After more than a year of working from home, millions of Americans trudged back to the office this summer. And for some, waking up at 7am and boarding a crowded train was the easiest part.

“Sleepless nights and anxiety” characterized Michelle’s first weeks back at her office. That’s because Michelle, who chose to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic, has chosen to not yet get vaccinated against Covid-19. “It’d be way easier to just get the jab, but I would prefer to see long-term impacts and more data on side effects for people with my medical history,” she said.

Although the spread of the Delta variant has injected new uncertainties into return-to-work plans, many execs, who have called remote work “an aberration” and not for young people “who want to hustle,” are intent on bringing employees back to the office—or have done so already. About one-third of American workers are back in large office buildings, according to building security company Kastle Systems.

As with everything Covid-related, employers are navigating uncharted waters. If they have both vaccinated and unvaccinated workers in the office, companies might need to enforce two different sets of policies. Not to mention, emotionally charged Covid and vaccine topics could upset some employees, stir up interoffice conflicts, and dampen morale.  

So what to do?

Eric Meyer, an employment partner at law firm FisherBroyles, whose clients include Facebook, Lyft and Netflix, said there are generally three approaches to manage both vaccinated and unvaccinated workers returning to the office.

  1. Eliminate the “unvaccinated” part altogether and mandate proof of vaccination.
  2. Use the honor system. The employer trusts employees to accurately report their vaccination status. Masks and social distancing are not required for vaccinated workers.
  3. A two-tier hybrid model. Employees must show proof of vaccination to avoid safety measures. Unvaccinated workers must continue to wear masks and have their temperature checked daily.

Michelle’s company, a Fortune 50 financial services firm, adopted the hybrid model. Unvaccinated workers were required to wear masks all the time outside of their cubes, while the vaccinated were free to drop them. But those measures didn’t solve all the problems.

Employees who violated the rules were subject to disciplinary action, up to and including job termination, though Michelle wasn’t sure how seriously her company would enforce it. “I have no idea how to handle an outside team lunch or happy hour. Does work policy extend outside the building?” She wondered.

Monica, who works for a legal publishing company in Minnesota, was also unvaccinated when returning to her office at 50% capacity. She chose to “cheat a little and run to the restroom without a mask” when she worked late and the office cleared out.

Private sector companies are free to tailor their own return-to-work policies, but Sarah Morgan, the CEO of HR consulting firm BuzzARooney, encourages employers to be as accommodating as possible to allow employees to do what makes them physically and psychologically comfortable.

After the CDC required masks in most indoor settings again in late July, many companies have updated their policies. Google, Facebook and Target have reinstituted mask mandates regardless of vaccination status.

But can employers require their workers to be vaccinated? The simple answer is yes. Companies are legally permitted to require vaccinations with a few exceptions, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Google, Morgan Stanley, and United Airlines are among more than a dozen large corporations that have instituted some form of vaccine mandate. With the more transmissible Delta variant causing a surge in cases, some state governments and hospitals have also required vaccination.

Most employers are not willing to go that far. Instead, they’ve opted for a less hard-line approach—dangling benefits, such as PTO and cash bonuses, to encourage vaccinations.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, for example, told the NYT that while his company is offering incentives (like a $50 gift card) to get vaccinated, “We’re not putting mandates in place.”

If an employer does decide to mandate vaccinations, Meyer recommended communicating the company’s policy by an official email or a meeting. “Tell people that’s what we plan to do. Don’t drop a bomb on them,” Meyer said.

The vax conversation at work

In 2021, “Which vaccine did you get?” has replaced “So how about that weather?” as the go-to topic for small talk at work. Colleagues are now spilling the beans about their vaccination experience and showing off their proof of vaccination on social media. Michelle inevitably found herself in conversations where it was brought up. “I was always worried that I would be asked,” she said.

Hiding your individual vaccination status could fuel interoffice conflicts. Michelle recalled that a coworker at a return-to-work meeting yelled, “What if I sit in a chair that was previously occupied by an unvaccinated person and bring back the virus to my kid?”

She decided to keep quiet and not bring her concerns to her manager or HR. “I’ve read many articles with political, government, private sector leaders saying they will make it uncomfortable for the unvaxxed as a means to encourage it and I’m sure that’s the case at my workplace.”

Morgan, the HR consultant, said it was natural for people to talk about the pandemic and the vaccine with their coworkers, but HR should remind them “to be respectful and civil toward each other, regardless of vaccination status.”

The city of Tampa, Florida, is requiring its vaccinated workers to wear a button or wristband when unmasked. However, a badge that indicates vaccination status could be an overreach at workplaces. “Vaccination status is still private health information,” Morgan said. From an HR standpoint, employees “should not be asked or pressured to share by HR, management, or anyone else at the company.”

Now Michelle is worried that her mask will obscure her future career. “What does this mean to my career mobility? When I meet with a hiring manager with a mask on, will they be wondering about that and impacting my ability to connect and show I can do good work?” She asked.

Not getting a vaccine =/= being an “anti-vaxxer”

In a June survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 10% of American adults said they would “wait and see” before getting vaccinated, 6% would get inoculated only if required, while 14% would definitely not get the vaccine.

Both Michelle and Monica are in the “wait-and-see” group. “I have all of my other vaccines and have gotten the flu shots most years,” Michelle said. They cited the newness of the vaccine and possible side effects as the reasons for their vaccine hesitancy. “The more I see the push [to get the Covid vaccine], the more hesitant I become.”

Michelle wondered why marketing materials for sleeping-aid pills slammed you with a dreadful list of side effects from stroke to seizures, but the Covid vaccines only boasted about the “over 90% efficacy rate.” A lot of vaccine information is not common knowledge, and side effect warnings on government websites don’t reach everyone.

“Stop telling people to ‘just get vaccinated’ if you aren’t willing to put in the work to help them do it,” Dr. Rhea Boyd, a public health advocate, tweeted. “That ‘work’ is MUCH more high touch than spouting condescension online.”

The “work” Boyd mentioned includes fighting the spread of misinformation, increasing transparency about adverse effects, and providing easier access to vaccine appointments.

“I’ve always thought that maybe in the future [I will get vaccinated] as more time passes and more is known,” Michelle said.

But watching the news about the more infectious Delta variant and hearing companies’ stricter rules around vaccination, she fears she’ll be left with little choice. “I hope to continue to have the option. If my work mandates it, I don’t know what I’ll do,” Michelle said.

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