As states begin phased rollouts of the COVID-19 vaccine, Instacart is offering employees a small financial incentive to get the jab.
Available to shift leads, in-store shoppers, and full-service shoppers starting Feb. 1, Instacart’s new COVID-19 Vaccine Support Stipend provides workers an additional $25 “to ensure that, when the time comes, you don’t have to choose between earning income as an essential service provider or getting vaccinated,” a blog announcement said.
Since the start of the pandemic, Instacart has advocated for its employees to be considered essential workers; the platform recently urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and all 50 state governors to include grocery delivery people for early access to novel coronavirus vaccines.
“As the vaccine starts to become available in various areas, we’ll roll out new in-app messages sharing more details with eligible shoppers about how to request the stipend,” according to the blog. Full-service personnel must have shopped at least five batches in the previous 30 days to be eligible.
Additional support for the Instacart community comes in the form of free health and safety kits (which include a multi-layer reusable face mask and alcohol-based hand sanitizer), as well as daily in-app wellness checks, free telemedicine consultations, extended pay for those affected by COVID-19, and extensive health and safety guidelines.
Wellness checks provide daily in-app assessments to help determine if personal shoppers have any SARS-CoV-2 symptoms and, if necessary, provide guidance. Before venturing to the store, workers must answer a series of health questions, and, if they aren’t feeling well, will be directed to contact a doctor and refrain from shopping for the time being.
