{"id":12421,"date":"2021-09-26T10:10:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T08:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=12421"},"modified":"2021-09-26T10:10:35","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T08:10:35","slug":"fleets-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/09\/26\/fleets-56\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouragements, incentives, mandates: Fleets grapple with COVID vaccinations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With the federal government attempting to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations, trucking leaders are taking different approaches to achieve the same thing: Enough drivers to maintain their supply chains.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This summer, fewer than half of the drivers and other employees at Tyson Foods<\/a> were vaccinated against COVID-19. Among the unvaccinated was Phillip Vanhook, Tyson\u2019s managing director of transportation operations, who oversees the company\u2019s private fleet of more than 1,350 drivers.<\/p>\n

Vanhook \u201cwasn\u2019t an anti-vaxxer. I wasn\u2019t for it. I wasn\u2019t against it. I was just a stubborn male, I guess,\u201d he told FleetOwner<\/i><\/i>during the McLeod Software User Conference 2021 in Grapevine, Texas. Now, the fleet leader<\/a> is working hard to convince his drivers to get the COVID vaccine.<\/p>\n

On July 28, Vanhook got what he called his \u201ccalling card on this\u201d when he tested positive for the virus responsible for more than 650,000 American deaths over the past 18 months. \u201cIt absolutely kicked my butt\u201d and nearly sent him to the hospital, he recalled less than two months later. \u201cI was able to tell my drivers what happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanhook, who last week was still battling with lingering effects of COVID, said he was struggling to smell anything and had a sore throat. But he is now vaccinated, which is becoming a requirement to work for Tyson.<\/p>\n

In August, Tyson Foods mandated that all of its U.S. employees get vaccinated by November. \u201cWe heard it the same day that our drivers heard it, that our technicians heard it, that our office staff heard it,\u201d Vanhook said. \u201cNobody likes to be told what to do. So you can imagine the response.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Tyson announced the mandate in August<\/a>, it said it was the largest U.S. food company to require COVID-19 vaccinations for its entire workforce. At the time, about 45% of its total workforce was vaccinated. By Sept. 12, at least 72% of Tyson employees were vaccinated. The White House used these statistics<\/a> when President Biden announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule to require businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate vaccinations within their workforces\u2014or conduct weekly COVID-19 tests among the unvaccinated.<\/p>\n

Encouragement over requirement<\/h3>\n

Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, called Biden\u2019s vaccine mandates \u201cwell-intentioned\u201d<\/a> but added: \u201cthey could cause further disruptions throughout the supply chain, impeding our nation\u2019s COVID response efforts and putting the brakes on any economic revival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking during the ATA\u2019s Technology & Maintenance Council<\/a> (TMC) fall meeting in Cleveland on Sept. 13, Spear said that the \u201cATA is examining all options and will choose a path that protects our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

ReedTMS Logistics<\/a>, an asset-based third-party logistics provider (3PL) and brokerage service, has seen its operations impacted by COVID this summer. \u201cI would say over the last three months, we\u2019ve probably had 10 non-driving personnel out at any given time and 10 driving personnel out at any given time,\u201d Mark Reed, the company president and CFO, told FleetOwner<\/i><\/i>during an on-stage interview at the 2021 McLeod User Conference on Sept. 14. \u201cSo it\u2019s been a big impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed said that while he and his fellow company leaders discussed making the vaccine mandatory, they decided to focus more on encouraging employees to get the jab. \u201cI feel like we need to let our employees make their own decisions,\u201d Reed said. \u201cSo we haven\u2019t gone down the path to mandate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not mandated, Reed offers office and driver employees paid time off to get vaccinated. \u201cIf they need to take a half-day to do that, we\u2019ll give them the time to get it done and not count it as absent time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Based in Tampa, Florida, Reed has 350 full-time employees working in five states. The company offers full truckload, less than truckload, freight management, and dedicated services. Based on a recent company-wide survey, about 60% of Reed employees\u2014drivers and non-drivers\u2014are vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like that was a pretty good number,\u201d Reed said. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like there was any need to keep pushing it further than that. But we\u2019re asking those who are not vaccinated to wear masks when they aren\u2019t at their desks\u2014just to be precautionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reed said that he\u2019s found his staff complying. \u201cI don\u2019t think the people who aren\u2019t vaccinated love the fact that they have to wear masks,\u201d he explained. \u201cI think they also understand that they could get vaccinated if they want to. Maybe we\u2019re pushing a few buttons without completely going over the top and mandating vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Education over exodus<\/h3>\n

At Tyson, many workers were angry about the company\u2019s mandate, Vanhook said. But there was no mass exodus of angry, unvaccinated drivers. \u201cFor anyone going through this, all I can suggest is educate, educate, educate,\u201d Vanhook said. \u201cWe brought in a COVID doctor, who did a YouTube video to disperse to our team members. We did several meetings on Zoom to educate our team members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the truck driving team members told Vanhook and his team that they would rather leave their job than get the COVID vaccine. \u201cI\u2019ve told many of them: \u2018We all have bosses in our life. We\u2019re going to be told at some point in our life what we are and aren\u2019t allowed to do. We\u2019re all grown men and women, and we will have to make some sort of decision.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom McLeod, the founder and CEO of McLeod Software<\/a>, a transportation technology company, said he sees trucking companies being hesitant to mandate vaccines for fear of losing drivers who don\u2019t want the shot.<\/p>\n

McLeod, who is encouraging his employees to get vaccinated but not requiring it, said he remembers getting the polio vaccine as a child. \u201cEverybody did it and nobody questioned it, to my knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the COVID vaccines have been questioned and mandates challenged. \u201cIt\u2019s been so politicized that people are going to fight it regardless,\u201d McLeod told FleetOwner<\/i>. \u201cIt\u2019s a mess and I\u2019m not trying to stir up controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While McLeod thinks that mandates from companies such as Tyson Foods are more focused on the food production side of its business rather than its fleet drivers, a successful vaccination mandate could help encourage other companies to follow suit.<\/p>\n

Vaccination rates on the rise<\/h3>\n

Since announcing the vaccination requirements and sharing his story of COVID battles, Vanhook said the driver response to mandates has grown positive. Tyson has conducted vaccination events at three of its terminals across the country. And the private fleet is giving away $10,000 to five vaccinated drivers and technicians each week as an incentive. \u201cWe\u2019re also incentivizing office staff\u2014just to push them forward,\u201d Vanhook said. \u201cBecause we\u2019re running out of time if they want to get the double-shot,\u201d he said of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which require two doses, spread out by a few weeks.<\/p>\n

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Another thing Vanhook found after the mandate and incentives were announced was that many of his staff were already vaccinated but had kept it quiet. \u201cOnce we announced the incentive, well, we got about 50% of our team members\u2019 vaccine cards documented,\u201d Vanhook said on Sept. 13. \u201cWe\u2019re about 60% (of drivers) right now and we have about seven weeks to go before our Nov. 1 cutoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanhook hopes that if he loses unvaccinated drivers, Tyson will be able to find other drivers\u2014whether they be independent or new company drivers\u2014looking for the steady work and traditionally higher pay that comes with driving for a private fleet.<\/p>\n

Since he\u2019s recovered from the worst of COVID, Vanhook was vaccinated and is trying to turn his own struggles\u2014he nearly ended up in the hospital as his blood-oxygen levels<\/a> dipped below 90%\u2014into a positive for his company. Vanhook made a video about his battles with COVID, which was shared with his more than 1,350 private fleet truck drivers.<\/p>\n

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About one in 10 Tyson fleet drivers are women. The other 90% are taking the most convincing to get the vaccine, Vanhook said. \u201cWe\u2019re very much headstrong, egotistical, and sometimes not the smartest animals on earth. We have to be educated in our thoughts and beliefs. I changed my mind while laying on the couch.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By John Hitch<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.fleetowner.com\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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KNOW WHO WE ARE<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the federal government attempting to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations, trucking leaders are taking different approaches to achieve the same thing: Enough drivers to maintain their supply chains. This summer, fewer than half of the drivers and other employees at Tyson Foods were vaccinated against COVID-19. Among the unvaccinated was Phillip Vanhook, Tyson\u2019s managing director of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[133],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12423,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12421\/revisions\/12423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}