Office tensions rise between the vaccinated and unvaccinated

Office politics has been a thing of the past for most of us over the last 18 months, as millions of people worked from home throughout Covid-induced lockdowns.

Now, as many employees return to their offices, tensions appear to be emerging along new lines: Those who are vaccinated against Covid, and those who are not.

In the U.S. in particular, companies have taken a rigorous approach towards employees’ Covid vaccination status, with many announcing that their staff must be fully vaccinated in order to return to the workplace.

Then, in late August, the FDA granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid shot in late August.

This approval is already reportedly inflaming workplace conflicts because it has meant that fewer employees can remain “on the fence” regarding vaccine safety, with some workers now hardening their stance on whether vaccines should be mandatory, particularly when it comes to their co-workers, according to one workplace consultancy.

Read more: FDA grants full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid shot, clearing path to more vaccine mandates

Seyfarth at Work conducted surveys of hundreds of employees through to late August and found there was an increasing number of workplace conflicts related to vaccination.

Dividing respondents into two camps — the “vexed vaxxed” and “unnerved unvaxxed” — it reported that both sides of the debate, those for vaccination and those against it, felt a growing sense of resentment.

Some 37% of companies surveyed by Seyfarth at Work reported that vaccinated staff were angry and frustrated at the transmission risk posed by unvaccinated workers. The consultancy cited one East Coast fix-it company worker as saying: “I have a grandma and a toddler at home. Why should some twenty-something science denier put them both at risk?”

Vaccinated staff are also reportedly annoyed at the prospect of having to cover for colleagues who may become ill, while others object to differing workplace rules (such as two sets of masking protocols) due to those that are unvaccinated.

The unvaccinated, meanwhile, are complaining about their treatment at work, with 21% of the companies surveyed noting that unvaccinated staff are “crying foul at what they consider harsh judgment by others or better opportunities for vaccinated office-mates” as well as the burdens of regular testing requirements.

Read more: Mask-wearing becomes a new battleground in England as Covid rules are eased

At one engineering firm, a group of unvaccinated staff have formed an ad-hoc support group (calling itself, the “Vexcluded”) with one group member explaining that “our vaccine fears have turned us into veritable office…