PROFILE 14 : GLOBALISING A COMPANY HIV/AIDS STRATEGY: Levi Strauss and Co., Worldwide

A. THE COMPANY

Levi Strauss and Co. (LS&CO.) manufactures and markets apparel worldwide. The company employs 35,000 people – the majority in manufacturing facilities in the US, Europe and Asia, and some in Latin America. Most product comes from the company’s owned and operated facilities around the world, with the remainder soured from outside suppliers. Annual revenues exceed US$ 6.5 billion.

Young men aged 15 to 25 years comprise a key segment of the company’s international market; Profile 10 examines the company’s contribution to HIV/AIDS awareness in this group.

B. REASONS FOR ACTION ON HIV/AIDS

The company is headquartered in San Francisco and so has experienced first-hand the emergence of the disease in the early 1980s. HIV/AIDS has directly threatened the wellbeing of employees and their families, and has ravaged the headquarters community.

The company seeks to protect its employees while maintaining a strong commitment to good corporate citizenship and human rights. Consequently, the company's policy statement on HIV/AIDS commits it to: (1) stop the spread of HIV/AIDS for LS&CO. employees and their families; (2) ensure that those already infected receive the counselling, and medical and social support necessary to continue their lives in a normal, productive and dignified manner; (3) work within LS&CO. communities on a worldwide basis to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS; and (4) be a leader within the global corporate community by encouraging and assisting other corporate entities to be aware and proactive in meeting the challenge of AIDS. The policy focuses first on employees and works out to the wider community in partnership with business, the public sector and non-profits/NGOs.

C. EXAMPLE ACTIONS

LS&CO. exemplifies how a major multinational can develop a corporate policy on HIV/AIDS and "roll it out” in its home country as well as around the world.

Activities in the US

In 1985, LS&CO. headquarters formed an employee AIDS taskforce, which worked in partnership with the business community and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to develop corporate AIDS educational materials including videotapes, guidelines for managers, a resource manual, and information brochures for employees and their families. Materials were produced in both English and Spanish.

To promote HIV education and awareness in local communities around LS&CO.'s regional office in El Paso, Texas, the company's Health Promotion and Employee Assistance Programme went on to form partnerships with community agencies such as the Southwest AIDS Committee, city health department and the University of Texas at El Paso.

In 1992, the Levi Strauss Foundation made 45 grants, totalling US$ 945,000, to HIV/AIDS causes in the US.

International Activities

In 1987, with the objective of extending the company's HIV/AIDS philosophy and programmes to all LS&CO. communities, the company shared guidelines developed for programmes in the US with facilities overseas. A global AIDS steering committee asked international facility managers to assess the level of concern about HIV/AIDS in their local communities and anticipate its potential expansion, and to then develop a strategy to protect employees and help community agencies to meet the threat.

LS&CO. acknowledged that, while maintaining a consistent HIV policy, each facility needed to create a plan sensitive to the local culture, ethnicities and values, and to the degree of public awareness and government support. Activities in LS&CO. communities globally include the following:

Canada: In partnership with the Canadian AIDS Society and the Federal Centre for AIDS, LS&CO.'s Canada Division produced the country's first comprehensive training manual specifically for AIDS in the workplace. The Canada headquarters has also provided technical assistance to more than 15 companies in developing their HIV/AIDS policies.

Asia Pacific: Believed to be the first company in Japan to create an employee education programme targeted at AIDS prevention and awareness, Levi Strauss Japan has become a model for Japanese corporations that want to address the AIDS crisis. The book Talk About AIDS was translated into Japanese and made available to all employees, as well as their families, retailers/suppliers and other companies.

LS&CO. is about to distribute an HIV/AIDS prevention brochure to its employees in the Asia-Pacific region as part of its Asia-Pacific AIDS Initiative. The company launched the initiative in January 1996 to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among its employees, their family members and the people of the region, and to provide support for people affected by the disease. The brochure will be available in Basu-Malay Chinese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Tagalog. The Asia-Pacific Division is also exploring ways to help its growing number of suppliers in the region to respond to the epidemic.

Europe: In the Netherlands, the company is developing educational materials for use in the workplace, while in the UK, it has undertaken major fundraising efforts. The UK marketing function has supported such projects as Positive Lives, a book and exhibition developed by the Terrence Higgins Trust in 1994 on how different people cope with HIV/AIDS.

As part of its commitment to periodically update its resource materials to reflect new information on HIV/AIDS, the San Francisco headquarters is in the process of developing a new HIV/AIDS education video for all employees. The video will incorporate the global company identity and also focus on recent developments in the epidemic, such as new drug therapies that are allowing many employees in the US to return to work.

D. RESULTS TO DATE

LS&CO. not only acts on its policy, but also monitors and measures its impact. The Asia-Pacific AIDS Initiative began with a baseline study of employee knowledge and then measured the impact of programme activities a year later. Figure 16 demonstrates how employee awareness has increased in the 15 countries in the region as a result, with nine of the countries showing an increase of 50% or greater over the year.

FIGURE 16 Increase in awareness of HIV/AIDS among Asia-Pacific employees from 1995 to 1996

Contact: Richard Woo, Community Affairs Department
Levi Strauss and Co.
1115 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111, USA

Tel: 1 415 544 6000