Rise in Australian job ads demanding fully Covid vaccinated workers

More and more companies are mandating the vaccine for new recruits as the Covid-19 situation worsens in the country’s most prosperous states.

Job advertisements around Australia are making the coronavirus vaccination a requirement for applicants – a short step away from mandating the vaccine in the workplace.

New data shows that this phenomenon is becoming more widespread as the Covid-19 crisis in Victoria and NSW deepens.

According to research released by data analytics firm Purpose Bureau on Wednesday, the number of employers outlining in job ads that vaccination was a necessity for new recruits has increased twelvefold since May.

And in the last three weeks – since case numbers in NSW have surpassed 1000 every day – three times as many jobs have made the demand.

In May, there were 15 job ads requiring Covid-19 vaccination for every 10,000 job ads. That jumped to 203 this month.

The number of staff working for organisations now requiring vaccinated new recruits was 150,000 in May but has increased to half a million.

Unsurprisingly, most of the industries mandating the jab for new starters are healthcare, which makes up half of the ads, as well as customer-facing roles such as hospitality jobs.

However, administration work and financial services are also among those calling for vaccinated recruits.

NSW workplaces are the biggest instigators behind the trend. But surprisingly, things are different in Victoria.

The Garden State is sitting slightly below the average for mandating vaccines in new recruits, despite being the second hardest hit state with the Delta strain of Covid.

Jab gives jobseeker competitive edge

David Tan, a part-time actor who has been out of work during Sydney’s lockdown, was told by his agent to get the vaccine to give himself a competitive edge over other applicants.

Tan, 21, was offered an audition by the Australian Government to play a part in a vaccination campaign video.

“Part of the requirement for submitting the audition was getting at least one shot of any available vaccination before the shoot date,” he told news.com.au.

He got an Astra-Zeneca jab on August 19 and will be fully vaccinated by September 23.

“Had I not got the shot, I would have missed the opportunity entirely.”

Because of his young age, Tan had been gunning for the Pfizer vaccine.

“I wanted to wait for Pfizer, after seeing information online that it was more desirable than Astra,” he said.

“This was information that was echoed by pharmacists, local doctors, and by the Vaccine Eligibility Checker provided by the Department of Health.”

Ultimately, Tan is glad he got the vaccine as he didn’t experience any negative side effects and now feels he has a better chance of finding work.

If Australia can reach an 80 per cent vaccination rate, lockdowns won’t be necessary, Scott Morrison said a few months ago. Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP

Although government roles are demanding fully vaccinated employees, there has also been a rise in the number of smaller private companies doing the same.

“There are a lot of government agencies but there are also plenty of smaller companies, such as removalists or landscape companies, which make sense as they’re occupations with a lot of mobility in the workday,” Nick Kamper, CEO of Purpose Bureau, said.

The job ad trend is strongest in NSW and then Queensland.

Victoria sits just under the national average, while Western Australia and South Australia are the slowest for workplace vaccine requirements for new employees.

It comes as Australia is trying to reach a vaccination target of 80 per cent to make lockdowns and border closures a thing of the past.

People wait in a 1.5 hour single file line at the Glebe Vaccination hub in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dylan Coker

A number of companies have mandated the vaccine for all their employers, not just new recruits.

Fruit and vegetable canned food company SPC was the first Australian company to mandate the vaccine for its staff on August 5.

On June 28, the Government also agreed to make the Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for all residential aged care workers.

Halfway through last month, Australia’s workplace watchdog gave the go-ahead to employers in certain high-risk industries to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for staff.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said in August employers could require their employees to get the vaccine if the direction is “lawful and reasonable”.

Last month, Virgin and Qantas made the jab necessary to stay on the job.

And last week, Tasmania’s iconic Mona art museum made the jab compulsory for staff.

This week, telco Telstra made the vaccine mandatory for all its employees, as did the NSW Police Force.

Hotel quarantine, border control, healthcare and aged care workers are “more likely” to be required to get the vaccine, while a mandate for employees who are working from home is “unlikely” to be reasonable, under the ombudsman’s ‘Four Tier’ system.

Supermarket employees and other essential workers in Sydney’s hotspots could be required to get the vaccine under the new advice.