Why Biden, Apple, Google And Others Are Changing Strategies To Combat Covid Crisis – Forbes

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 29: U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks in the East Room ... [+] of the White House on July 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden spoke on his administration's effort to get more Americans vaccinated and plan to combat the spread of the Delta variant. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden, Apple, Google and others are wisely following a basic best practice for responding to a crisis situation that all business leaders should keep in mind: Dont hesitate to change your strategies and tactics when a crisis worsens or takes unexpected turns, which is certainly the case with the rollercoaster ride that is the Covid-19 pandemic. From vaccine hesitancy to the Delta variant, the Covid crisis today is much different than it was a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden today called for state and local governments to make $100 payments to every newly vaccinated American to encourage them to get their Covid shots. In remarks at the White House, he announced all federal employees will be required to be vaccinated against thecoronavirusor face new testing, masking and distancing rules, according to the Washington Post.

Yesterday, Apple said anyone who enters their U.S. stores will have to wear a mask again and Facebook announced that all of their U.S. employees must be vaccinated before they can return to the companys offices.

Another important best crisis management practice Biden and the tech companies are following is to clearly explain what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how it will help address the worsening crisis.

On Wednesday, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, told employees they are now required to get their Covid vaccinations and that previously announced plans to return to the office were postponed until mid-October.

As the New York Times recently reported, When companies began announcing tentative return-to-office plans this spring, there was a sense of optimism behind the messages. Covid cases were dwindling in the United States as the vaccine rollout picked up pace. Employers largely hoped their workers would get shots on their own, motivated by raffle tickets, paid time off and other perks, if not by the consensus of the medical community.

In recent days, that tone has suddenly shifted. The Delta variant, a more contagious version of the coronavirus, is sweeping through the country. Fewer than half of Americans arefully vaccinated, exacerbating the situation.

According to a July 20 report by New York Times, Apple pushed back itsreturn-to-office plansby at least a month in response to the recent surge in coronavirus cases, which has been fueled by the spread of theDelta variant. The company told employees on Monday that they are now expected to return to the office as early as Oct. 1 instead of early September. [Apple] said that the date could shift further depending on the spread of the virus, and that it would give employees at least a months notice before they are expected to return, according to an email Apple sent to employees, which was viewed by The New York Times.

As the situation continues to evolve, were committed to the same measured approach that we have taken all along, the email said.

Of course, Apple, Facebook and Google are not the only companies who are apparently worried about the changing course of the pandemic or the urgent need to do some3thing about it.

In a spring surveyof more than 3,300 small employers,Reimagine Main Street found that 64% of small employers said that was very important for their employees to get vaccinated. The majority (63%) of respondents wee willing to encourage and incentivize employees to get their shots, with AAPI and Black small employers most likely to act.

To help businesses navigate changing public health guidance, surging rates of new Covid-19 infection and partially vaccinated workforces, the Health Action Alliance and National Safety Council experts developed aDecision Tool For Employers.

According to the Health Action Alliance, This interactive online resource is designed to help executives, human resource managers and operational leaders navigate the health, legal and other considerations that can inform their vaccination policy and other workplace safety decisions.

Professor Sharona Hoffman is a health law expert at Case Western Reserve UniversitysSchool of Law andSchool of Medicine. I think Google has made a sound decision, as long as they provide exceptions for medical and religious reasons.

Given the spike in Covid cases, it would be very reasonable for other companies to make the same [vaccination and office return] decision.We have seen that too many people refuse to take the vaccine if they are not required to do so.Establishing vaccine mandates appears to be a necessary step to combating this deadly pandemic, she observed.

David C. Miller, a labor and employment attorney with Bryant Miller Olive, said, My advice to leaders is to balance the benefits of vaccinations which are obviousagainst the downsides, the biggest of which is employee pushback.

My clients tell me that if they mandate vaccinations, there will be some number of employees who will quit rather than submit. If your company has a high public profile or its a consumer-driven business, you also have to guess at how much negative publicity youll get and how much it may hurt the brand and sales. I think there will certainly be a number of businesses that follow Googles example. How manyand especially how many outside the tech industryis an open question, he noted.

Miller advised that, If youre a public sector employer or if your employees are represented by a union, there are whole additional suites of hurdles you have to leap before you can require vaccinations. Ultimately, there are going to be major First Amendment suits against governmental vaccination requirements, whether aimed at employees or the general public. Weve begun to see them already.

He observed that, Google delayed its return to the office date in tandem with the vaccination requirement. [This] seems to have been done to allow employees time to get vaccinated, but also to give more time to adjust their work-from-home lives back to the brick-and-mortar model. Any employer choosing to have a mandate would do well to follow suit to try to minimize employee disruptions and, thus, pushback. Education, tangible incentives, and soft pressure have all been used to ease employees toward vaccination.

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Why Biden, Apple, Google And Others Are Changing Strategies To Combat Covid Crisis - Forbes