Tech company UCG gifts fully vaccinated staff an extra day of annual leave

Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Border workers were the first people in New Zealand to be vaccinated against Covid-19, in Auckland on February 20, 2021.

A technology company will give an extra day of annual leave to workers who get themselves vaccinated.

Universal Communications Group (UCG) has more than 1250 employees and contractors in Australia and New Zealand who install and maintain broadband communications equipment in homes and business premises.

Ralf Luna, its executive chairman, said: “Today we have announced an incentive scheme where every employee who gets a double dose of the vaccination will receive an extra day of annual leave.”

Already the company allows employees to get their vaccinations during paid work time.

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There are currently 1.9 million future bookings in the Book My Vaccine system, with 68 per cent of eligible Kiwis over the age of 12 either booked in or have had a jab.

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Luna said the company supported the vaccination programmes in New Zealand and Australia, which would help get both economies back to work.

Executive chairman of UCG Ralf Luna said the company supported the accelerated vaccination programmes in New Zealand and Australia.

“Workers already vaccinated will receive these benefits retrospectively,” he said.

“The vaccine roll-out appears to be accelerating across both Australia and New Zealand and both governments are assuring us that availability is not a problem, so we want to get our recently eligible workforce protected by a double dose of the vaccine as soon as possible,” Luna said.

Vaccinator Rebekah Elliot gives another dose of the vaccine at Palmerston North's drive-through centre.

Luna said the programme recognised that its staff and contractors often visited people’s businesses and homes to install and maintain broadband connections. That included about 2000 homes and businesses in New Zealand each month.

Despite that, Roger Crellin, the New Zealand general manager for UCG, said workers who did not want to be vaccinated would not be required to do so.

“Ralf and I are realists. There will be people who don’t want to be vaccinated. This is a voluntary process. There are no expectations at all,” Crellin said.

UCG’s workers were classified as essential workers and Crellin said UCG awaited a decision by the Government on whether vaccinations would be required for people to qualify as essential workers.

Luna was aiming for a 100 per cent vaccination rate.

Airlines like Air New Zealand are moving to require people in certain roles to be fully vaccinated.

“We are always well-prepared for any outbreak with PPE [personal protective equipment] and secure protocols but the advantage of having our total workforce vaccinated is a further protection for our customers, our workforce and their families,” Luna said.

“This offer is open to our Australia and New Zealand ecosystem of employees and delivery partner technicians from September 1, 2021, right through to March 31, 2022.

Luna called on other companies to follow suit.

“We hope that other companies will adopt similar approaches to incentivising their staff to be part of an aggressive vaccination strategy that is going to allow both New Zealand and Australia to open up to the world more quickly, and benefit all of us,” he said.

Ministry of Health data showed 54 per cent of people eligible to get vaccinations had had at least one dose and 29 per cent had had both shots.

Air New Zealand is consulting with staff on a plan to make vaccination compulsory for about 4000 positions in the company, roughly half its workforce.

About 2300 Air New Zealand cabin crew, pilots, engineering and maintenance, airport and supply chain workers are already covered by a mandatory vaccination order introduced by the Government in July.

The move follows an announcement by Qantas Group in mid-August that it would require all staff to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by March 31.

On Monday, Virgin Australia also announced it had begun consultation with staff and unions over its proposal to require Covid-19 vaccination for all staff and a final policy would be announced this month.

The Government has said employers cannot fire someone for refusing a vaccination but they can refuse to hire them.

Employers have been encouraged to combat vaccine misinformation.

Misinformation about the vaccine has included claims on social media it would affect people’s insurance, general pamphlet drops, and some medical professionals peddling misinformation.