59% of small firms will only hire vaccinated employees

At least 59% of small business owners in the United States (US) are planning to only hire fully-vaccinated employees in their companies, according to a research project commissioned by Digitial.com.
The study, conducted online between September 14 to 15 with 1,000 participants, also found that 23% of respondents are considering implementing a similar policy. Nineteen per cent of the respondents say they don’t count the vaccination status as a factor in recruiting new workers.
However, of the businesses that require vaccinated new hires, only 78% have a vaccine mandate in their organization.
Of this 78%, 75% stated that they are ready to fire an employee for not complying with their vaccine policies due to personal reasons.
Digital.com said that the “strict attitude toward vaccine compliance” in small companies may have been due to lost revenues amid COVID-stricken employees.
Despite that, 79% of employers stated that they will still provide paid time off for COVID-positive employees who need to quarantine or go to the hospital.