Participation Over Politics — What’s Your Corporate Civic Engagement Philosophy?

If you didn’t know, we have an election in less than 30 days. It should go without saying that elections are important, and not just presidential contests. There are gubernatorial, congressional, mayoral, city council, house of delegates, school board, and sheriff races etc happening this year. Free and fair elections are critical features of any democracy.

As voters gear up to make their voice heard, organizations and their leaders should be doing everything they can to encourage not just voting but greater civic engagement. Leadership is not confined to the boardroom or the office, it requires enabling an environment that advocates being part of the process.

Employees care a lot about organizations who live up to their lofty missions and values. If you are without an organizational plan for getting your staff civically engaged, it’s not too late to put one in place. Below are four actions leaders can do to encourage greater civic engagement:

In 2016, nearly 43% of eligible voters did not participate, representing nearly 100 million Americans and to further illustrate that point, compared to other developed nations the U.S. lags behind most of its peers according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Voting is important but, unfortunately, many people don’t vote. It first starts with making sure people know how to register and secondly, by ensuring that voting is encouraged at your workplace. It’s a fairly easy process and employees can check their voter registration status and use iamavoter.com to register to vote just by texting VOTER to 26797.

To encourage voting, organizations should make Election Day a paid time off holiday, as it shows employees the organizational commitment to democracy and further, models the importance of civic responsibility. Over 1300+ companies since February of this year have committed to the Election Day holiday including companies like Gap, Fitbit, Gusto, Chobani and Target to name a few.

If your organization is unable to give employees the full day, at the very least increase the paid time leave allotted so that there is sufficient time for employees to get to the polls. Also, HR leaders need to make sure to check state laws to ensure that you are giving enough time for employees as some states mandate time off for voting. In New York, for instance, NY Election Law provides for “up to two hours of paid time off to enable an employee time to vote when added to their voting time outside their working hours.”

Leaders should also provide for volunteer time off so that employees can engage civically and make a difference in their respective communities.

After all, civic engagement is more than just voting, it’s about ways of getting meaningfully involved. Becoming a poll worker, participating in voter registration drives, educating voters on the voting process, distributing sample ballots or nonpartisan voter guides and encouraging people to vote (regardless of party).

The point is, encouraging active citizenship and showing your employees as well as the communities you serve that your organization, your leaders and your employees that your organization wants everyone to get involved in some capacity.

As organizational leaders, you can help demystify the process and can share reputable resources that provide key election dates, your company’s voting time off policy, and ways to get involved so that staff are fully equipped and engaged with the civic process.

There’s a whole host of nonpartisan information available that can be shared like How to Vote or the National Conference of State Legislatures.