HPE Establishes COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

“HPE will be requiring all team members, contractors, and visitors to be fully vaccinated as a condition of entering our sites and attending business events where legally permitted,” said HPE CEO Antonio Neri in a tweet.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has established a vaccine mandate for all employees, contractors and visitors entering its offices.

“HPE will be requiring all team members, contractors, and visitors to be fully vaccinated as a condition of entering our sites and attending business events where legally permitted,” said HPE CEO Antonio Neri in a tweet.

The HPE vaccine mandate affects 59,400 HPE employees in 112 offices in 48 countries.

Neri, who tested positive for COVID 19 last year and fully recovered, said he did not take the “decision lightly,” but stressed that he believed it was in the “best interest of our company, our team members and the communities we serve, all of whom depend on our ability to lead.”

HPE will be requiring all team members, contractors, and visitors to be fully vaccinated as a condition of entering our sites and attending business events where legally permitted.

— Antonio Neri (@AntonioNeri_HPE) August 10, 2021

Neri said that throughout the pandemic HPE has “continually assessed the ever changing dynamic” and adapted to it. “It is now clear that COVID-19 is going to be with us for a while, and that getting back to normal will take more than masks and distancing,” he said.

Pat O’Dell, general manager and managing partner for CPP Associates, a Clinton, N.J., HPE Platinum partner, credited Neri for having the courage of his convictions.

“HPE and Antonio have been at the forefront of these kinds of issues whether it is vaccines, social justice, or Black Lives Matter,” said O’Dell. “That is a credit to him and HPE. This is why we are proud to be an HPE partner. No matter where you land on these issues you must respect people like Antonio who have the courage of their convictions. I respect someone like Antonio who takes a position and then acts on that position.”

Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., solution provider, applauded Neri’s decision to establish a vaccine mandate. “My hats off to Antonio for making sure that the company’s employees are protected,” he said. “I think all of us have to follow the science when it comes to this deadly virus.”

Dell Technologies, which employs tens-of-thousands of people in the U.S., is delaying plans to reopen its offices across the nation due to the recent surge in the COVID-19 delta variant. The $94 billion Round Rock, Texas-based PC and infrastructure giant had previously targeted reopening many of its U.S.-based offices on Sept. 7, 2021.

Cisco Systems, meanwhile, recently announced it will be transitioning to a fully hybrid work model for all its 75,000 global employees. As part of its new policy, San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco isn’t setting a mandate from the top down on numbers of days spent in or out of the office for any employee or team moving forward,