Eric, we’re just gonna wait and see what happens with the OSHA vax-or-test mandate

Thank you to those of you who participated in yesterday’s OSHA vax-or-test survey.

ICYMI, I asked two questions of businesses with more than 99 employees that are neither federal contractors nor subject to the CMS vaccination mandate:

1. What, if anything, has your business done to prepare for the OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) since OSHA announced it earlier this month?
2. For those of you that plan to require vaccinations or tests in response to the ETS, will that change if the ETS eventually gets overturned?

I’ve got your results below.

What, if anything, has your business done to prepare for the OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) since OSHA announced it earlier this month?

40.8% – Nothing (yet) because we’re taking a wait-and-see approach

30.8% – We will mandate or test (it’s up to the employee)

9.3% – Nothing because we think the courts will overturn it

8.7% – We will require vaccinations

5.2% – Nothing because we already mandate vaccinations, tests, or both

2.8% – Nothing (yet) because we’re not sure what to do

1.4% – We will only test

1.0% – Nothing because we don’t think we’ll get caught

For those of you that plan to require vaccinations or tests in response to the ETS, will that change if the ETS eventually gets overturned?

50.2% – Yes

32.3% – I don’t know

17.4% – No

Takeaways

I assumed that one of the administration’s goals was to get as many jabs in employees’ arms as possible, regardless of whether OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) withstood legal scrutiny.

Based on these survey results, that “strategy” does not seem to be working.

The ETS has caused less than 9% of businesses to require vaccinations. And, yes, another 31% will make vaccines an option as a condition of continued employment. However, if the ETS goes down, then at least half of all vaccine-related mandates will vanish. Less than one in five that decided to mandate or test because of the ETS will continue to do so.

Another survey?

On Friday, the CDC greenlit booster shots for all adults. So, I was thinking of polling readers about whether businesses that currently require vaccinations as a condition of employment (or plan to do so) will force employees to get boosters too.

If you’d like to see that survey too, please let me know.