Encouraging employees to vote can be good for democracy—and for business

Employees voting during US elections

BiGS Actionable Intelligence:

In our divided times, there’s a growing movement among some CEOs to double down on politics—with a catch: Making it easier for employees to vote. The move comes as activists, shareholders and others try to influence how companies weigh in on societal issues ranging from abortion and racial diversity policies to climate change.

This year, more than 2,000 businesses are slated to participate in a big-business-driven movement to persuade companies to give employees time off to vote—enough to start changing workplace expectations. Patagonia, PayPal, and Levi Strauss led the initiative in 2018 and it has grown since then.

“To save our planet from the climate and nature crisis, we have to elect leaders who share our sense of urgency,” Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia, the California-based company that manufactures and sells popular outdoor clothing, told The BiGS Fix. “That’s why Patagonia does everything it can to support our employees and the larger community’s ability to vote and volunteer. These activities lay the foundation for progress on the issues we care about the most.”

Changing workplace expectations

Changing expectations are shaping corporate strategy across industries as employees and consumers increasingly want companies to wade into societal issues. In addition to these important and obvious stakeholders, social media influencers are weighing in on everything from Harley Davidson’s DEI policies to the future oil and gas.

This type of expectation may be the most apparent during election season. With several months still to come before Election Day in November, companies will have to decide how involved they want to be in an election that will decide which party controls the White House, both chambers of Congress, and thousands of state legislative seats nationwide.

In previous decades, the common wisdom held that companies should stay out of elections for fear of alienating customers and employees. In more recent years, however, that stance has shifted, with many companies embracing nonpartisan efforts to help people vote. These days, many experts feel that promoting civic participation is far less risky than ignoring divisive elections that impact issues people care about deeply.

Patagonia’s leading role: Fighting apathy

When it comes to corporate efforts at election time, Patagonia has played a leading role, moved to action by low voter turnout that marked elections a decade ago.

Indeed, one of the biggest fears about the election in 2016 was apathy. The previous election in 2014 recorded the lowest voter turnout for mid-term elections in decades, with only 37% of eligible voters participating, according to the U.S. Elections Project.

These low participation numbers were recorded despite laws in many states requiring employers to provide paid time off to any employee who wants to vote. In 2024, 21 states and the District of Columbia require paid time off, seven states require unpaid time off, and the rest have no requirement, according to law firm Maynard Nexsen.

Patagonia executives worried that low participation rates were a threat to democracy—and they wanted to do something about it.

“Our CEO at the time, Rose Marcario, didn’t want anyone to use work as an excuse for not voting,” said Corley Kenna, a Patagonia representative.

To make it as easy as possible for its employees to vote, Patagonia took a drastic step. It told employees the company would close its headquarters and stores for the day so people could vote. They didn’t stop there. To drive impact, Patagonia ran a major campaign to publicize the move, complete with a catchy line: “When the polls open, we close.” This meant a day off for nearly 2,000 employees, including employees at distribution centers, Patagonia stores, headquarters, and customer service facilities. It also meant lost revenue.

Yet the response was overwhelmingly positive, Kenna said. Customers even called Patagonia’s service center saying they approved. Employees and community members flooded the company with supportive emails.

Rallying companies to the cause

Two years later, Patagonia decided to close again for the election but wanted to do more. To drive more impact, the company teamed up with PayPal and Levi Strauss to encourage more businesses to participate in the movement. Again, they coined a catchy name for the effort: Time to Vote. To join, the CEO of a participating company signs a pledge “to ensure that your employees have the time they need to cast their ballots.” They are not required to shut down or provide paid leave.

By signing the pledge, Kenna said, companies agreed that “none of their workers should have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting.”

Patagonia thought about 25 companies would join, but the effort drew about 400 participants. They included Bank of America, Macy’s, Visa, Qualcomm, Cox Enterprises and Ben & Jerry’s.

“It was important that this was led by businesses,” she said. “The value of our movement isn’t just time to vote. We are sending a signal that voting itself is important.”

Voter turnout has climbed dramatically in more recent elections, for many reasons. And Patagonia is still making efforts to promote civic participation. For example, the company is testing a new idea in 2024. Instead of closing on Election Day, it is going to close for a day on Oct. 29 as part of a national effort called Vote Early Day.

The business case for civic participation

Patagonia’s efforts have been well received by the public. Many other businesses have had similar experiences, according to a case study published by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2019. “Across the board, people reported their election activations were well received by employees, consumers, and shareholders,” the study said.

There is also a deeper business case for firms to encourage voting, said Eric Orts, professor of legal studies and business ethics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“What businesspeople can too easily forget—understandably given the daily focus on everyday routines and business challenges—is that the ‘freedom’ in free enterprise depends on maintaining our democratic republic through free and open elections,” he said.

The United States, he said, should make it as easy as possible for anyone to vote. In a 2023 letter to the editor of The New York Times[GJ1] , he proposed making election day a national holiday. “Many other countries make national elections a holiday from work obligations, thus significantly expanding citizen participation in voting. Let’s do the same here,” he wrote.

Orts urges businesses to go beyond merely facilitating voting, and many companies do. In 2020, Warby Parker, the eyeglass retailer, encouraged its employees to become poll workers and gave them two days off for election work of their own choosing. Levi Strauss collaborated with a nonprofit called HeadCount to provide opportunities for employees to register eligible voters at concerts, festivals, and community events, where HeadCount has registered more than 1 million voters since 2004.

Reassuring cautious companies

Despite potential benefits for employee morale, corporate reputation, and civic engagement, some companies remain hesitant because they have seen the backlash some businesses experience when they engage in various political activities.

A notable example occurred in 2022 when the Disney Company opposed legislation restricting instruction about sexual orientation in Florida schools and Governor Ron DeSantis retaliated by ending the company’s ability to self-govern Disney World. The matter wound up in court but was ultimately settled.

“Almost anything could be politicized or weaponized,” said Meghann Curtis, head of public affairs for PR firm Weber Shandwick’s U.S. division.

According to a survey by the Weber Shandwick Collective of more than 1,000 voting age adults, 68% of employees believe that businesses should give employees paid time off to vote. Roughly three out of four consumers and employees want businesses to encourage free and fair elections and similar majorities want businesses to keep the workplace politically neutral.

Curtis and other experts recommend the following strategies for companies that want to help employees vote:

  • Start by giving workers time off to vote, which many states already require. This is something that can be done this year, even though the election is only a few months away. Make sure that employees understand the policy you are putting in place.

  • With an eye toward the future, create a politically, generationally, and functionally diverse election task force. It should be charged with thinking through an employee engagement strategy and be ready to handle any election-related problems.

  • Ensure political neutrality in whatever you do and offer guardrails to keep the workplace civil. An overwhelming majority of employees expect employers to issue guidelines on political activity in the workplace.

  • Consider time off to engage in other civic activities like registering voters or working at the polls. But tread carefully. Some of these activities have been politicized.

  • Convey respect for democracy and connect that value to your business. A healthy economy depends on a healthy democracy.

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