US workers divided on COVID-19 vaccination mandates

Editor's Note

New research from Qualtrics finds that 44% of US workers would think about leaving their jobs if their employers introduced a vaccine mandate, the August 19 Quartz at Work reports.

This number is up from 39% in March; however, 38% said they would consider leaving their jobs if vaccines weren’t mandated.

The study also found that 48% of Gen Z employees would consider quitting if vaccine mandates were not introduced,  followed by 39% of millennials, 36% of Gen X employees, and about 33% of Baby Boomers.

In addition, more than half (56%) of tech employees said they would consider quitting if vaccine mandates were not introduced, while 34% of retail employees and 21% of government employees said the same thing.

Qualtrics notes that although data was not collected that would explain why support for vaccine mandates is slipping, this study was conducted just after news broke about the contagiousness of the Delta variant, and that it can infect fully vaccinated people, and that those people can spread it to others.

News about the Delta variant may have muddied the decision making for those who were already hesitant to get vaccinated, the researchers say.