Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. It is one of the largest financial services companies in the world by market capitalisation, operating in 60+ countries and employing 123,000 people. Barclays move, lend, invest and protect money for 27 million customers and clients worldwide. Barclays in Africa has around 13,000 employees in 12 countries.
Barclays have a range of services available to staff – e.g. private health insurance for employees and their families, counselling and employee assistance support, and a reasonable adjustment scheme for colleagues with disabilities. For their employees across Africa, a range of personal, social and organisational issues impact on their effectiveness, which has a subsequent workplace impact in terms of reduced productivity / increased cost (direct and indirect). In particular, Africa is more seriously affected by certain conditions, such as poverty, unemployment, and the existence of endemic health threats - malaria, tuberculosis, and most notably HIV/AIDS. These factors place considerable strain on individuals, which is often magnified for those working as they are often required to support large/extended families, deal with home/work balance as well as cope with the pressures that accompany increasingly difficult business conditions in many countries.
In response, Barclays Africa and Indian Ocean offers its employees and their dependents access to a range of wellness initiatives. The Wellness Strategy seeks to provide an integrated and co-ordinated framework of programmes to address a variety of wellness related issues affecting colleagues, and consequently the business.
- Core Health Management - policy, insurance and impact assessment - operates at a local level.
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - range of highly responsive and accessible counselling / advice services, delivered via single region-wide supplier to ensure consistency / quality / co-ordination, and to facilitate monitoring / analysis of trends / problem indicators.
- HIV/AIDS Programme - comprehensive offering of education, voluntary counselling and testing / clinical management of HIV infected colleagues, also by single regional supplier with in-country partnerships with major suppliers / service providers.
To make a meaningful impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Barclays believe their contribution must be focused on the long-term by providing continued support and assistance to those who face the reality of a future with AIDS each day.
