When Ally and Scott Svenson founded MOD pizza in 2008, they wanted their pizza place to be a people place. They dreamed of a fast-casual restaurant where employees had “meaningful” jobs and could “create a better world for those who work with us and for [our] communities,” Dayna Eberhardt, MOD’s chief people officer, told HR Brew.
As MOD has expanded to 29 states, so too has the Svensons’ dream, from hiring workers with barriers to employment to, most recently, teaching employees about their civic rights and giving them time off to exercise them.
“We want our squad to have a voice. We want them to feel heard and feel valued. And I think voting is a way that people can be heard,” Dayna Eberhardt, MOD’s chief people officer, told HR Brew. “The last thing you want…is to have [them] not getting time off to go and vote.”
Her concern isn’t unfounded. Many Americans who haven’t voted in recent years reported to the Pew Research Center that structural barriers, including an inability to take time off work, were their main reason for skipping the polls. To get people there, over 2,000 companies have joined Time to Vote, a coalition dedicated to turning out the vote through education and paid time off.
HR Brew chatted with coalition members about the steps they’ve taken to help their employees exercise their right to vote.
Education for the nation. Some companies have introduced websites to educate employees and inspire them to turn out.
Macy’s has a website, in partnership with Rock the Vote, where employees can check their voter registration status and deadlines, and pledge to vote. Julianne Olivo, the department store’s external communication director, explained by email that the company created this resource to align with its social purpose and “encourage our colleagues to participate in the democratic process and make their voices heard.”
Outdoor recreation brand REI took a different approach to encourage turnout. In addition to highlighting key dates for voters, a page on its website includes information on how the midterms might impact the company’s environmental preservation mission and features employee testimonials on the importance of voting. Similarly, Best Buy showcases employees who volunteer as poll workers on its website.
At MOD, it took a village to create a website that teaches employees to request absentee ballots and find polling locations—the legal team reviewed it for accuracy, the marketing team made sure it was easy to navigate, and the HR team created the PTO policies.
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Ebherardt said creating the tool was critical. Many workers in the service industry, she explained, are young—this election could be the first time they are eligible to vote. “We’re really working hard to support them to have a voice in their community,” she said. “Part of that comes with education about what [it means] to vote and do you really count?”
Tractor Supply Company answered that question directly: Its election education website is called: OutHereEveryVoteCounts.com.
No matter your place. When it comes to actually casting a vote, time off is guaranteed in 29 states and Washington, DC. Most of these states offer paid time off, but how much time workers can take and whether they need to verify that they actually voted varies. (While there is a law pending in Congress that would guarantee and standardize voting leave nationwide, it has stalled.)
This can create complexities for organizations, including MOD and New Belgium Brewing, which operate across state lines. Both have decided to extend voting leave to all employees—even those in states where it isn’t mandated by law.
In an email to HR Brew, Megan Olson, New Belgium’s PR manager, explained, “New Belgium is lucky to come from…Colorado, where the law is reasonably protective of citizens’ rights to participate in the democratic process, and we want to ensure the same is true for our coworkers across the country.”
The brewing company offers any employee scheduled to work “during the majority of hours when polls are open” up to two hours of paid leave to vote. Olson said this “speaking up about civic participation” is in line with the company’s values and “supports a representative and inclusive community and healthy democracy.”
A people place. Though there were some challenges instituting paid time off for Election Day, such as thinking through scheduling contingencies and determining how to document the time off in the payroll system, Eberhardt said it was surprisingly easy. She attributed this to alignment with the company’s founding mission.
“It feels so complementary to our culture…there wasn’t a lot of debate around, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ [or] ‘We can’t do it. It’s gonna cost money,’” she said. “It was like, ‘This is absolutely the right thing to do. Now, how do we pull it off?’”—SV
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