More than 750 companies across the country have announced Election Day plans giving employees paid time off for voting or volunteering at a polling center.
In a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, a recession, and a resurgence in the fight for equal rights, the election is expected to break records for voter participation. In what many see as the most important election in this country’s history, many companies are encouraging their employees to vote, either by paying them or allowing them to volunteer in the election process.
Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, has given its employees Election Day off and is encouraging employees to volunteer for the election. CEO Marc Benioff made the announcement on Twitter
last month.“The best policy is not time-bound but will take into account the unique challenges facing voters this election cycle. Tell your CEO to give Election Day off to vote,” Benioff wrote.
“For all other elections, if you do not have enough time outside of working hours to vote or your country doesn’t already have a process in place to address this, you should take the time you need to do so and you will be compensated for the time off,” the memo said.