Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), remains a major blow to the prosperity of many companies. Studies have shown that employees suffering from the disease are prone to stigma and discrimination. It is however imperative for the management to come up with intervention measures that can accommodate infected employees, so that they can feel part of the workforce. Given the increased quality and length of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), many organisations are faced with the challenge of accommodating PLWHAs. Focus was on the perceptions of employees towards working with HIV/AIDS infected co-workers at Fedics food services in eastern Cape. The study was done to shed light on the willingness of employees to work with HIV/AIDS colleagues, whether or not they exist in the organisation. Using quantitative research, self administered questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 50 respondents drawn using random probability sampling procedure. Descriptive data analysis was used to establish employee perceptions on HIV/AIDS and the Chi-square was used to determine the levels of significance of each response. The results showed that employees at Fedics food services were willing to work with HIV/AIDS infected co-workers. Explanations of these results were linked to an effective awareness programme and HIV/AIDS policy of the company, as data depicted a significance level or P-value of less than 5% (P < 0.05). However, some significant differences existed among different groups of employees. Therefore, this implies that the management should keep on providing HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, in order to create an environment that is accommodative to infected and affected employees.

Key words: HIV/AIDS, PLWAs, perception, stigma, discrimination.