If you haven’t already, you will confront the topic of vaccinations and your business’s position on the subject. A newly published survey report from SHRM highlights the challenges confronting employers. It’s been clearly established that employers can mandate employees get vaccinated, and this will satisfy the 33% of Americans who believe the vaccine should be nationally mandated. On the other hand, if you do so, SHRM’s report indicates 28% of employees would give up their job in response to such a mandate.

So, if you’re like 60% of employers out there who don’t plan to mandate, you will face risks. Because 40% of those surveyed don’t plan to get vaccinated, the divide among your employee population could be large. Will employees be so concerned about the possibility of exposure from unvaccinated coworkers that they leave? Will someone who catches the virus from one of them sue you for not providing a safe work environment? Will illness continue to hurt staffing, morale, and productivity? Will an ambivalent company stance stoke conflict over opinions about the virus or beliefs about vaccination?

You can increase the number of employees getting vaccinated with a few key strategies. At a minimum, you should encourage vaccination with a well-crafted communications campaign. You can go further to reduce barriers to vaccination by covering vaccine-related costs through your health care and pharmacy benefits plans and allow paid time off for employees to get vaccinated. A more ambitious approach would involve financial incentives. According to the SHRM study, you might be able to increase that 60% by another 24%, the percentage of survey respondents who said they would change their minds if their employers offered incentives such as cash bonuses or stipends, paid time off (PTO) or gift cards. If you choose this path, time it to payout after there is no longer a shortage of vaccines. Also, be sure to consult with an employment attorney. Some believe this will subject employers to claims of discrimination from employees who are not able to get vaccinated due to a medical disability.