The Price is right – and we have frontrunner for CEO of the Year.
Meet Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price, who just introduced a $70,000 minimum annual salary at his company. Yes, even clerks and customer service reps will be raking it in.
The current average salary for his 120-member staff is $45,000; 70 employees will see their paychecks increase, while 30 will see it double.
It’s an incredibly encouraging sign in a country that boasts a shocking pay gap between CEOs and their workers and an average minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
And it gets better: to help make these lofty terms a reality, Price said he would cut his salary from $1 million to $70,000 and commit 75 to 80 per cent of the company’s anticipated $2.2 million profit to the promise. He drives a 12-year-old Audi and only flashes the cash to pick up the occasional bar tab or go snowboarding.
He was particularly inspired by research paper on income vs. happiness that concluded a little extra money makes a major difference in the lives of those who earn under $70,000. At around $75,000, one’s emotional well-being plateaus.
Price identified wage inequality as his issue of choice to battle as a business leader, especially when he heard some of friends explain how even salaries above the federal minimum don’t cover many of life’s necessities and curveballs.
“They were walking me through the math of making 40 grand a year,” he said, a number that doesn’t allow any wiggle room for a rainy day. “I hear that every single week… [it] just eats at me inside.”
Mr. Price, we need more people like you in this world.
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