Survey: majority of Houston employers encourage vaccines

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HOUSTON, TX — The Greater Houston Partnership has conducted a wide-ranging survey on June 3-7 on issues such as vaccine requirements for employees, return-to-workplace timelines, and ongoing health and safety practices.

A total of 141 firms responded to the survey. 87% encourage people to be vaccinated, with just 8% of the firms require the employees to get vaccinated. About 52% of the companies are tracking employee vaccinations. Of those, a third ask their employees for proof of vaccinations.

55% responded that non-vaccinated employees must wear masks. 22% agree that masks should still be mandatory for all, while 24% disagree. Only about 21% have eliminated social distancing indoors. 42% still require social distancing among employees while about 38% only among the non-vaccinated.

When firms were asked whether their employee count had changed, 49% said no change to their count. Nearly 26% have staff increased and staff loss.

Firms were also asked about plans to resume onsite. Almost 20% said they never stopped onsite operations, 47% did but had already reopened or would do this month, and 18% will reopen from July to September.

"We conducted this survey to help local employers determine how others are handling the tough issues surrounding reopening. What we found is that there is a definitive cultural shift in how some companies are approaching issues like remote work. They also told us that vaccinations are the most important part of their return to onsite operations. This is all significant data as companies try to regain what they've lost during the pandemic and return employees to work," said president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership Bob Harvey.

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