Vaccine Communication Strategy: How To Encourage Employees To Get It (email)

Why vaccine communication strategy is crucial for business today and how to develop and bring it to life.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused large amounts of disruption for businesses and this disruption is set to continue.

Government and business leaders are hoping the COVID vaccine, one of the most widely anticipated vaccines ever in the world, will bring stability after a year of unpredictable turmoil with closures, lockdowns, remote work, compromised employee health and wellbeing, new safety requirements, and productivity and profit losses being the focus for the past year.

Most members of the community will eventually have the option to be immunized against COVID-19.  However there are people who cannot receive the vaccine on medical grounds (just like there are with other vaccines), and there are also people who object to having vaccinations.  

Navigating this will be an ongoing issue for Human Resources professionals as workplace health and safety obligations to employees continue to be an important topic, and employers want to do all they can to ensure their employees are offered every protection against COVID-19.

Table of contents

What will the COVID-19 vaccine mean for your business?

Things to consider when developing a COVID-19 vaccination strategy

Why you need a vaccine communication strategy

Methods of communication to employees about COVID vaccines

Email to encourage employees to get a COVID vaccine

Additional steps for healthcare organizations

What will the COVID-19 vaccine mean for your business?

The roll-out of any new vaccination program is challenging for governments. Depending on where you live and where your company operates, the eligibility criteria to be among the first to get a vaccine will be different.  In general, the first opportunity to be vaccinated is going to:

• Frontline healthcare workers
• People at risk (eg: those who live in care facilities, the elderly, those with compromised immune systems)
• Other essential workers who come into contact with the public.

Millions of healthcare workers are slated to be vaccinated against COVID-19 over the coming weeks. In many healthcare organizations, other vaccinations such as for the flu or measles are already compulsory to ensure both patient and employee safety. 

However at this point in time, the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t a compulsory requirement for all healthcare workers, and there is evidence it may not be taken up as quickly as healthcare management would like. 

A recent survey by the American Nurses Association found only one-third of nurses would take the vaccine voluntarily.  

It may very well transpire that management in many hospitals and healthcare organizations will insist on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for their staff like they do for other vaccines.

For other sectors, there may not be the same urgency to develop a vaccination policy, but it is definitely the time to start thinking about it.

>> Templates for COVID-19 employee surveys. Download for free <<

Things to consider when developing a COVID-19 vaccination strategy

Even outside of healthcare, organizations will need to consider whether or not they will insist on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for their employees - or if they will just strongly encourage their employees to have one. 

A recent Gartner poll found that 60% of HR leaders currently have the view that they’ll encourage their employees to get the vaccine - but they won’t be making it mandatory.

The poll also found that 60% were planning to provide resources to their employees on how and when to get the COVID-19 vaccine.  

9% said they would require their employees to be vaccinated to ensure a safe return to work in the office.

Things to keep in mind when deciding what is right for your organization include:

• Whether or not it is ethical to require people to have a vaccine, especially if they don’t believe in vaccination.
• Balancing individual beliefs and freedoms with the workplace health and safety and employee obligations of the rest of your workforce, your customers, partners, and other stakeholders.
• Whether you can offer a free or subsidized vaccination to employees similar to flu shot programs that operate in many businesses.
• Are you able to incorporate a COVID-19 vaccine into any existing employee wellness programs offered by the company?
• Will insisting on a mandatory vaccine break any relevant labor laws in your jurisdiction?
• Do you have a policy for any employees who cannot be vaccinated on medical or religious grounds?
• What happens when household members of employees are not vaccinated? They may be able to pass on the virus to your workplace.
• If you do decide on mandatory vaccinations, who in your workforce should be vaccinated first?
• What are the privacy issues around directing medical procedures or keeping track of who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t been?
• If vaccination is essential before your entire workforce returns to the office, how will this be monitored?
• What happens if an employee refuses a mandatory vaccination?

Why you need a vaccine communication strategy

Topics like vaccination are highly emotive - particularly in the workplace. It’s a topic that people have such strong feelings about, if handled poorly, could cause long-term ill-will for management.

In general, employees do not like when their employer is involved in anything they consider to be personal and private and can feel like the requirement to have a mandatory vaccine is invasive. 

And as of November 2020, around 40% of Americans said they would not get a COVID-19 vaccination, according to the Pew Research Center - this is a significant part of the population, and this reluctance cannot be underestimated.

On the other hand, many employees will be happy to get the vaccine, but it will be doubtful that a safe return to work will be possible if their colleagues are largely unvaccinated.

Employers will have an essential role in promoting and educating about COVID-19 vaccines, especially as they affect the workplace.

Whether you determine your organization will mandate the vaccine, or if you’re just going to encourage it, it’s important that you have a really strong strategy in place for communication to employees about COVID vaccines.

Your vaccine communications strategy should be a plan that includes:

1. Clear messages on why the vaccine is important, including the benefits to workplace health and safety, obligations to employees and protecting customers.
2. Clear messages on how employees can obtain the vaccine. For example, if your organization is going to subsidize it or if you will be offering it in the workplace. Make sure you tell them any relevant times, locations, or prices.
3. Stick to the facts only, particularly as fake news and misinformation can spread quickly, it is necessary not to be drawn into it.
4. The channels you will use to distribute the information, as well as the frequency of information delivery.
5. The opportunity for employees to give feedback and raise concerns. A two-way dialogue is vital to establish trust and show you take employees’ views seriously.

Methods of communication to employees about COVID vaccines

How you deliver the information is important. Delivering your strategy should be in the form of an internal communications/ internal marketing campaign. Using various channels can help reinforce the information about the vaccine and keep it front-of-mind for employees.

You can achieve this by using DeskAlerts to keep your employees informed on any corporate device, whether they’re working from home or the office or if they’re on the road on a mobile or tablet device. 

The following communication tools will be handy for this purpose.

• Digital signage. You can deliver information to any digital screen in your organization.
• Screensavers and wallpapers. Show appealing images with the main points and dates of vaccination on the company laptops and PCs using screensavers software.
• Video content. Videos grab the attention and are widely used to explain complicated things simply.
• Information on the company intranet. With the DeskAlerts channels, you can send links to the intranet articles straight to the employee monitor.
• Text and video communications from the CEO. You can send them via push and pop-up alerts.
• Pop-up notifications. They appear on the screen and immediately grab the attention. Excellent for sending mail for rejoining after lockdown.
• RSVPs to attend vaccination sessions.
• Using recurring surveys to track the vaccination status of employees. (You can ask if they have had it or if they are planning to get it in the future). 

Using a designated communications system like DeskAlerts can help build trust and transparency with your employees as they will know they can rely on it as a “single source of truth” and know that the information is official, reliable, vetted.

Email to encourage employees to get a COVID vaccine

If you’re unsure where to start, sending an email to employees to encourage them to get a COVID vaccine is a good first step in your vaccine communication strategy. It’s important that you use impartial, factual information and write it in a way that is easy to understand.

We’ve created a sample to get you started:

Dear colleagues,

The health and safety of our employees and clients is our number one priority at (company name). Thank you for all the hard work you have done throughout the pandemic to keep yourselves and others safe.

Now that vaccines are becoming available, I’d like to encourage you to further reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in our organization by being vaccinated if you are eligible to receive one. In getting the vaccine, you will not only protect yourself and your co-workers, but you’ll be contributing to stopping the spread of this virus in our community as well so that we can all work towards life returning to normal.

We have (a policy of time off/organized for vaccines to be provided on site) to ensure that all employees are given a chance to access the vaccine. You can find out more by clicking this link (insert a link to intranet or vaccine provider website).

Of course, some of you may have questions or concerns about COVID vaccines. Some side effects are common, as with all vaccines, most commonly pain at the injection site or mild to moderate feelings of being unwell. Please read more here (insert a link to local health authority guide to vaccinations).

COVID-19 vaccinations are important to help stop the spread of the virus. However, other health and safety protocols will still need to be observed, depending on the official advice of local health authorities.

Thank you once more for all your efforts during this time. If you have any questions about the vaccination policy, please contact (insert contact details here).

Sincerely,

(name, title)

Additional steps for healthcare organizations

As with any other industry, determining whether or not the vaccine will be mandatory for healthcare workers could prove contentious. 

The Pew Research Center reported that only 50 to 70 % of health care workers are willing to take the vaccine.  

As with other industries, mandates can cause problems with trust. 

There are legal precedents in this sector for mandatory vaccinations, and it is likely this will be tested in many healthcare workplaces in 2021.

Healthcare organizations may want to take additional steps in delivering information to employees. Healthcare professionals will want extra information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and may want to read scientific literature as well. 

This can include sending video information, links to journal articles, and advice from professional associations.

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Your organization needs to start working now, if it hasn’t already, to plan for how it will treat COVID-19 vaccination as it becomes available in your jurisdiction. Internal communications are critical to implementing any policy successfully, and if handled poorly, the entire procedure could fail.