The majority, or 70%, of casual workers in Australia have indicated that they would be more likely to receive the vaccine if it was recommended by their employer, according to a study by workforce management firm Human Force.

The research by Humanforce also revealed that the same number of casual workers, 70%, said they think employers have a right to ask their workers to be vaccinated. However, 30% of these casual staff worked for employers who had said being vaccinated for Covid-19 would be a requirement to secure shifts in the future.

“Given the scale of disruption the pandemic has caused for so many workplaces across Australia, there was a lot of talk even prior to the vaccine arriving in Australia and being rolled out, about whether workplaces would make it mandatory for staff to be vaccinated,” Clayton Pyne, CEO of Humanforce, said. “Many employer groups have publicly advocated for businesses to be able to direct staff towards being vaccinated to help avoid future outbreaks and workplace disruptions, and most casual workers are clearly supportive of this. Yet, our research shows most employers aren’t yet communicating with their casual employees on this front.”

Most casual workers (67%) said they had been concerned about their health in the workplace throughout the pandemic. These concerns were likely the reason 64% of casual workers said they would get the vaccine when it was available to them, while 24% were still undecided and 12% said they did not intend to get the vaccine.

The study also found that 79% of casual workers indicated that they would prefer it if their colleagues were vaccinated, which was higher than the number who said they would get the Covid-19 vaccine themselves. A majority (67%) of casual workers were also supportive of their employers requiring customers and visitors to the workplace to show they had been vaccinated.