More than half of employers subject to the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine-and-testing mandate for organizations with 100 or more workers are waiting to see how current legal challenges unfold before deciding on a vaccination policy, according to research released from the Society for Human Resource Management.
The survey from late November found 51% are waiting to make a decision and a majority of respondents, 75%, said they are not likely to require vaccines or testing if the mandate is permanently struck down by the courts.
Employers cited numerous challenges to implementing the mandate, including uncertainty around the outcome of legal challenges (73%), managing employee morale (65%), record-keeping requirements (59%), managing employee retention (56%) and staff time associated with implementing the requirements (55%).
“Unfortunately, the vaccine and testing mandate was rolled out without input from employers, causing the concern and confusion we see in our research,” said Emily Dickens, SHRM chief of staff, head of government affairs and corporate secretary. “While the mandate has been put on hold by the courts, SHRM asks the administration to work with the HR community to minimize disruptions to the workplace. We are a partner to public health officials, and it is our job to safeguard employees’ lives and livelihoods.”
Key results include the following:
- Of employers covered by one of the vaccine mandates, 24% said over 80% of their workforce is fully vaccinated.
- Employers covered by the federal contractor or healthcare mandates are two times more likely than employers covered by the broader mandate to say over 80% of their workforce is fully vaccinated (36% versus 18%, respectively).
- If the mandate for employers with 100 or more workers is upheld, 18% are likely to risk noncompliance.
- Of employers that have started implementing a vaccination and/or testing policy, 55% have received at least one medical accommodation request and 66% have received at least one religious accommodation request.
- Employers received accommodation requests from 2% to 3% of their workforce (median: 1%).
- 13% of employers required employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of employment prior to the release of the broader mandate on Nov. 5.
- Of employers covered by one of the vaccine mandates, 75% have begun the process of determining employees’ vaccination status.
- Nearly half of employers in construction/utilities/agriculture and mining, 49%, said that 50% or less of their workforce is considered fully vaccinated, followed by about one-third of employers in manufacturing (34%) and wholesale trade/retail trade/transportation and warehousing (32%).
- Conversely, employers in professional, scientific and technical services (45%) and government and education (44%) are the most likely to say that over 80% of their workforce is considered fully vaccinated, followed by employers in healthcare and social assistance (35%).
- Of the employers surveyed, the majority are currently operating fully in-person (46%) or a hybrid of remotely and in-person (50%). Only 4% said they’re currently operating fully remotely.
- Of employers offering a testing alternative, midsize employers (47%) are more likely to say their employees will pay for testing out of pocket than large employers (33%).
SHRM’s survey included responses from employers covered by the mandate for organizations with 100 or more workers (53%), employers covered by separate mandates for federal contractors and health care workers (25%) and employers that do not meet mandate criteria (23%).