The head of hospitality giant Crown Resorts has vowed to take a more “proactive” stance on COVID-19 vaccinations, considering a mandatory vaccination policy for staff and guests.
The head of hospitality giant Crown Resorts has vowed to take a more “proactive” stance on COVID-19 vaccinations, revealing the company is considering a mandatory vaccination policy for all staff and guests.
In a statement released this morning Crown Resorts chief executive Steve McCann confirmed the company had begun consultation with stakeholders and employees about a plan which could require all staff and guests to be vaccinated.
The consultation was prompted by an internal survey undertaken last week which found 63 per cent of its employees supported a mandatory vaccination policy for the 20,000 staff employed at its resorts nation-wide.
While the company has been urging its employees to get vaccinated, Mr McCann said now was the time to take a more proactive stance.
“As such a significant hospitality employer in Australia with resorts that hosted over 30 million visits a year preCOVID, we need to take measures to help keep people safe,” he said.
“That starts with our employees but also extends to our guests and the broader community.
“This is about protecting every Australian – we want to create a safe environment for people to come to work, and also for our guests to come to enjoy themselves.
“COVID-19 has devastated the hospitality industry, and that has been felt acutely by our people.
“Supporting the vaccination target rates set by governments is going to help our industry reopen, stay open and recover faster so we will play our part to help our industry get there.”
The announcement coincides with the implementation of a new company policy in which Crown Resorts’ employees will be entitled to three hours paid leave for each vaccination and a paid sick leave day.
Crown, which is WA's seventh largest employer, is the latest company to consider a formal position on the mandatory vaccination of its staff, following announcements by FMG, Telstra, Qantas, and Virgin about mandatory vaccination plans in recent weeks.
It follows the state government’s announcement earlier this month that all WA healthcare workers and hospital staff will be required to get fully-vaccinated by the new year.
