With the rise of the COVID delta variant and with as many as 30% of the US population reluctant or unwilling to take the vaccine, is it time for private business to act by making it a requirement of their employees?
On The Small Business Radio Show this week, Joel Libava who is the self-appointed “Franchise King” believes requiring your employees to be vaccinated is essential for the future of your company especially 18 months into the pandemic. In fact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled that “employers can legally require COVID-19 vaccination for employees to re-enter the workplace and can provide incentives to encourage employees to get a shot.” Many government agencies and large employees like United Airlines and CVS are requiring all employees to get the vaccine in order to return to the workplace. This is especially important for companies that require their staff to be in person to serve customers.
Joel Libava on Vaccine Mandates at Franchise Businesses
Requiring vaccines is supported by most workers (52% according to a recent Gallup poll), but alot of the workforce (29%) is strongly opposed, With all the vaccine hesitancy in the country, Joel believes small business owners need to step up and take it into their own hands. He says that “if individual franchise owners do not require vaccines for all their employees, they might lose their businesses; if it’s going to be like last winter, more businesses will close.” He thinks that companies need to look long term; “they are already short on staff and can’t afford employees to be out sick”.
This step is not without its challenges. Joel insists that “it will take a lot of courage – a lot of employees are going to balk at this-they will have to risk losing employees (which they are already short on) but if we don’t do this, we will never get out of this pandemic”. Joe knows we need to make accommodations for employees that have health or religious issues.
Joel discusses that the vaccine has become too political; “we have already had vaccine passports- the yellow cards each child needed to have with all the vaccines before they went to school!”
