Consultation on our COVID-19 response policy including mandatory vaccination for our workforce is underway. 

Overview 

Like most New Zealand businesses, we have been following the evolution of the government’s COVID-19 response from “stamping it out” to “living with it” and considering what that means for us, service companies, service providers and end customers moving forward.   

The health and safety of kiwis is a major priority for us, and we believe having a highly vaccinated workforce is our best defence in the ongoing fight against COVID-19. This is particularly relevant in response to the more infectious Delta variant.  

Consultation on our COVID-19 response policy  

We know from recent Kantar research that 80% of New Zealanders hope or expect that technicians coming into their home will be fully vaccinated and we have had several requests from service providers to understand what our approach will be. If we need to live with the virus in the community while going about our normal day to day lives, we need to approach things differently and we continue to believe that vaccination will play a critical role.  

Based on this we believe that mandating vaccination for our broader work force and technicians is likely the right decision and have entered into  consultation with the following indicative timeline: 

• November – consultation underway and feedback considered to inform final decisions 
• 30 November – outcome confirmed  
• 1 December - 30 January – transition period for service companies 
• 31 January 2022 – enforcement of COVID-19 response policy begins for service companies 

As part of this consultation we will be confirming our position on access to Chorus sites, including exchanges and corporate offices. We will contact service providers that regularly access our exchanges to confirm our requirements. 

COVID protocols 

A reminder that all technicians are currently adhering to health and safety protocols where they’re required to enter premises. This includes wearing of PPE, social distancing and cleaning of the work area both before and after their work activity, along with contact tracing.   

There have been a small number of requests so far from end customers for a fully vaccinated technician which our service companies have met. You can use our BAU Provisioning and Assure channels to request this today. Please note that until our policy is confirmed we will do our best to accommodate the request, but it may result in a delay to your order.  

Next steps  

We hope that by confirming our intention to consult to mandate vaccination of our workforce that this provides a level of comfort to you that we are taking your health and safety as well as our people, service companies and end customers, extremely seriously, despite living with the uncertainty that COVID continues to cause for us all. 

Contact 

If you have any queries, please contact your account team.