Help employees through flexible schedules
HIV can be managed, but workers face hard path
When trying to accommodate workers with HIV disease, the key word is flexibility. They may find it impossible to work under a traditional, strict workplace policy that severely limits breaks, working hours, and other conditions. But the same workers will be able to work productively if allowed the flexibility necessary to work around certain problems.
The complex, highly toxic drug regimen used by many people with HIV disease is the biggest challenge to people returning to the workplace, says Sherryl Zemo, an information specialist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Business and Labor Responds to AIDS program, which helps employers accommodate workers with HIV.
"It may be that your morning pill makes you very sleepy, and maybe your afternoon pill is taken on an empty stomach, but your late afternoon pill is taken with food," Zemo says. "Maybe another makes you dizzy, and another gives you diarrhea. Another might cause muscle fatigue that keeps you from doing all the heavy lifting you could do before."
The worker with HIV disease also will have a multitude of doctors’ appointments for monitoring and testing. It can be nearly impossible for workers to do what is necessary to maintain their health and still work under the same conditions as everyone else. Reasonable accommodations can ease the situation for both the employee and the employer.
The accommodations might be unusual, but they do not have to be a hardship on the employer, explains Richard Williams, PhD, worldwide manager of the AIDS Awareness Program for the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, MA. In many cases, the employer only needs to drop the attitude of forcing everyone to perform a job in exactly the same manner and instead ask how the person can get the job done in whatever way works for him or her.
Williams and Zemo provide these suggestions for accommodations:
r Be flexible extremely flexible.
Polaroid has allowed some workers to essentially create their own work schedules because they were best able to determine what worked for them.
For instance, it is common for people with HIV disease to be ill in the morning but feel better later in the day. The worker who tries to come in at 9 a.m. and work through the morning sickness might be too tired and stressed by the afternoon when the nausea has dissipated. But the same worker might be very productive in the afternoon and early evening if allowed to stay home through the morning sickness.
As long as the work gets done
As with any "reasonable accommodation," there is no need for the employer to back down on what is expected of the worker in terms of productivity or work quality. But how the employee accomplishes the tasks should be less of a concern. If the worker with HIV/AIDS is better able to work at 3 a.m. than at 3 p.m., forcing him or her to conform to the usual work schedule is like forcing that employee to do poor work.
r Consider telecommuting.
With telecommuting becoming so popular even with healthy workers, it is easy to consider it as an accommodation for workers with HIV disease. Polaroid has provided the necessary computer equipment to some workers so that they could work from home sometimes on a regular basis and sometimes just as an option when the worker feels too ill to go into the workplace.
r Provide easy restroom access.
This may sound simple, but it can be an especially important factor for a worker who wants to return to the job but is scared of dealing with the drug side effects in public. Some HIV drugs cause severe diarrhea, so it can make a big difference to the employee if he or she is provided a work area close to a restroom rather than on the opposite side of the building.
r Allow frequent breaks.
When a worker has HIV disease, it is practically impossible to restrict him or her to just a few breaks per day.
Worker may take several prescriptions
If employees must take a number of medications throughout the day, it is absolutely necessary they be taken exactly when and how the doctor prescribed them. Any attempt to delay the dose until the next break, or the inability to take food with some medications, could have serious consequences.
r Provide privacy.
Even when a worker with HIV disease experiences severe symptoms or drug side effects, those may not last. A short nap or a break from the job can allow the discomfort to pass, and then the worker can return to the job. Taking a break at the job site might not be a good idea, however, because it can raise questions about why the worker is provided more breaks than usual. And in some work areas, it is impossible to rest.
Polaroid sometimes allows workers to leave their work areas and take a short nap or lie down to rest. Any private area, such as a supervisor’s office, is acceptable if the employee feels comfortable there. But Williams notes the occupational health department will be the most appropriate spot in most workplaces. If there is a bed available there, workers with HIV disease are encouraged to go there when they need a little privacy for rest.
Williams also notes that the employees may need privacy for taking their many medications. The number of pills they must take can bring unwanted queries from co-workers, so the workers may wish to have a private place to go. Again, the occupational health department is the best choice, but any other private area can suffice.
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