MILWAUKEE- Companies across the country are offering incentives to employees if they’re willing to get vaccinated, but those incentives could turn into mandates if they so choose.
As the debate over whether or not to get vaccinated rages across the country, employers are working towards reopening office spaces, which could lead to employers telling employees to get the shot, or else.
“I think it would be a last resort,” Metro Milwaukee Area Chamber of Commerce President Tim Sheehy tells WTMJ. “Clearly you want to encourage the vaccination, you’ll have a much safer office space if people do get vaccinated, but I think it’ll be a last resort for companies to require a vaccine.”
US labor laws allow companies to mandate employees get the vaccine, but there’s currently no law on the books regarding the COVID-19 shot.
Sheehy, during WTMJ’s Roundtable: Vacs Facts 2.0, Sheehy said companies are weighing employee productivity against efficiency when it comes to getting employees back into the office.
“I think it’s very hard to do strategic planning or group meetings over Zoom as effectively as you can in person, but companies are balancing that with having less costs,” Sheehy said, citing travel costs as a way to save on the bottom line.
“I think flexibility is here to stay,” Sheehy said, “how much flexibility that is, though, is dependent on the industry and the company.”
You can find more of WTMJ’s Vacs Facts 2.0 coverage here.
