Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for all employees

Google and Facebook will require all employees returning to the office be vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to “prioritise everyone’s health and safety”.

Staff at Google, Facebook and Lyft in the US will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 if they are working in the office, the companies announced in separate statements overnight, in a bid to “prioritise everyone’s health and safety”.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in the announcement that while the tech giant will only apply the policy to its American campuses for now, the policy “will expand to other regions in the coming months”.

“Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead,” he said.

Google’s work-from-policy for all of its offices globally has also been extended until October 18.

In a similar statement hours later, Facebook’s vice president of people, Lori Goler, announced: “As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated.

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New statement from Lori Goler, Facebook VP, People: pic.twitter.com/W2Ky0jolOu

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“How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations. We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves,” Ms Goler said.

“We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritise everyone’s health and safety.”

And when employees for ride-sharing company Lyft return to the office on February 2 next year, they’ll also be required to be vaccinated.

Speaking to NBC News, one Google engineer applauded the move, telling the network that mandating the vaccine is “definitely the right thing to do”.

Others agreed it was the right call, adding that pushing the return-to-office date back further would be helpful for employees trying to plan their lives in the coming months.

“I think logistically for employees, it would have been easier to push to January,” said another Google employee. “I suspect they’ll end up doing that anyway.”

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Staff at Google, Facebook and Lyft in the US will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 if they are working in the office. Picture: Susana Bates/AFP

‘Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead,’ Google CEO Sundar Pichai said. Picture: Kena Betancur/AFP

The trio join a growing number of major companies and public agencies in the US that are starting to draw a harder line on vaccinations, as parts of the nation once again encounter rising infections as a result of the highly infectious Delta variant.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce tomorrow that all federal workers need to be vaccinated or they will be subject to frequent testing, while in New York City, all city workers will be required to get vaccinated or be tested weekly.

“The variants, the low vaccine rates and employee concerns are forcing companies to think through whether or not they mandate vaccines to employees returning to offices,” global people and organisation co-leader at consulting agency PwC, Bhushan Sethi, told NBC.

“They are weighting factors such as inclusion, privacy and retention, with factors such as employee safety and confidence, which can impact productivity and performance.”