On Wednesday (21 July 2021) TelOne issued a notice informing its workers that those among them who had not been vaccinated would now be required to stay home. In addition to this, TelOne said it would no longer be paying COVID-19 allowances to the same group. The message was among a series of COVID-19 counter-measures made by TelOne in the wake of the third wave which has seen daily cases rise above the 2 000 mark for the first time ever since the pandemic began.
The government has issued a level 4 lockdown which has been mostly ignored by the informal sector. There has also been resistance by some when it comes to getting vaccinated. The government had thrown many hints that it would compel those in its employ to get vaccinated and this might just be the beginning. More public corporations might adopt a similar stance in the near future. Below is the full text of the Staff Notice from TelOne.
STAFF NOTICE
21 July 2021
ALL EXCUTIVES, MANAGEMENT AND STAFF
COVID-19 THIRD WAVE MANAGEMENT ESCALATION
The company takes note of the intensification of the COVID-19 situation in the country and the consequent response by the Government in terms of decongestion and vaccination. Building on this and our response plan that has been guiding our operations to ensure everyone’s safety and business continuity, the company wishes to guide all management
and staff as follows;OFFICE DECONGESTION
As an essential service provider and to ensure that we do not compromise service provisioning to our clients, staff rotation will remain in place as per previous guidance. Under the arrangement, teams are divided into two groups with one group working from home and another working from office using one-week rotation cycles.IMMEDIATE LEAVE FOR UNVACCINATED STAFF MEMBERS
Due to the reduction of business as a result of the reduced service uptake by both.Enterprise clients and Government sector, the company is experiencing a decrease in the productive hours. As such, staff will be required to immediately take vacation leave starting with those that are not vaccinated. This is especially because unvaccinated individuals are at the highest risk of the effects of the COVID-19 virus, while also posing a
great risk to all other staff and the company’s business continuity.
Line management will be expected to provide an update to Corporate Services by 23 July 2021 in this regard.VACCINATION
It is key for staff to ensure that they are vaccinated as this is a proven means of managing the impact of the COVID-19 virus. Staff are advised that besides this being goodprotection for themselves, the company may soon take further measures against the unvaccinated in order to protect vaccinated staff members and the business.WITHDRAWAL OF COVID-19 ALLOWANCE
All staff members are advised of the withdrawal of COVID-19 allowance for all those that are not vaccinated with immediate effect. If vaccinated, ensure that your details are up-to-date with the relevant offices.WORKPLACE PROCEDURES
– All physical meetings are suspended. Any meeting is to be conducted online until thereview of the situation.
– Social distancing of at least two metres at all points of service should be adhered to.
– All visitors, business or personal are suspended from accessing TelOne premises. Only client services sections remain open to clients with strict adherence to social
distancing, masking and hand sanitising.
– Full ventilation is to be maintained at all TelOne buildings, this include client services
outlets, shared offices and facilities.
– Face masks are to be worn correctly at all times.
– Hand sanitization and hand washing to be practiced consistently.SUPPORT FOR AFFECTED STAFF MEMBERS
TelOne COVID-19 Staff Notice
-The company remains committed to support affected staff members through
facilitating testing and care in the event of testing positive.
-Staff members will continue to receive hand sanitizers and facemasks.
H. ZINYAU (MR)
CORPORATE SERVICES DIRECTOR
5 comments
Surely this is unfair. yes if they deliberately refused to get the vaccine maybe. However we have not had enough vaccine delivered to the country to ensure that everyone could have already been vaccinated. We can only enforce the rule when that is the case
A lot of people deliberately refused to get vaccinated because they believed conspiracy theories on social media. Now it’s difficult to get vaccibated but vanhu vairamba zvinhu zvichiri zvakanaka. It’s their own fault
Lets wait and see how the Sinopharm and Sinovac will respond to the Delta Variant it will be Fireworks in those companies that think they are well protected
Rest in peace in Advance
Covid 19 Delta variant ikungoda kuzvigarira mumwena segonzo
Why are people who have been vaccinated afraid of those that are not yet vaccinated. Handiti they are now protected
Indonesia is a good case study. Sinovac seems to have a high post-vaccination infection rate, and all the other vaccines have this issue to varying degrees. Getting those without mitigating factors to vaccinate is still critical.