40% European & 30% US staff ‘ready’ to return to office but employers must exercise caution

The latest statistics from Forrester Research indicate that 40% of European and 30% of US employees are ready to return to the office.

As Covid-19 vaccine deployment and mass vaccination programmes get underway, employers are also keen to accelerate “back to normal” and get staff back into the office. However, Forrester Research is advising employers to exercise caution, and mitigate all risks as staff return to work.

From doubts about vaccines’ effectiveness to significant country-by-country variation in administration priorities, employers need to be cautious as they define their pandemic management plans, cautions Forrester. Its new report, The Opportunity, The Unknowns, And The Risks Of Vaccine Passports In The Workplace, identifies several risks that employers must address if deploying vaccine passports – a digital document that provides evidence of an individual’s immunisation status – to inform their return-to-work strategies. 

In fact, the report outlines the 15 risks of vaccine management in the workplace (as illustrated in the diagram below). Risk exposure includes sensitive data mishandling, discrimination, labour union mobilisation, diminished cybersecurity and negative impact on the customer experience.

VACCINES ‘NOT A SILVER BULLET’

In short, employers have to prepare for an array of new privacy, ethical, legal and compliance challenges as they plan to leverage vaccine and immunisation passports to return employees to the workplace. “While Covid-19 is loosening its grip, it’s not going away,” said Enza Iannopollo, Senior Analyst at Forrester. 

“Vaccine passports don’t offer the silver-bullet solution that many might hope for easing pandemic protocols and restrictions, and businesses should be planning for life with Covid in the medium to long term. Our overarching message to organisations everywhere is one of caution. With the right planning and consideration, the return to work will be smoother and more successful for all involved,” she added.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Key highlights from the report, include:

• Vaccines are not a silver bullet. Factors ranging from global vaccine strategies to early-stage understanding of the virus, its variants and efficacy of the vaccine mean that employers must plan to continue anywhere-work policies and hybrid experiences to balance convenience with wellbeing. 
• Avoid the privacy and ethical pitfalls of a “no jab, no job” policy. Forty percent of European and 30% of US employees are ready to return to the office, but asking employees to carry proof of inoculation with them to enter the workplace introduces privacy and ethics risks. 
• Follow principles of proportionality, fairness and transparency. Employers should collect only the minimum amount of data needed to trigger specific policies. They should encrypt medical data and enforce strict access, sharing, and deletion policies to ensure fairness and protection. 
• Employers must navigate compliance and legal risks. In the US, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) agreed that employers can make the vaccine mandatory for employees, but several state legislatures have challenged the legality of such a requirement. In the EU and UK, each country has its own approach. 
• Be mindful of customer experience and perceptions. Relaxing protocols for distancing, sanitisation and mask wearing in customer-facing interactions risks a negative impact on how customers perceive a brand and their willingness to do business with the organisation.

Click here for more information about the report.