Google employees have disapproved of the company's widened COVID-19 vaccination mandate in a signed manifesto. The issue has brought a lot of challenges to the tech giant which will soon request its workers to come to the physical workplace.
Google Employees Oppose COVID Vaccine Mandate
According to a report by NBC News, all US-based companies consisting of 100 or more employees are required to have them fully vaccinated or at least COVID tested earlier this year, per President Joe Biden's announcement.
Google previously asked its over 150,000 workers to upload their vaccination status by next month, Dec.3. The search engine firm added that regardless of whether the employee will work at home or the office, he/she should be vaccinated.
Per Google VP of Security, Chris Rackow thru an email, vaccinating their employees will allow them to have a safer physical workspace to deal with. This would also minimize the spread of the virus across several places.
Rackow said that Google has been following what the Biden Administration wanted. He initially gave Nov. 12 as the deadline to pass the employees' requirements regarding the decision. However, there were some exemptions such as underlying medical conditions and religious beliefs which would boil down as a case-to-case basis.
The report wrote that at least 600 Google employees signed the manifesto which tackles withdrawing the company's decision on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Related Article : Google Announces All Returning Employees Must Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19
Moreover, they urged others to oppose the decision from the tech giant, citing that they should not allow the decision to dictate to them whether they want to get vaccinated or not.
As the deadline for the return of the workforce gets nearer, many workers argued that it should not be implemented in all companies.
"As we've stated to all our employees and the author of this document, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running. We firmly stand behind our vaccination policy," a Google spokesperson said.
Google CEO is Requiring Vaccinations For Office Returnees
In another report from CNBC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in July that he would require all workers to get vaccinated, especially those who are set to return to the physical workplace soon.
A few months later, Pichai stated that more employees were slowly returning to the office. Around October, he said that he would still allow workers to work from home even those who do not want to receive vaccine shots.
The manifesto included that Google decided to encourage its workers to get vaccinated. For instance, the company's VP of data centers Joe Kava said that there would be a $5,000 incentive bonus for vaccinated employees in the office.
Tech Firms on Employees' Vaccination Status
Last September, Apple requested that its US-based workers should submit a report about their vaccination statuses. The Cupertino giant said that the employees should "voluntarily" inform them regarding their vax condition regardless of whether they are remotely working or not.
Last month, Adobe announced that its employees should comply with the vaccination requirements until Dec.8. If they are not able to follow the policy, they would be placed on unpaid leave.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joseph Henry
