Chobani
- Chobani is offering its factory workers paid time off and on-site COVID vaccination clinics.
- It's one of multiple food companies that's offering jabs at work and incentives for vaccines.
- Chobani is betting that availability and education will help get its workforce to herd immunity.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
COVID-19 complicated work for employees at food-producing factories. As vaccines become more widely distributed, their employers are looking for ways to bring the shots to them – and give them incentives to get one.
Chobani, known for its Greek yogurt, is organizing vaccine clinics for the roughly 1,000 workers at its plant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The first takes place Thursday, with another scheduled for April 1. The company is also giving employees six hours of paid time off – three per vaccination, assuming they get a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, said Peter McGuinness, president and COO at Chobani.
"They're hourly workers, and we don't want them to be penalized in any way, shape or form when they get vaccinated," McGuinness said. "That was a very quick, easy decision that we made."
Chobani also plans to offer on-sight vaccinations and time off for its employees at its facility in South Edmeston, New York. Between hourly and corporate roles, Chobani employs about 2,200 people in total. Idaho officials have opened vaccinations up to a wider group of essential workers, including food and agricultural workers, faster than other states, leading Chobani to offer the on-site clinics there first, McGuinness said.
Food companies found themselves in a tough spot last spring: While they had to take precautions to keep workers safe, such as providing personal protective equipment to workers and reconfiguring their factories for social distancing, demand for groceries only grew as more consumers stayed at home, putting additional pressure on their manufacturing lines.
Now that vaccine production is scaling up, many food makers are offering incentives for their workers to get jabs. Smoothie maker Bolthouse Farms is offering workers a $500 bonus for getting vaccinated in addition to organizing on-sight vaccination, according to the Wall Street Journal. Meat processor Tyson Foods, which had to slow production and even temporarily close some plants due to COVID-19 outbreaks last year, is also hosting on-site vaccinations as well as offering workers up to four hours of pay when they receive a vaccine from a another source, ABC News reported earlier this month.
But getting shots in arms will take more than just offering them at workplaces. Recent polling from Civiqs suggests that significant groups of Americans, including a majority of white Republicans and roughly one third each of Black and Latinx Americans, are either opposed to getting vaccinated or unsure about it. Public health experts have warned that the US risks a resurgence of COVID-19 later this year if enough Americans remain opposed to getting vaccinated.
McGuiness told Insider that Chobani has hosted town halls for employees with health officials and doctors who work in the communities where its plants are located. "The more educated you are and the more in-the-loop you are on the benefits of the vaccine, the more likely you are to get vaccinated," he said.
Chobani also expects word of mouth - specifically, vaccinated employees talking about their experience with coworkers who have reservations - to convince others to get vaccinated over time. "That's why I want to do multiple events," McGuiness said, adding that Chobani expects to schedule more on-site clinics, including more at its Twin Falls plant than the two that are already on the calendar.
McGuiness said that Chobani's plants have stayed open during the pandemic without interruptions and kept pace with demand for its yogurt, creamers, and other products. The company is reportedly considering an IPO for later this year, and it recently signed a distribution agreement with PepsiCo.
But he said that the focus of the vaccine drive is not to increase factory productivity, adding that the company will follow federal and state guidelines on COVID-19 safety measures in the workplace. "I don't look at this as, 'Hey, three months down the road, if I get more people vaccinated, maybe I can grow more or make more money,'" he said.