Bosses welcome guidelines on Covid-19 jabs but not all will ask unvaccinated staff to pay for tests

• Seven employers TODAY spoke were generally supportive of the guidelines to keep workplaces Covid-19 safe
• One employer felt that it might be too much to require unvaccinated low-paid workers to foot the bill for their Covid-19 tests
• Others said the workers made the choice and it would not be fair on those who chose to get vaccinated if the company absorbs such expenses
• While employers cannot force their employees to get vaccinated, one director said they can take steps to protect them by isolating these workers

SINGAPORE — Several employers across different sectors told TODAY that they welcomed a recent advisory from the tripartite partners on keeping their workplaces safe from Covid-19, although one questioned a guideline requiring unvaccinated workers to pay for their own coronavirus tests.

The seven employers interviewed by TODAY came from the manufacturing, logistics, technology, landscaping, legal services and finance sectors.

Most of them said that only a small minority of their workers were not vaccinated, and they did not foresee any disruptions to their business operations if they were to adopt the guidelines proposed in the advisory.

The advisory, which urged all employers to adopt a "vaccinate or regular test" regime, was issued on Monday (Aug 23) by the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Health (MOH), National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation.

Under this regime, the advisory states that some Covid-19-related costs such as test kits incurred by non-vaccinated employees who are eligible for vaccination should be borne by them.

So far, only public service employees and those in selected higher-risk sectors that include healthcare, food-and-beverage (F&B) and fitness will have to undergo this regime from Oct 1.

SEE THE BIG PICTURE

Among the company bosses who support the advisory was Mr Marvin Tan, co-founder and group executive director of the technology company Adera Global.

The firm is not in a customer-facing sector such as the F&B industry, but he noted that there is still “a lot of interaction” between employees in the firm’s departments and its clients.

Describing how the advisory needs to be seen as part of a big picture, he said that it was a “good idea” to keep the coronavirus in check — a sentiment shared by the others interviewed.

Although nobody wants to manage the higher costs of operations that may be a result of adopting the guidelines, he said that “Singapore is really quite fortunate”.

“We're worrying about how to open up (the economy), rather than worrying about ICU (intensive care unit) beds. The cost of these small inconveniences is nothing compared to total disruption,” Mr Tan said.

That said, while it is not a requirement under the guidelines, he believes that his company has the responsibility to foot the bill for testing unvaccinated blue-collar workers, regardless of their reasons.

“It’s not cheap,” Mr Tan said of the antigen rapid self-test kits, which can be used to administer the regular testing of unvaccinated workers.

As to how often it should be administered, the advisory recommends that employers take reference from MOH’s guidelines for the "vaccinate or regular test" regime, which is twice a week.

The test kits are priced from at least S$11 for a single nasal swab, which means that an unvaccinated employee may have to spend at least S$88 a month to ensure that they test negative for the coronavirus.

Mr Tan said that this is quite a “significant amount” for blue-collar workers.

“I doubt we can put it on them to bear the costs,” he said, though he added that such an offer would not be extended to C-suite employees.

A PERSONAL CHOICE

However, other employers said that they will adhere to the guidelines and not absorb the costs of those who chose not to get vaccinated, even though they are able to do so.

Ms Doris Lim, assistant human resource manager at manufacturing firm MAP Plastics, said: “This is to be fair to the other employees who chose to get vaccinated.”

Mr Steven Lam, a director of Templars Law LLC, said all the staff members at the law firm had been vaccinated of their own accord.

However, this was not the case at some clubs and construction firms to which he offered advice as a board member.

"We took a collective position to say that, ‘If you don't want to get vaccinated, then you must go for a swab test and you pay for it because you chose not to get vaccinated. We’re not going to pay for you’," Mr Lam said. He was referring only to those who chose not to get vaccinated for non-medical reasons.

“Many people (at the clubs and construction firms), once we imposed this (position), they started to wake up (and went to get vaccinated),” he added.

However, Mr Tan Ru-Ding, the director of Delphic Manufacturing Solutions, said that it would not be right to “mandate that my workers get vaccinated” because it is ultimately a personal choice.

“The only thing I will do is that I will take steps to protect them because they are not vaccinated... the company will isolate them,” he said.

For instance, of his two unvaccinated employees, one has been barred from returning to the office and the other, who is required on the production line, is excluded from any physical meetings.

‘FULLY SUPPORTIVE’

Firms such as logistics company Ninja Van said that they have already been encouraging their employees to get vaccinated.

Still, Mr Lee Ghim Hock, the company’s chief operating officer, said that the firm welcomes the new guidance on the measures and will be working with MOH and trade agency Enterprise Singapore on how it can implement regular testing on unvaccinated workers without disrupting operations.

Mr Lee added that Ninja Van has also been broadcasting weekly reminders to their employees to get vaccinated, and it is allowing them to take the following day off to recover from any potential side effects.

He estimated that the company should hit an 80 per cent vaccination rate by the end of August.

“While we highly encourage employees to go for the vaccinations, we do not force them to do so,” he said.

“For our foreign employees from China who have a preference for alternate vaccines, we have covered all necessary costs for their vaccinations.”

In response to TODAY’s queries, DBS bank said that it is “fully supportive” of the national effort to ensure that workplaces remain resilient against Covid-19.

“The safety and well-being of our customers and employees remains our top priority,” it said.

TODAY has sought comment from other banks such as OCBC and Maybank.