A survey of 750 employers carried out this week is being reported to reveal that 23% of those employers plan to mandate vaccination against COVID-19 for their staff, with 51% saying that they would encourage their employees to have the vaccine by providing information and 37% reporting that they will be promoting the benefits of vaccination through internal communications. The data also highlighted the impact of the vaccine rollout on recruitment processes, with 49% of employers admitting that, when presented with equally suitable applicants, they would hire a vaccinated candidate over an unvaccinated one.
Some employers in the UK have already announced plans to set up IT systems to track whether their workers have been inoculated against COVID-19, creating a form of vaccine passport. Some companies have pledged to go a step further by dismissing or declining to hire anyone who refuses to take the vaccine, including Barchester Healthcare, a care home management company running over 200 homes. Barchester have said that it will not employ anyone who has refused the vaccine for non-medical reasons.
Employers are advised to think very carefully before announcing, whether formally or informally, of their approach to vaccinations in the workplace. The issue is fraught with legal complexities and the extent to which an employer can mandate vaccinations will be case specific. It would also to be prudent to wait until the vaccination process is further down the line, with proven efficacy here in the UK and taking into account any Government policies (if any) that may become either law or guidance in respect of the so called 'vaccination passports'. Whilst at this stage the Government position is that no such passports will be compulsory, it is also a matter of public record that IT companies have been tendering to design such capability - it may therefore be that some non-compulsory systems are brought in which could come to the aid of certain employers.
For now, all employers should take legal advice on what their future approach to vaccinations will be, particularly as employees start to return to the workplace in more numbers post Lockdown 3.0.
