Vaccine passports for the office? Dominic Raab says it is ‘smart’ for firms to require staff to be fully-vaccinated before return to office as Downing Street signals there will not be a campaign to encourage more workers to ditch WFH
- Dominic Raab said it is 'smart' for staff to be double-jabbed before office return
- Foreign Secretary said he does not favour a 'stick approach' to office return
- Number 10 signalled it has no plans to urge people to ditch work from home
Dominic Raab today said it is a 'smart policy' for companies to insist employees are double-jabbed before they can return to offices.
The Foreign Secretary said he 'can understand' why firms would want to adopt such a stance.
However, he insisted he does not favour the 'stick approach' of staff being told to return to town and city centres because some people have 'understandable anxieties'.
His comments came as Downing Street signalled it is not planning a campaign to encourage more workers to ditch working from home.
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said he is not in favour of forcing staff to return to the office. The morning rush hour is pictured today at Bank Station in central London
The final stage in Boris Johnson's lockdown exit roadmap saw the Government lift its work from home instruction.
However, ministers have stressed it is up to businesses and staff to decide how and when to go back to offices.
Reports suggest that some US tech giants like Netflix and Google are going to make proof of vaccination compulsory for staff to return.
Asked if he believed such a move is a good idea, Mr Raab told Sky News: 'We want everyone to be double-jabbed.
'I can understand why employers think that that would be a smart policy or approach to encourage, whether or not there should be hard and fast legal rules I think we need to look at carefully. But our message overwhelmingly is get the jab.'
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The Foreign Secretary said he is not in favour of forcing staff to return to the office.
'I certainly think that we should be encouraging young people to get the vaccine, making sure the work places are Covid secure, a confident environment for people to return to,' he said.
'Certainly I know this as an employer in the FCDO, and I have got a huge network internationally as well as domestically, what I want to do is build up confidence rather than, if you like, take a stick approach and say you have got to get back into the office because people are still feeling their way and people have understandable anxieties.'
The Government is no longer telling people to work from home but it is also not actively encouraging employees to return to their old commutes.
Asked if ministers are planning to encourage people to go back to offices, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: ‘What the Prime Minister said… remains the case. We obviously expect people to return to work as we move through this year.
‘It is obviously for individual businesses and individual employees to discuss how or when that happens.'
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