August 13, 2021

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Vaccination dos and don’ts

As non-essential workers continue to return to offices, you may have a few questions about vaccination status and what you can and cannot legally enforce. Here are some answers:

Can you ask employees about their vaccination status? Yes. Under new DOJ guidelines, private and public entities may impose vaccine mandates—but there are exceptions, so be sure to get all the details on updated COVID-19 vaccine mandate guidance here

Can employers ask for proof of vaccination? Short answer: yes. But navigating how to ask—and what never to ask—can be tricky. We’ve got you covered in this guide to employee vaccine disclosures

Can you keep a record of who is vaccinated? Should you? If you’re asking about vaccination status, you’ll want to keep some kind of record (so you don’t have to ask multiple times), but you’ll want to be sure to store the records in a way that is consistent with ADA requirements.

How to give feedback (without sounding like a jerk)

By now, we all know why employee engagement and retention are so important. In our current market, workers are quitting by the millions and espousing new expectations of their workplaces. As the boss, this can make it feel difficult to give critical feedback and keep your team on track. We have a blog series that can help with that.

Gusto partnered up with Lattice to create feedback tips, templates, and scripts that can help you go into these tough conversations with confidence that you’ll get the outcomes you want without rubbing your team the wrong way. And it’s not just for your employees; the series also covers how to give feedback to your co-workers, and even your boss.

Public health is small business health

The latest report from Gusto shows that “public health and the health of our economy go hand-in-hand.” A closer look at the data reveals a correlation between vaccination rates and headcount growth since the beginning of June:

States where COVID-19 cases have increased the fastest since the beginning of June have experienced the slowest employment growth. The data shows that a 10 percentage point increase in new cases is correlated with a 0.1 percentage point slower rate of headcount growth…

States beginning this summer with high vaccination rates are also seeing the strongest employment growth. We see that a one percentage point increase in the share of adults fully vaccinated increases a state’s small business employment growth by 0.1 percentage points.

While we’ve made some great strides, getting small businesses back on track for growth will depend on our ability to ensure the health and safety of workers.

Read the full data report here.

New from Gusto: FSA roundup

As we approach the end of the year, many employees’ thoughts turn to their benefits. There’s a lot to consider, from open enrollment to health appointments to ensuring they’re making the best use of their tax-advantaged accounts. 

In preparation, Gusto has been ramping up our flexible spending account (FSA) and health savings account (HSA) resources to help with this. The following can be handy guides to share with your team as we head into year-end:

Find the latest relief options in our Small Business Relief Finder.

Want more news and resources? Check out past editions in our archive.

Mohini Kundu Mohini Kundu is a freelance writer and editor. She studied journalism at Northwestern University and started her career at The Huffington Post before moving into tech where she worked as a content marketer for 7 years. She writes about several topics including psychology, business, finance, and environmental issues.
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