On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a plan to require all private employers with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or produce a negative COVID-19 test each week.
This vaccine mandate, part of a larger effort designed to require more than 100 million Americans to get vaccinated, will be implemented through an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to be issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Biden also ordered mandatory vaccination for 300,000 educators in the federal Head Start Program, 200 federally run schools and 17 million health care workers. The Defense Production Act is to be used to increase the production of rapid testing kits and retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, will be working to expand their availability.
The Transportation Security Administration will now double fines on passengers who refuse to wear masks. OSHA have not yet released draft regulations, but they are expected in the coming weeks. Employers may be left with a very tight timeframe to come into compliance. Larger companies such as Walmart, Amazon, FedEx and Target employ hundreds of thousands of Americans each, with some having vaccine mandates in place already. Google introduced theirs in July, CVS followed in August and Deloitte and McDonalds are also issuing mandates.
Biden and his top advisors were forecasting a ‘summer of joy’, declaring independence from the virus, but since then the highly infections Delta variant has spread rapidly, fuelling a spike in cases and deaths. 53% of Americans are fully vaccinated, with an increase in August as the Delta variant pushed the country’s daily average over 150,000. Officials fear that it will mutate into another, more dangerous variant that could evade vaccines if it is allowed to continue to spread. Companies have put off mandates for months, however, stalling vaccination rates and the rise of the Delta variant has put new pressure on executives. There will now be a $14,000 penalty for companies that do not comply and are also required to offer paid time off for employees to get vaccinated or regularly testing.
The subsequent vaccine roll out and the mass uptake in vaccines created an immediate and high demand for a simple and digital tool, to provide organisations with visibility of their employees vaccination status. With HealthBoxHR’s vaccination tracker, organisations of all sectors, shapes and sizes can do exactly that. Be ready for the mandate with HealthBoxHR’s OSHA vaccination tracking tool.
By creating a safe and secure digital wallet, thus completely removing the need for paper documentation, individual users have the capacity to define their vaccination details as well as upload a snapshot of their official vaccination certificates. This information can be accessed 24/7 using the HealthBoxHR app or on any web browser via all smart phones, laptops desktops or tablets. The organization is provided with the full breakdown of the users vaccination status and information can be filtered based on region as well as department, highlighting more vulnerable areas of the business. The system also caters for those who are exempt from the vaccine and the ‘’vaccine booster’’ functionality ensures a future proof structure.
Utilized worldwide, HealthBoxHR’s digital test tracker completely removes the need for paper documentation, allowing individual users to upload their official test certificates directly to HR personnel, via a safe and secure digital wallet. This information can be accessed 24/7 using the HealthBoxHR app or on any web browser via all smart phones, laptops desktops or tablets.
Whether the organization requires to set specific intervals for testing or they wish to carry them out intermittently, HR personnel are provided not only with the breakdown of those who are double vaccinated, but also the date of, outcome and proof of each users test status. All information can also be filtered based on region as well as department highlighting more vulnerable areas of the business, as well as acting as a contact tracing element.
Through the use of HealthBoxHR’s Test or Vaccination Tracker, organisations are better able to reduce the spread of Covid-19, keep employees safe and remain compliant.
According to a new study from The Open University, 69% of firms are having difficulty finding employees with adequate digital skills.
According to the study results, the majority of employers (77%) believe they have a digital skills gap in their organization and are struggling to hire new personnel with suitable digital abilities and upskill their present employees.
In the UK, search phrases like ‘I can’t afford my bills’ (+400) and ‘I am always worried about money’ (+300 percent) have risen dramatically in the last 90 days. These figures illustrate that money has a significant influence on mental health across the country.
In reaction to these findings, Lowell, a credit management business, performed research into the financial difficulties that Britons are experiencing.
