As we head into the fall, governments across North America are announcing that new COVID-19 vaccination policies will be necessary for high-risk workplaces, including post-secondary institutions, group homes, and women’s shelters.

The mandate will require employees to submit proof of vaccination, or undergo frequent antigen testing if they have not yet received a vaccine.

Other businesses are also implementing similar measures to keep their workplaces safe, but with the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta variant on the rise and back-to-school just days away, some organizations are scrambling to prepare for this new, new normal.

Here at OnCall Health, we’ve seen a number of our customers leverage our platform to help ease the administrative burden of collecting this information from employees. By relying on powerful and flexible tools such as interactive forms, a centralized Roster, and automated email reminders within our secure, HIPAA and PIPEDA-compliant platform, healthcare organizations across Canada are saving time and creating a better experience for employees and administrators.

To illustrate the burden placed on organizations and administrators by these new policies, let’s take the example of a hypothetical, 500-person company based in Ontario:

• Staff would be sent an email prompting them to submit their proof of vaccination, or, COVID-19 rapid test results.
• Assuming that 80% of staff are fully vaccinated, that’s at least 400 emails confirming proof of vaccination. If staff are forwarding the individual receipts of vaccination from their two doses, those emails double to 800.
• The remaining 100 staff members will need to undergo frequent, rapid antigen testing, as little as once a week but potentially two to three times per week, indefinitely.
• The unvaccinated staff members will collectively account for 100-300 emails per week with test results.
• Proof of vaccination or COVID-19 test results will need to be collected and stored securely for each of the 500 employees. Likely, downloaded locally or stored on a server. In either case, manual work is required to organize these files.
• Vaccination statuses would need to be tracked and updated over time. This might be done manually in an HR portal, or tracked in a spreadsheet. If department-level reporting is required, this too would add additional layers of complexity.

With OnCall Health, the solution could be much simpler:

• Employees are provided with a dedicated URL where they kick off a self-guided reporting process by submitting their proof of vaccination or COVID-19 test results.
• Employees are automatically prompted to submit their vaccination information and files in a secure, password-protected platform.
• Files and responses are organized in a digital filing cabinet through OnCall’s Roster feature.
• Messages may be exchanged between administrative staff and employees through the platform’s secure Messages tool.
• Our Analytics tool enables reporting on vaccination status with the click of a button. Reporting can be tailored to the company’s needs, e.g. broken down by department and role.
• Should employees encounter technical issues throughout the process, OnCall’s dedicated Technical Support team is available through several channels including email, in-app chat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
• Should a meeting need to be scheduled to discuss next steps, OnCall handles the notifications, reminders, and video conferencing all in one place.
• All of the above may be branded to your organization to create a consistent, familiar experience for administrators and employees.

Are you interested in learning how OnCall can help you monitor your workplace health and safety? Reach out to your Customer Success Manager today for help. If you're not an OnCall Health customer yet, please reach out to our Sales team by clicking here.