EACOM also provides incentives to encourage vaccinations
Following the lead of other employers in the fight against COVID-19, wood products company EACOM has stepped up to provide vaccination at its workplace.
Late in July, the company announced that Public Health Sudbury & Districts’ mobile clinic would be present at its Nairn Centre sawmill to offer the shot to employees, their families and contractors.
“Protecting our employees and the community has always been a priority for us. With all the COVID-19-related directives and preventive measures, our people have made many efforts and adjustments to their work environment to protect their colleagues, and offering them an easy access to vaccination was the logical next step to accelerate the return to a new normalcy,” says Éric Larouche, vice-president of human resources at EACOM.
There’s really not much difference between how the vaccination process goes at the mobile clinic and how it normally goes in other local centres, says Jennifer Young, regional manager of HR at EACOM, in an interview with Canadian HR Reporter.
“This was actually the Sudbury Public Health Unit, so they were all fully trained and it was their employees that were coming to do the vaccine, doing the screening before the vaccine,” she says.
“They set up in the yard at the sawmill, and employees or family members or contractors could come. They did the pre-screening in one area, they had a motorhome that’s set up, and so then they would go to the motorhome and receive the shot, and then they would go to a sitting area for 15 minutes.”
Several employers have been stepping up to help out with Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
But EACOM employees are also free to refuse the vaccine, she says.
“We definitely have people that are not wanting to get vaccinated, and there are various reasons. For some people, it’s comfort, they’re just not comfortable yet; and some people are just completely against [it]. You talk to them to see if you can help alleviate any fears and ultimately it is their decision. We’re not here to tell them what they have to do.”
Incentive program
On top of offering the vaccine right in the workplace, EACOM also provides incentives to encourage workers to receive the vaccine.
“When you go [in] for your vaccine, you receive a proof of receiving it. That is handed in to the local HR and sent to a corporate comps and benefits person, and they take those records,” says Young.
Jennifer Young
Those receiving their first dose of the vaccine get $200 to be credited to their salary. They get another $150 when they get the second dose. For those receiving vaccines that do not require a second dose, they get the full $350 on one take.
“It’s a good way for us to help promote the vaccines, looking at the safety of our employees and trying to make the site as safe as possible for everybody. COVID has been hard mentally on a lot of people, and physically for some of our employees who have contracted COVID, and so we wanted to promote this healthy choice,” says Young about the incentive program.
“When we discussed this at EACOM at all levels, we felt that this was something that was helping with wellness and health and that it may help convince some people to go for the vaccine. And I do believe that a number of employees would have gone whether there was a financial incentive or not, but it may have helped people who weren’t sure and decided that the financial benefit would help as well.”
In May, DLGL announced that any employee who provides proof of vaccination for COVID-19 would be paid a bonus of $2,500, with $1,250 for each shot.
