US banks encourage workers to vote, carving out paid time off

4:58 pm Monday, November 04th, 2024

By Isla Binnie, Nupur Anand and Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup reminded employees that they can take paid time off to vote in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, while underscoring the need to work across political lines. 

The three largest U.S. lenders have combined global workforces of almost 760,000 people, including staff in U.S. branches and corporate offices. 

“One of the distinctive hallmarks of our American democracy is the long history of Americans choosing their leaders and the peaceful transfer of power,” JPMorgan executives led by CEO Jamie Dimon wrote in a memo last week. The largest U.S. lender will continue to work “across the political spectrum,” they wrote.

A bank spokesperson confirmed the contents of the email, adding it had sent a similar message in 2020. JPMorgan also guided employees to voter registration information and its policy on taking paid time off to vote.

Citigroup gives U.S. workers three hours of paid leave if needed to cast their ballots, according to a memo sent on Friday by Ed Skyler, its head of enterprise services and public affairs, and Sara Wechter, its human resources chief.

The only thing certain about the election, the Citi executives wrote, “is that roughly half of the U.S. will be unhappy with the outcome. Our colleagues have divergent and equally passionate views across a range of issues. Despite those difference in views, we are proud of how our Citi community consistently shows respect for one another.”

At Bank of America, the second biggest U.S. lender, a similar policy has been in place since 2020 giving workers several hours of paid leave to vote, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. 

Employees were reminded of the policy via an internal website in recent days, the person said.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie, Nupur Anand and Tatiana Bautzer, additional reporting by Saeed Azhar, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Will Dunham)