New York (AP) — Employers have lost patience with unvaccinated workers.
For months, most employers have relied on information campaigns, bonuses, and other incentives to encourage employees to become infected with COVID-19. Nowadays, more and more people are imposing rules that make it more troublesome for employees to refuse, from full obligations to requiring unvaccinated people to undergo regular tests.
Some employers are getting tougher, including the federal and state governments. California When new York, High tech giant Google and Facebook, NS Walt Disney With a corporation NFL. Vaccines are also beginning to be needed in some hospitals, universities, restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues.
However, new measures are unlikely to affect millions of unvaccinated Americans.
Many companies in need of shots, in most cases, already have mostly vaccinated salaried workers who are hesitant to work with companies that do not.
In contrast, large companies that rely on low-income blue-collar workers (food makers, warehouses, supermarkets, and other store chains) are kicking out employees and the labor shortages they face. Avoiding obligations for fear of exacerbating.
For example, Tyson Foods said about half of the US workforce (56,000 employees) was fired after more than 100 vaccination events have been hosted by meat and chicken processors since February. But the company said it had no plans to impose an obligation to reach the other half.
Wal-Mart and Amazon are the two largest private employers in the country, refusing to require hourly workers to vaccinate and continue to rely on strategies such as bonuses and onsite access to shots.But with a potentially strong signal, Wal-Mart said Headquarters employees will be needed Get vaccinated by October 4th.
The biggest precedent to date is from the federal government, the largest employer in the United States. President Joe Biden last week All federal employees and contractors You will need to be vaccinated or put up with weekly tests and lose privileges such as official travel.
The federal government says it will cover the cost of weekly testing. For other employers, insurance may pay for such tests in some workplaces, but not in others.
Byden’s decision could encourage other employers by suggesting that they have a solid legal basis for imposing similar rules, a human resources development study by consulting firm Gartner said. The person in charge, Brian Klopp, said.
However, Klopp said some companies face complex, beyond legality considerations, including deep resistance to vaccines in many of the states in which they operate.
Retailers like Wal-Mart may have a hard time justifying workers’ vaccination requirements while allowing shoppers to remain unvaccinated, Klopp added. Stores are afraid to alienate their customers and it is difficult to check their condition, so they mostly avoid the requirement for vaccines for their customers.
According to a Gartner survey, less than 10% of employers intend to require all employees to be vaccinated.
However, changes are underway in the face of frustration with stagnant vaccination rates and vigilance against the spread of the more contagious delta mutants. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Monday, 69.9% of American adults had at least one shot, failing to meet Biden’s target of 70% by July 4.
Union Square Hospitality Group, a New York City restaurant and bar group founded by Danny Meyer, now requires employees and customers to be vaccinated by September 7.
According to founder Ben Brayman, the San Francisco Bar Owners Alliance, which consists of about 300 bars, made a similar decision after a “highly angry and frustrated” meeting on vaccine endurance.
While some companies fear that vaccination obligations will drive workers away, the pandemic itself is causing absenteeism. Brayman said the fully vaccinated bartenders were positive and had to close the bar lately overnight after finding no replacement bartenders.
Some employers conclude that the need for vaccines is easier than trying to come up with different rules regarding masks and social distance for a small number of unvaccinated employees.
BlackRock, Global Investment Manager, currently allows only vaccinated workers to enter US offices, and people are free to maskless, as permitted by local health guidelines. He said he would sit next to each other and get together without restrictions. According to the company, 85% of US employees are vaccinated or in the process of firing.
Matthew Putman, CEO of New York-based high-tech manufacturing hub Nanotronics, said he was suffering from his decision to impose vaccine obligations on more than 100 employees. After all, almost all of them were already vaccinated, but he’s afraid he might have to fire a holdout.
“I hate that idea, but if it has to happen, it has to happen,” Putman said. “I lost a lot of sleep with this, but not as much as I lost because of the fear of infection.”
Other obligations may provide a clearer test of employee repulsion potential.
For example, hospitals and nursing home chains are increasingly in need of vaccines.So far, such an obligation Overcame legal issues.. More than 150 employees of the Houston Hospital System refused to take COVID-19 shots Dismissed or resigned After the judge dismisses the employee’s proceedings over the requirements.
Atria Senior Living, which operates more than 200 senior living communities nationwide, was one of the first companies to require staff to vaccinate in January.
moved. Nearly 99% of Atria’s 10,000 employees are vaccinated, and very few have dropped the requirement, said John Moore, CEO and Chairman.
“Our residents deserve to live in a vaccinated environment. Our staff deserves to work in a vaccinated environment,” Moore said.
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Associated Press business writers Anne D’Innocenzio and Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this story.
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