Virtual Breakfast Forum – Jan 28, 2021
Thanks to everyone who attended our 2nd Virtual Breakfast Forum of 2021. We had a very interesting discussion around vaccinations for COVID-19. Questions that were posed to the group for consideration in their own organizations were:
- Will you be encouraging your staff to get vaccinated?
- Will you provide time off to your staff for vaccinations?
- How will the timelines to vaccinate employees based on age/health affect your business?
Members were polled as to which regions they do work in, and would be interested in learning about province or state vaccination schedules. Members were interested in Western Canada east to Ontario, and Washington State, Wisconsin and Oregon. We will share information as we receive it.
The vaccination schedule in BC will depend on your age. The younger your team is, the later they will be vaccinated. Most of the members on the call indicated that their teams would fall on the later side of the provincial vaccination schedule.
It is still unclear as to what employers’ rights will be or how much influence you can put on your staff to actually vaccinate. This will be a very real issue moving forward, but it is still a bit too early to get concise information. It was discussed that later in the spring/summer we will bring in a labour lawyer to shed some light on this difficult moral and legal question.
Members are still concerned with complacency, whether it be within their own organizations or on job sites. It remains a concern about the high percentage of strong willed, younger generation that don’t see the risks in the same way. One member shared that at his office, there is a QR code that can be scanned on your phone, which presents a COVID-19 health survey, one for their employees who regularly enter the facility, and another for visitors. The information is held securely and confidentially, accessible only by the HR manager. This is a good way to help with contact tracing.
We are looking forward to our speaker from Capri CMW, Rob Selnes, as the presenter on our next VBF, Thursday February 11th, discussing Cyber Security. Rob will shed some light on what the current and predominant risks are for small and mid-sized businesses, what to do to safeguard against those risks, as well as resources that are easily accessible. We are encouraging all members to invite other staff members that might benefit from this discussion, HR or IT managers, and to invite any potential new members who might see value in listening in.
