The Paramount Group is proud to announce that all of our staff are fully vaccinated!
The past year and a half has been a difficult journey for everyone. During this time, we realized that not everyone or every company has the same path – or even the same destination. Getting to where we are now wasn’t easy and may not be something a company or individual may be ready for, but the path was our own, and we are immensely proud of where it has led us.
Here’s an overview of what went into our initiative:
- No bullying or coercing employees was a part of our strategy
- Implementing the mandate on all departments
- Making sure language barriers were accommodated
- Empathizing with employees on a personal level
Being in the hospitality industry, we are always driven by our mission of putting the health and safety of our partners, guests, and employees above all else. We persevered as a team through difficult times, and it became more evident than ever that we are not only a team, but a family. This family is the core reason we are who we are as a company.
To protect our family, we followed the guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We will continue to do so because we believe those are the actions that will keep us as safe as possible and allow us to keep providing amazing service and unparalleled cuisine across our brands. Our measures included mandating the use of masks for anyone entering our building or working events, testing our team on a weekly basis, educating and providing resources for recommended sanitation procedures, and ultimately mandating that all team members be vaccinated against Covid-19.
We knew that making such a mandate was a risk, with price increases and staff retention already challenging our industry more than ever. But it was a calculated risk that we needed to take to ensure not only the health and safety of our family but also maintain the trust of our guests during this time.
It was one challenge to make the decision to declare a mandate, and we knew that implementing it would be a different challenge – one we’d have to approach with patience and understanding. The Paramount Group had an all-company meeting where founder and CEO, Jodi Fyfe, announced the news of the mandate. Jodi acknowledged the hard work everyone put in to get us here, communicated our position on the vaccine and the benefits for the group, and discussed the landscape of future mandates being implemented in the city. She also addressed how misinformation existed that may be driving people’s decisions for not being vaccinated.
After the initial meeting, each department manager spoke with their teams and addressed any concerns or questions on an individual basis. The Paramount Group was given 2 months to accomplish the goal, allowing anyone unvaccinated enough time to get both shots.
In all aspects of business, we believe that an initiative can only be successful when team members are given the tools they need to accomplish their goals. When implementing the vaccine mandate, we took the same approach. These are some of the ways The Paramount Group worked to give its team the highest chance for success in this endeavor:
- Status updates were provided on what the company was working on, safety updates we needed to be aware of, and we shared personal insights and observations
- Resources were posted throughout the building with vaccine center locations or links to find appointments
- Managers checked for availability and made appointments for staff wanting to get vaccinated, and drove those who didn’t have access to transportation
- Educational pieces were also posted addressing why people should get vaccinated
- Managers and team members shared personal stories of how COVID-19 affected their lives
The most impactful element in connecting with someone is treating them with compassion and empathy. We shared our vulnerabilities and took the time to listen and talk to anyone hesitant about getting a vaccine. While much of our staff was already vaccinated, there were some that were not, and were not interested in getting the vaccine. Ultimately some decided that getting vaccinated was not something they were willing to do. At no time did we bully or try to coerce anyone to do something they were not open to. Our path was guided by compassion and thinking of the future of our company and our TPG family. We are saddened that due to these choices not everyone in the TPG family will be moving with us to our new location and continuing on our journey together, but our doors will always be open for anyone who changes their mind.
To celebrate this milestone and give thanks back to our team for the extra effort they put in the past year, we threw an employee appreciation celebration, complete with music, food trucks, gift cards, gift bags, and a $1,000 raffle. We also continued our tradition of setting up a clinic for on-site flu shots to keep our team healthy through the season to come.
We have great pride in being able to accomplish this, and we are hopeful that by sharing our approach and the steps we took to get here, we will give other companies inspiration to take this step and achieve the same success.
