New Hampshire company offers incentives to employees to increase vaccination rate

MILFORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire company has increased incentives in hopes of increasing the vaccination rate among its employees. The CEO told News 9 he has upped the ante as the delta variant spreads.



Based out of Milford, Alene Candles pivoted production in the early parts of the pandemic to create face shields. The company kept hundreds of people employed between New Hampshire and Ohio.

“Since vaccines have been available we really mounted an education campaign to enable all our employees to have the information they need to get comfortable in pursuing a vaccine,” CEO Rod Harl said.

Crafting an easily digestible vaccine message is a delicate act. To encourage employees to get a shot, Alene has offered paid time off for vaccine appointments, gift cards for proof of vaccination and set up on-site vaccine clinics.

The company also hosted a roundtable discussion with a doctor from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center who fielded questions in multiple languages.

“They may be collecting rumors or hearsay from other folks. So, bringing in a medical professional that can speak to people in their own language and can answer questions of all types and not pass any judgment. That’s a resource I was thrilled to provide,” Harl said.

Despite their efforts, he said they have experienced community spread at the Ohio facility, nothing significant has happened in the Granite State.

“At the end of the day, there are companies who took risks with their employees and made some decisions that we chose not to make in the interest of our partners and business really,” Harl said.

At the New Hampshire facility, social distancing has been maintained and masking has been optional, but Alene believes that could change if the delta variant runs rampant in the state.