There has been a significant shift in the narrative from the NSW government regarding the path forward for vaccinations, lockdowns & businesses.  On Demand HR, as a thought leader in this space wanted to unpack some of the potential HR & Workplace Relations implications and considerations as NSW starts to reopen.

If we have learnt anything over the past 18 months, the government response to the pandemic is likely to be, to put it kindly dynamic and subject to change so we can only base our commentary on the indications that Gladys Brejiklian has provided and we strongly encourage you to seek professional advice from someone like On Demand HR before making any strategic decisions for your business.

For months the NSW Government has been pointing to an effective two tier system of people.  The vaccinated and the unvaccinated.  With commentary to the effect of unvaccinated people not to expect the same freedoms as the vaccinated, internally we have been contemplating the impact that this may have on businesses from a HR and Workplace Relations perspective.

This week however, the NSW government has released more details about what life and business will look like at 3 key milestones which we will briefly cover before discussing our key observations and insights.

The first milestone is 70% double dose of the NSW adult population which is currently forecasted to be achieved on or around 11 October 2021.  At this milestone, there will be some additional personal freedoms as well as some business categories that are allowed to be reopened.  The important factor for businesses to consider at this stage as outlined in the Roadmap is that employees must continue to work from home if they are able to do so.  It would appear for the majority of white collar roles it seems unlikely they will be able to return to the office on 11 October 2021 particularly if the work has been conducted from home throughout the lockdown and has not substantially changed.  We have already received many questions from clients regarding workers returning to the office and based on the current information available, this does not appear to be the case at 70% double dose.

The second milestone is at 80% double dose of the NSW adult population which is currently forecasted to occur towards the end of October.  We are told that this is the likely stage where the majority of employees can return to the office along with additional personal freedoms.  In terms of planning for the return to work of your white collar staff, the end of October seems to be the most likely date subject to a Covid Safe plan which will probably require the wearing of masks.

The third milestone that has been announced has been 1 December 2021 and in many ways the most significant date.  Through conversations in our network, this appears where most are planning to have staff return to the office as early indications lead us to believe that masks will not be required in the workplace at this time.  Additionally, the NSW Premier has indicated that on this date unvaccinated people will have the same freedoms as vaccinated people which we can only assume will translate to the workplace.  In terms of mandatory workplace vaccinations, once again the government has refused to take responsibility in the space and instead again, passed the buck on to business.

This brings us to our key insights for businesses from a HR and Workplace relations perspective out of these recent announcements.  Whilst we respect that every business has the right to make their own choices in this space, from the beginning of the pandemic, On Demand HR has been advocating businesses to take a conservative approach to mandatory workplace vaccinations for both employees and customers.  We have advised that businesses operate within the rules set out by Government but we have also advised caution in going beyond these rules based on short term restrictions and lockdowns which have been varied and changed approximately 40 times since the end of June.

Inevitably further restrictions relating to work will be lifted soon. LGA’s of concern will most likely become a thing of the past, and this is likely to mean that a large number of unvaccinated employees regardless if they currently live in an impacted LGA or not, will be able to return to work in the near future except for a small number of industries mandated by government on an ongoing basis.  All of these changes have been indicated to be in place in the coming months.

Based on this, we encourage businesses to refrain from making long term decisions in the coming weeks based on what appears to be short term and transitional return to a new normal.

Cautious