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Federal agencies, state departments, and large companies are all implementing vaccine mandates. The approach has become the new standard workplace safety procedure as we continue to navigate COVID-19. President Biden has ordered OSHA to create a rule mandating businesses with more than 100 employees require workers to get vaccinated or be tested weekly. Employers are actually anxiously awaiting OSHA’s ETS.
Developing the vaccine policy is only the first hurdle, once in effect tracking employee compliance will place a heavy burden on human resource officers. They have to maintain a secure record of all employees who are fully vaccinated as well as unvaccinated employees’ weekly test results.
See how our solution can help you comply with OSHA’s ETS!
Who is implementing the mandate?
At least 19 states have established testing and vaccine mandates. Federal employees are required to get vaccinated or submit to masking, biweekly testing, and social distancing. Soon, companies with over 100 employees will all be required to have a vaccine tracking or testing protocol. Several leading companies – Ford, Google, and Citigroup have already announced a vaccine mandate. According to a recent survey, more than half of employers plan to implement vaccine mandates.
| States with Testing or Vaccine Mandates | Large Companies who already have Vaccine Mandates |
| California | Walmart |
| Colorado | TJX |
| Connecticut | NBCUniversal |
| Delaware | Walgreens |
| Hawaii | Citigroup |
| Maine | |
| Maryland | NFL |
| New Mexico | Cisco |
| New Jersey | Pfizer |
| New York | Anthem |
| North Carolina | United Airlines |
| Pennsylvania | Morgan Stanely |
| Rhode Island | Salesforce |
| Virginia | Goldman Sachs |
| Washington | State Street Bank |
| WarnerMedia | |
| Uber | |
| Equinox | |
| ViacomCBS | |
| Gilead Sciences | |
| Genentech | |
| Saks | |
| The New York Times | |
| Doordash | |
| The Washington Post | |
| Frontier Airlines | |
| CNN | |
| Jefferies | |
| Union Square Hospitality Group | |
| Ford | |
| Microsoft |
You’ve implemented the mandate, now what?
Your employee vaccination policy has been announced. Great! Now you need to find a way to securely manage employee health information at scale. In-house solutions place a tremendous burden on IT and HR teams. Any company with more than 100 employees will need to automate their system to keep track of who has been vaccinated and completed a COVID-19 test.
Beware of these mistakes
Storing records on Excel, Google Sheets, or other similar databases can lead to security and compliance issues
There was recently a security breach in Microsoft Power Apps that were exposed online, revealing the contact tracing information and COVID-19 vaccination status of users. Another data breach occurred at California State University, Chico revealing students who requested religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine.
Using siloed solutions for vaccine tracking and test management
HR teams are overwhelmed by their responsibilities to track employee health status and manage communication workflows in the event of positive cases and exposure. Managing these workflows with separate solutions places a significant burden on teams who go back and forth between calendars, Excel, and other platforms. With our one platform, administrators can manage their COVID-19 mandates, communications, and workflows in one place.
Cannot store vaccine information with other employee records
According to the EEOC, employee vaccination status is considered “confidential medical information” and has to be kept separate from personnel files, both print and digital.
Looking for additional tips? Gartner provides great resources for employers to review before establishing a vaccine mandate.
Automating your COVID-19 Workflow
Our Command Center provides digital vaccine tracking and testing tools to help administrators comply with the recent guidelines. But that’s not all. What do you do if an employee reports a positive test result or symptoms? ReturnSafe’s case management, screening, and contact tracing tools help HR manage workflows to prevent outbreaks
Vaccination Tracking & Verification
The Vaccine Tracking tab helps you track employee vaccination status, gauge employee sentiment towards vaccination, and verify employee vaccination records.
Test Tracking
In the Test Results tab, an organization’s testing provider can upload bulk imports of employee test results into the Command Center for administrators to review.
Case Management
In the Case Manager tab, administrators can create and update positive, preemptive, and cleared cases. Administrators can also override employee screening recommendations and have access to workflow management tools to ensure cases receive the appropriate follow-up communications.
If you are on a tight deadline, book a demo with our team to get up and running as soon as possible.