Senior living company offers COVID vaccination incentive program for employees

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A senior living company based in Birmingham said it will offer a vaccination incentive program for all of its employees.

Atlas announced its COVID-19 vaccination incentive program for all of its employees, a bonus that is measured at about $1.1 million dollars.

The program will be offered to every full-time and part-time employee in each community that is owned and/or managed by Atlas with locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee in addition to its corporate office in Birmingham.

The Atlas leadership team said this program is an opportunity to educate and motivate employees to vaccinate.

Scott Goldberg, the president and co-CEO of Atlas Scott, said the care staff and associates are hesitant and reluctant to get the vaccine based on surveying within the company.

Goldberg said this vaccination incentive program would give two PTO days to employees who receive the two doses of vaccines.

And after 90 days, they’ll get another paid day off.

And if 85 percent of employees at one facility get vaccinated, those who received the vaccine will get an additional paid day off.

“The PTO is going to be a big deal because our people need a break,” Goldberg said. “We’ve had people that step up and are working double or triple shifts.”

Goldberg said they don’t want to mandate vaccinations.

He added, by educating and encouraging more participation, it will not only keep residents safe, but it will also protect surrounding communities.

”We are putting our money where our mouth is,” said Goldberg. “The decision to initiate this program goes beyond the senior living and healthcare industries. This is a humanitarian decision. We trust the modern technology, the trials the vaccine went through, and the science out there. Now that it is available, we feel a civic duty to our employees to carry this out and offer this program to them. When we say residents and associates’ safety are our utmost priority, we put action behind those words.”

Atlas expects to initiate the program in the coming days.

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