Workplace vaccination opportunity against COVID‐19 contributed to high perceived organizational support of employees in Japan: A prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Perceived organizational support is a broad perception by employees about the extent to which their employer values their contributions and cares about their well‐being. We examined the relationship between workplace vaccination opportunities for COVID‐19 provided by companies and increases and decreases in perceived organizational support, using a prospective cohort study. METHODS: This study was conducted between December 2020 and December 2021 using a self‐administered questionnaire survey in Japan. In total, 18 560 people responded to the follow‐up, and were included in this study. The odds ratios (ORs) for the association between company‐arranged vaccination opportunities and high perceived organizational support at the follow‐up for participants (a) with low perceived organizational support at the baseline (n = 4971), and (b) with high perceived organizational support at the baseline (n = 6912) were separately estimated using a multilevel logistic model. RESULTS: The OR of high perceived organizational support at the follow‐up after low baseline levels was significantly higher in participants given a vaccination opportunity than those not given this opportunity (OR 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32–1.67; p < .001). The OR of high perceived organizational support at the follow‐up after high baseline levels was also significantly highly in participants given a vaccination opportunity than not (OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.23–1.54; p < .001). These significant differences remained after adjusting for workplace infection control measures. CONCLUSIONS: Employee health support provided through a workplace vaccination program can contribute to high perceived organizational support.