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HIV & AIDS Education

HIV/AIDS Education for Employees/Workers

Talking to Your Co-worker

Most people living with HIV/AIDS are in the workplace. One in six large U.S. worksites (with more than 50 employees) and one in 15 small U.S. worksites (with fewer than 50 employees) have had an employee or employees with HIV infection or AIDS.

You may already know someone living with HIV infection or AIDS. The person may be a co-worker, an employee, neighbor, friend, or family member. A workplace friend is often one of the first people someone living with HIV tells about his or her condition. Keep in mind that it takes courage for a person living with HIV to tell a co-worker or workplace friend that he or she has HIV.

When you learn that a co-worker is living with HIV/AIDS, you may be concerned about him or her. co-workers living with HIV/AIDS need social and emotional support while still continuing to be productive workers. There are many ways to respond with hope and consideration when learning a co-worker is living with HIV/AIDS.

What If An Employee Or co-worker Has HIV Infection Or AIDS?



If an employee or co-worker has HIV infection or AIDS, you may feel anxious. That's a normal reaction. People with HIV infection or AIDS also feel anxious about their health and about how their employers and co-workers will treat them.

Be supportive of employees and co-workers with HIV infection or AIDS. If you have a close relationship, you can let the person know you are concerned and offer support.

  • Most people with HIV infection or AIDS are able to function normally and independently. They want to live and work without being singled out or harassed. They need your understanding and sensitivity. Include your co-worker or work friend in the same work and social activities as always, whenever possible.
  • Let the person with HIV infection or AIDS decide whom to tell about their situation. Do not spread rumors or gossip about someone with HIV infection or AIDS.
  • Your co-worker may be absent form work on occasion. Encourage your co-worker to help you and other team members plan or restructure workflows until he or she returns to work.
  • Your employees or co-workers may have a spouse, family member, life-partner or close friend with HIV. Be supportive of them and remember that a caregiver cannot catch HIV from the person to whom he or she is providing care.
  • Respect your co-worker's privacy. Just as your own medical information is confidential, so is his or her information. Since there is no risk of catching HIV through normal workplace activities, you do not have any obligation to inform your supervisor or anyone else.

Some workers may be afraid to work with co-workers who have HIV or AIDS.

Leadership from supervisors, managers, or human resource department is important in establishing a workplace environment that is productive and supportive for workers living with HIV and other serious illnesses. Workshops can help workers understand that HIV is not transmitted by casual contact like sharing computers or telephones. Union training on HIV/AIDS can also provide parents with prevention information for their children.

If your workplace does not have a policy in place, learn more about workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programs.

How can I help?



You can help to prevent or to address the fear of people affected by HIV:

  • Become educated about HIV infection. Then, help your family and friends learn about HIV prevention. Just by talking, you can help save a life.
  • Promote HIV/AIDS education.
  • Demonstrate consideration and compassion for people affected by HIV or AIDS. co-workers with HIV or AIDS deserve the same compassion and consideration that would be offered to any worker with a long-term illness or disability.
  • Continue to treat your workers and work friends affected by HIV just as you always have.
  • Get involved with your community. Start, join, or volunteer for a project at your worksite, at your child's school, at your church or synagogue, or at any community organization.
  • Know your status- because medical treatment that lowers HIV viral load might also reduce risk for transmission to others, early referral to medical care could prevent HIV transmission in communities while reducing a person's risk for HIV-related illness and death. Learn more about HIV testing. Find a HIV or STD testing site near you.
Educating people about HIV/AIDS can save lives.

Misinformation and fear often lead employers to operate under old assumptions that an HIV diagnosis for an employee is fatal or puts other employees at risk. The majority of people with HIV/AIDS are living health and productive lives and most are in the workplace. An employee living with HIV/AIDS needs the emotional and social support of managers, employees, families, and communities.

Business Responds to AIDS/Labor Responds to AIDS (BRTA/LRTA) serves to increase and enhance workplace education, training, and support of employees, co-workers, managers, and family members. Contact the Business and Labor Resource Service at 1-877-242-9760.