Something tells me, that this sentence is a plant.
Maybe I'm having a Pauline Kael moment, but across my business and peers, I haven't heard ANYONE say they won't come back lest all of their colleagues have had their shots. Now, I don't doubt that there ARE people like that - you know, the people who support the annual NPR fund drive and have print subscriptions to The Atlantic - or that they punch above their weight by being a Karen.
But the business of America is business. Clients have needs to be met, innovation doesn't happen by magic, and the destructive waves of capitalism never sleep. I suspect most places, unless their local Il Duce is named De Blasio and their hand is being forced, are fine with the OSHA path of shots or tests, or just leave it to be a personal medical matter and get on with it. Indeed, by collecting this info, there is now a legal burden to safeguard it and protect this confidential info; while a Fortune 500 firm has the resources to do that, a middle market business is susceptible to a cyber attack through their fish tank and it being held for ransom.
And while people love to hate on HR, my experience is that they've had to pull some incredible Jedi tricks over the past 2 years...imagine dealing with FReepers AND DUmmies in the same office.
I've spoken to many colleagues, and many who've had shots are like our fellow FReepers.....they don't care about vaxx status, they want to get on with work and life. Could it be, that it's the MSM that's making this an issues?
My HR department is excellent, as I've stated here before. They have quite the juggling act keeping a diverse group of employees happy and productive. The two primary goals of a good HR department is to recruit and KEEP top talent and to keep the company out of court as much as possible. Lower level employees might see the HR department as an adversary with all their rules and (sometimes) silly initiatives but as a manager, I see their value. They've saved my bacon a number of times and during this government-initiated vaccine madness, they've quietly behind the scenes worked out reasonable exemptions for good employees who feel strongly against taking these shots (including myself).
A good HR department will do all they can to retain top talent and will fully support management's efforts to keep the company running during these turbulent times.
As far as you thinking the sentence "employees not wanting to return to the office without the assurance that their co-workers are all vaccinated as well." is a plant, I agree with you but there is another aspect to this as well.
There are certain employees in my own company who have gotten rather used to working at home and not having to go into the office. Not surprisingly, they tend to be our weaker employees. All our top performers are eager to come back to the office and during this whole time have had no problem visiting clients in person as needed and coming into the office on at least a semi-regular basis.
So now that we have announced a company wide "return to the office" policy in January, we do have some employees using the "only if everybody is vaccinated card."
Now my company has already granted exemptions to roughly 10% of our workforce but HR has decided that they will not disclose to employees who has been vaccinated and who has been exempted. Instead, they will consider everybody in compliance who has either been vaccinated or exempted. To do otherwise, would be to have about 10% of our employees (including myself) treated as lepers in the workplace, before forced to wear the "scarlet letter" so to speak.
I think that is an excellent move. Everybody back in the office in January and nobody's business whether or not your co-workers are vaccinated or exempted. If you feel that strongly about it, find another job. Or wear your damn mask at the office to your heart's content.
Something tells me, that this sentence is a plant.
Unfortunately, we have a least one of those at my company's HQ.