In early August, SPC became the first Australian company and the first food manufacturer in the world to make vaccinations mandatory for its staff. SPC CEO Robert Giles explains why he is taking a hard line on vaccinations for the health of workers and to help reopen the Australian economy. Tomorrow we publish a contrary view in the second of this two-part series. Our policy is that all SPC staff, including casuals and contractors, must have at least the first dose of the vaccine scheduled by Se
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In early August, SPC became the first Australian company and the first food manufacturer in the world to make vaccinations mandatory for its staff.SPC CEO Robert Giles explains why he is taking a hard line on vaccinations for the health of workers and to help reopen the Australian economy. Tomorrow we publish a contrary view in the second of this two-part series. Our policy is that all SPC staff, including casuals and contractors, must have at least the first dose of the vaccine scheduled by September 15 2021, with the first dose administered by the end of October. Any visitors to an SPC site will also be required to be vaccinated.The debate is not about our initial initiative (taken up by many others since then) but the way Australia and Australian businesses have responded, from incentivising their staff to mandate vaccination for citizens and employees to lead our country back to the path of prosperity.Reason 1: Ensuring the health of workers and the broader communitySince the beginning of the Covid pandemic, SPC has implemented rigorous safety plans at all its sites. These plans have ensured our people’s health, safety and job security while ensuring business continuity for the essential service SPC provides to the broader community. It is the responsibility of the directors of every single business to provide a safe working environment.But we realised it was our responsibility to go further to minimise risk and to protect the people we care about from the Delta variant. We will probably face more dangerous variants in the future, with vulnerable or immunocompromised staff in our workforce who will be at higher risk. We needed to act to protect them, and we did it.Mandating vaccination for all SPC staff ensures the health and wellbeing of every single employee and their immediate work environment – it’s the first and obvious reason. It’s the only way to ensure the safety of the broader community.Reason 2: Reopening the Australian economyVaccine mandates are the only way to reopen the Australian economy. SPC’s senior leadership team and board have recognised the significant threat the Covid-19 Delta variant poses to both the business and the broader Australian community. And we all know that lockdowns are not a sustainable solution. The Australian economy needs to open up again.We know that it is a race to reach vaccination threshold levels because lockdowns are only buying us time, not eliminating the virus. It is a race to save our staff, contractors, customers, community and Australia at large.It took time, but it seems that both the federal and state governments have adopted more realistic positions regarding lockdowns and vaccinations in order to reopen the economy.Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that “Australia should shift its focus away from lockdowns” and that “we have to deal with the virus, otherwise we stay in the cave forever”.Even Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed a new plan to end Victoria’s Covid lockdown.As we like to say, SPC is a science-based company and the vaccine has been validated by all of Australia’s leading research organisations, including the Doherty Institute. We need to take every opportunity to get out of our country’s predicament and reopen the economy.Reason 3: Leading by exampleBusinesses have now more than ever both a corporate social responsibility and leadership role to play in our economy and society.By taking proactive steps now, we are shoring up SPC for the future. We firmly believe that it will be manufacturers and innovators, like SPC, who will help drive Australia’s post-Covid economic, social and environmental recovery by “doing the right thing” by mandating vaccination.As highlighted by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in his talk with the Business Council, with more than eight out of 10 Australians employed in the private sector, business has an important and powerful voice.We have received overwhelming support from our staff, local community, business partners and friends, stakeholders, advisors and the public.SPC’s announcement was followed by a similar one from Qantas, which will require all employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid as part of the national carrier’s commitment to safety.At SPC, we have taken a strong leadership position on the mandatory vaccination issue and we will continue to lead by example and play our part in the fight against Covid.About the author: Robert Giles is CEO at SPC.
