At Homethrive, our goal is to support employers, employees, and their families by reducing work, worry, and stress. As your company tweaks and finalizes return-to-work strategies, we wanted you to be aware of the latest on vaccine mandates in the office.
Update: The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for large employers, but allowed a mandate for healthcare workers at hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Prior to the high court ruling, a federal appeals court had previously reinstated the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers.
The mandate, if upheld, would have required companies with one hundred or more employees to require them to get vaccinated, or risk fines; it would have covered roughly 80-million American workers.
The previous lower court ruling called the mandate “an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs.”
Across the country, private employers have been grappling with the issue of vaccine mandates and how to proceed.
One study suggests more than half of all U.S. employers plan to or already have a vaccine mandate in place.
A Willis Towers Watson survey of 543 employers found 57% said they either require or plan to require vaccinations. Of that, 18% already do and 7% are planning to put a requirement in place.
Another 32% said they would do so if the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Emergency Temporary Standard takes effect.
Some companies are concerned they’ll lose employees if they require them to get a jab. But, according to the survey, less than 5% of companies reported seeing a spike in resignations over mandates.
Homethrive’s VP of Human Resources Lisa Bomrad told the Balancing Act, in her experience, companies are “all over the board on the topic.”
“Most were hoping that the regulations would stick so that would level the playing field for talent attraction and retention,” she said. “While I know one of the large global employers who did take a hard approach and required vaccinations, many others are taking a wait and see approach.”