Chartwells Higher Ed is offering its hourly and salaried associates in the U.S. four hours of paid time off (PTO) on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to vote.
The PTO decision will impact over 30,000 Chartwells Higher Ed employees across the country.
“I think more and more folks are going to be expecting to want to vote in person, and so if they are afraid of lines, we want to make sure they have the time to do it,” says Lisa McEuen, CEO of Chartwells Higher Ed. “I think this year just with COVID, there’s a lot of concerns around safety as well.”
Employee response from the decision has been positive, and McEuen says the foodservice management company plans to offer PTO on future election days.
“We've had so much uncertainty with this year that I think [employees] really enjoyed having something like this for them to be able to go have their voice heard,” she says.