Vaccinating Or Not Vaccinating: 5 Questions Managers Ought to Ask When Contemplating A COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In The Office
With COVID-19 vaccination programs rolled out around the world, business leaders are faced with a question that goes beyond the traditional HR workplace: "Vaccination or Vaccination?"
While this is a seemingly straightforward question, the answer to whether a company should make the COVID-19 vaccine a condition of employment is far from easy. We help companies respond both systematically and strategically.
To tackle this complex and previously unknown area, executives must first step back and ask themselves a few key questions that are specific to their unique industries and business environments. Questions to consider include the following.
5 key questions business leaders should ask themselves before commissioning the coronavirus vaccine
1. Are there any industry regulations or standards that would warrant a vaccine mandate?
If you don't have the answer to this question on hand, consider running an informal scan of peer organizations to see how they are approaching the matter. You can also contact professional organizations in your area to collect industry and geographic data.
Remember that multiple governing bodies from local to state, national and even international are involved in the final decision on dispensing, access and prioritization of vaccine distribution. For this reason, it is important that you obtain information from credible, informed experts with specific knowledge for your region. For example, in the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the Employment Equal Opportunities Act are all elements that should be considered in this decision.
2. Do a significant part of your workforce do their work in close proximity to one another?
Work environments come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the industry, the tasks being performed and the size of the company, to name a few. When thinking about the possible spread of an airborne virus like COVID-19, the most important consideration is certainly to create square meters in relation to the number of employees, but the calculations are not always that simple.
It is important to examine the physical setup of the workplace, including whether the work makes the workers more mobile or more sedentary. if at a certain place or at a certain time of day, e.g. B. during a shift change, crowds gather; and whether employees who have become remote workers in the course of the past year can stay at their alternative locations permanently.
3. Are your company's mission and / or values directly related to public health, wellbeing, or safety issues?
At the heart of any organization is its mission and values - the essence of what you do and how you do it. If this is exactly what places an emphasis on improving health, promoting well-being, or ensuring public safety, ensuring a high rate of vaccine adoption across the workforce is important to effectively deliver on your company's promise. Mission and values serve as a beacon for managers and employees, especially when making difficult decisions. Let these core organizational principles guide you to a decision that is consistent with the overall picture of the organization.
When considering how to handle vaccinations in the workplace, there are likely a number of other decisions to make as you plan for the future. Download this free e-book and use the tips it contains to make sure you are well prepared for success.
4. Do members of your workforce regularly interact directly with a concentrated population of vulnerable people?
While the ultimate goal of vaccination programs is to achieve a state of "herd immunity" throughout the population, the reality remains that particularly vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and immunocompromised, must take even stricter precautions if they interact with others right now. If your company's standard customer base encompasses one of these risk populations, and if face-to-face with these people is likely later in the day, your vaccine mandate approach may need to be more aggressive to accommodate both ethical and minor-line business considerations.
5. What percentage of the organization's workforce has direct contact with members of the public where social distancing could be a challenge or where crowds of more than 10 people regularly gather?
While social distancing and limiting the number of people in a single place are proven methods of minimizing the spread of the virus, the reality of many companies is running a service that prohibits the consistent use of either or both of these techniques. Does that mean these organizations have no choice but to require 100 percent vaccine adoption for employees? Legally no. Ethically? This is something that executives need to consider when combined with broader public health guidelines regarding crowd control, which appear to be a constantly moving target until herd immunity is achieved in some way. This is one of those issues that slips into regulatory and legal areas, but it's definitely worth keeping this in mind when deciding how best to manage vaccine compliance in the COVID-19 age.
If you answer “yes” to any of the first four questions, or if your answer to question 5 is 25 percent or more, it makes sense to review the pros and cons of having employees get the COVID-19 vaccine by a certain date or before returning to the physical work environment (if your company has switched to virtual work for the time being).
Bringing together experts in human resources, legal, risk management, and communications is a great place to start to gather additional facts that will affect your final decision on this matter. You are the expert for your company. So don't overlook the ability to implement different policies based on where you work, percentage of travel, ability to work remotely consistently and effectively, position description in terms of interacting with others or being designated a key employee, and access about or frequency of COVID-19 tests.
Of course, there are many options to consider between requiring every employee to get a vaccine and not having any vaccinations for everyone, including an employee vaccination incentive plan. Regardless of which vaccine policy you find right for your business, the work certainly doesn't stop there. Stay tuned for future posts that will describe some of the key business decisions and communication strategies we use to help our clients make decisions from concept to implementation.
Have you considered how workforce demographics and perceptions or personal preferences should be considered in the final decision on COVID-19 vaccine policy in the workplace?
– Debbie FieldAbout Debbie
Debbie is Vice President at The Grossman Group, where she delivers a variety of internal, executive, and altered communications solutions through strategic communications planning and delivery. She has worked with a number of healthcare, biotechnology, and health information technology organizations, including Novartis, Medtronic, NYU's Langone Health, Kaiser Permanente, Oracle Health Sciences, St. Jude Medical, and the Texas A&M Health Science Center to name just a few. With expertise in public health and infectious diseases, Debbie led the crisis communication efforts for the state of Texas and the governor's office during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
In determining how best to implement vaccination guidelines, these decisions will undoubtedly have an impact on the personal and professional lives of employees. As you navigate this next phase of change, make sure you lead and communicate with empathy and that you take people with you on the journey. Use this free e-book to help you out.
