Tech

Twitter is making Election Day in the U.S. a paid holiday

Key Points
  • Twitter is giving its U.S. employees Election Day off and offering global employees paid time off to vote in national elections.
  • In the United States, Election Day takes place on a Tuesday in November, making it difficult for some people to get to the ballot box because they have to work.  

In this article

Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. and Square Inc., speaks during an Empowering Entrepreneurs events at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019.
Cole Burston | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Twitter is giving its U.S. employees Election Day off and offering global employees paid time off to vote in national elections, the company told employees Tuesday. 

"Given the importance of voting, going forward all national election voting days that take place on a weekday will be a paid day off. Since the U.S. presidential election falls on a work day (November 3), we will plan to close all U.S. offices on that day," the company told employees in an internal memo that was shared with CNBC.

"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.

Employees that are responsible for election-related functions, such as security of its service, will still have to report to work those days, Twitter told employees.

In the United States, Election Day takes place on a Tuesday in November, making it difficult for some people to get to the ballot box because they have to work. Twitter previously permitted employees up to two hours of paid time off to vote, but some companies are moving to honor the day as a holiday. Uber announced last week it would make election days around the world company holidays. 

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Watch: Why the US votes on Tuesdays
VIDEO13:3113:31
Watch: Why the US votes on Tuesdays