Founding Partner, Michelle Foster, Quoted by Forbes on Impact of Pfizer Vaccine FDA Approval on Companies
/Most Americans Now Support Mask And Vaccination Mandates. Which Companies Will Follow Their Lead?
A new poll by USA TODAY and Ipsos found that a majority of Americans say protecting the common good is more important than ensuring personal liberty when considering whether to require people to get a Covid-19 vaccination or wear a protective mask.
An overwhelming 72% of those surveyed called mask mandates "a matter of health and safety," not an infringement on personal liberty.
68% supported businesses refusing service to the unvaccinated.
62% supported employers requiring workers to get the vaccination.
The USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll was taken online of 1,088 adults Aug. 17-18, 2021. It has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.4%.
Impact Of FDA’s Approval
Michelle Foster, managing partner of recruiting firm the Foster Group, said, “With the FDA ‘s approval today of the Pfizer vaccine, we will see a slew of new companies implementing vaccine mandates.
‘Those individuals insisting upon personal liberty not to be vaccinated will increasingly see their ability to pursue new employment opportunities circumscribed. We are already starting to see employers who will not hire applicants who refuse to be vaccinated,’’ she observed.
But waiting for FDA’s approval of the Pfizer and other drugs did not stop some companies and organizations from supporting vaccination requirements. The Washington Post reported, “A growing number of companies, from Facebook to Google and Salesforce, have implemented employee vaccine mandates for the office amid the spread of the delta variant in recent weeks.”
A new survey of 1,600 companies released today by employment law firm Littler Mendelson found 46% are more strongly considering a vaccine mandate in light of delta and the recent rise in cases.
Corporate Examples
The absence of national, state or local vaccination requirements turned many in the business community into de facto monitors and enforcers of their own covid safety measures. Indeed, the checkered and politicized enactment, enforcement and adherence to mask and vaccine mandates and other Covid-related safety measures has made it harder to address the coronavirus crisis.
Since the early days of the pandemic, business leaders have suffered through a series of raised expectations, dashed hopes and unexpected challenges that put their crisis management plans—if they had any—to the test.
Some companies have become examples for business executives on how to manage a crisis they never thought they’d ever have to face.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue. “The health and safety of restaurant employees and customers is a top priority,” the company said on their website, and listed several steps it has taken to help protect workers and the public from Covid.
The steps include requiring employees to wear masks or face coverings, and gloves, and making masks available for customers in cities where they are mandated; conducting wellness and temperature checks for employees before they start their shift; training employees on social distancing best practices for behind the counter; and implementing contactless operations.
NBC News reported that Google became the first major tech company to announce a vaccine mandate for its employees planning to return to the office later this fall.
"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated. We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo. Pichai also announced that the company is pushing its return-to-office date back to October.”
Citigroup
According to NBC News, “Citing the delta variant, the bank announced on Aug. 11 that employees will need to get vaccinated before returning to its offices, according to a LinkedIn post from Sara Wechter, the bank’s head of human resources.
“Employees at offices in the New York area, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, “will be expected to return at least two days a week and vaccination is required” starting Sept. 13, Wechter said.”
Advice For Business Leaders
A Clear Message
Nesochi Okeke-Igbokwe, M.D., is a health media expert and CEO of an internal medicine practice. She said, ‘The message to business leaders is quite clear. Essentially, if you would like employees to return to work in person during this pandemic, then you better create the safest work environment possible [where] there is no threat to any employee's health. From a business leader's perspective, the economic toll on a company having a Covid outbreak [among] employees can also be a huge detriment to the company. Not only will it disrupt business operations, but it may place a company in crisis mode.
‘The Covid-19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented demand for business leaders to re-evaluate their crisis management and contingency plans. The bottom line is that from a health perspective, no masks and no vaccinations especially [amind] this current delta surge may have life threatening consequences for all,” she warned.
‘From a business management perspective, no masks and no vaccinations ultimately may lead to major economic and financial risk for any company,” Okeke-Igbokwe predicted.
‘Recipe For Disaster’
Entrepreneur Emiliana Guereca recalled that, “2020 was an awful year for both employees and employers, and if we want to get back to business, businesses need to take the lead on mask and vaccination mandates.
“Taking risks with employees' lives is a recipe for disaster and loss of revenue for years to come. If you are running a corporation, you have a responsibility to keep employees safe, and the only way to do that under a pandemic is to mandate masks and vaccinations. Employers must find a way to incentivize vaccination rates because, after all, there is no corporation without employees,” she observed.