Patagonia is giving its workers Election Day off
Only 36 percent of the voting-age population voted four years ago
The outdoor retailer Patagonia will close up shop this Election Day, and it’s urging other companies to do the same.
Four years ago, voter participation hit its lowest since World War II, with only 36 percent of the voting-age population making it to the polls. A 2014 Pew Research Center study found that voters were likely to miss the midterms because they were indifferent about voting, had trouble with the voting process or because of structural forces, like job or school schedules that couldn’t budge.
In the past, Patagonia — known for its advocacy of environmental causes — has encouraged people to vote with the planet in mind.
“This is just another step of that,” said Corley Kenna, a company spokesperson. “What’s the most impactful thing we can do in an election? That’s to get people to vote.”
Patagonia closed stores nationwide on Election Day 2016, as well as its headquarters and distribution and customer service center, and gave employees paid time off. Patagonia’s chief executive Rose Marcario wrote that “this year, we’re doing it again,” and that other companies should join in “because no American should have to choose between a paycheck and fulfilling his or her duty as a citizen.”
After the company closed for Election Day 2016, Kenna said multiple employees reached out to say that if they hadn’t had the day off, child care schedules and other conflicts would have kept them from the polls. Kenna said Patagonia wants other companies to consider how they can free up their workers on Nov. 6, even if that doesn’t mean shutting down completely.
In 2016, workers at General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Square, Hearst Publishing, Casper and Thrillist were given a paid holiday, according to CNNMoney.
“Citizenship requires something more,” Marcario wrote. “It requires supporting democracy. And democracy needs our support more than ever because it’s under attack.”
In her letter, Marcario mentioned Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and “hackers and trolls for hire” who “spread divisive propaganda” online.
“This should concern all of us, no matter our politics,” she wrote.
Environmental causes have often been a rallying cry for the company, which said it would donate all of its 2016 Black Friday sales — a whopping $10 million — to local environmental groups. The company also gives 1 percent of its annual sales goes to environmental organizations. Patagonia also joined REI, the North Face and other retailers in signing an open letter in 2017 speaking out against America’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord under President Donald Trump.