Randstad, the world’s largest staffing firm, announced that it has offered two day paid Covid-19 vaccine leave to Randstad employees based in Singapore and Malaysia.

The two days of paid leave aims to encourage more employees to participate in the Covid-19 vaccination programme. This new paid leave is offered in addition to the medical paid leave that Randstad employees are entitled to. Randstad employees can apply for the leave on the day of their Covid-19 vaccination to rest at home and monitor their health.

Randstad Singapore and Malaysia has also engaged local healthcare professionals to conduct an educational webinar for employees to learn more about the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. The webinar will help raise awareness of the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19 as well as debunk some of the common misconceptions about the fast-tracked vaccine.

Jaya Dass, Managing Director, Malaysia & Singapore at Randstad, said, “The health of our employees is our top priority. Since January 2020, we have implemented many initiatives for our people and clients to help raise awareness of safe distancing, address misconceptions to ensure good information hygiene as well as support programmes to those who faced heightened challenges during the pandemic.”

“The Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme is a critical step to market recovery,” Dass said. “Through this initiative, we hope to support our employees and remove any barriers they may face when receiving the vaccine. They will be able to book appointment slots during off-peak hours as well as take the extra time to rest at home and monitor their health.”

Employees from both Randstad Singapore and Randstad Malaysia were working from home weeks before the announcement of the Covid-19 Circuit Breaker restrictions (Singapore) and Movement Control Order (Malaysia).

“Implementing work-from-home was an easy decision to make as it provides our employees an added-layer of safety to them and their household members. Today, we are armed with factual information and have gone above and beyond to ensure a safe working environment for our employees to safely return to work,” Dass added.

Randstad formed the 'Safely Back to Work' Alliance together with Adecco and Manpower Group in March 2020 to enable companies and workers to return to work safely when the time is right.