Coronavirus Research

U.S. Supreme Court’s Vaccination Ruling Puts Business Leaders in Hot Seat (i4cp login required)

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 10:03:00 GMT

Last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling to halt the OSHA test-or-vaccinate mandate for businesses clearly signaled that leaders are back in the hot seat when it comes to responsibility for deciding on vaccination requirements for their workforces. And more are choosing to do just that.

The Supreme Court Ruling

On January 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked OSHA vaccine-or-test mandates for large organizations (those with 100 or more employees). The court let stand a vaccination mandate for employees of healthcare facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding.

According to a new Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) survey—for which data was collected just prior to the legal decision—39% of the 763 participating business leaders have imposed their own mandates already, requiring proof of full vaccination for all workers as a condition of employment unless exempted for medical or religious reasons. The figure was up from 29% in September 2021.

About one in five survey participants said their organizations were waiting for the high court's decision before taking any action; the subsequent ruling left the door open for states to weigh in on mandates. Consequently, action at the state level could further direct organizational leaders' next steps. And some may not object to that. i4cp's September survey found about one in five (19%) leaders polled at that time stating that a government-imposed vaccination mandate would be something of a relief as they'd wanted to require immunizations but struggled with the decision.

More than half (54%) of this month's survey respondents told i4cp that at least three-fourths of their workers are already vaccinated; 34% reported more than 90% vaccinated.

Vaccinations aren't an all-or-nothing decision

Partial vaccination mandates are in play for some companies, too. Among those i4cp surveyed, 38% say their firms are requiring (or plan to require) proof of vaccination, but only for employees who need to enter an on-site location. In addition, 42% reported that proof of full vaccination is required by their organizations for all non-employees who enter workplaces—vendors, suppliers, customers, or others.

Just over half of those surveyed say they still prefer to encourage (versus require) employees to be vaccinated; this percentage is nearly unchanged since the September poll.

Most organizations have defined "full" vaccination

About half of the business leaders polled by i4cp say that their organizations define "full" vaccination as both shots of two-dose vaccines, while only 1% consider one shot of a single-dose vaccine to meet that same standard. The latter figure could reflect the greater prevalence (and higher effectiveness ratings) of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

One in four of those surveyed include boosters in their definition of fully vaccinated status, specifying one or two-dose vaccinations plus any recommended boosters.

Drilling down, i4cp found only 24% of survey participants reporting that their organizations haven't addressed boosters yet, while 15% have already added recommended boosters to their vaccination policies. Mirroring the proportion of respondents encouraging vaccinations, just over half (53%) say they prefer to encourage, not mandate, boosters.

When it comes to the incentives offered by organizations to encourage both vaccinations and boosters, there has been little change over the past few months. The top-three incentives remain paid time off for post-injection recouperation, if needed (63%); paid time off to be vaccinated (57%); and provision of educational materials in support of vaccination efficacy (55%). As of January, only 12% of companies reported use of remuneration (cash, gift cards, etc.) as an incentive; even fewer (just 4%) offered discounts on healthcare premiums to fully vaccinated workers.

Is time running out for unvaccinated workers?

Currently, 35% of survey respondents say that their organizations require regular testing for unvaccinated workers as a condition of employment, and 34% require negative test results for those unvaccinated employees to enter an on-site location.

Who pays for those tests? Nearly one in four survey participants say that a decision hasn't been made yet in their organizations. Among those who had decided, respondents were evenly split (at 17% for each option) that companies covered the cost or expected unvaccinated workers to do so themselves.

For employees who remain unvaccinated and are ineligible for exemptions, termination of employment is the punitive measure already taken or planned by the largest portion (26%) of respondents. Requiring those unexempt and unvaccinated workers to pay for their own testing ranked second (17%), followed by placing employees on unpaid suspension pending their vaccination (12%).

Vaccination Decision-Making Continues to Evolve

Survey questions on unvaccinated workers, encouragement incentives, and other topics found that many potential actions by organizational leaders are still under consideration. Further, results from the January survey reflect responses received immediately prior to the Supreme Court decision. Consequently, i4cp expects to see more shifts in those specific talent strategies as business leaders make post-ruling choices regarding vaccinations for their workforces.

Some Employers Are Making Workers Pay for Refusing Vaccinations (i4cp login required)

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 10:00:00 GMT

Employer response to the Biden administration's recent COVID-19 vaccination mandate has been swift in some cases, more thoughtful and measured in others, according to the latest research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

Our September Getting Employees Vaccinated research—the latest in i4cp's 2021 survey series on pandemic-related issues—polled 534 business and talent professionals about the choices their organizations are making—and considering making—regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on organizational performance and workforce well-being.

Some employers (11%) have already begun, or are preparing to implement policies that require unvaccinated workers (those who are not exempt for medical/religious reasons), to shoulder the expense of weekly COVID testing when it is required for access to company workplaces; others (31%) are currently considering this move.

Further, while only 4% of respondents said that their organizations have or will implement a monthly surcharge for healthcare coverage for unvaccinated employees, another 23% are considering doing so.

Other measures currently in very limited use but under consideration: paid and unpaid suspensions and redeployment of unvaccinated employees to remote positions.

In a recent blog—"Employers Are Bracing for Vaccine Mandate Backlash"—we noted that 38% of surveyed business and talent leaders anticipate losing employees if vaccination is made a condition of employment, a result that i4cp CEO Kevin Oakes describes as "realistic and expected because most companies have workers who choose not to be vaccinated."

What organizations are doing about those employees who refuse vaccinations (and don't qualify for exemptions) is a burning issue for many leaders at present.

For unvaccinated employees, there are prices to pay

Two of the most pressing questions about unvaccinated employees concern the aforementioned costs for testing and healthcare coverage, and the specter of termination for failure to comply with vaccination mandates.

Responses to the survey reveal an environment in which most companies haven't made firm decisions about unvaccinated workers yet—evidence of the ongoing (and not unwise) wait-and-see-what-happens approach that has characterized much of the strategic decision-making that's taken place in the volatile wake of the pandemic's outbreak.

The survey also asked about eight specific options for dealing with employees who refuse vaccinations and don't qualify for exemptions. Fifteen percent of respondents—the largest proportion—said they already had or planned to pursue a policy of termination without severance; another 20% were considering that action. While just 4% said their organizations would terminate with severance, another 23% reported that they were weighing that option.

Vaccination incentives reflect several changes

Throughout the year, i4cp research has tracked the use of incentives meant to encourage employees to opt for vaccinations.

The September survey asked about a half-dozen strategies from paid time off to subsidized childcare. There has been little movement since mid-year in the use of most and limited consideration about further changes.

However, although granting paid time off and arranging onsite providers to enable employees to get vaccinated have changed little since June, both have more than tripled in use since the first of the year.

The other notable exception is the use/planned use of remuneration, such as cash or gift cards. Although cited by only 15% of respondents in the current survey, that figure represents a more-than-double percentage jump since the beginning of the year, and a near doubling since June. At present, another 10% of survey participants say they are considering implementing remuneration as a vaccination incentive.

Trends in reported use/planned use of vaccination incentives

Vaccination mandates are appearing in job postings

The importance of constant and effective communications with employees has been repeatedly affirmed by organizational leaders since the onset of the pandemic.

The current survey asked about a dozen communication strategies (up from eight in June) that organizations are using to encourage employees to get vaccinations. Mid-year and now, the most-cited option (55% of respondents) is creating an internal pro-vaccination communications campaign that focuses on employee health and well-being.

Still-popular options to urge vaccinations (cited by 42% or more of respondents) include leveraging personal statements and role modeling by leaders, creating FAQ guides to help managers respond to employee concerns, and adapting existing flu vaccine materials to encourage COVID vaccinations.

Several strategies not cited among the top choices are nevertheless seeing some use now and garnering consideration for future implementation. These actions to watch (and percentages of respondents currently or planning to use them) include:

Mentioning mandatory vaccination policies in all internal and external job postings (30%)
Leveraging employee resource groups (ERGs/BRGs) to encourage vaccinations (20%)
Leveraging ERGs/BRGs to alert leaders to potential issues related to vaccination policies (16%)
Leveraging influential employees to act as vaccine ambassadors (10%)

Survey Results: Getting Employees Vaccinated (Sept. 2021 edition) (i4cp login required)

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 17:32:00 GMT

Download the results to i4cp's reoccurring Getting Employees Vaccinated survey, conducted in late September 2021. The results provide benchmarks for:

Expected outcomes from the Biden administration's executive order/mandate on employee vaccinations for private businesses
Return to office plans within the U.S.
Vaccination rates for employees
Cost coverage for employee COVID-19 testing
Tracking and verifying employee vaccination status
Measures taken if employees choose not to be vaccinated

Employers Are Bracing for Vaccine Mandate Backlash (i4cp login required)

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 10:30:00 GMT

Almost four in 10 business leaders (38%) expect their organizations to lose employees as a result of implementing the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

One in five say that requiring vaccinations will repel potential new hires, and 27% anticipate greater divisiveness in their workplaces.

"I'm actually surprised that those numbers aren't even higher," said i4cp CEO Kevin Oakes of the findings. "We see loss of employees (and potential candidates) as realistic and expected because most companies have workers who choose not to be vaccinated. It's only logical that organizations will lose some of those employees, especially in companies where vaccination is a condition of employment. From a culture perspective, organizations will need to pay close attention to effects this may have on workforce psyche and engagement long term."

September's "Getting Employees Vaccinated" survey—the latest in an Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) series tracking pandemic-related trends—revealed significant expected impacts to the workforce as a result of the announced mandate.

In contrast to the 38% of survey respondents who anticipate losing employees because of mandated vaccinations, 14% said they expected to retain employees. And while 19% say that mandates will logically repel some job candidates, 11% predict the requirements will help attract new talent. Forty percent of survey participants said that it's simply too soon to gauge the impact of the mandate on their organizations.

For some companies (19%) the governmental mandate takes the pressure off organizational decision-makers who may have wanted to require vaccines, but struggled with making the call.

Evolving policies reflect a shift from encouraging toward requiring vaccinations

Few (20% of survey respondents) said their organizations didn't require vaccinations prior to the Biden administration mandate, but will do so now—joining the 23% who said their firms already required vaccinations. Thirty-five percent of participants said it is too soon to tell how the mandate will affect their organizations.

Employer stance on vaccinations has evolved during 2021; through June of this year, i4cp's research consistently found employers acknowledging reluctance to set policies that require vaccinations for their workers—electing to encourage instead.

In January, 35% of leaders told us that their policies encouraged, but didn't require vaccinations, with just 17% saying they required or planned to require employees—regardless of work location—to get vaccinations. By June, the number of organizations that were encouraging vaccination had risen to 73%, but still just one in 10 required vaccinations of all employees.

But the Delta variant quickly changed opinions. In September, 20% of respondents say that their policies require all employees to provide proof of vaccinations. Another 9% plan to do so, and 29% say that they're considering requiring proof. At 57%, the proportion of organizations choosing encouragement over requirement at present remains strong, though markedly lower than levels earlier in the year.

More than half (56%) of the 534 business leaders in global, multinational, and national organizations who responded to the latest survey reported that at least half of their employees are fully vaccinated, and 33% put the number at more than 75% of their workforces.

Some employers are watching and waiting before they act

Write-in responses to the survey confirm that many leaders are waiting for further details on the mandate. While some are preparing to comply, others are biding their time and watching legal actions play out.

Assuming the mandate is upheld—and that organizations will continue with their own self-imposed mandates—questions from HR and other business functions are looming on appropriate strategies for execution. Three are receiving widespread attention already:

Tracking

One compelling question concerns how employers can confirm that workers have received vaccinations. The current research found that an official COVID-19 vaccination record from a healthcare provider, vaccination site, or other recognized source has become the favored verification method.

As the graph indicates, current data reflects significant changes in several areas when compared with figures from mid-year: The June survey found 25% of respondents not planning to track employee vaccination information, 20% using the honor system, 21% making vaccination information voluntary, and 18% requiring an official record.

Testing

The Biden administration directive calls for unvaccinated workers to produce negative COVID-19 test results on a weekly (at least) basis in order to be admitted to workplaces. Further, many who responded to the i4cp survey reported that their organizations already require employees and others (vendors, customers, suppliers, etc.) who are unvaccinated to produce negative test results before entering an onsite location.

The question on leaders' minds: Who will pay for testing?

The largest percentage of survey participants—44%—say they haven't decided yet. Sixteen percent plan to cover all testing costs for employees, and 7% say they'll cover costs for employees with approved exemptions only. Nine percent say that unvaccinated employees will bear the cost themselves.

Workplace safety

Finally, if vaccinated and unvaccinated employees are to be present in the same workplaces, what steps should employers take to ensure that their people are safe?

The survey asked about nine possible strategies; three responses stood out:

Two-thirds of participants (68%) say they already have or plan to set up all workplaces to facilitate social distancing;
almost the same number—65%—are choosing to provide remote work options for employees whose jobs don't require their presence onsite;
and 60% say that regardless of vaccination status, their employees must wear masks while in organizational workplaces.

While fewer than 10% of respondents say that their organizations are adapting their workplaces to separate vaccinated and unvaccinated employees, other safety strategies include using hoteling to manage building occupancy levels, requiring only unvaccinated employees to wear masks, and requiring regular testing of unvaccinated employees who want to work onsite.

i4cp continues to monitor the evolving issue of vaccinations for employees and provide the latest information for employers. We encourage all leaders to visit our publicly available Employer Resource Center and register there to attend i4cp's Getting Hybrid Work Right virtual meeting series (also open to the public).

Preliminary data from the September "Getting Employees Vaccinated" survey is available on the i4cp website, and another article will be published soon to cover findings on vaccination incentives for employees, organizational communication strategies, and what companies are doing with workers who refuse vaccinations.

Carol Morrison is an i4cp senior research analyst

The Trouble with Asking Employees to Wear Vaccination Flair (i4cp login required)

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 11:00:00 GMT

When the CEO of Ballad Health announced in early-July that employees would be required to wear color-coded badges representative of their COVID-19 vaccination status, he emphasized that whether or not employees chose to disclose their status was up to them. But either way, employees would be required to wear a blue or orange vaccination-related badge—those who didn't comply would face disciplinary action.

While the classic 1999 film "Office Space" offered a comedic send-up of oppressive corporate practices, like requiring employees to wear badges or pins (referred to as "flair") that communicated messages they didn't necessarily believe in or face firing, the COVID vaccination badging issue is no laughing matter.

"Our employees may choose to wear the blue, which indicates to fellow team members that they have chosen to be vaccinated and they have chosen to share that," Ballard Health's CEO Adam Levine told a local reporter.

"If you don't want to share your vaccine status, you wear orange, which says, ‘I don't want to share my vaccine status,' or if you chose not to be vaccinated you wear orange."

Dubbed the Badge Buddies program, the policy was positioned as a way for the healthcare system to comply with OSHA's Occupational Exposure to COVID-19; Emergency Temporary Standard , which was released in June. The objective of the OSHA ruling is to protect healthcare workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19 in settings where people with COVID-19 are reasonably expected to be present. The OSHA ruling mandates that healthcare employers develop and implement a COVID-19 plan to identify and control COVID-19 hazards in the workplace. Levine was confident that the badging program was a solid solution to this tracking mandate.

The employee acceptance or resistance factor

The Badge Buddies plan didn't land well with many of Ballad Health's 15,000 employees who staff the healthcare system of 21 hospitals and clinics across Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. The uproar from employees about infringement on their personal rights, healthcare decisions, and privacy was swift and unremitting.

Just two weeks after the policy was announced and the widespread revolt started, Levine relented and abandoned it, saying he'd made "a bad decision for the right reasons."

The vaccination issue is a difficult no-win proposition

The messiness of the challenge of verifying the vaccination status of employees is the latest highly charged damned-if-we-do/damned-if-we-don't dilemma for HR and other leaders in every industry.

At the moment, most employers are not providing employees with badging or other visual cues that indicate their vaccination status to others.

Results of a recent survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), which looked at the effect of the highly infectious Delta variant on employer policies, found most of the 670 respondents (55%) reporting that their organizations will not provide employees with badges or other visual cues that indicate to others that they are vaccinated. Few (10%) reported that this is currently under consideration in their organizations; just 4% said all employees will be mandated to wear visual vaccination cues.

Our current situation--with Delta surging and overwhelming healthcare providers large and small across the U.S. at the same time the CDC is saying those who are fully vaccinated will need boosters at some point, and vaccination resistors growing increasingly adamant, is added pressure on employers wrestling with questions like:

Do employees have the right to know if their co-workers are vaccinated?
How can workers feel confident returning to the office or worksite if they have no way of knowing if the people around them have made decisions that will or won't protect them and others?
How can we ensure safe workspaces and reassure all employees who are worried about the risks of exposure to the highly infectious menace of the Delta variant?
Should we just keep everyone who can work remotely away from offices and worksites indefinitely?

The dilemmas are real, and effect employers beyond healthcare—industries such as tech, manufacturing, service providers, and all other industries in between are looking for answers to what are more often than not often impossible questions.

Requiring that people provide proof of vaccination in order to be on the premises of a business, or to enter a venue—such as the U.S. Open, which announced last week that tennis fans must produce proof of vaccination in order to sit in the stands—seems like the best approach. But even this strategy has drawbacks—the implied safety of this rule doesn't afford total peace of mind, since we've all seen news coverage of counterfeit proof of vaccination cards.

In the end, even if the Ballad Health colored-badging plan had moved forward, would employees have fully trusted one another to truthfully report (and wear cues about) their vaccination status? How helpful or accurate would a badge or a button—a piece of flair—really be?

And even implementing technology, most of which relies on employee attestation has drawbacks—how accurate is it really? Some technology can track coronavirus test results, contact-trace, or control badge access to worksites based on employee testimony, but again—how safe can employees expect to be when so much relies on vaccine compliance and truthfulness about it. These are questions that color-coded badges alone cannot answer, at least not right now.

Lorrie Lykins is i4cp's Vice President of Research

Apply the Business Lessons of 2020 to Deal with the Delta Variant (i4cp login required)

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:30:00 GMT

Data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) latest survey, which polled nearly 700 professionals, found the number-one concern among employers related to the surge of the COVID-19 Delta variant is the stress it heaps on the health and well-being of their workforces.

It's heartening that most employers (67% of those surveyed) recognize the debilitating consequences of operating in perpetual crisis mode—the added strain the variant is having on workforces already fatigued by nearly two years of upheaval topped the list of concerns.

While those who participated in the survey represent a mix of private and public sector industries and organizations worldwide ranging from health care, business & financial services, to retail, tech, manufacturing, government, and more, they share common concerns clearly grounded in how to make sound policy decisions that directly impact their employees.

Now that we have vaccines, the dilemmas the Delta variant presents to organizations vary slightly from the quandaries we faced in the early days of the pandemic—and they are thorny. What to do about employees who refuse vaccinations or mask wearing, even after these actions have been mandated? Will employee turnover spike if policies require employees to work onsite?

Will organizations end up with fractured cultures because some employees work onsite while others work from home? How do leaders reverse course on recent return to the office directives without looking like they're wishy-washy (or worse—don't really know what they're doing)?

The lessons of 2020 are clear, but before the rapid spread of the Delta variant blew up, it seemed that many leaders were eager to plow ahead, get everyone back onsite, and settle into whatever semblance of normalcy most closely aligned with the pre-pandemic past. But moving ahead now that we have pandemic 4.0 to deal with, the most recent past is what ought to inform the way forward.

Recommendations

1. Take care of your people

The importance of checking in with employees to see how they're doing (not how they are coming along on a current project, but how they are truly feeling) cannot be understated. The early days of the pandemic demonstrated how important checking in on the overall well-being of team members is. But personalizing those check-ins is important too—if you have team members who lean toward being introverted, ask them about their preferred communication styles and cadence—do they prefer a phone call or maybe an email rather than a video chat? Is a quick Teams chat with the entire team once a week all they need, or do they want more structured one-on-one time? Encourage your employees to take care of themselves and to take time off. Even if the Delta variant isn't spiking in a region where employees are located, it may be in areas where their loved ones live. Don't assume. Lead with kindness.

2. Communicate with the goal of educating, not lecturing

Reliance on information coming from sources such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can help steer away from discussions that can quickly become emotionally charged and personal. Stay away from opinions and hearsay; stick with objective data and facts.

Now that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which will be marketed as Comirnaty, has been approved by the FDA for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in people ages 16 and older, employers may see a decrease in vaccination hesitancy. Employers that were waiting for FDA approval before making policy decisions about vaccine mandates may feel free to move ahead.

But addressing the concerns of employees or customers related to vaccination may continue to be a challenge, since the Pfizer vaccine remains under emergency use authorization (EUA) for children ages 12 to 15 years of age and for the administration of a third dose in certain immunocompromised individuals. And the Moderna vaccine is still awaiting FDA approval. Staying informed and sharing official information rather than debating is the best way to manage through this latest twist in the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Communicate transparently; if you don't have an answer, say so

Trust is essential to sustaining a healthy and resilient culture—the importance of this is magnified in times of crisis. Be open with employees, even if it means acknowledging that you don't have the answer.

If some policy decisions about return to the office, mask, or employee vaccination mandates, flexible scheduling, etc. are still being discussed or need to be revised, be open about it. The situation is fluid, as is the pace and intensity of developments, which seem to happen overnight. Again: if the leaders of your organization are still trying to figure things out, don't go silent—be candid about this. No one has all the answers because none of us have ever been here before; keeping employees informed about how and why decisions are made as things evolve is a positive approach to dealing with uncertainty.

4. Read the room: Policies and practices should reflect the culture of the organization

If your organization touts its commitment to listening to employees, employee sentiment must be a major consideration in all decision making specific to managing through the pandemic. Listen to employees and when possible, act on what you hear, and ensure that those decisions and actions are clearly tied to your stated values and principles.

Attempting to force an unpopular or rigid policy on a workforce can result in loss of trust in leadership, alienation, and turnover, especially in a time when so many issues are equally overwhelming.

Organizations that have collaborative cultures built on respect and openness will always fare better in any crisis than those that are helmed by control-happy leaders intent on bending the will of employees rather than adjusting to change.

5. Identify and prioritize what needs to be operationalized

Making decisions about mandates and policies is only one step; coming up with a plan of who, what, where, when, and how is critical. So is executing on the plan. Whatever your organization is wrestling with now, and whatever decisions are ahead, be sure that they are thought-through, clearly communicated, and a clear accountability framework is in place.

6. Consider whether, where, and how to redeploy employees who refuse to comply with certain policies

Shortages of workers in key areas and roles is a consideration for some organizations. This reality is driving some to look at redeploying rather than terminating employees who refuse to comply with vaccination, testing, or mask-wearing mandates. For example, are there other areas of the organization where vaccine-hesitant employees can be rotated to? This may be a temporary solution, but one at least worth discussing, especially if crippling staff shortages are a concern.

7. Leverage the lessons of 2020 to achieve greater agility in the months ahead

Last year taught us that we can persevere and be productive in times of disruption. What are the lessons your organization learned that should not be forgotten? How were you more agile than you ever could've imagined before the pandemic? If less bureaucracy worked for an organization in 2020, what are the compelling reasons for reverting to that previous model? What is the worst thing that happened when managers were empowered to use discretion regarding work arrangements? What can be gained by dictating policy, rather than enabling employees to seek out and share new solutions? The Delta variant means that organizations will have to continue to wrestle with these questions. But some already have the answers and are mapping out the route for the road ahead informed by where we've been.

Lorrie Lykins is i4cp's Vice President of Research

Over 50% of Companies Are Now Considering Employee Vaccine Mandates (i4cp login required)

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:37:00 GMT

How quickly things change.

When the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) started monitoring employee vaccine policies back in January 2021, a mere 5% of organizations reported intentions to require COVID-19 vaccinations once available. Nearly seven months later—in late July—that number had only risen by a few percentage points.

In fact, the numbers had remained so steady that we considered stopping our surveying about it—as well as the various approaches organizations were using to encourage employees to get vaccinated without mandating it, and focus more exclusively on the challenges of returning to the office and hybrid work models.

These days … how things change in a hurry.

The Delta variant has pushed employers from encouraging to mandating vaccinations

A few months ago, even with politically charged resistance to vaccines among a percentage of adults in the U.S., return to office plans were crystalizing. The data showed it—September 1st was the return to the office date set by many employers—and our ongoing discussions with HR leaders made clear that the conversation had changed from when to how.

The Delta variant gave a big middle finger to that planning. In just the last few weeks, 44% of companies have adjusted their return to office plans, with another 29% planning or considering doing the same.

But the more surprising pivot, arguably, is the sudden change in employee vaccination mandates. In that same timeframe, 20% of companies have changed their employee vaccine policies, with an additional 33% planning or considering changes as well—that's over half of the 670 respondents to i4cp's August 2021 survey.

Why the change in employee vaccination policies?

The increased risks of the Delta variant due to its highly infectious nature and rapid surge pushed leaders to revise or suspend plans for bringing workers back to the office and pivot from suggesting or encouraging vaccinations to requiring them. The implications of the impact of the Delta variant to the overall health and well-being of employees are too serious to ignore (67% of those surveyed cited this as a pressing concern and challenge related to the Delta variant).

And what we've heard from the hundreds of HR leaders who have participated in our Getting Hybrid Work Right meeting series is that the safety of employees is the priority in decision making.

Having unvaccinated employees onsite goes against this priority.

A combination of just a few major companies announcing vaccine mandates in late July (Facebook and Google were among the first) and U.S. judicial decisions that affirmed employer rights to enforce vaccinations have emboldened companies to take a firmer stance going forward.

If you're wondering, this survey was conducted before the U.S. regulatory agency FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine; interestingly, only 1.9% of respondents indicated that they would implement mandates once such approval went into effect.

Challenges remain

Vaccination mandates present incredibly complex challenges with no clear answers. Nearly 40% of those surveyed said that one of their organization's most pressing concerns related to the Delta variant is dealing with employees who refuse to get vaccinated. Should they be fired? Allowed to work at home? How do employers deal with the political/media fallout of doing so?

And how should employers verify the vaccination status of employees? Nearly three-quarters (71%) of survey participants reported that proof of vaccination is or will be required by their organizations, but another quarter said they'll rely on the honor system (i.e., self-reporting).

These are a but a few of the challenges in play today, and inevitably, more will arise.

Download i4cp's Will Delta Derail Return to the Office? survey findings, and sign up for the biweekly Getting Hybrid Work Right meeting series to discuss employee vaccine mandates, return to office planning, and hybrid work solutions.

Survey Results: Will Delta Derail Return to the Office? (i4cp login required)

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:37:00 GMT

With the Delta variant surging across the U.S and across the world, plans are having to change rapidly. The return to the office is no different, companies' plans are constantly in flux as new reports come in and the variant continues to spread.

i4cp's recent pulse survey that explores the impact of the Delta variant on return to office plans, employee vaccine mandates, and more. As you know, i4cp has been studying the business impact of COVID-19 since February 2020, and the results of this latest survey make clear that the situation remains volatile:

Over 50% of companies are now mandating or considering mandating vaccines for employees—up from ~8% just a month ago
Nearly three quarters (73%) have adjusted or are considering adjusting their return-to-office plans due to Delta
67% said overall health and well-being of employees is one of their most pressing returns, which is driving this sudden shift

From Cube to Cloud™ Key Findings: APAC Region (i4cp login required)

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 11:50:00 GMT

58% of firms in Southeast and South Asia believe the flexible work arrangements they implemented over the past year have been highly successful. While promising, this number still pales in comparison to what is being reported in other parts of the world.

This year, i4cp-in partnership with HRM Asia and SHRM APAC-launched its From Cube to Cloud study to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic drove radical changes in the ways in which we work—and what that means for the next era of work.

Download this complimentary research brief that highlights differences between Southeast and South Asia and other parts of the world.

Let Managers Manage Flexible Work, but… (i4cp login required)

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 10:30:00 GMT

When it comes to workplace flexibility and decisions about where and when employees work, Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) CEO Kevin Oakes advises, "let the managers manage."

In the recently published report examining flexible and hybrid work policies and practices—From Cube to Cloud™: The Next Era of Work —Oakes presents key findings from the study, which captured survey responses from 1,452 business and talent leaders worldwide. Further insights were uncovered during i4cp's interviews with talent leaders from high-performance organizations, including Fortune 500 companies Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jones Lang LaSalle, Land O'Lakes, and Mondelez International.

As a headline in the report, "let the managers manage" drew attention. But expecting managers to orchestrate flexible work arrangements without preparation and ongoing support isn't the way to go. In fact, a respected talent leader in one of those Fortune 500 companies interviewed by i4cp punctuated this point succinctly when she said, "Flying by the seat of your pants is not going to be the way to lead in the future."

Oakes agrees, noting in the report that top companies "…will develop guidelines for managers on how to address new ways of working and provide extensive training and tools to help managers and employees arrive at the best work arrangements."

An example of this is agribusiness and food company Land O'Lakes, which has developed a Workplace Flexibility Readiness tool for use in conjunction with manager training. The tool assists managers in constructively discussing flexible work arrangements with their reports. As part of her company's participation in i4cp's community and research, Land O'Lakes HR director Tiffany Kramlich has shared this tool exclusively to i4cp members.

Another study participant from a top national building design and construction firm underscored the importance of extending training to both managers and employees. Her company's guide for workers encourages thought and responsibility in designing hybrid work models, provides talking points for discussing flexibility with managers, offers tips on effectively working flexibly (such as building team relationships and pursuing career growth in the hybrid work environment), and wraps all of the advice and instruction within the context of company values and philosophy.

Some companies choose a different flexible work strategy

Among the informative assets associated with i4cp's From Cube to Cloud research is a case study on the online real estate company Zillow (How an Agile Company Moved Its Headquarters to the Cloud).

Acting on its perception that the extensive pandemic-driven changes in work models offered opportunity, Zillow's leadership chose to reinvent the company. Previously an organization with an "in-office culture," according to chief people officer Dan Spaulding, Zillow moved its headquarters—and most of its employees—to the cloud.

"Our dream is to work anywhere anytime," Spaulding says. Zillow's Cloud HQ Guiding Principles underscore that idea, declaring the company's aim to create "new experiences for our employees, that maximize flexibility and drive business performance."

Despite the move to the cloud, Zillow's business, which includes mortgage underwriting and other services, still necessitates a presence in some physical offices. However, Spaulding says that the company made a conscious decision to take who-works-where decisions out of managers' hands by creating job profiles.

Although the profiles are still evolving, Zillow has specified four that are characterized by (and determine) employee location:

Remote employees live anywhere and occasionally travel to a Zillow office location to collaborate. 
Field employees live where they wish, but the location must be within driving distance of the city in which their work is done. 
Hybrid employees must spend more than 10% of their time at one of Zillow's core office locations (although workers have significant flexibility in scheduling that time).
Office-based employees work in positions that cannot be done remotely and perform their jobs on company premises.

Says Spaulding: "We worked with our executive team to get consensus on the profiles so we didn't run into the kind of discrimination complaints that some organizations may experience when they leave the determination up to manager discretion."

A still-evolving situation demands flexibility about flexibility

While i4cp's research found that about two-thirds of organizations overall involve their managers in who-works-where decisions, Zillow and other companies demonstrate that, even when it comes to being flexible, companies may need to be flexible and find the decision-making approaches that best serve their unique cultures, needs, and objectives.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us nothing else, it is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges business and talent leaders must negotiate each day. Organizations continue to evolve their policies on flexibility and onsite, remote, and hybrid work models. To provide our members with the support and tools needed to drive success, i4cp is publishing more features and resources from its From Cube to Cloud study , while also moving to the next level with new research and a publicly available biweekly call series on Getting Hybrid Work Right .

Additional resources are available in the From Cube to Cloud Series.

Carol Morrison is an i4cp senior research analyst.

From Cube to Cloud™ Key Findings: European Union (i4cp login required)

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 10:51:00 GMT

Since the pandemic, 79% of firms in the European Union have changed their views of flexible work to be more accepting and encompassing; making them poised to capitalize on the shift to flex work.

In the spring of 2021, i4cp-in partnership with Top Employers Institute and iVentiv-launched a From Cube to Cloud study to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic drove radical changes in the ways in which we work—and what that means for the next era of work.

Download this complimentary research brief that highlights differences between the European Union and other parts of the world.

Survey Results: Getting Employees Vaccinated (July 2021) (i4cp login required)

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 12:00:00 GMT

As the number of adults who have been fully or partially vaccinated has grown, so have efforts to ramp up encouragement of vaccinations for those who have not yet received them.

We've been monitoring employer mandates, incentives, and other vaccine-related topics since January, and have asked organizations what they are implementing or considering in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations for employees.

New i4cp Survey: Despite Vaccinations, No Rebound for Business Travel (i4cp login required)

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Despite widespread COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. and other countries, business travel—both domestic and global—won't see a resurgence anytime soon, according to nearly 500 business and talent leaders surveyed by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) for its late-June 2021 Getting Employees Vaccinated research series.

As of July 4th, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC ) reported that 157.3 million people in the U.S., about 47% of the total population, were fully vaccinated; about 55% had received at least one vaccine dose. The BBC reported June 20 figures for the European Union, noting that about half of adults in the EU had received at least one dose, and 28% were fully vaccinated. However, the i4cp research found that those levels aren't sufficient to restore (or grow) pre-pandemic levels of travel for most organizations.

Asked about their expectations of business travel for their employees in the coming 12 months, a combined 62% of those surveyed anticipated that domestic levels will be below or significantly below those seen pre-pandemic. For global travel, that combined figure was 48%. Further, 24% of survey participants (half of whom represented global or multinational organizations) said they anticipated no global business travel for their employees in the coming year; 5% expected no domestic business travel.

While the survey data clearly skewed toward less travel, just over one in five respondents anticipated that their organizations' domestic business travel would match or exceed pre-pandemic levels; only 8% said the same of global travel.

By way of comparison, when i4cp posed a similar query (not specifying the 12-month timeframe) to business leaders in April 2021, 41% said they were planning to resume business travel for fully vaccinated employees, though more than half of those respondents did not expect travel to equal pre-pandemic levels.

Significantly cutting back on business travel suggests that organizations may need to strengthen their strategies for building and sustaining relationships with customers, prospects, suppliers, and other affected stakeholders via video, phone, social media, or other interactions.

Some companies, such as agribusiness and food production leader (and i4cp member company) Land O'Lakes—have already taken steps to redefine traditionally travel-intensive sales jobs, looking for components of the work that can be performed differently. At the same time, Land O'Lakes and other organizations acknowledge that the traditional in-person aspects of selling, customer relations, and other business imperatives aren't going away.

Because the term business travel encompasses broad applications, the projected decrease can also have ramifications for employee and leadership development as fewer individuals journey to conferences and other learning events. Talent acquisition efforts may require rethinking due to dampers on sourcing-related travel. Marketing, purchasing, research and development, community relations, and other functions easily can see the effects of curtailed travel, too.

Write-in comments from participants in the June i4cp survey raise additional points and serve as reminders that even when companies don't restrict travel, other factors can. One respondent cited unexpected travel "freezes" that result from spikes in COVID-19 virus levels or surges in variants that make travel to affected areas inadvisable, if not impossible. Another noted that some countries still limit incoming travel.

A business leader in a Canadian manufacturing firm added that her organization experienced challenges when suppliers, vendors, and strategic partners restricted employee travel, resulting in adverse effects on service delivery.

The i4cp research makes it clear that the coming year will see varied fallout attributable to business travel constraints. And that diminished travel will challenge organizations to do more of what they've been doing since the onset of the pandemic—find new and different ways of accomplishing the activities that keep companies not only in business, but growing.

For more information, download Getting Employees Vaccinated —the latest in our ongoing examination of vaccination and COVID-19-related business concerns and responses.

Carol Morrison is an i4cp senior research analyst

Chart: The State of Business Travel (May 2021) (i4cp login required)

Thu, 27 May 2021 12:34:00 GMT

The chart above represents data collected in April 2021 about what organizations are doing to get their employees vaccinated. View the full survey results for more detail.

Chart: Employer COVID-19 Vaccination Policies (i4cp login required)

Thu, 13 May 2021 12:35:00 GMT

The chart above represents data collected in April 2021 about what organizations are doing to get their employees vaccinated. View the full survey results for more detail.