Whirlpool will pay workers $1,000 to get vaccinated

By Matt Egan, CNN Business

Whirlpool is offering to pay workers $1,000 to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The new vaccine incentive, confirmed by Whirlpool to CNN, underscores how Corporate America is trying to win over vaccine-hesitant workers.

The vaccine bonus comes as the Biden administration prepares an emergency rule that will require large companies, like Whirlpool, to ensure their entire workforce is vaccinated or subject unvaccinated staff to weekly testing. Biden officials say companies that don’t comply could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

Whirlpool was already offering employees a smaller vaccine incentive but increased it to $1,000 last week.

Chad Parks, a company spokesman, said the stepped-up vaccine bonus will apply to workers who were previously vaccinated as well as newly vaccinated ones. He declined to say how much the previous incentive was for.

“Our employees’ health and safety remains our top priority,” Whirlpool said in a statement. “Throughout this pandemic they have been working tirelessly to serve our consumers, who are depending on our products more than ever to clean, cook and provide proper food and medicine storage in their homes, and we are working to ensure we can deliver.”

The $1,000 vaccine incentive by Whirlpool matches one launched earlier this summer by Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers. Vanguard’s $1,000 incentive applies to the company’s roughly 16,500 US employees who show proof of vaccination by October 1.

A number of other companies have offered more modest incentives to get vaccinated. Kroger has said vaccinated employees will get a one-time payment of $100, while Bolthouse Farms offered a $500 bonus.

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