HR Leaders Split Over Covid-19 Vaccination Policies

StrategicCHRO360’s latest research shows HR leaders are split almost in half over whether their organization should raise insurance premiums for employees who are not vaccinated against Covid-19. But there are areas of unity, particularly when it comes to measuring organizational resilience.

There is no unanimity when it comes to how to move forward with pandemic policies in the workplace.

The latest StrategicCHRO360 poll of America’s HR leaders, conducted in February, found splits over raising insurance premiums for the unvaccinated and the idea that government would charge the unvaccinated for their status.

 

Fifty-one percent “agree” to “strongly agree” with the statement, “I support organizations raising health insurance premiums for employees who are not vaccinated against Covid-19” while 49 percent disagree. There is also a significant split when CHROs are asked to rate their degree of agreement with the statement, “I support the government charging a premium to U.S. residents who are not vaccinated against Covid-19.” Almost 41 percent (40.6) of CHROs agree with the statement, compared to 69 percent who disagree.

 

There were areas of unity in the poll, however. Among the statements that have resounding agreement or disagreement from CHROs are the following:

 

  • “Employee mental health has become a more prominent topic at my organization in recent months,” 86 percent of CHROs agree.
  • “Employees within HR departments are resigning at a faster rate than employees within other departments,” 88 percent of CHROs disagree.
  • “I would classify my organization as resilient,” a whopping 99 percent of CHROs agree.

 

Employee Turnover

It’s not news that resignation rates are rising across the country and talent is a top concern for members of the C-Suite. In fact, 66 percent of CHROs say that they are experiencing higher overall turnover rates than one year ago. Only 6 percent of CHROs say that they are experiencing less turnover than before. The average overall turnover rate that organizations are experiencing is 22.6, according to CHROs.

 

When it comes to turnover rates at the C-Suite level, it’s a different story. Sixty-seven percent of CHROs say they are experiencing about the same level of turnover in the C-Suite as they were a year ago. Only 21 percent say that the turnover is higher than one year ago, significantly lower than their overall turnover rates. CHROs say that their organization is experiencing a 7.5 percent turnover rate, on average, at the C-Suite level.

As a result of high turnover rates due to the current labor market situation, 61 percent of CHROs say that employee morale at their organization has been impacted. Forty-three percent of CHROs say that the current labor market situation has affected their employee engagement and caused operational disruptions. Forty-one percent of CHROs say that their workplace culture has been impacted.

 

The good news is that much smaller proportions of CHROs say that their revenue (18 percent), customer satisfaction (12 percent) and profits (8 percent) have been impacted by the state of the labor market.

About the CHRO Talent Index

The CHRO Confidence Index is a pulse survey of U.S.-based CHROs and HR executives at organizations of all types and sizes on their perspective of the economy and how policies and current events are affecting their companies and strategies. Every quarter, StrategicCHRO360 partners with SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) to ask participating CHROs about their top issues and challenges for the months ahead. The results are published on StrategicCHRO360.com and a report is distributed to participants.

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