As vaccinations continue in the United States, some companies offer financial incentives to encourage their workers to shoot.
Instacart Inc., the food delivery service, announced on Thursday that it will offer a $ 25 scholarship to workers who receive COVID-19 vaccine. He joins others, including Trader Joe’s and Dollar General, who intend to pay workers extra if they are vaccinated.
“Our goal in introducing our new vaccine support grant is to make sure that when the time comes, Instacart buyers don’t have to choose between earning revenue as an essential service provider or vaccination,” said Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart. . statement.
The San Francisco-based Instacart nearly doubled its workforce to nearly 500,000 to meet the growing demand for online shopping since the pandemic that erupted in the United States last spring.
Trader Joe’s food chain, which has more than 50,000 employees, said on Thursday it would give its employees two hours to pay per dose to get the vaccine. The company from Monrovia, California, said it will also shift around programs to ensure employees have time to get vaccinated.
General Dollar said Wednesday will provide employees with the equivalent of four hours’ salary if they receive the vaccine. The retailer in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, said it has 157,000 employees.
A vaccine advisory panel at the US Centers for Disease Control voted late last month on recommendations for vaccine distribution. The panel said food workers – which would include Instacart and Dollar General employees – should be in the second group to be shot by health workers and nursing home residents.
It is up to each state to decide how and when to adopt the CDC recommendations. Some states have already opened eligibility to the second group, which also includes firefighters, police officers, teachers, correctional staff, postal employees and people over 75 years of age. There are about 50 million people in that group.
Companies may require workers to receive COVID-19 vaccines as a requirement for employment, although they must make accommodations for medical or religious reasons, as directed by the Federal Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities.
However, most companies are reluctant to impose such mandates, said Sharon Perley Masling, a partner at the law firm Morgan Lewis, who advised clients on workplace issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The urgent nature of the FDA’s approval of the vaccine makes it impossible for many companies to request it, given that photos are not available to the majority of the population, she said.
However, Masling said the companies he works with take different steps to strongly encourage their workers to get vaccinated, including internal public relations campaigns featuring top executives who are eligible to be shot. Other incentives include free childcare, paid leave and free gifts such as pizza delivery and other gifts, she said.
“It’s good for employees, it’s good for their communities and it’s good for ensuring business operations continue,” Masling said.
The vaccination effort comes amid signs that some people – even health care workers – are reluctant to fire, contributing to a slower-than-expected launch of the mass vaccination effort in the United States. Masling said many companies are still trying to find out how their staff feels about photography, with some internal survey submissions.
Concerns about side effects
In a survey conducted last month by the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly two-thirds of US workers said they would receive the vaccine when it became available. However, 36% said they were unlikely to be vaccinated, saying their main reason was concern about side effects. SHRM surveyed workers in 529 households in the United States using the AmeriSpeak Omnibus survey, a probability-based group developed by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Scientists say the vaccines have been rigorously tested by the tens of thousands and verified by independent experts and that there have been no signs of severe widespread side effects from the shootings.
Not every company offers incentives. The DoorDash delivery app, another important platform for concert workers, said it had asked the CDC and governors to give priority to delivery workers in vaccine distribution. But it does not intend to offer benefits to vaccinated workers.
Nor does Target Corp. it does not intend to provide incentives, but said it would make the vaccine free and affordable for its 350,000 employees. Target said 1,700 of its stores have a CVS pharmacy on site that will provide the vaccine to staff when it becomes available.
Albertsons, a food chain with 2,250 American stores and 300,000 employees, also provides no financial incentives. Like DoorDash, it calls on state and local authorities to ensure that its workers receive priority for the vaccine.
A separate SHRM survey last month found that while about two-thirds of US employers intended to encourage employees to get vaccinated, only 3% decided to apply for it at least for some workers. This could change, as 55% of employers said they were unsure whether they would eventually ask for it, according to a survey of 955 SHRM members, an organization of about 300,000 resource professionals. human.
Negative press
Many large companies have faced criticism over the way they have treated their employees throughout the pandemic, from bad sick leave policies to poor working conditions. Companies, from meat packing plants to Amazon, have faced absences of workers and outbreaks that have forced the temporary closure of their factories and warehouses. There is also an upcoming debate in Congress as to whether employers should be exempted from legal obligations related to coronavirus exposure, as more begin to bring their employees back to offices and other jobs.
Public perception provides a strong incentive for companies to vaccinate their workers, said Laura Boudreau, an economics professor at Columbia Business School who specializes in labor rights.
“Many of them have had to defend their reputation for the way they treat their employees throughout the pandemic,” Boudreau said.
Instacart is among several companies that have lobbied for their workers to be a priority for vaccines. The company has also faced some criticism and concerns from workers about allegations that it has not done enough to protect its shoppers – workers who make several trips a day to grocery stores to shop and to deliver food to people who order in its application – who do not receive health insurance through the company or have not guaranteed paid sick leave.
The company says it has distributed 620,000 free safety kits to its workers, including face masks and hand sanitizers. It introduced a new policy in March to offer 14 days of paid leave to workers who are diagnosed with COVID-19 or who have been ordered to quarantine due to potential exposure.