Managing People With Aids

10 Pages 2426 Words

h infected blood or body products. However, the risk of infection for most employees is very low, since there are a limited number of occupations where a worker will encounter blood or body products.

COST OF AIDS

Employees with AIDS and their Co-workers HIV-infection and AIDS can be expensive to an employer both directly and indirectly. One issue that managers confront is employee absenteeism. “Those with AIDS spend approximately 16 days a year in a hospital at an estimated cost of $1,000 per day, plus an additional $1,000 a day for medicine, and many more days at home not well enough to come to work.” (Paul and Townsend, p. 9) Another issue that a manager faces is what to do when the employee cannot perform the duties of their job any longer. The manager must decide whether to restructure the employee’s job, or transfer him or her to another position. Another matter that a manager needs to face is that eventually the employee will be too sick to continue to work. The manager needs to determine when this time has come and how to handle the situation.

The psychological issues that an employee with AIDS faces is also important to consider. Facing death is not easy, and an employee diagnosed with AIDS faces severe psychological stress. Managers must realize that the job performance of the employee may suffer, as they try to come to terms with their fate. The insurance industry calculates that a typical AIDS patient’s medical bills cost an average of $140,000 from diagnosis to death. According to a study by the Medical College of Georgia, treatment costs for AIDS patients have risen from $12,000 a year in 1992 to $18,000 in 1997. (Greene, p2) Since many employers provide health insurance for their workers, their premiums may go up, especially as more people make AIDS-related insurance claims. The costs for medical, disability, life insurance, and retirement benefits could reach $315,000 for an employee making $75,000 a y...