HIV employees in the Greek Labour Market: Stereotypes and Self-stereotypes

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HIV employees in the Greek Labour Market
Stereotypes and Self-stereotypes

• Valantis Papathanasiou
• Social Scientist

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Attitudes and perceptions of Greek employers
towards HIV persons

• Quantitative data

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MATERIAL AND METHODS

• GOAL To study the attitudes and the perceptions
  of employers towards HIV persons
• METHODOLOGY Patras and Volos, Greece, 1999.
  Questionnaire. 110 employers of different
  professional environments. SSPS analysis.
• AXES a) hiring, b) reasons for no hiring, c)
  firing, d) reasons for firing, e) reasons for no
  firing, f) productivity, g) HIV testing, h)
  reasons for HIV testing, i) reasons against HIV
  testing

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SAMPLE

• SEX
• Male 59.1
• Female 40.9
• WORKPLACE
• Educational Institutions 20.9
• Health Care Institutions 14.6
• Commercial Shops 22.7
• Hairdressers 22.7
• Construction businesses 19.1
• -PRIVATE SECTOR-

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HIRING OF AN HIV PERSON

• YES 36.4
• NO 39.1
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 24.5

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REASONS TO DENY A JOB TO A HIV PERSON

• RISK OF INFECTION 27.9
• FREQUENT ABSENCES 7
• NEGATIVE IMPACT TO COLLEAGUES 20.9
• NEGATIVE IMPACT TO CLIENTS 18.6
• 13 7.0
• 23 2.3
• 24 2.3
• 34 4.7
• 134 7.0
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 2.3

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FIRING AN HIV PERSON

• YES 20.0
• NO 63.6
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 16.4

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REASONS FOR FIRING AN HIV EMPLOYEE

• CONSEQUENCES IN THE COMPANY BECAUSE OF NEGATIVE
  REACTIONS 27.3
• RISK OF INFECTION 59.1
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 13.6

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REASONS FOR SUPPORT OF AN HIV EMPLOYEE

• DISCRIMINATIVE BEHAVIOUR 7.1
• EMOTIONAL REASONS (e.g. guilt) 52.9
• KNOWLEDGE OF PREVENTION 15.7
• PERSONALITY AND CAPACITIES OF HIV EMPLOYEE 8.6
• ABSENCE OF RISK INFECTION 15.7
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 0.0

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HIV INFECTION AND PRODUCTIVITY

• YES 59.1
• NO 21.8
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 19.1

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HIV TESTING AND WORKPLACE

• YES 66.4
• NO 29.1
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 4.5

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ARGUMENTS FOR THE APPLICATION OF A COMPULSORY HIV
TEST IN THE WORKPLACE

• TO RASE EMPLOYEES AWARENESS OF OWN HEALTH
  SITUATION 20.5
• REASONS CONCERNING THE WORK 17.8
• PREVENTION 60.3
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 1.4

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ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE APPLICATION OF A COMPULSORY
HIV TEST IN THE WORKPLACE

• DESCRIMINATORY BEHAVIOR 68.8
• ABSENCE OF RISK INFECTION 28.1
• DONT KNOW/DONT ANSWER 3.1

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Professional dilemmas and challenges for persons
living with HIV

• Qualitative data

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MATERIAL AND METHODS

• GOAL the impact of HIV Infection on the
  professional life of people living with HIV/AIDS
• METHODOLOGY Athens, Greece Paris, France 2001.
  12 semi-structured interviews with a) HIV
  persons, b) representatives of Non-Governmental
  Organizations (NOG)
• AXES a) the strategies for management of HIV
  Infection in the workplace on the part of the
  HIV employee,
• b) the typology of the employers and the
  professional circles reactions in the event that
  the health status of the HIV employee becomes
  known.

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WORK IN THE ERA OF MULTI-THERAPY

• I encourage them not to quit their jobs now. In
  the past, we could not say that because we did
  not know. If somebody was HIV-positive we said
  Alright, for as long as he can last. And
  doctors themselves said it Hold on to life
  longer. Dont exert yourself. Dont catch a
  cold and all that. We have nothing to offer
  you. And most of them retired. (NGO
  representative)

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THE FEAR OF INFECTING AND BEING INFECTED

• I asked him why he did not look for a different
  job and he answered No! What are you talking
  about! What if I cut myself? I cut myself all the
  time He himself was afraid of this job.
• (NGO representative)

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MANAGING SEROPOSITIVITY IN THE WORKPLACE BETWEEN
SECRECY AND DISCLOSURE

• Some people feel the need (to talk). Others
  might say Its my personal life. This dilemma
  appears often, and it is difficult to manage.
• (NGO representative)
• It is of course difficult to know in advance if
  the employer will have a positive or negative
  reaction. Therefore we must advise these people
  (with HIV) to be cautious.
• (NGO representative)

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DIFFICULTIES MANAGING THE SECRET

• Most people who work fear that at some point
  their employer will find out from some of their
  actions, for example the medications they take,
  or from something that will happen to them, or
  from the time off they take for medical
  examinations.
• (NGO representative)
• many say They will relate it to my weight
  loss, because it is obvious, or with the
  emaciation in my face, my cheeks are hollow, I
  look ill. All this makes them fear that people
  at work will find out and they make spasmodic
  moves They present some strange illnesses that
  are related to cancer, to lumps and other times
  to brain conditions. They also, of course, ask
  doctors what they can say. They go as far as,
  for example, talking about strokes.
• (NGO representative)

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MEANS OF DISCLOSURE

• In a strange way, according to research, people
  often say it (that they are HIV-positive). They
  say it themselves either to a colleague or to
  their employer.
• (NGO representative)

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MORAL OBLIGATION

• There are many who say it. Most people I know
  consider it dishonorable not to say it.
• (NGO representative)

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DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE

• In a discreet way the employers, especially in
  private businesses, force HIV-positive employees
  to resign. They take away certain
  responsibilities from them, they decrease their
  work hours, they reprimand them continuously, the
  interfere with their work, they come up with
  methods of emotional abuse to force the
  HIV-positive employee to quit. Some employers,
  albeit rarely, tell them right from the start
  Youre fired! This is a private business, Im
  afraid to have a person like you in my workplace
  and I fire you!
• (NGO representative)

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REACTIONS TOWARD DISCRIMINATION

• a legal procedure is a public procedure.
  Public means disclosing ones name, ones
  identity, ones history. (NGO representative)
• It constitutes a symbolic acknowledgement of
  the fact that you fell victim of discrimination
  and that the person responsible for this
  discrimination is punished. Naturally it is very
  difficult not just having been fired, but
  additionally having undergone an entirely
  unlawful and untenable discrimination. (NGO
  representative)

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SOLIDARITY IN THE WORKPLACE

• Our syndicate also wishes to effectively
  participate in the fight against AIDS, fights and
  hopes to report certain behaviors that violate
  human rights and codes to ethics. (SNEG -
  France, 1992)

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INTERVENTIONS

• Pamphlets, KEEL (Ministry of Health)
• TV-spot, National School of Public Health
• Media Intervention (articles)
• European Network AIDS and Companies, NGO
  ELPIDA
• Information Meeting, NGO Centre for
  Inspirational Living
• Training for students of Occupational Medicine in
  the National School of Public Health

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CONCLUSIONS-SUGGESTIONS

• The design, implementation and development of a
  policy against AIDS in the workplace requires the
  communication between all agents involved (State,
  employers, employees, syndicates, NGOs against
  AIDS) while taking into consideration scientific
  knowledge.
• The development of campaigns focused on a model
  of solidarity towards HIV individuals in the
  workplace, seems to play an important role in the
  formation of attitudes.
• The issue of a clear-cut legislation, concerning
  employees suffering from an incurable disease, as
  well as keeping the trials related to people who
  have been victims of discrimination in their
  workplace out of public knowledge, would
  partially protect the professional rights of
  employees suffering from HIV/AIDS.

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Thank you