GGRAsia – Three more Macau ops offer paid leave to get relatives jabbed

Three more Macau ops offer paid leave to get relatives jabbed

Mar 03, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operators Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, SJM Holdings Ltd and Sands China Ltd have announced respective paid-leave schemes for employees who take close relatives to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Galaxy Entertainment said in its Wednesday release it was offering either what it termed “paid Family Vaccine Leave” or “Special Vaccine Leave” for its workers.

The firm said the paid Family Vaccine Leave offer, was to “support the Macau SAR government’s call to motivate more teenagers, children and elderly people to get vaccinated”. The scheme will run from March 7 to June 30, inclusive.

Staff accompanying either: any of their children under the age of 18; or a staffer’s parent aged 70 or above, for a Covid-19 jab at a Macau Health Bureau centre, would be “granted one day of Family Vaccine Leave per eligible vaccinated family member”.

The firm’s Special Vaccine Leave applies specifically to any employee receiving a vaccine dose in the same period. They will be allowed “a day of leave on the day of, or following, the vaccination”.

Galaxy Entertainment said that as of Wednesday, “nearly 95 percent” of its employees “have been vaccinated”.

SJM Holdings said in a Thursday announcement that its “SJM Vaccination Encouragement Programme” would run from that day, until April 30.

It stated: “This new programme is designed to encourage employees to accompany the elderly and children to receive their Covid vaccinations as soon as possible”.

The firm added that employees who either “successfully register their elderly parents, aged 70 years and above, or children under the age of 18, may apply for one extra day of paid leave.” The release didn’t mention the latest vaccination take-up rate among the firm’s own employees.

Sands China said in its Thursday release it was offering “family vaccine leave” and a vaccination seminar for its employees, in order to “encourage vaccination among young and elderly family members”.

The new paid leave scheme was created to assist workers who need to accompany family members to receive Covid-19 vaccines, said Sands China. It is available from March 7 to June 1, “for team members to accompany children under 18 or parents aged 65 or over for their jabs,” it added.

As of Monday, only about 55.5 percent of a local population amounting to 682,300, had received the two doses of Covid-19 vaccine deemed by the authorities as necessary to offer significant protection against the disease.

The city’s Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, had said on Friday that the local jab rate in those over 50, and among those between “three to 18 years old”, was “relatively low”.

The city’s other three Macau operators had also announced incentive schemes offering paid leave, and designed to up the jab rate in the local community, particularly among the elderly and among children. Those firms already report vaccination rates in the 90s of percent for their own staff.

(Updated at 9.45pm, March 3)