COVID-19 Tips

BambooHR provides a centralized platform for storing and reporting COVID-19 related data, facilitating vaccination reporting compliance. Key features include the COVID-19 tab for employee profiles, which contains fields for vaccination status, proof of vaccination, testing history, and exposure tracking. Users can customize access to the tab for employees and set up time-off categories for vaccination-related absences. Reports on vaccination status can be generated, allowing filtering by employee location. Employees can upload vaccination documents directly to their profile. Additionally, onboarding tasks can be added to ensure new hires provide vaccination information. The resource aims to support organizations in managing COVID-19 data effectively.

  • Apr 28, 2026
  • Knowledge

Title
COVID-19 Tips
Article Text
This feature is included in the Core, Pro, and Elite packages.

Purpose: BambooHR has a safe, central, place to store and report on sensitive COVID-19 specific data. These fields will make it easier to meet vaccination reporting requirements and are simple and easy to use in our product. We are doing what we can to partner with you and provide some easy-to-use tools so you can continue to do great work.

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Table of Contents

Add the COVID-19 tab

Charlotte Abbott - Personal

Go to an employee profile and click on the More tab. Then, select Customize Tabs.

Charlotte Abbott - Personal

Click Add Tabs and select COVID-19. 

Once you add the COVID-19 tab, you can drag and drop it into the Employee Record Tabs bar or keep it in the More menu.

COVID-19 tab

Go to the new COVID-19 tab on the employee profile. The following fields and tables are on this tab:

  • Vaccination Status
  • Vaccine Received
  • Final Dose Administration Date
  • Proof of Vaccination Provided (checkbox)
  • Attached File(s)
    • Based on the field option of "Upload Covid-19 Documents"
  • Testing Tracker
    • Test Date, Results, Test Type, Testing Reason, Confirmed by HR, Office Eligibility, and Comments
  • Vaccination History 
    • Vaccination Status, Administration Date, Vaccine Received, Dosage, Verified, Date Verified, and Office Eligible Date
  • Vaccination Exemptions
    • Exemption Date, Exemption Reason, Exemption Documentation Collected, and Comments
  • Exposure Tracker
    • Exposure Date, Vaccination Status, Notified, and Comments
Charlotte Abbott - COVID-19

You can remove any fields or tables you do not need by clicking Add & Edit Fields in the top right corner of the tab. Simply click on the x next to the fields or tables you want to remove.

How do I grant users access to the COVID-19 tab?

Account Owners and Full Admin users automatically have access to all fields on the COVID-19 tab. These fields are designed to be managed by HR, but you have the ability to grant employees edit access to the tab if needed. You can do this by following the steps below.

  1. Go to the Access Levels section in Settings.
  2. Select the corresponding employee or custom access level.
  3. Click the gear icon on the right.
  4. Select Access Level Settings from the dropdown menu.

If you are not familiar with setting up custom access levels, check out this help guide to create a new custom access level so that your employees can view and edit the information they need in BambooHR.

Edit Custom Access Level

Under the See About other Employees section (or See About Themselves for an employee access level), go to the COVID-19 tab. Here, you can determine access settings for all fields on this tab by clicking All Fields are set to No Access. This will bring up a dropdown menu that shows three access options: No Access, View Only, or Edit. 

If you want to set access for each individual field, you can hover over the field and select View Only or Edit access for that field. Remember that custom access level users will have access to only the employees you have granted them access to. 

You can also set up custom email alerts for the dates in these fields and tables. Click here to learn more. 

Can I set up a time off category for my employees to get the vaccine?

If you need to track time off for the vaccine or complications due to the vaccine, you can set up a new time off category to track this in BambooHR.

Create a new time off category

Time Off

You can create a new time off category by going to the Time Off section in Settings and clicking +New Category.

  • Category name: We recommend naming the new category something related to the specific type of leave so your employees can easily identify which type to use for each scenario.
  • Paid time off: If the category is for employees to get the vaccine, you will want to mark it as paid. If the category is for your own company policies, you can check this box accordingly. Please note that this setting is not visible to the employee. If you need your employees to identify the category as a paid time off category, you will want to include that information in the title.
  • Track time in...: Determine whether you will track this time off in hours or days. Be sure that the option you select aligns with your current payroll provider.
  • Calendar color: This setting allows employees to view other associated time off requests in the Who's Out widget. In scenarios where it may be a more sensitive matter, not configuring this option allows employees to maintain privacy.

After setting up the time off category, you will need to add a time off policy to the category and add employees. Since this time off category is a result of current world events and is not something that employees will accrue regularly, we recommend setting up the policy for this category as flexible time off. 

Flexible time off

Charlotte Abbott - Time Off

This means BambooHR will track the time used year to date instead of an accrual or associated balance, meaning you will not need to take any additional steps on each employee profile.

In the example above, Charlotte has used four hours of this new time off category. The amount shown for this category will continue tracking hours used year to date.

If you want your employees to be able to request time off for this new category and/or see the balance history, check out this video to learn how to grant this access. 

Can I run a report on vaccination status?

If you are not familiar with creating a custom report, check out this help guide to help you to create your first one!

New Report

Go to the Reports tab and create a new report.

  1. Name the report so that you can easily find it in the future.
  2. Add the COVID-19 fields and tables to the report.
  3. If you only need a report on employees who work in the office, filter the report by the Location field and remove any employees who are remote.
  4. If you would still like a report on all employees, you can add the Location field to your report and then select to group the results by location. Configuring the report this way allows you to easily view the employees who work in office and those who work remotely. 
  5. Save your report, and you will have the data you need right away.
Covid-19 Vaccination Status
Can my employees upload a copy of their vaccine card or attach relevant files?
Charlotte Abbott - COVID-19

With Edit access, employees can upload relevant files to their COVID-19 tab by using the Attached File(s) field. Files added to the Covid-19 tab are only accessible on this tab and not included in the Documents tab of the employee profile. Each employee profile has a limit of twenty file attachments on the COVID-19 tab. If an employee needs to delete a file, they can click on the x next to the file name.

If the Attached File(s) field is not visible on the employee profile, add it by going to Edit Fields > Upload Covid-19 Documents. 

Do you want to add an onboarding task to check for vaccination status?
Onboarding

You might consider adding a new task to the onboarding checklist for the HR admin to check for the new employee's vaccine information. This will help you gather the information you need from the employee before their first day.

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