An Employer’s Guide to Navigating Vaccination Mandates

Brandon Hulme, Product Lead at Deputy

The Delta variant has swept across the U.S. in the last several weeks, causing a sharp increase in cases — especially in areas with low vaccination rates. To help curb the potentially devastating impact of this latest strain, the U.S. government announced a vaccination mandate for all federal employees. Since that July announcement, numerous unions, associations, private companies, and organizations have put similar mandates in place.

But what do these mandates mean for business owners, workers, and consumers?

The country has been thrown into a confusing and tense period trying to balance public health and safety with economic activity, policy, and even personal freedoms. It’s messy. But there is hope, especially for business owners and local community leaders.

I’m Product Lead at Deputy, a scheduling and timekeeping software company. We work with over a million shift workers worldwide to ensure that they’re able to seamlessly and safely clock in and out of work.

Our team has been closely observing the vaccination mandates in the U.S. and has developed a Scheduling Safely Checklist to help businesses effectively navigate emerging mandates and Covid-19 testing requirements. Today, I’m excited to share the checklist and some strategies about how business owners can communicate with their teams and create a safe work environment.

Understanding the Impact

Bottom-line, vaccinations and regular Covid-19 testing are good for business. They are a proven method for keeping people safe, reducing infection rates, and minimizing symptoms and hospitalizations, should an infection occur.

In the workforce, vaccinations and frequent testing provide a barrier of protection for workers. It not only keeps them on the job and helps to keep a business running, more importantly, it is also an effective tool for prevention. The Delta variant is aggressive, and its impact has been devastating, especially for the unvaccinated population who have accounted for a majority of infection rates and deaths.

Momentum is swinging in favor of mandatory vaccinations and Covid-19 testing for those unable to get vaccinated. Most recently, New York state and the District of Columbia announced vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, joining a growing list of cities, states, and private businesses.

Take Action

First and foremost, the law is on the side of the employer in this matter. Private companies and government agencies can require employees to get vaccinated as a condition of employment (Associated Press).

That said, I believe most employers would rather work with their teams to get them vaccinated and/or tested frequently — rather than immediately issuing a mandate.

There are many ways to approach the conversation, whether it’s coming from a business owner or HR professional. Many companies have developed creative strategies and incentive programs to reassure employees and increase vaccinations.

Here are a few of the most notable strategies I’ve observed:

• Paid time off for vaccinations. This is a big one, especially for workers who fear losing shifts and pay. There are actually federal tax incentives for businesses that provide this to their team.
• Schedule a “vaccination day”. Allow staff to have dedicated time to get a vaccine from a local clinic, pharmacy, or mass vaccination site.
• Gamify vaccinations. Create an incentive program, or adopt programs rolled out by other companies, for employees that choose to get vaccinated. Dr. Bronner’s just announced a $1000 bonus for employees that get vaccinated and Uber and Lyft are offering free rides to vaccination clinics.
• Host a clinic. If able, hosting a vaccination clinic is a great way to encourage staff to get vaccinated. Businesses can partner with each other the local community to organize.
• One-on-one conversations. Open communication with staff has an immense amount of power and decision-making impact. Set aside time for employees to communicate concerns, ask questions, and even brainstorm solutions.

Can Technology Help?

The short answer, YES!

Software, especially for workforce management, has a huge impact on how businesses communicate with employees and streamline tasks. In this tumultuous time, there is plenty these companies can do to support the business community, whether it’s generating resources, making product changes, or even creating incentives.

That’s the case with Deputy.

Here’s what we’ve done at Deputy

Our intuitive software enables employers to track the vaccination status of employees, easing the burden of any reporting requirements while providing mental and emotional relief. The pandemic has intensified frustration and anxiety of the “unknown and unprecedented” — Deputy is helping to reduce those feelings for employers and their teams.

For employees that are exempt or not ready to receive a vaccination, we have Pre-Shift Questions that can be configured to require proof of a negative test to clock into work. We’ve also previously released several tools to help with safe clock-ins and tracking. These are valuable resources that can help ensure a safe and healthy work environment.

Additional recommendations and the Schedule Safely Checklist are available here.

There’s a lot of information here, but I know there’s still a ton of insights and information out there to share. I’d love to hear from you in the comments. How have you been keeping up with the latest vaccination mandates? What strategies are you using to approach the subject with your teams?