Over 82% Indian employers want vaccination to be made mandatory: Survey

Covid-19 vaccination has emerged as a top hiring trend during the pandemic in India, with 82 per cent of the workforce and employers agreeing to make it mandatory in the workplace, according to a survey by job site Indeed.

Around two-thirds or 70 per cent of employers surveyed would either not allow employees, who refuse to get vaccinated to step into the workplace or ask them to quit the organisation.

It also sho­w­ed that 94 per cent employers and 87 per cent employees want people coming in to work to be vaccinated with at least a single dose.

“Some businesses are eit­her making it mandatory or heavily encouraging vaccination among their new hires.

"But the common trend amo­ng employees and employers is that a majority of both are in favour of hybrid work models as compared with either going to work every day or working from home every day,” said Sashi Kumar, head of sales, Indeed.

Fifty-two per cent employers and 61 per cent employees are in favour of hybrid work models.

There was also concurrence on transparency, when it comes to vaccination.

Nearly half of all employees leave vaccine transparency in the hands of their employers.

While 87 per cent of all employees believe entry to the workplace should be for people who are vaccinated at least once, 43 per cent believe that people coming to offices need not carry vaccination certificates, and 41 per cent think they need not know the vaccination status of other employees.

This is probably because they are aware that their employer may not allow employees who aren’t vaccinated to enter the workplace.

According to Indeed, the strong support for vaccination indicates a desire to leave behind a pandemic that has taken an economic, physical and emotional toll on employees.

More than half of all workers (59 per cent) surveyed said they had been somewhat or greatly affected by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, a vast majority of employees (91 per cent) want their employers to incentivise them to get vaccinated.

However, half of all employers (51 per cent) do not wish to sweeten the deal and incentivise employees for getting vaccinated.

Photograph: PTI Photo