VANCOUVER — Many employers asking staff to come back to their Canadian offices have made some exceptions for their unvaccinated workers—most commonly requiring them to provide a negative COVID-19 test at regular intervals. But some innovation-economy companies are avoiding the middle ground, either imposing strict vaccine mandates or declining entirely to get involved in their employees’ vaccination status.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has reopened its Canadian offices. Though it continues to make in-person work optional, those who choose to come to the office must be vaccinated. “We will require anyone entering the Canada office to be fully vaccinated, including visitors,” said spokesperson Alex Kucharski in an email to The Logic. There is no option to show a recent negative test, Kucharski said.

The company intends that to be the new status quo. Once the current remote-work period ends, unvaccinated staff will have to apply to keep working from home “or seek accommodation for medical, religious or other qualifying reasons,” Kucharski said. Meta will continue to monitor local conditions and regulations, he said, and it’s likely the company’s plans will change.

Meta isn’t alone in not offering a testing option for unvaccinated workers. Toronto-based information-technology firm Softchoice, which returned to the public markets in June, took the same approach. “At this time, to enter a Softchoice physical office one needs to be vaccinated,” said Erika Van Noort, vice-president of candidate and employee experience. Anyone who has yet to receive the jab can keep working remotely. The company later clarified returning to the physical workplace remains voluntary and is only allowed to collaborate with others.

At VerticalScope, a Toronto-based digital-media company that went public in June, office workers must be fully vaccinated, president and chief operating officer Chris Goodridge told The Logic. However, it now gives all its employees the option of permanent remote work beyond the pandemic as part of a talent-attraction and -retention strategy. While most of its staff have already opted for this arrangement, other companies have seen the opposite response. 

At Saskatoon-based Vendasta, more employees have requested to return to the workplace in recent months, said Dani Wawryk, director of corporate marketing and communications. The company is in the process of moving into a new building downtown, and won’t have the space to meet demand until construction is complete. Once Vendasta staff return, they’ll have to test negative for COVID-19 each week in lieu of vaccination.

LifeSpeak, a Toronto-based digital wellness platform that went public in July, recently implemented a policy that staff who want to go into the office or attend work events must attest they are fully vaccinated, said Doug Berkowitz, senior vice-president of operations. Employees who don’t want to reveal their vaccination status or who will not get vaccinated can continue working remotely once the office reopens, so long as their role allows.

Two companies with both blue- and white-collar workers have taken slightly different approaches for each group. At Lion Electric, the Saint-Jérôme, Que.-based electric-bus maker, office workers can choose to get vaccinated and come into the building, or keep working from home. Unvaccinated assembly-plant workers must take rapid tests, said Geneviève Jutras, the company’s director of communications and public affairs. All staff, however, must wear face masks in the workplace.

The situation at Maple Leaf Foods is similar. The company expects office staff to be fully vaccinated and, since October, those who are have been able to choose to work from the office. Vice-president of communications and public affairs Janet Riley said Maple Leaf is planning for more workers to return in the new year, and believes the number of employees who won’t be vaccinated for legitimate reasons will be small—“and we will work through those circumstances as they arise.”

Other companies aren’t concerning themselves with their employees’ vaccination status, but rather are implementing other measures to help control the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. MDF Commerce, based in Longueuil, Que., doesn’t require vaccinations or proof of a negative COVID-19 test. The test result is not required “because Quebec public health authorities don’t make it mandatory,” said Alexandrine Gauvin, director of corporate communications. The company “is still applying a strict sanitary protocol,” including mask wearing, antiseptic gel stations and maintaining two-metre distances between workspaces. “Thanks to this protocol and our flexible work policy, we can accommodate all our employees who wish to occasionally work at the office.”