As a COVID management services organization we hear from a lot of executives about the troubles COVID has created. Beyond the obvious staffing shortages, supply chain issues, and shutdowns, many employers are wrestling with team cohesion as vaccinated and unvaccinated groups take sides against each other.
In one recent conversation, a restaurant owner lamented the discord that has arisen between her college-educated front-of-house staff and her mostly migrant back-of-house staff.
Her front-of-house has taken the communal position that it is everyone’s civic duty to get their vaccine, and that those who have not are acting selfishly and deserve harsh judgment. They are increasingly sharp with their kitchen co-workers and have threatened a work stoppage if immuno-equity isn’t achieved.
Meanwhile. Her back-of- house, a group who comes from communities where non vaccination is the cultural comfort zone, is not interested in the jab. They have ignored offers of paid time off, free meals for their families, and monetary bonuses. They see the risk as theirs to take and resent what they see as undeserved hostility from their vaccinated coworkers.
Employers want their staff to be productive. They shouldn’t care if employees are vaccinated, and they don’t even need to know. What they need to worry about is that the staff is non-transmissible and that the workplace is free of distraction. Simple Ready allows employers to remain vaccination agnostic while ensuring everyone’s safety.
Here is how it works. Simple Ready works with the organization to set a COVID policy – such as everyone must be vaccinated or have a negative PCR within 72 hours of arriving at work. Those employees that are vaccinated upload their cards which are verified by our experts. Unvaccinated folks are instructed to maintain their testing cadence– either through company provided tests or at their local clinic.
With all that data in the system, each employee gets a thumbs-up if they are eligible to work today or a thumbs down if they need a negative result before arriving – all without conveying who is vaccinated and who is not. Furthermore, this data is available through a dashboard on each manager’s phone, so potentially ineligible employees are apparent a day in advance allowing the organization to take preventive measures.
In a perfect world we wouldn’t care about COVID health any more than we used to care about a stomach bug or a cold. But today, one unidentified positive could send half the staff home for a couple weeks and shut down the restaurant. Protecting staff in ways that remove the politics is a good investment and it’s what we do.
Simple Ready – helping people return to work in a way that is pleasant, predictable, and productive.