Levi CEO Chip Bergh Wants You To Give Your Employees Time To Vote

On November 6, employees of Levi Strauss & Co. won’t have to choose between voting and going to work. Speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Thursday, president and CEO Chip Bergh said Levi’s was giving its employees up to five hours of paid time off to cast their ballots on Election Day. And Levi’s isn’t stopping there. The company teamed up with Patagonia on the “Time to Vote” campaign, which prompted more than 200 companies to grant time off for their employees. (“If Walmart can do it, anyone can do it,” Bergh quipped.) Levi’s has recruited celebrities and influencers to spread the word about voter registration and has worked with HeadCount to help sign up voters at concerts. Bergh said about 40 Levi’s stores even had voter registration booths. In other words: Bergh doesn’t want to give any of his employees–or anyone, really–an excuse not to vote. “The biggest issue to democracy is apathy,” Bergh said. “The winning candidate during the 2016 presidential election was apathy. Forty percent of voters voted for apathy; they didn’t show up, even though they could have. A lot of people want to complain about government. The best place to complain is the voting booth.” Read more at Fast Company.