10 more things keeping HR pros awake at night

HR pros wear many hats. For more than a year and a half, they have been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak while dealing with a boatload of both regular and pandemic-related workplace issues. In recognition of the resilience they’ve shown while managing the extraordinarily wide range of challenges, we recently came up a list of 10 things that are keeping them especially busy (see “10 things that keep HR pros awake at night (COVID-19 edition), pt. 1 of 2” in our October issue). With help from a recent survey, here is the second of two installments, underscoring 10 more things causing HR stress.

Determining if you’re covered by Biden’s Executive Orders

On September 9, President Joe Biden announced Executive Orders (EOs) mandating COVID-19 vaccines for a wide array of workers, including federal employees, federal contractors, healthcare providers, and companies with more than 100 employees.

Employers are still waiting for regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to find out if they’re covered by the vaccine mandate. In the meantime, HR pros are being bombarded with questions about what the orders mean for their workplace.

Implementing vaccine mandate regardless

Even before President Biden announced the vaccine mandate, many employers decided to adopt similar policies in response to rising infection numbers caused by the COVID-19 variants.