During this particularly heated election, hundreds of US companies are going out of their way to encourage employees to vote. One of those companies is Tinder, whose CEO, Sean Rad, says employers have a critical role in supporting voter participation among their employees.
“Tinder is allowing employees to take as much (paid) time as they need to vote on Election Day – whether it’s 30 minutes, 2 hours, or the whole day,” says Sean Rad, CEO of Tinder, which is owned by Match Group (MTCH).
A recent movement, Take Off Election Day, has enlisted hundreds of companies, including many tech companies, to give employees the day — or a few hours — off to vote this Tuesday.
Voter turnout in the United States was just 53.6% in the last presidential election, the Pew Research Center notes. This turnout is one of the lowest among highly developed countries. More than 300 companies, including Patagonia and Autodesk, have signed on to Take Off Election Day to encourage participation and emphasize the importance of voting.
The dating app Tinder and DoorDash — an on-demand restaurant delivery service — are two companies allowing employees to take off as much time as they require to go vote.
“We believe that everyone should be able to exercise their right to vote, and employers play a vital role in this process,” Rad stated.
DoorDash has a similar stance. “We want to give our employees as much flexibility as they need so they can share their voice,” Eitan Bencuya, DoorDash’s head of communications, told Yahoo Finance.
Bencuya points out that this Tuesday is “not just limited to the presidential election, but voters should also be aware of down-ticket issues that can affect voters on a day-to-day basis. Many of these issues are decided by federal, state, and local officials.”
Both companies are not only encouraging their employees to vote, but they have also partnered up with Rock the Vote to inform their users, largely millennials, on the importance of voting.
“This election marks the first time that the majority of millennials will be able to vote and many Tinder users will be voting for the first time in this election,” Rad said. “It was vitally important to us that we do our part to encourage our members to understand the issues and the candidates and, most importantly, to vote on November 8th.”
Tinder has “been focusing on educating and mobilizing users with our recent ‘Swipe the Vote’ campaign,” Rad explains. Swipe the Vote allows users to decide on some of the most important issues facing this election such as immigration and climate change.