ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Last month, President Biden announced a sweeping vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors, plus companies with more than 100 employees as part of a White House action plan to address the latest rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is currently writing the rule, but it could take several more weeks before official guidance is released, so the White House is pushing companies to go ahead and enact a mandate now, reports the New York Times.
Many big companies have already set a vaccine mandate. IBM said its employees must be vaccinated by Dec. 8 despite how often they come into the office, or they’ll face unpaid suspension. 3M, Disney, Google, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble are some of the major companies who have required the vaccine.
American Airlines is requiring all employees to be vaccinated by Nov. 24. Alaska, JetBlue and Southwest also have mandated the vaccine for workers. However, some regional airlines that are contracted by larger airlines, such as United, American and Delta, have not mandated that employees receive the vaccine, even though tickets for these flights are sold under the larger airline’s name, reports CNBC.
CNBC also reports that 80% of U.S. CFOs say they “totally support” the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate, while less than a quarter (15%) said they “totally oppose” it, according to its Global CFO Council survey for the fourth quarter of 2021. Additionally, CFOs view COVID-19 as the biggest external risk factor that businesses face.
However, some companies are fearful of implementing broad requirements for the vaccine out of fear of losing employees during an already tight labor market, as well as managing the cost and complexity of vaccinate-or-test mandates. With the ongoing truck driver shortage touching nearly every industry in the U.S. and abroad, and the oil-field services industry in particular is worried that the coming Biden Administration mandate will prompt highly sought after truckers to quit.
Here is a five-step action plan to help you navigate the impending OSHA rule.