The Gravity Payments team just got a dream raise.
Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Systems—a credit card processing company based in Washington—
shocked his employees recently:
His idea bubbled into reality on Monday afternoon, when Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000.
“Is anyone else freaking out right now?” Mr. Price asked after the clapping and whooping died down into a few moments of stunned silence. “I’m kind of freaking out.”
Considering the average salary at Gravity Payments was $48,000 per year, I'd say more than a few employees were probably freaking out. Dan Price says he got the idea after reading a
study on income and happiness, which showed people who make $70,000 per year are generally happier than those above and below that threshold. And he's fully diving into that concept,
slashing his own salary to make up the difference:
If it’s a publicity stunt, it’s a costly one. Mr. Price, who started the Seattle-based credit-card payment processing firm in 2004 at the age of 19, said he would pay for the wage increases by cutting his own salary from nearly $1 million to $70,000 and using 75 to 80 percent of the company’s anticipated $2.2 million in profit this year.
Bravo, Dan Price! Read more about his company and his thoughts on income equality at
The New York Times.
