The shift in the so called “return to work” has made a number of headlines this week.
LiveNation will require performers and Attendees to be vaccinated in states where that is allowed, starting for October 4th. There’s data from the Lollapalooza music festival too – after requiring vaccination or a negative COVID test, Chicago health officials have said the event was not a super spreader, and just 0.05% of concertgoers contracted the virus.
The Consumer Electronics show has also announced it will require vaccinations as well for the event, or proof of a positive antibody test. The event will include a digital component as well. Gartner Events has indicated their October event will be all virtual, canceling the in-person event planned. Amazon Web Services has canceled their re:inforce event, which was scheduled for August 24-25, and replaced it with a free virtual event.
Indeed is reporting that job postings requiring vaccination has jumped 90% in the last month. That’s not just restaurants and shops – it’s software, marketing and sales too. That said, Protocol profiles three companies who have not moved with a mandate – one achieving nearly 90% vaccination rate within the office staff in collecting proof of vaccination.
In tech services ideas, OpenTable is adding a “verified for entry” option. This allows restaurants to share verification information on a diner across the network and reduce the number of checks on an individual.
There’s certainly a story here about businesses acting more like governments that is becoming a theme during the pandemic.
As a reminder, in the US it is legal to require vaccination for employment. There are two angles here.
First, every business is going to need to make their decision on how to balance the risks. Both local conditions, and attitudes, will vary, just as individual business cultures do. There isn’t a single answer here.
Second, there is opportunity for providers in this space. Besides your own business, there are data management opportunities for how this reporting is done, and how the data is collected. OpenTable’s solution is specific to that industry, and there are a number of solutions appearing in the market. The services opportunity is in advising customers, and managing the data. And we’ll see in the next story the complexity.
IT providers are going to recognize that the pandemic isn’t over, and plan accordingly.