Rollbacks to vaccine booster mandates: A Q&A with Joe Du Bey

Over the past year, many companies are moving back to in-office work as well as rolling out return-to-office mandates. Many companies are requiring COVID vaccines in order to be in the office. With the pandemic dwindling down, what will happen to these requirements?

Joe Du Bey, the co-founder and CEO of Eden, an all-in-one people operations platform for employee-centric companies, share his thoughts.

In your opinion, is the pandemic over in the workplace? Or does this depend on what type of workplace you’re in?

When the return-to-office gained momentum in summer 2021 most companies operated with extreme caution. They limited office capacity and required their teams to follow strict guidelines around vaccination and testing, but over the past six months, we have seen a significant shift in how companies operate. They no longer govern from a place of fear with respect to the pandemic, but instead, of normalcy. Few companies continue to require vaccination for gatherings or office usage and most have moved to a policy of no specific safeguards. The world has changed and the way we work is very different than before, but the pandemic is not front and center in companies’ minds anymore.

Considering that a significant portion of the U.S. adult population has heard little or nothing about COVID boosters from their employers, how can employers get a better understanding of what their employees’ health needs and preferences are in the ever-evolving workplace landscape?

This is an excellent question. It is true that as companies have generally lifted their safeguards around required testing, vaccination and office capacity, they have also been less central to their employees as a source of health information. Many companies have returned to their pre-pandemic policies around health and safety information and re-direct employees to their health care provider when questions about COVID arise. This may be for the best, as it was challenging for an employer to remain at the cutting edge of information around COVID recommendations and advice. Most companies do not have an internal health care expert, so it was stretching the core competence of internal management and human resource teams.

What are employees primarily worried about right now? Are they still concerned about COVID safety in the office, or have their concerns shifted elsewhere?

We have seen a sea change in what employees are concerned about over the past two years. In the first two years of the pandemic, employees were scared for the lives of their loved ones and themselves, and pandemic safety was central. In the last six months, pandemic safety concern has faded and has been largely replaced by a tremendous focus around the macroeconomy and a potential recession – employees are worried about their job security. This is especially true in the technology sector, but is something we hear across industries.

As employers pull back on COVID precautions requirements, what shifts have you noticed in the way people work? Are more people coming into the office, or do employees still largely want to work from home?

At Eden, across our desk booking and visitor management products we continue to see office reservations rise month-over-month, but office utilization is certainly still well below where it was prior to the pandemic. Our clients continue to think about reducing their office footprints as they move to a hybrid model and our research shows that the world has changed –– employees want to go to the office, but they also want flexibility to work from home. I suspect we will continue to see office attendance increase, but people will continue to work from home more than prior to the pandemic.