Fictional Case Study – Covid-19, Delta and HR

Fission was an important company in banking and finance through the ‘90s.  By 2017 it had established itself in PNG as a major competitor to the ‘Big 3 Banks,’ Bank South Pacific (BSP), Westpac and ANZ, and employed well over 500 staff.  

Although the world had known about Covid-19 for months prior, it was identified in PNG in March 2020.  By 16th July 2021, the first case of the Delta variant was identified and within 4 days, the company made an announcement to its workforce about their response to the more threatening mutation by, among other things, incentivising vaccination.

With only the board and sixty percent of senior managers leading the charge by themselves taking the vaccine, the company agreed to:

• Give paid days off for vaccination plus a rest day
• Mandate mask wearing during work hours for all unvaccinated employees
• Identification of the vaccination status of employees by the use of coloured wristbands – red for unvaccinated, orange for one dose, and green for two doses.  These identification wristbands gave access to different communal facilities depending on the level of vaccination
• A bonus of K100 for each vaccinated employee and K50 for each vaccinated immediate family member
• Assignment of Covid Officers at work to monitor signs and symptoms of employees for the immediate removal of unvaccinated ‘probable cases’ with 21 days of unpaid home-isolation

The large majority of the workforce which has been dealing with virulent social media scaremongering and conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19 and vaccination have now lodged complaints to the HR department.

Questions

1. What are some valid complaints that the HR department are likely to receive?
2. What could be some of the costly consequences of conflict for Fission?
3. What strategies should have been put in place to deal with contradictory and scaremongering information?
4. As an HR professional, what would your recommendation be for next steps?

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