What KPMG and the Big Four are doing on Covid jabs

This week KPMG launched a survey of its 10,000 staff and contractors to assess their views on Covid jabs. It received an overwhelming response.

CEO of KPMG Andrew Yates. Picture: John Feder

Audit and consulting firms face big challenges post-lockdown when it comes to vaccinating staff for Covid-19 and managing their extensive client lists. The big four, in particular, will have to ensure safety, not only for their own employees but also for the staff of clients whose premises they work at for specific projects. The nature and scope of professional service firms mean they will likely face a range of different state and company policies across the country.

KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates says: “I think we are about to enter one of the more complex phases of the whole Covid experience as we grapple with a population, part of which is vaccinated and part of which is unvaccinated. For a national business like ours we are going to have potentially eight different state and federal rules.

“The added complexity for us is we are going to have clients that have their own policies.”

This week KPMG launched a survey of its 10,000 staff and contractors to assess their views on vaccination and the workplace.

It had an overwhelming response: within 24 hours, more than 3500 people had responded, with about 78 per cent saying they had one dose of the vaccine and another 18 per cent saying they intended to have the jab. Yates says nothing is off the table in terms of policy, but for now he is gathering information to come up with an approach that can be managed across KPMG’s 16 offices.

He says it’s too early to know if vaccine passports will be used in this country, but “we do appreciate that we will have to comply with our clients’ policies” when auditors and consultants visit their offices.

“In the immediate term there are going to be different policies set by the government for vaccinated and unvaccinated people, for example around travel, so those things will naturally find their way into the workplace,” he says.

KPMG has not introduced incentives to get staff vaccinated but offers leave for people to receive the jab.

A spokesperson for EY says the firm offers two half days of vaccination leave for people to get the two doses. It is also planning an onsite vaccination program for staff and their families, similar to its flu vaccine program.

Setting up workplace vaccination hubs became more attractive to many businesses this week after the federal government finalised its medical indemnity scheme which, in effect, frees companies from liability for compensation if staff suffer injury after a dose administered at work. However, there is still little appetite for mandating vaccines other than from companies in the frontline, such as Qantas. It has said staff must be inoculated by mid-November.

Other corporations have indicated they want workers to be inoculated but in general have avoided an enforced mandate because of reluctance to test the workplace laws on compulsion.

A National Australia Bank staff survey this week found strong support for mandating vaccines but public opinion is mixed.

Only 45 per cent of those surveyed in a YouGov poll published in The Australian this week back the right of employers to mandate for all workplaces, while another 24 per cent say this should apply only to frontline or public-facing jobs and 23 per cent say no, never.

The report reveals varying views on compulsory vaccination, depending on age: it found 23 per cent of Gen Z, 27 per cent of Gen Y and 28 per cent of Gen X believe employers should never be able to mandate vaccines compared with 8 per cent for those over 75.

Baby boomers also were keen on mandates, with only 16 per cent saying employers should never be allowed to enforce the jab.

Deloitte Australia chief executive Adam Powick says it is working with its flu program providers to schedule Covid sessions once mRNA vaccines are widely available.

Last week it ran an AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) vaccination pilot for staff and families in partnership with a local pharmacy chain. It also offers vaccination leave.

Powick believes some form of vaccine passport will be needed for travel and to access public venues and some client sites, and Deloitte is considering how to work with this likelihood in terms of employee declarations and privacy. He says it’s premature to consider mandating vaccination until there are enough supplies to support mass vaccination for staff and their families.

“(But) we are … carefully watching countries like the US and Canada where an increasing number of public and private sector organisations are mandating full vaccination as a condition for entry to physical office premises,” he says. “It is not unreasonable to think that we may see a similar trend in Australia post the new year and we have to at least plan for this scenario.”

Powick says Australia needs to open international borders quickly to support family reunions and drive skilled migration and entry for students and tourists.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia chief operating officer Liza Maimone says staff can take personal leave to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects.

“In terms of a PwC corporate program, we are in discussions with key providers, the government, Business Council of Australia and our clients as to how PwC and other large businesses can best support our national efforts around vaccination, and a forward program of vaccine boosters that will be an important element in protecting everyone,” she says.

“PwC is also supporting Unicef’s Give the World a Shot campaign. We are donating $5 to the campaign for every one of our partners/people who have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by December 31. That $5 will cover the cost associated with fully vaccinating a person in a low-income country.

“Combined with our giving campaign via Good2Give, we are helping to fully vaccinate over 5000 people in low-income countries under the Unicef campaign so far.”