So far, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States has been a success. There have been 286 million doses administered, enough to cover about 45% of the population. Nearly 50% of the population — and over 60% of adults — have received at least one dose. The number of daily new cases has plummeted from a peak of about 750 per million people in early January, near the start of the vaccine rollout, to just 76 per million people today.
My employer provides 4 hours of leave during each pay period (2 week increments) to allow for the time necessary to obtain vaccine doses, testing, etc. But if I had needed more time for recovery, I would have needed to divert my regular vacation or sick leave. I scheduled both doses for Fridays so that I would have a weekend to recover, if I needed it. After the first dose, no problem. But the weekend after the second dose was a lost weekend... Unfortunately, not everyone will have a choice to schedule their vaccination before their scheduled time off. And some people don’t HAVE time off - they work multiple jobs.
Employers will benefit from having vaccinated employees, much more than they risk employees’ abuse of a more generous vaccination time-off policy. Every sick leave policy is, effectively, an honor system, so abuses can happen. But ending this pandemic is much more important than the cost of a couple extra days off. Employees need the time; making it available will provide long-term benefits in employee health and loyalty.
I’ll give a positive shoutout to those corporations doing the right thing to help their underpaid employees get vaccinated. However, for those who aren’t cooperating I can’t help being reminded about how much they are starting to resemble religious organizations that are often the exception to so many of our laws, rules and regulations... paying no or next to no taxes, dealing with pedophilia, sexual harassment and other crimes ‘internally’, and encouraging or telling their congregants/employees not to get vaccinated. Just pondering some of the similarities in organizations who operate outside our laws.
If my corporate has a vaccination policy, I don't know of it. We've received no emails and there's nothing on corporate Sharepoint. I suspect permanent employees are expected to use PTO and the temps are on their own.
Interesting topic. Something Judd hasn't considered but which has occurred to me is that many of the workers he describes already had a mild real case of covid because they were exposed on their jobs outside their homes (or had family members who were and gave it to the whole family). If someone has already had covid, the shots will interact with the antibodies in their system and they are very likely to experience negative side effects (flu-like symptoms) after their shot(s) for as long as three to four days! The makers of the vaccine and the CDC know this and are considering how - in the future - to decide if people who had covid already may need only one shot, a booster, so to speak. Anyway, my feeling is that the people who are seriously in need of their paychecks need to know that they can take paid time to recover.
Also, if the employee works for you, as my cleaning lady - who is Hispanic - works one day weekly for me, I figure that if I can afford to have a cleaning lady, I can certainly afford to pay her for a sick day after a shot. But then, I am a person who frequently wonders when all the individual and corporate greed will end. We're all people, right? And to end a pandemic takes all of us cooperating.
When my youngest had Covid, she was out for 10 days unpaid in restaurant industry. When she got her Vaccinations, she felt like hell. She went to work. No unpaid leave for vaccine
Our son's employer did not give either paid time to receive a vaccination, nor did they offer PTO afterward for any side effects from said vaccination. And just think AAM is making crucial parts for your vehicles with sick employees - or often short-handed in critical areas (like quality). I'm not impressed and tend to avoid manufacturers that use their parts, if possible.
My employer provides 4 hours of leave during each pay period (2 week increments) to allow for the time necessary to obtain vaccine doses, testing, etc. But if I had needed more time for recovery, I would have needed to divert my regular vacation or sick leave. I scheduled both doses for Fridays so that I would have a weekend to recover, if I needed it. After the first dose, no problem. But the weekend after the second dose was a lost weekend... Unfortunately, not everyone will have a choice to schedule their vaccination before their scheduled time off. And some people don’t HAVE time off - they work multiple jobs.
Employers will benefit from having vaccinated employees, much more than they risk employees’ abuse of a more generous vaccination time-off policy. Every sick leave policy is, effectively, an honor system, so abuses can happen. But ending this pandemic is much more important than the cost of a couple extra days off. Employees need the time; making it available will provide long-term benefits in employee health and loyalty.
I’ll give a positive shoutout to those corporations doing the right thing to help their underpaid employees get vaccinated. However, for those who aren’t cooperating I can’t help being reminded about how much they are starting to resemble religious organizations that are often the exception to so many of our laws, rules and regulations... paying no or next to no taxes, dealing with pedophilia, sexual harassment and other crimes ‘internally’, and encouraging or telling their congregants/employees not to get vaccinated. Just pondering some of the similarities in organizations who operate outside our laws.
If my corporate has a vaccination policy, I don't know of it. We've received no emails and there's nothing on corporate Sharepoint. I suspect permanent employees are expected to use PTO and the temps are on their own.
Interesting topic. Something Judd hasn't considered but which has occurred to me is that many of the workers he describes already had a mild real case of covid because they were exposed on their jobs outside their homes (or had family members who were and gave it to the whole family). If someone has already had covid, the shots will interact with the antibodies in their system and they are very likely to experience negative side effects (flu-like symptoms) after their shot(s) for as long as three to four days! The makers of the vaccine and the CDC know this and are considering how - in the future - to decide if people who had covid already may need only one shot, a booster, so to speak. Anyway, my feeling is that the people who are seriously in need of their paychecks need to know that they can take paid time to recover.
Also, if the employee works for you, as my cleaning lady - who is Hispanic - works one day weekly for me, I figure that if I can afford to have a cleaning lady, I can certainly afford to pay her for a sick day after a shot. But then, I am a person who frequently wonders when all the individual and corporate greed will end. We're all people, right? And to end a pandemic takes all of us cooperating.
When my youngest had Covid, she was out for 10 days unpaid in restaurant industry. When she got her Vaccinations, she felt like hell. She went to work. No unpaid leave for vaccine
Our son's employer did not give either paid time to receive a vaccination, nor did they offer PTO afterward for any side effects from said vaccination. And just think AAM is making crucial parts for your vehicles with sick employees - or often short-handed in critical areas (like quality). I'm not impressed and tend to avoid manufacturers that use their parts, if possible.