This CEO Gave His Employees Rs 52 Lakh Minimum Wage, Claims His Company Has Made Profit
The credit card processing company's CEO announced that he would cut his own $1 million salary by 90 percent, reported People.com. Not just that, he also said that he has plans to bring the salaries of his 130 employees up to at least $70,000 per year.
Treating your employees right and still being a smart boss might not go hand in hand sometimes. However, Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, has set a brand new example for the bosses of the world.
Six years ago, the credit card processing company's CEO announced that he would cut his own $1 million salary by 90 percent, he wrote on his Twitter account. Not just that, he had also said that he has plans to bring the salaries of his 130 employees up to at least $70,000 per year.
6 years ago today I raised my company's min wage to $70k. Fox News called me a socialist whose employees would be on bread lines.
¡ª Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) April 13, 2021
Since then our revenue tripled, we're a Harvard Business School case study & our employees had a 10x boom in homes bought.
Always invest in people. pic.twitter.com/o7Ca7I4b7e
Price is changing the game in the US where CEOs typically make 320 times as much as their workers, and most of them earn salaries averaging $21.3 million a year as of 2019.
Battling against all odds, Price's decision has done wonders. On the sixth anniversary of his announcement, he took to Twitter to share that Gravity's revenue has tripled since 2015.
"Six years later and our revenue has tripled. More importantly, our staff and company are thriving in various ways," Price was quoted as saying by People.com.
He added, "[We have a] 10-time increase in new homes bought and babies born. Employees have increased savings and paid down debts."
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Since our $70k min wage was announced 6 years ago today:
¡ª Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) April 13, 2021
*Our revenue tripled
*Head count grew 70%
*Customer base doubled
*Babies had by staff grew 10x
*70% of employees paid down debt
*Homes bought by employees grew 10x
*401(k) contributions grew 155%
*Turnover dropped in half
Price was also on the receiving end of some criticism back when he had announced his decision. Fox News called him a socialist and predicted that his employees would end up in the "welfare line".
Price shared some of those clips on social media and said, "There are still people all over the world who believed we failed because we've been barraged with the scam of trickle-down economics."
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When I've been on Fox News, the production assistants who led me through backstage confided they were making min wage and struggling to get by in NYC. I asked the hosts (who make seven figures and laughed at me on air) to talk about their workers' pay on air. They always said no.
¡ª Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) April 13, 2021
The CEO took this decision after he read a 2010 study by Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman. The researchers claimed that a person's happiness and well-being may rise with income, but only to a certain extent.
After that, he spoke to a friend who said a salary of $70,000 would help her raise a son and pay rent, Price made his decision.
What helped inspire our $70k min wage?
¡ª Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) April 13, 2021
An employee was secretly working a 2nd job at McDonald's. It was clear I was an awful CEO who was failing his employees. I gave her a raise to quit that job. No one should have to work two jobs to make ends meet.https://t.co/hrgDYUDXYB
He also mentioned how it was important for him to share the news with the world who had initially doubted him. He said, "It was important not only to share how we are doing but also how we all need to be skeptical of what we hear on TV and read online. The B.S. detector needs to be on full force knowing that these false economic narratives that benefit the rich need to be defeated by all of us."
We're doubling down on our mission to invest in employees. Our revenue (which comes from small busienss credit card processing) is still down slightly from pre-pandemic. But we're handing out raises of 5-6% and hiring to grow headcount by 10% to make workloads easier.
¡ª Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) April 14, 2021
What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments.
