Publication : ET HR World

Sonali Dutta, VP-Corporate Affairs and HR, Bry-Air | ET HRWorld | February 10, 2021

“It is their free will whether to avail the benefit the company is offering. The vaccine is for safety but should not be a cause for stress,” says Sonali Dutta, VP – Corporate Affairs and HR, Bry-Air. Bry-Air Group Chairman Deepak Pahwa has announced that the company will make the vaccine available free to all its employees as soon as it is available in the open market.

As New Year arrived, companies across industry spectrum made a series of announcements, one such was to make Covid vaccine available to their employees. Following the same, organisations are deliberating how to roll it out throughout the country, in a quick and graded manner.

Sonali Dutta, VP – Corporate Affairs and HR, Bry-Air, said Group Chairman Deepak Pahwa, has announced on New Year that as soon as the vaccine is available in the open market, the company would make it available free to all its employees, throughout the country.

“The Pahwa Group, which has 4 companies under its umbrella, Bry-Air, DRI, Delair and Technical Drying Services (TDS) and has 8 manufacturing facilities in India with a network of offices all over India, will make available the vaccine free of cost to all its employees,” Dutta said.

“Currently, we are studying the modalities and closely watching the rollout by the Government,” she said.

Similarly, SKF India is in touch with the vaccine manufacturing companies and plans to enter into a corporate tie-up with them as soon as they start providing vaccines for people other than the frontline workers.

“Through this tie-up, we shall support our employees and their families for obtaining vaccines through a seamless process supported by SKF,” said Gautam Kumar, CHRO & Director, SKF India.

The vaccine is for safety but should not be a cause for stress

Since there is a wide prevalence of vaccine hesitancy, Dutta said, “It is a benefit we will provide to our employees. If anyone does not want to avail it, there is no question of any action being taken against such employees.”

According to Dutta, vaccination is important to create a safety net and develop immunity against the virus. “People have already started travelling to the extent of absolute necessity due to exigencies, official as well as personal. The vaccination will help to protect the employees and provide immunity,” she said.

She further said, “We have been getting our production workers tetanus shots regularly just to prevent any injury from becoming worse. I think in the current situation vaccination is very necessary and needed for the day. We hope we will be able to roll out this soon.”

Following the same, Kumar believes getting vaccinated is a personal prerogative for each individual. Many individuals who are not in the risk zone due to their age or other comorbidities may decide to wait for a while before making a final decision on getting a vaccine administered for themselves and their immediate family members, he said.

“While we will encourage most employees to get themselves vaccinated and also support the drive-through corporate tie-up, we will surely not want to force employees to get the vaccine as we respect all individuals and their right to make their own decisions,” Kumar said.

Speaking on questions of the necessity of vaccinating employees, he said, “We think the vaccines available at this point in India are quite safe compared to other countries and also there have been minimal or no reports of any major issues faced by the people to whom vaccines have been administered.”

“We will hence encourage employees to get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible to help our nation fight Covid,” added Kumar.

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