Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has begun since late February 2021. Today, employees working in high-risk environments are required to be vaccinated in order to protect the vulnerable and broader community. For instance, aged care and healthcare workers.
The government has also been gradually imposing new regulations and public health orders to have the workforce vaccinated. While it may not be mandatory for many businesses, some have declared to enforce mandatory vaccination for their employees.
As such, businesses and organisations have been scrambling to find solutions to adapt to these new changes. One of the key tools they could adopt is a workforce vaccination management system.
Why is it important?
The workforce vaccination management system is a software which makes it easy for employers to manage employees’ vaccination evidence and keep track of their vaccination statuses.
Other than the visibility it provides for employers, this solution enables employees to enjoy a seamless entry flow into their workplace. They simply need to upload their vaccination evidence, take their temperature, declare their health statuses, and receive entry approval if they meet the screening criteria.
Furthermore, this allows employees to pre-upload their vaccination evidence into the system and have it validated before arriving at the workplace. It also stores and secures the uploaded evidence in the system. This saves the time needed to re-upload and verify the documents again every time an employee check-ins into the workplace.
Achieve compliance
The most fundamental reason for adopting a workforce vaccination management system is to achieve 100% compliance with the government or company vaccination mandate.
Achieving compliance is a complex process. With each state and territory in Australia imposing different sets of regulations, organisations have to be careful about the requirements that apply to them. This is especially so for large corporations operating in multiple states.
State or federal governments might also make sudden announcements on new regulations that have to take effect within a very short timeframe. As such, organisations will have to stay up to date with the ever-changing regulations and be prepared for changes.
Fortunately, with the workforce vaccination management system, things are much simpler. The system helps to monitor and automatically updates itself on the relevant regulations imposed.
For example, whether employees must have one or two doses of the vaccine in order to enter the facility. This ensures the organisation stays compliant with the vaccine mandate.
Additionally, the workforce vaccination management system securely stores the uploaded vaccination evidence and personal details. Organisations can even ensure compliance with privacy and confidentiality policies.
Protect employees
When vaccinated, the risk of one contracting the virus is lower. When the entire organisation or facility is mostly populated with vaccinated individuals, we achieve herd immunity and minimise the spread of infection.
With the workforce vaccination management system, the number of vaccinated employees is kept at the required or optimal level to achieve a vaccinated workforce or herd immunity. Employees would then be less likely to bring the virus to work and spread it to their colleagues. As a result, the workplace becomes much safer for employees who need to return to physical work.
Protection of employees is even more crucial for healthcare organisations where there is a higher risk of exposure to viruses. By only allowing vaccinated healthcare workers to enter the facilities, organisations are protecting the unvaccinated workers. Hence, the adoption of the system is essential to protect employees.
Protect customers
Besides protecting employees, the workforce vaccination management system also protects customers who enter the businesses’ facilities or stores because all, if not most, employees are vaccinated. There is a lower possibility of spreading the virus to customers and customers feel safer about entering the workplace.
At aged care and healthcare facilities, ensuring only vaccinated employees enter the facility also protects sick patients and the aged who are more vulnerable to the virus.
Gain operational insights
The workforce vaccination management system collects and reports real-time data on vaccination statuses. This creates insights into the proportion of employees who are fully, partially, or not vaccinated.
With this, organisations and businesses can conduct scenario planning on how the rate of vaccination will impact the physical workplace. As the proportion of the vaccinated workforce increases, they will have to prepare to accommodate the increasing number of employees returning to the workplace. Things like sufficient space, availability of personal protective equipment, and cleaning services to ensure social distancing and hygiene.
As a result, management leaders can anticipate trends and make more informed decisions on operational changes.
Reduce stress for employees
During this difficult time, it is already taxing on employees who have to constantly switch and compromise with the regulations. Having new implementations at their workplace would again require adaptation and it would be dreadful if these new processes were not properly laid out and managed.
Befittingly, the workforce vaccination management system automates vaccination management and helps to avoid potential stress for employees when the vaccine mandate is imposed. Organisations need not fork out manual labour in several areas.
For example, conducting manual health screening, and sorting and recording heaps of vaccination evidence and employee details. As a result, the solution reduces the admin burden for employees such as receptionists and compliance officers.
The automated entry flow provided also allows employees to sign-in seamlessly, which could drive them to adapt to new changes more easily. Therefore, organisations are less likely to disrupt workers’ experience, reducing stress.
With automatic adjustments to the screening criteria, organisations can also stay stress-free as they remain 100% compliant with the ever-changing regulations. The workforce vaccination management system greatly reduces the burden on compliance officers to monitor the guidelines and update procedures.
Lastly, embracing this solution serves as a cue that the organisation is being serious about creating a safe workplace. Employees will feel assured the company cares for their well-being. Not to mention, employees can worry less about contracting COVID-19 when they are at work.
All in all, organisations and businesses can better take care of employees’ mental health which could improve productivity at work.
Still thinking about which workforce vaccination management system to adopt? Zipline’s vaccination management solution is the one you need. Let us help you achieve 100% compliance and safeguard the health and safety of your employees and customers. Chat with us today!
In summary
Many organisations and businesses are concerned over how they can ensure compliance with the Australian vaccine mandate. The effective solution would be to adopt a workforce vaccination management system.
However, we can see there is much more to this solution than just helping to achieve compliance. From better protection of employees to reducing undesirable stress, the workforce vaccination management system is also capable of meeting these targets.
This could be the best solution for organisations and businesses during this unprecedented time.
