Time to get back to the office, business should prepare for vaccine programs: Covid chief Nev Power

Employers should prepare to arrange vaccinations for staff, says Covid Commission boss Nev Power, as he urged a return to CBDs.

Head of the National COVID-19 Commission, Nev Power, wants business leaders to do all they can to encourage workers to get vaccinated. Picture: AAP

The chair of the federal government’s National COVID-19 Commission, Nev Power, has urged businesses across Australia to bring their employees back into the office.

“It’s time to return to the CBDs as much as we can with COVID-safe practices,” he said in a speech to the Australian Institute of Company Directors governance summit.

Mr Power, a Perth-based company director who is chairman of Perth Airport, said international companies operating in Australia should consider bringing their staff back to work even if they had global stay-at-home policies.

“The Australian offices of some multinational companies are following policies set by their head offices,” he said.

But he said they should be tailoring their policies “to reflect the lower risks in Australia, not what might be needed in New York or London.”

Mr Power, a former chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group, said getting employees back into offices was an important part of Australia’s economic recovery.

“There is a wide range of businesses whose jobs depend on office workers,” he said.

“Going back to the CBD is an important step in underpinning economic activity.”

He said while the Australian economy was showing continued signs of recovery, a fact which would be confirmed with Wednesday’s release of the latest economic growth figures, economic activity in CBDs across the country was still “subdued.”

Mr Power said that parts of the Australian economy were rebounding but others were not, which was creating a “patchwork of recovery which will hard to address”.

He said those industries which depend on international travel such as international students, tourism, and in the events and creative sector, would “remain affected for some time.”

Mr Power said one of the biggest current concerns was unemployment levels among young people.

He said older workers had been able to go back to work or get new jobs, but unemployment among the young remained a problem.

Mr Power said he expected employers would eventually become involved in arranging COVID vaccines for their staff, in the same way as they organised flu vaccines.

He said employers should be careful issues around the vaccine did not become a “workplace issue”.

But he said employers should encourage staff to have the vaccine and be prepared to be involved in programs to vaccinate staff if asked.

Mr Power said the rollout of the vaccine was a “massive logistical exercise”.

“It will take time and it is inevitable that not everything will go smoothly,” he said,

But it was in the interests of business and the general public for the rollout to be undertaken as quickly as possible.

He said there was no need for businesses to jostle for position to have their staff vaccinated ahead of other sectors, as there were plenty of vaccine shots for everyone.

“Businesses should avoid turning vaccination into a workplace issue,” he said.

He said concerns that there may be issues where workers refused to get vaccinated were “overblown.”

“Most of us will want to be vaccinated,” he said.

“I urge all business leaders to get behind this and do everything they can to encourage people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Businesses should be ready to roll out their own vaccination programs if they are able to.”

Originally published as Time to get back to the office, business should prepare for vaccine programs: Covid chief Nev Power