Woolworths continues to supplement a legally compliant and comprehensive occupational health service with Woolworths Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which provides the following free services to employees:
- confidential assistance following any personal or business crises, for example domestic violence, armed robbery;
- referral of individual employee to an appropriate service provider, for example social worker, psychologist;
- monitoring and following up with individuals with problems, for example substance abuse;
- and lifestyle counselling, for example smoking cessation.
HIV/Aids
The occupational health practitioners manage the “Know your HIV status” campaign and encourage employees who are HIV positive to register with the Qualsa clinical management programme.
HIV/Aids is more prevalent than other chronic diseases amongst the Woolworths workforce and is thus given special attention in our employee wellbeing management process. Once an employee is infected, we provide care and treatment seeking to prolong the health and life of those infected, create a non-discriminatory and supportive work environment and provide support programmes to all affected in the workplace.
Woolworths HIV/Aids prevention and management programme includes a focus on:
- the prevention of infection through our educational and awareness programmes and the success of the 2004/5 “Know your HIV status” campaign;
- encouraging employees who are HIV positive to manage their health appropriately by accessing the benefit available to them through the QUALSA clinical management programme:
- all permanent employees have access to telephonic counselling, vitamin supplements and to anti-retrovirals when needed.
Woolworths continues to encourage suppliers to implement effective HIV/Aids prevention and management programmes and all suppliers, as part of our Supplier Code of Business Principles, are required to have HIV policies.