Vaccination Fear May Impact Your Retailer - More Than You're Anticipating
40% of Americans Unlikely to Get Vaccinated

 

Workers' Vaccination Fears Pose Business Challenges, SHRM Survey Finds

While many workers in the U.S. are eager to receive the COVID-19 vaccination—and many employers plan to encourage them to do so—a significant number of workers say they are unlikely to get vaccinated, according to new research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

If large numbers of workers remain fearful of the vaccine, it could delay business from returning to normal operations.

At the same time, a substantial number of workers believe the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandatory for everyone who is able to receive it, which could create conflicts with colleagues who won't get vaccinated.

Many companies are encouraging their employees to get the vaccine, but they say they are not going to require workers to get vaccinated before they return to work.

SHRM also found that:

● 60 percent of workers will probably or definitely get the vaccine once it becomes available to them.

● Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of employees who are not planning to get vaccinated would change their minds if their employer offered incentives such as cash bonuses or stipends, paid time off (PTO) or gift cards.

● 12 percent of employees would be willing to get vaccinated only if they might otherwise lose their job.

"Organization leaders, including HR professionals, are making decisions about employees returning to the worksite that will greatly affect their organizations and impact significant society issues," said SHRM President and Chief Executive Officer Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP. "While 60 percent of organizations say they will not require the vaccination, I believe we will see employers strongly encourage vaccination in a broad range of enterprises and even consider offering employee incentives. Creating a safe workplace will be a collaborative effort between HR, business leaders and employees."

"For the 40 percent of employed Americans who are unlikely to get the COVID-19 vaccine, employer incentives can be an effective tool of encouragement. However, our research shows that most organizations (88 percent) are either unsure or are not offering or planning to offer any vaccine incentives at all."

Understanding Employees' Fears

The most commonly reported reasons given by employees who probably or definitely won't get vaccinated were concerns about possible side effects, the desire to wait and see if the vaccine is safe (and possibly get it later), and distrust of the COVID-19 vaccines.

While most organizations are not offering incentives beyond paid time off to get vaccinated, there are some notable exceptions. For example, at the high end of the incentive range, several major U.S. grocery chains have announced vaccination bonuses of up to $200, The Washington Post reported.

However, nearly 70 percent of employees who probably or definitely won't get vaccinated said no amount of incentive would convince them to get the vaccine, SHRM found.

For more information on SHRM's COVID-19 research, tools and resources, visit shrm.org/futurework. shrm.org