'The right thing to do': Major Canadian banks make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for in-person staff - The Globe and Mail

A TD Bank branch in Halifax.

Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press

Canada’s five largest banks will require employees to be fully vaccinated to work in offices and branches, with Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal allowing some vaccine-hesitant employees to submit to other safety measures such as rapid testing instead.

On Thursday, Royal Bank of Canada was first to announce that all staff in Canada and the United States must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 31 in order to work on company premises. But other major banks were quick to announce their own vaccination requirements Friday morning.

In an internal memo from chief human resources officer Kenn Lalonde, TD told employees that, starting Nov. 1, “full vaccination of an approved COVID-19 vaccine will be a requirement for all TD colleagues entering the workplace.”

Employees will be “asked to register their vaccination status” with the bank by Sept. 30. Anyone who is not fully vaccinated by Nov. 1 or has not disclosed their status will be required to undergo mandatory rapid testing, wear a mask at all times and complete a “learning module” about the benefits of vaccination.

Similarly, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announced Friday on a company blog that the bank “will be requiring employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 31.”

“You’ve likely read that leading global organizations and many governments have been moving in this direction and our intention is to follow suit in regions where we can, including in Canada and the United States,” wrote Sandy Sharman, the bank’s head of people, culture and brand, in the blog.

She added: “If you haven’t yet been vaccinated and are able, now is the time.”

Later Friday morning, Bank of Nova Scotia circulated an internal memo to staff in which chief human resources officer Barbara Mason said the bank is “moving in the direction of making vaccinations mandatory for all Canadian-based employees, and contractors, later in the fall.”

Scotiabank employees will soon receive a confidential survey asking them to disclose their vaccination status. “While the choice to become vaccinated is an individual one, we all have a responsibility to each other,” Ms. Mason said in the memo.

And in a staff memo, BMO’s chief human resources officer, Mona Malone, announced a new requirement that “all North American employees and contractors eligible for vaccination get their shots,” ideally by Oct. 31. After that date, unvaccinated staff will be required to complete twice-weekly COVID-19 testing “and comply with alternative health and safety measures to enter a BMO location.” The bank’s employees must complete a survey about their vaccination status by Sept. 8.

Ms. Malone cited “a changing landscape” that includes the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant and new guidance from public health authorities and governments, but also shifting employee preferences. “Many colleagues consider the vaccination status of close co-workers a significant factor impacting their thinking for returning to office-based work,” she said in the memo.

As recently as a month ago, Mr. Lalonde of TD was one of several bank executives who said requiring employees to be vaccinated was “really not in our plans.” But many companies have adopted similar mandates of late, and a recent poll by KPMG Canada found that 62 per cent of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses plan to make vaccinations mandatory.

“This is the right thing to do to protect the health and safety of everyone who is working in TD locations, and we are encouraged that many other organizations have taken similar measures,” Mr. Lalonde said in TD’s memo.

Last week, the federal government gave banks a nudge when it said it expected federally regulated employers to require vaccination for on-site staff after announcing it would mandate vaccines for federal workers – a policy that has become a key issue in the election campaign.

In her staff memo, Ms. Mason of Scotiabank said that “while we will have to work with the government and across the industry on implementing these guidelines, we see this announcement as an important next step in curbing the Delta variant and ensuring Canada’s ability to emerge from the pandemic on strong economic footing.”

Mr. Lalonde has said most TD employees will likely return to the office for two to four days per week, though some may work on site more often than others.

“We believe that the majority of TD colleagues have already been vaccinated. This is great news,” he said in the company memo. “However, COVID-19 remains with us and the Delta variant, which is far more contagious, is spreading in our communities, primarily to those who are unvaccinated. None of us want to see our health care systems stretched, new restrictions imposed, or businesses and schools closed again.”

TD promised to provide more details to staff about the new vaccination requirements in the coming days. And Ms. Sharman at CIBC said that “while we don’t have all the answers today, we are working out the details now.”

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'The right thing to do': Major Canadian banks make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for in-person staff - The Globe and Mail
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