Information contained in this publication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or opinion, nor is it a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney.
After more than a year of a crushing global pandemic, the early summer brought hope for a long-anticipated return to normal business operations, at least in the United States. But those plans were derailed by the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant and mounting COVID-19 infections. The abrupt change left companies – many of which had just updated plans with an eye toward a post-pandemic future – scrambling to adjust policies on such pressing issues as vaccination, return-to-office timing and mask wearing.
To better understand where employers stand and where we may be headed next, Littler surveyed 1,630 in-house lawyers, C-suite executives and HR professionals from a variety of industries about their current plans, concerns and key considerations when it comes to vaccination of their workforces.
While most employers surveyed are encouraging, rather than requiring, vaccinations, the data shows an increasing openness to such mandates. However, concerns about resistance from employees and the potential impact on company culture still loom large for employers in weighing vaccine mandates. The survey also provides a window into how employers are defining their mandate policies, what actions they are taking to encourage workers to get vaccinated, and the extent to which they are delaying plans to return more employees to in-person work.
