted that the average absentee rate is down to two days per year among infected employees.
“Before the launch of this program, when test results came back positive, it felt like I was handing employees a death sentence,” Sister Staples said. “Now I can say ‘You are HIV-positive, but here’s what IBM will do to help you manage this.’”
In addition to annual events, condom distribution, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, IBM South Africa’s awareness campaigns focus on providing self-service interactive software to raise employee knowledge and awareness.
Voluntary counseling and testing has been available through IBM South Africa’s Medical Center since the early 1980s. Today, through the center, HIV-positive employees gain access to IBM South Africa’s treatment program, including access to Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment.
HIV/AIDS in Brazil
As a global company, IBM finds different ways to respond in different countries. In Brazil, IBM’s employee population of 9,000 has grown 30 percent in just two years, and is expected to double again in the next two. This rapid expansion and changing employee demographic (60 percent are under 30) has led IBM Brazil to expand and adjust its health programs, for example by expanding assistance programs for mental health and chemical dependencies.
With HIV/AIDS an ongoing challenge in the country, IBM Brazil educates employees about HIV and prevention three times annually: during Carneval week, on the international AIDS Day (September 1), and as part of the company’s annual health fair for all employees. This continues IBM Brazil’s history of leadership in this area—its health coverage provided AIDS drugs long before it was legally mandated in 1998.
HIV/AIDS in the United States
IBM developed its practice in the U.S. regarding people with AIDS in 1985 in response to the spread of the disease and the threat it posed to our employees and the communities in which they live and work. That practice provides that we treat employees with HIV/AIDS in the same manner that we treat employees with other chronic illnesses—giving guidance, support and access to health services, including prevention and education for HIV/AIDS.
IBM's World Community Grid used for Groundbreaking AIDS Research
In late 2005, IBM announced that AIDS research will be the next focus of its World Community Grid, providing researchers with the intensive computations needed to help speed the discovery of effective and inexpensive therapeutics for the epidemic.
- IBM does not test applicants or employees for HIV/AIDS.
- IBM protects the confidentiality of employees with HIV/AIDS.
- IBM provides information and education on HIV/AIDS.
- IBM, whenever possible, makes accommodations that enable employees with HIV/AIDS to remain on the job.
- IBM does not discriminate against employees with serious medical conditions, including HIV/AIDS, in its hiring, promotion, or general benefits practices.
Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, IBM has been actively involved in providing support through its policies, programs and practices to help mitigate the impact of the disease on our communities. In 1988, we were a charter member of the National Community AIDS Partnership, later known as the National AIDS Fund, and in 1990, became a founding member of the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS. More recently, IBM has facilitated the reengineering of operational processes for the National AIDS Fund and helped establish a new “scenario planning” process, which replaced the fund’s traditional strategic planning and has positioned it to be financially and operationally stable and agile enough to meet the challenges ahead.
We spoke to Kandy Feree, President & CEO of the National AIDS Fund, whose mission is to reduce the incidence and impact of HIV/AIDS by promoting leadership and generating resources for effective community responses to the epidemic.
"As AIDS in the developing world has drawn increasing money and attention, a perception has grown that the epidemic is under control domestically—but it isn’t true. The National AIDS Fund is working to correct that myth and challenge people and companies to continue investing in HIV prevention and care in the United States.
"With greater competition for funding and increasing demands for accountability, we have learned to think and act more like a business. Some in the not-for-profit sector are uncomfortable with this direction, but engaging donors and demonstrating efficiency is not counter to our mission—it’s critical to it.
"Corporate partners are invaluable in this, if you engage them in their areas of expertise in ways that help. In 2001, IBM helped us re-engineer our organization and learn to create efficiency with technology. Today our combined administrative and fundraising costs are under 9 percent, down from 40 percent seven years ago—a major accomplishment.
"In 2005, IBM guided us through a scenario planning exercise. If strategic planning looks at where you are and want to go, scenario planning anticipates what might change—good or bad—and prepares you. We don’t have that expertise internally and can’t afford to buy it, but it was a catalyst for making tough decisions and developing strategies to function in any economic or political environment."
IBM employees have also found effective ways to illustrate their compassion. In recognition of World AIDS Day in 2005, IBMers in Tucson, Arizona, hosted sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and assembled to share stories from those affected by the disease. IBMer Mike Linney of Austin, Texas, received the 2004 Volunteer of the Year Award for his work supporting housing programs for those with HIV/AIDS, while employees in Beaverton, Oregon, sponsored a walk to support the fight against AIDS.
 Well-being and health promotion (92KB)
Download related article on HIV/AIDS (388KB)
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National AIDS Fund: http://www.aidsfund.org
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