AIDS Impact evaluation on South African Business

A startling admission by one of the business owners in an International Business Owners Survey for 2006 that it had lost 23 employees in the past two years to HIV/Aids has galvanised employers into action with plans to institute timeous interventions at workplaces in a bid to halt further spread of the disease.

According to the Grant Thornton's 2006 survey, business owners throughout South Africa are increasingly instituting interventions against HIV/Aids in a bid to address the threat the disease poses. Companies included in the annual survey employ between 50 to 250 employees.

Some of the ravaging effects of HIV/Aids for business include increased absenteeism, loss of productivity, costs of hiring and training replacement labour.

A study commissioned by AIC Insurance last year showed that South Africa loses an estimated R12 billion a year due to absenteeism in the workplace, of which between R1.8bn to R2.2bn could be directly attributed to HIV/Aids.

The survey results show up sharply against last year's report when only a quarter of business owners nationally felt there was reason for concern.

Adam Pincus, a partner at Grant Thornton, said training proved the most popular element in companies' HIV/Aids management plans with 65% choosing this option.

However, companies digging into their pockets to pay for employees' treatment costs lagged at the bottom of the pile with just 35%.