Employers Really Should Encourage Worker Election Engagement

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

In the USA, there’s an election being held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Along with electing a president and vice chairman, all 435 seats within the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats within the Senate shall be contested. 13 state and territorial gubernatorial elections, together with quite a few other state and native elections shall be contested. Bottom-line: The final result of November’s election will play a big role in our personal and skilled lives, which is why I would like to debate elections and voting for 2 reasons: 

First, organizations need to pay attention to the voting laws of their state. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has an Express Request on State Laws and Time Off for Voting. In case your organization doesn’t have a policy in place regarding voting leave, SHRM also has a sample policy you can use to draft one. Employees need to know this information so that they could make plans to vote. Corporations are not looking for to be accused of repressing an worker’s right to vote. Let employees know the policy – and allow them to know early. 

And that results in my second point. Please go vote. Find time to get educated concerning the issues which might be necessary to you and go vote. I don’t spend lots of time here on HR Bartender talking about politics, but I do consider participating within the voting process is significant. 

Learning about voting and the problems being debated takes time, so I believed it will be good to share some resources now. Consider constructing a while into your schedule now versus waiting until the last minute. I do know that if I wait until right before election day, attempting to study all of the candidates and their stance on the problems becomes quite daunting. 

Last election, I discovered a corporation called Civic Alliance. It’s a nonpartisan coalition of companies which have made a pledge to encourage employees and consumers to interact together in civic life, specifically for elections. A few of the businesses which have taken the pledge include Amazon, Capital One, Deloitte, Facebook, Hilton, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Starbucks, Goal, and Verizon. You may find their initiatives interesting. 

There’s been lots of discuss voting rights over the past few years. As a part of my prep for this 12 months’s election, I’ve decided to refresh my knowledge and skim a few books on the subject. Ben Sheehan’s “OMG WTF Does the Structure Actually Say?: A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy is Speculated to Work” is an awesome solution to digest our founding document. The book not only shares the actual wording from the Structure, however it offers a straightforward to digest interpretation. Also Kim Wehle’s “What You Have to Know About Voting and Why”. Wehle is a law professor and legal analyst, so the content is a bit heavier, however it is a reminder that the proper to vote is significant and never to be taken without any consideration. 

Most of the issues being currently being debated in Congress are workplace issues. The final result of our elections could have an effect on each employers and employees. In the event you’re in search of a spot to begin your research on among the laws related to work, don’t forget that SHRM has an advocacy page that shares public policy issues. 

Along with being educated on workplace issues, one other aspect of election engagement is getting informed on social issues. Sadly, misinformation and disinformation are still prevalent. I’ve written before about media literacy being a business competency and knowing how one can navigate digital information. It’s reminder to double check your sources as you’re forming opinions. I do know I shall be doing that. 

I’d prefer to consider we are able to all agree that voting is significant, no matter our views. Encouraging people to vote is sensible. People must take part in the method. Meaning having policies and practices in place that encourage election engagement.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Washington, DC

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