Story at a glance
- Investment manager Vanguard will pay its employees to get vaccinated.
- Other companies have mandated vaccinations for returning employees, but without similar financial incentives.
- President Biden advised state governments to use federal funding to pay citizens to get vaccinated.
Investment management firm Vanguard is offering its employees $1,000 to get a COVID-19 vaccine, making it the latest major company to encourage its employees to get vaccinated amid the spread of the transmissible delta variant.
Vanguard reps confirmed the incentive to reporters at CNBC.
“Vanguard recognizes vaccines are the best way to stop the spread of this virus and strongly encourages crew to be vaccinated,” Charles Kurtz, a spokesperson for Vanguard, said. “As such, we are offering a vaccine incentive for crew who provide COVID-19 vaccination proof. The incentive recognizes crew who have taken the time to protect themselves, each other, and our communities by being vaccinated.”
A bevy of private and public organizations are implementing measures to encourage or even require employees to get vaccinated. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs became the first government agency to make vaccines mandatory for client-facing health care workers.
States have followed suit, with New York, California and New Jersey issuing mandates that require health care workers to get vaccinated or undergo testing every week.
While about 50 percent of Americans are vaccinated, the rate has slowed as the delta variant surges countrywide.
President Biden also requested that local governments make up to $100 available to give to every person following their vaccination. The money would come from federal funding given to states from the American Rescue Plan.
“With incentives and mandates, we can make a huge difference and save a lot of lives,” Biden said.
Other private firms, including Google, Microsoft and Facebook, are requiring vaccinations for employees returning to the offices and giving them deadlines to do so.
Vanguard remains one of the few companies to pay their employees to get vaccinated. In the early days of the vaccine rollout, many employers allotted their staff paid leave to get vaccinated rather than force workers to take time off and forgo pay, another form of incentivization. Superstores like Publix and Walmart are among the few that reward their employees with pay outside of paid leave to go get the vaccine.
“Providing accommodations so employees can receive this critical vaccine is one more way we can support them and eliminate the need to choose between earning their wages and protecting their well-being,” said Jason Hart, the CEO of ALDI U.S. to AARP.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
