Back in April, a story quickly went viral about a new compensation structure at Gravity Payments, a Seattle-based credit card processing company. The company’s CEO Dan Price read a book on happiness and decided to raise the minimum wage at his 120-person company to $70,000 per year. He cut his own salary from close to $1 million to $70,000 and sold some of his stock to make ends meet.
Because the news media couldn’t help turning one CEO’s kindhearted gesture into a political stunt, there were cries at the time about socialism. These were echoed even louder when he told the New York Times in July he was renting out his house to make ends meet.
But apparently things at the company are *actually* pretty solid following he bump to a $70,000 salary minimum wage, according to an Inc Magazine profile:
Revenue is growing at twice the rate it was before Chief Executive Dan Price made his announcement this spring, according to a report on Inc.com. Profits have doubled. Customer retention is up, despite some who left because they disagreed with the decision or feared service would suffer. (Price said he’d make up the extra cost by cutting his own $1.1 million pay.)
If true, those are sick growth numbers for a business in a year. The move has also help Gravity attract A++ talent, which any effective manager will tell you is key to business success:
Gravity was inundated with résumés — 4,500 in the first week alone — including one from a high-powered 52-year-old Yahoo executive named Tammi Kroll, who was so inspired by Price that she quit her job and in September went to work for Gravity at what she insisted would be an 80-85 percent pay cut. “I spent many years chasing the money,” she says. “Now I’m looking for something fun and meaningful.”
Badass. Price’s original pull-quote from the original NY Times article in April resounds. What a chill Bro.
“The market rate for me as a C.E.O. compared to a regular person is ridiculous, it’s absurd,” said Mr. Price, who said his main extravagances were snowboarding and picking up the bar bill. He drives a 12-year-old Audi, which he received in a barter for service from the local dealer.
“As much as I’m a capitalist, there is nothing in the market that is making me do it,” he said, referring to paying wages that make it possible for his employees to go after the American dream, buy a house and pay for their children’s education.
May you shred sick ‘gnar on that board soon, CEBro.
Looks like the company is hiring, too! Go get it, Pacific Northwest Bros.