Whiringa-ā-nuku/October 2021
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COVID-19 Vaccination Support in your Workplace
Supporting your workplace to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is the best way to protect your colleagues, yourself, your whānau and community. High vaccination rates will mean we rely less on lockdowns in the future, creating more certainty for businesses and enabling us to start to reconnect New Zealand with the world.
The ongoing community outbreak in parts of the North Island is a reminder of how important it is for everyone to get vaccinated. Vaccination is the best way to prevent infection by Delta or other variants. It reduces your likelihood of becoming severely unwell if you catch the virus and reduces the chance of passing it on to others.
Workplaces play a key role in supporting staff to get vaccinated. Businesses are being encouraged to support their staff by:
- Providing accurate and reliable information including via information sessions
- Ensuring staff know how to book and where to get the vaccine
- Supporting staff to take time off to get the vaccine for themselves and their whānau without using annual leave or losing pay
- Arranging team trips to vaccination centres
- Encouraging vaccination through industry associations and local employers’ groups
- Using communications channels to encourage vaccination for staff and customers (Resource toolkit - COVID-19 Vaccine Business and workplace toolkit)
In July, the government made vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory for most border workers including at airports and ports. The government has now announced further mandatory vaccination for two extra workforces. People carrying out high risk-work in the health and disability sector are required to be fully vaccinated by 1 December 2021, and people working in schools and early learning services must be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.
Vaccination appointments can be made:
- Online at Book My Vaccine
- By phone on 0800 28 29 26 (8 am to 8 pm, seven days a week)
Further information and resources can be found at:
Support your Staff to Get Through Together
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major challenge to our collective mental health. New Zealanders, by and large, have faced this challenge by looking after each other and getting through it together.
The Mental Health Foundation has put together information resources for you and your staff so you have what you need to get through. Getting Through Together and Meh Time to Me Time are the two national campaigns that are aimed at supporting people to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The resources contain wellbeing tips including a version customised for healthcare workers; support for those struggling including advice about how to access mental health services at different alert levels; guidance for parents and whānau; information about suicide prevention; advice for those experiencing grief and loss; and a list of helpful resources.
A pandemic is not an easy thing to live through. It’s always helpful to remind your staff that it’s all right to feel a bit frustrated, hōhā, overwhelmed or over it sometimes – and it’s also all right to feel grateful, lucky and relieved.
The following helpline services are available if you, your whānau, friends or colleagues need support, information and help:
- Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor.
- Lifeline 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE).
- Samaritans 0800 726 666.
Be a doer! Karawhiua
If you have been looking for culturally appropriate resources around Covid-19 to support your staff, this might be exactly what you are after. “Be a Doer! Karawhiua” is led by Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry for Māori Development), co-delivered by Te Hiringa Hauora (Health Promotion Agency) and supported by the Ministry of Health and the Unite Against COVID-19 teams. Karawhiua means “Give it heaps! Go for it!”
The campaign emphasises collective reasons to get vaccinated but recognises getting vaccinated is an individual’s choice and not everyone can get vaccinated.
Karawhuia complements the All-of-New Zealand campaign run by Unite Against COVID-19 and the Ministry of Health. Māori communications specialists including representatives from the Iwi Communications Collective have helped inform the campaign.
Check out Be a Doer! Karawhiua to see if this is something that you would like to circulate around the workplace.
Resources and Research
Book your COVID-19 vaccination
Over 6 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccination have been given worldwide. In Aotearoa New Zealand over 3 million people have now received their first dose. Everyone aged 12 years and over can book their free vaccination now. The vaccination is available regardless of visa or citizenship status.
COVID-19 vaccine information and advice is available in different languages and formats at these links:
Make your Workplace Good4Work
Good4Work is a free and easy-to-use online workplace wellbeing tool that has been designed for small to medium size workplaces. The process starts with a quiz to engage your team and helps identify what your workplace is already doing well and what more could be done to improve workplace wellbeing. The tool focuses on four areas: the way we work, the place we work, the way we connect, and the way we lead. With over 1900 registered users this tool is widely used across multiple industries in New Zealand.
Take the quiz with your team and together make your workplace Good4Work! Get started at www.good4work.nz
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