At the end of February, it was reported that more than 200,000 NHS workers and care home staff have not had their first dose of the Covid-19 jab, despite chief medical officer Chris Whitty telling health care workers they have a “professional responsibility” to get vaccinated[i].
There have also been several recent reports that some employers are advocating a ‘no jab, no job’ approach, with two care providers in the West Midlands being amongst the first to declare a ‘must have jab’ rule[ii]. While it is unlawful to demand that someone is vaccinated to work, currently, many organisations will be strongly encouraging staff to do so.
Keeping track of who has had their jab could be difficult for organisations without proper systems in place. For those in the health sector, it is imperative they know which staff have been vaccinated, so they can plan work schedules accordingly and prevent non-vaccinated staff meeting vulnerable people where possible.
This is where digital technology can help. Activ Absence is a cost-effective, user-friendly, cloud-based software that enables organisations to track and manage sick and holiday leave, as well as other absences, leading to significant cost and time savings.
A new addition to the solution is Activ Documents, where organisations can store records such as vaccination certificates centrally. Activ Documents gives administrators access to an employee documents library that stores confidential employee documents and records securely off-site.
This add-on is only visible to the HR team and gives the benefit of a completely paper free office for a nominal extra cost per employee. For example, if employees are designated drivers for an organisation, employers would need to hold evidence of their driver license, insurance etc. and store the information securely.
These documents can be uploaded together with any applicable dates such as insurance expiry dates included. The same applies for passports for anyone that regularly travels abroad for work, helping ensure people can travel at short notice without fear that their passport has expired.
To stay on top of the records, administrators can configure reminder notification emails to alert them when a document is due to expire and needs renewing. This is a useful feature for all sorts of documents, but especially for the Covid-19 jab certificates.
In the first instance people need two vaccines to achieve maximum protection, but it is also likely to become a yearly event, just like the flue jab as its not yet known how long immunity lasts. The vaccine will also need to be adapted as new strains emerge. Also, as it is aimed at all adults this means different age groups will always be at different stages, so keeping track is essential.
There are no restrictions on the type of documents that can be stored so that administrators can upload word or PDF documents, excel file, photographs and even recordings of meetings held with an employee. In addition, Activ Documents has a ‘reporting’ function, allowing HR to see immediately what is held and what documentation is outstanding for each employee.
With more organisations likely to be ‘insisting’ as far as possible within the law that people are vaccinated for Covid-19, having an instant and accurate view of who within a workforce is vaccinated, will make it much easier to keep track. This can prompt organisations to run awareness campaigns and encourage people to take up their vaccinations at key times in the year, if they see the numbers are low.
Activ Documents is a great tool for organisations to ensure they have all the documents they need for each of their employees, in one place, completely safe and secure. For employers who want their entire workforce to be vaccinated against Covid-19 every year, this system will be invaluable.
For more information and a free trial of Activ Absence visit: https://www.activpeoplehr.co.uk/activ-documents/
[ii] https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/no-jab-no-job-city-19911221
Author: Adrian Lewis, Director, Activ Absence
